Arkansas Valley Adventures

This was my first time zip-​lining and rafting and I’m so happy I chose to go with AVA! I went with the Idaho Springs location.
was nervous but the guides were amazing at their job! They were entertaining and did such a great job keeping everyone relaxed and made sure they were having a good time.
My zip line guides were Travis and Tony (I believe their names were) and my rafting guide was Kirk! I’m so impressed and will be back again!:) Thanks for the amazing experience!

We were a group of 4. Our trip lasted about an hour. We did the Gold Rush class I — III Rapids. The overall experience was great fun. We had a great guide with a fun sense of humor. She was very thorough. We felt prepared in case anything were to go sideways. The Rapids we did is good for beginners. We could have done the class IV and been fine. We went June 9^th. The water was really cold but the wetsuit and splash guard jackets helped and I recommend !! A very fun afternoon and we would go again!

Had some friends in from out of town and wanted to give them as much exposure to the «real Colorado experience» as possible. Booked the beginner Clear Creek rafting excursion as there were a couple of folks who had never been rafting before. Our guide, Nick, was fantastic and entertaining. One of the other guides and the person responsible for giving the safety demo/​etc., Marley, was hilarious but professional. Good equipment, clean (at least they appeared and smelled to be) wet suits, and efficient process. Photos are pricey but that’s pretty much the case with all the major outfitters. If you really wanna save some bucks, get a friend with a nice camera to stand along Clear Creek and grab some shots. Overall, a great experience and a good value.

2 of us booked zip lining about a month out from our trip. I felt like it was pretty pricey for what it included — $ 227.70 total for both. I have only zip lined in Mexico and our package included quads, lunch and a photographer the entire duration along with more like 10 zip lines however… that is mexico so… anyway
Booking online was quick and easy. Getting to the Idaho Springs location from Denver was great even with the MDW. Megan and Tony were our guides — they were great and very informative. Our group consisted of 6 total. The trip in overall was awesome and worth the money, loved the free fall.
THE ONLY DOWNFALL was their photography process. I am an avid photo person and love documenting experiences especially on my phone to share. I asked the people at the desk checking us in if there was a photographer and they said yes and I said «OK, so I don’t need my phone?» and they said no. I trusted that but they should have been more clear. When we got the the first zip line two young (I mean high school age) photographers were there to take pictures of each group. We were backs to the Rockies and they did not get the Rockies in the background of our photo… shot too low. I mean… I would think this would be a prime shot and they would think that too. The photographers take photos at the first zip line and are «supposed» to take pictures of the free fall second line but ours got tied up with the group behind us (even though there were two of them). They never showed to take any more pictures besides the group ones at the top of the first zip line and taking our first ride (where naturally we are nervous and scared and not having fun yet). it was very disappointing. Had I known I would have brought my phone and it bothered me in the back of my mind the entire trip when we were laughing and enjoying the lines. I asked our guides and they did say they were supposed to come to the free fall line but don’t do more after that because they have to go get the processed. When the trip ended I went to look at our pictures. about 20 of them and none were good. I bought the photos of us anyway for $ 24.00 so I at least had something to take home and could edit them myself to their best.
I would say the people at the desk need to be more informative on the photo process and to get better photographers that care what they are doing and take into consideration the scenery and getting great lasting memories.

Sad to say, I can only remember one of our ziplining guides’ name: Cory. Pretty sure the other guy’s name was Jason. Anyways, they were both really great and made the entire experience fun and memorable.

I did rafting here on a Friday afternoon, what is there not to like about these folks !! Had it not been for my job, I would have moved to the mountains already — everyone is nice, down to earth, and hospitable.
The tour started with an intro to the basics of rafting, and an overview of the gear — how to hold the paddle, how to save your fellow rafter’s ass in case he can not keep it together, and most importantly how to save your own.
After the intro, you are given the gear — wet suit, life jacket and another blue jacket to keep your warm. That wet suit is pretty snug and makes your feel compact — for all those of you working hard in the gym for that unattainable slim body, here is your 2 hours of ego boost :).
Then you take a short school bus-​esque drive to the where the rafting trip starts from.
Rafting was enjoyable; however, the water was shallow and its quite rocky, as a result the raft got stuck in the rocks quite frequently. What do you do if that happens? You and your raft mates grind their rears on the raft pretending you guys know what you are doing and somehow the raft gets unstuck! It was a 2-​hour long trip and if the last time you went to the gym was in 2k10, it will take a toll.
Since you have come this far in the review — let me tell you a secret: they have photographers snapping you in all your glory throughout the trail, but if you want even a half decent shot of yourself, you must sit in the front row or else adiós to any photos worth sharing on your facebook :). Guess who learned this the hard way ?
And finally the reason I am writing this review — I wanted to wholeheartedly thank their staff member, Blair. In the absence of any ubers/​lyfts back to Denver, she was kind enough to give me a ride back and shared with me quite a few interesting things about Rockies, Denver and the famous red rock amphitheater. TIP: driving here is the ONLY option — no taxis, and hardly any ubers in this area.

