Zaloo's Canoes

Our group had been with Zaloos before and had ok experiences. This last trip with Zaloos will be the last. The Zaloo's employee we were following (we were leaving a vehicle where we would take out) sped out of the driveway and did not wait for us. He was going every bit of 65 MPH on mountainous curvy roads. Long story short, he lost us, we had to call multiple times to find where we are supposed to meet him (we were lost about 45 min). We finally get to where we are supposed to be and he had a hateful attitude saying it was our fault. He never apologized to anyone in our group or used the "customer is always right" methodolgy. We asked to speak to a manager, he stated he was the manager- what a surprise but also a sad reality. He stated he could not give any partial or full refund for our troubles (which is a lie- a manager that can't give a refund?) We asked for him to call the owner- he stated he lives out of town. He could not get the owner to answer (or just acted like he called him and lied- who knows). He took down my name and stated he would get the owner to call us. He never did. We went away highly dissatisfied. There are many other outfitters to use, not just on this river, but many other places in NC. This part of the river is beautiful, but Zaloos won't be getting anmore of my money. Also be aware that they will tell you river levels are fine so that they can still send out kayaks/ canoes/ rafts to make money, when in reality you will be literally getting out and dragging your boat down the river due to low water levels. If the mountains do not get much rain, I strongly discourage this trip.

Been to many outfitters and this by far is the best. We took the 10 mile trip. Given plenty of time to get to the high water bridge. Beautiful river trip. We read the other reviews and concluded that those folks really need to relax! This is a float down the river! Those folks were great. We will be back! Thanks Zaloo's !!

Won't Be Back.



Keeping in mind that this is a review of Zaloo's Canoes and not the New River or the New River State Park I have to rate this really low. The New River through the park is a designated scenic area so of course it's beautiful. The river is great! The State Park is fantastic. Zaloo's...Not so much. Today we wanted to go the 16 miles from Zaloo's to the 221 access. We have our own canoe and equipment so all we needed was to be picked up and brought back to our vehicle. The staff at the desk was not at all knowledgeable about the New River State Park at 221 Access. We asked where we were supposed to be picked up and all they told us was that “it looks something like this,” pointing to a photograph of some steps coming out of the water. “This isn’t the same place, but it looks like this.” Well, we got to steps like the picture with a sign saying “221 Canoe Access” and we pulled the canoe ashore. Then we had to carry the canoe about 400 yards to where we could get picked up. THEN…we found out that there was A SECOND CANOE LANDING right where we could get picked up. It sure would have been helpful if the desk staff would have told us to go past the first landing to the second landing. Also, the river was high and fast today so we made the trip in a little over 4 hours. Apparently the staff doesn’t account for the river flow so we and another group had to wait almost 2 hours to get picked up. The best part is that Zaloo’s fee for giving us poor information, making us wait 2 hours, and the ride back was $35! Next time I’ll call a cab and put the canoe on the roof. It’ll be cheaper and we won’t have to wait as long. ;)

Our group went down the river yesterday with Zaloos. Had a great time riding the canoes and kayaks. The staff at Zaloo's Canoes was awesome and very friendly. Stopped at the state park to eat lunch and discovered they had beautiful riverside campsites for only twelve dollars per site. Zaloo's is a must do for family fun.