Policies

Reservations, Deposits, and Payments

Regulations by local, state, and federal agencies limit the number of guests we can accommodate each day. To secure the date of your choice, it is therefore best to make reservations as soon as possible.

Some trips fill up many months in advance, while other adventures have openings on short notice. When you have selected your trip date, call us at 1-800-624-8060 and our reservationists will be happy to secure for you the available adventure of your choice.

Within ten days of your phone call, you must confirm your reservation with a 50% deposit. New River reservations must be paid in full 30 days prior to your trip. Fall Gauley Season reservations must be paid in full by July 31st. The person making reservations is responsible for informing each member of the group of all policies, as well as the scheduled arrival and departure time of the trip.

If you wish to make a reservation after the balance due date of your trip, we are happy to accept money orders, VISA, Mastercard, Discover or American Express to confirm your reservation.

Questions? Please call 1-800-624-8060.

Cancellations and Refunds

Because operating funds are committed long before the trip departs, few, if any, of these expenses can be recovered on late cancellations. For this reason, we strictly adhere to our cancellation policy outlined below. If you are unable to attend your scheduled trip, fell free to find a substitute to fill your spot. If you must cancel your reservation with more than 30 days notice, we will refund the full amount less a $20 cancellation fee for each guest cancelling. If you cancel with 15 to 30 days notice, you will receive a 50% refund.

No refund will be made when a reservation is cancelled less than 15 days prior to your trip. All cancellations must be received by us in writing. No refunds and/or rain checks will be issued for no shows on the day of the trip.

Late arrivals: Please notify us if you are running late. In the event that you or someone in your party is late, we will make every attempt to accommodate you on another trip, based on availability only. Unfortunately, we are unable to delay an entire trip and will depart at the scheduled time.

Because river and weather conditions can change, we reserve the right to move trips to a different section of river or to another river for reasons of safety or low water. No refunds or rainchecks will be issued unless the outfitter completely cancels the day's events.

Due to the rigors of a river adventure, consumption of alcohol or drugs is not permitted before or during raft trips. Intoxicated or drug impaired persons will be refused without refund.

Liability

We encourage the purchase of vacation trip insurance which covers personal property and personal injury. Outfitter assumes no liability for personal injury or loss of personal belongings. Rafting involves inherent risks and dangers. You will be required to sign a personal injury and photo waiver before your trip which includes a release, assumption of risk and indemnification agreement. A copy of the waiver is available upon request.

All participants under the age of 18 must have a completed release form signed by parent or legal guardian.

Minimum Age

Some of the minimum ages are determined by the agency governing the river. For those rivers which do not have a regulated minimum age, we recommend a minimum age by taking the following approach.

Since the main objective of a rafting trip is to have fun, we have identified minimum ages for each trip. Over the years we have learned that certain rivers are not appropriate for everyone. If someone is too young for a certain river trip, that child will likely have a difficult and possibly terrifying experience, be unlikely to want to raft again, and the situation will obviously put a damper on the group experience. We want everyone to have a reasonable chance at enjoying the wonderful sport of whitewater rafting, so we ask that you honor the minimum age and not put those who are too young into a situation which is inappropriate for them.

Experience Needed

Along the same line as the minimum age policy, it is unfair to put a rafter with inadequate experience on a river which requires a certain experience. It ruins the inexperienced paddler's opportunity to build up to the more challenging runs by first getting his/her feet wet on more appropriate trips, and he or she will not enjoy the trip as much as possible. In addition, it may put limitations on the entire group's trip.

Format

River flows are controlled by two things: Mother Nature and dams. Free flowing rivers, those controlled by the whims of Mother Nature, can fluctuate greatly within a short period of time. For this reason, on certain trips, we may not know the boat size until the time of the trip. Dams, however, generally provide us with more regular flows. Of course there is always an exception. The Gauley River is dam controlled. However, usually we do not know the outflow until the morning of the trip. (Except the 22 days of guaranteed raft flows for "Gauley Season", fall drawdown.)

Appalachian Wildwaters does not discriminate against any individual on the basis or race, color, creed, age, sex, or national origin.