First time ziplining! My guides, Cory and Dylin, made me feel extremely safe and made my experience fun and unforgettable. Even though I have a fear of heights… I will definitely be going again soon!!!

Did the zipline tour and it was super sweet! I’m definitely going back. Dillon and Cory are some excellent guys and I look forward to doing some rafting with Ava this summer

Marlee is the best rafting guide! Choose her if you want to win the race! Keep an eye out for bighorn sheep.

I had a terrible experience with this company.
I did the zip-​line package. One third of the lines were broken or unusable because of the weather. Meaning we were only able to do 6 out of the 9. We were not offered any kind of refund or discount. They didn’t tell us the lines were down until we were already on the course. Very disappointing, but not bad enough to earn them a one-​star review.
However…
I was parallel parked on the street next to the main building. I returned to my car to find that I was boxed in with only about 6 inches of wiggle room. I got in my car and started working my way out of the spot. It probably took about 2 – 3 minutes to get out. During the process I accidentally taped the car behind me (VERY LIGHTLY) a couple of times.
There were about 10 employees standing in the parking lot watching me try to get my car out of the spot. Once I finally wiggled out several employees stood in front of my car to prevent me from leaving. They surrounded my car and started yelling at me. The general manager was one of the loudest, screaming «What the h*** is wrong with you… You hit that girls car like 4 times»
It turns out that the car belonged to one of the employees who was watching me struggle to get out. Why didn’t they offer to help me instead of standing there? And if she was there, why didn’t she offer to move her car?! (There was no one parked behind her.)
I kept my cool the entire time, not raising my voice or cursing at anyone. I apologized to her for any emotional duress I may have caused her. She checked for damage, there wasn’t any (as I said before I barely taped her bumper.) And she still THREATENED TO CALL THE POLICE on me because she didn’t feel my apology was sincere enough.
I know that someone (who wasn’t there) is going to reply to this review. Claiming that I lied about what happened, or citing some policy. Because that is what this company does for all one-​star reviews — But when my car was surrounded by employees, yelling, and threatening to call the cops, I felt trapped, threatened, and EXTREMELY unsafe. And that is completely unacceptable.
So AVA please, don’t bother trying to invalidate my experience with your company.

These guys are awesome! This was my first rafting trip and we had such a great time. My wife has rafted the American River in CA and 6 Mile Creek in AK and said this was an equally good, if not better experience. The guides are friendly and definitely make you feel at ease while hurtling downriver. From booking, to check-​in, to the actual rafting, and equipment turn-​in/​checkout, a solid performance by the AVA staff. We had such a good time that we booked another trip with AVA in a different location the next day. If you’re looking for a fun whitewater experience close to Denver, I highly recommend AVA.

Never again — I’m super angry with AVA. I booked a rafting trip for eight people the next day and when I arrived they told me the call center had made a data entry error and put the wrong date in the booking (the day of the booking). They apologized but offered no options other than a discount on a future trip. After I argued with them the best they would do was 25% off on the more expensive activity of zip lining (which is not what we came do).
Check every detail of your confirmation and, better yet, book with someone else that actually has customer service.

Amazing! Went rafting with my family yesterday and we had a blast. Sarah our guide, and AVA, are second to none, and I have been rafting many times. Two in our group were beginners, and we all felt so safe and had so much fun that we are all ready to tackle the intermediate /​advanced trip with AVA. And we’ll ask for Sarah!!! This could be our new 4^th of July family tradition!
As an aside, they are well organized, the facility is clean and the changing areas are spacious. The office staff is considerate and very helpful. All this contributes to one amazing day.
If you are considering an adventure along Clear Creek, go with AVA!

Had such a blast here! Dillon and Mitch were our guides and they were awesome. We did the zip lining course and had so much fun! They are all about safety here and can do it while having fun so it’s the best of both worlds. We will definitely be back for the white water rafting!

I did white water rafting and zip lining when I was there.
I had an absolute blast zip lining. We had a great guide! I was in the front, so I got absolutely soaked. I definitely recommend the front if you have the option.
The zip lining was fun, but not amazing. The fact that it’s near I-​70 takes away from some of the experience. I’m also not a huge zip lining fan, so that was a factor.
The freefall jump was a blast. It’s a unique experience that I hadn’t had before.
Anyways, I definitely recommend AVA if you’re looking to go rafting. The zip lines also looked better than a lot of the other ones I saw, so that’s a plus too.

I had a terrible rafting trip experience just because of the guide name Curt. I went for an intermediate half day rafting trip in Idaho springs. The guide was screaming at me while giving instruction, he was pulling the paddle at me while teaching how to raft. It was so insulting as a girl for me, it was a third time rafting trip for me and this was the disaster. My brother n another girl fell off from the raft, instead of the guide another guy of our raft saved my brother n the other girl swam over to the banks of the river. That guide named Curt instead of calming them down using a language like «get your butt» back in the raft. Terrible terrible experience!!! Would like my money back. Spoiled my vacation !!!

Booking was easy and fast!
The staff members were very friendly & accommodating! Both my cousin and I were a little unprepared with the weather (us Texans aren’t used to the cold) & the staff members happily accommodated us.
As a person with zero experience rafting, Kurt was a great guide. He made the experience fun and helped make us feel comfortable. Very specific on rules and expectation. Although the water was freezing and my toes and fingers were numb, I’d definitely do it again.
Maddie and Meagan were the sweetest guides! They were helpful and friendly. Maddie and Meagan were shadowed by Brandon and Cory who were absolutely hilarious.
Overall, I was very impressed with my experience with AVA. I have friends coming to Colorado & I will be recommending that they check out what y’all have to offer!

First, I would give AVA negative stars if Unilocal allowed for it.
AVA overbooked our white water rafting day for 8-​8-​2014. AVA did not admit that they overbooked their white water tours given the amount of tour guides staffed for the day. After our short safety meeting, the lead tour guide asked if any group was willing to be split up? Of course, no one jumped on that offer. Why would we? The lead tour guide said one of the boats may be a little overcrowded. A red flag should have gone up then when we were the unlucky boat they shoved NINE fully-​grown adults. Nobody questioned AVA, because we thought AVA would have our best interest in mind. WRONG. It was completely unsafe the minute our raft hit the cold river.
I have been white water rafting a handful of times with groups who have had a wide range of ability. I think it’s a great adventure, that obviously comes with risks. This float down the river was all wrong from the beginning; you could feel the boat spinning out of control on several occasions. The tour guide had to do extra work to keep our raft on the path.
Our raft comes up on the first set of intense rapids (not even close to the halfway point), I believe AVA called the rapids «Dizzy Lizzy» Our raft nails a rock, which sent my 58-​year-​old mother flying. FLEW out of the raft. She didn’t have a chance. Where was she sitting? In the very back by the tour guide. I won’t go into the major details of watching my mom getting thrown against the rocks, trapped under our raft, and then tearfully asking the person who finally pulled her out of the water if my mom was even breathing.
Good news: Mom makes it into another raft thanks to two strong gentlemen. The whole floating caravan pulls off, and AVA calls for a van to take our party back to the base camp. Our van driver hopped out of the van and asked us to «Hurry» Because she was supposed to be carrying a zip lining trip right this very minute, and picking up the injured was obviously not part of her schedule. Listen, this was not part of our schedule either.
Van lady drops us off, and I get my mom in the women’s locker room. By this point she is extremely cold, wet clothes, and nauseous from the rock beatings. Not ONE single living-​breathing person at AVA checked on us. In fact, I had to BUY an over-​priced shirt from their gift shop just to get my mom something warm and dry. Are you kidding me?! There was no manager present for my sister-​in-​law to talk to. No kind of hospitality. No worries, AVA. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough, and I’m not certain your hospitality (had it been offered) would have been welcomed at that point.
How does it end? AVA offered half of our trip costs. After we asked for a full refund, because no one in our party even made it ¹⁄₃ of the way down the river.
See ya never, AVA.

I previously gave this a 5 star review in 2012… and it is even better now!
They made excellent changes to the course and it was a blast! Now, included with the zip lines, you walk across a wobbly Jungle Bridge, you zipline surf/​snowboard style down the Surf Zip, try to cross the optional bridge of doom while trying to keep yourself upright, the 600-​foot Dual Race Line– a new tandem line and last but not least, you can bypass one zip line and jump off a small bridge down 50 feet on the 50-​foot Cliffside Free Fall. The free fall is crazy but you will be glad you did it once your heart stops racing. The last line goes over a river and is a relaxing and lovely end to a great day!
I have done a few zip lines in this area and this one is by far the best. You are over cliffs, in the trees, appreciating nature, and not right next to a noisy highway. Plus the guides are fantastic– fun, entertaining and knowledgable.
This is the only one I am going to from here on out. If you want to go ziplining, this is the one to go to outside of Denver.

Have you ever wanted to willingly plunge yourself into 35 degree water for the sake of fun? Ok, for some of you that’s not a fair question because polar plunges are popular in both CO and Northern NV! But if I would’ve answered that question last week, I would’ve said HELL NO! But after riding Clear Creek in Idaho Springs through high water class 3 and big class 4 rapids, with 5 of my best friends and our bad ass guide Russell, I’d do it all again in a heart beat!
AVA is a pro outfit that doesn’t miss a beat. For us the day started with being embarrassed for being late (bachelor party… what do you expect?). So… DON’T BE LATE! Fortunately we were only 15 minutes behind schedule and they’d just gotten the group together for an orientation. They went over how the day was going to run and got us hooked us up with wetsuits, helmets, splash guards and life jackets.
We all gathered round for the safety lesson, which ended up being more like a scare the crap out of you talk! Fine by me because this stuff is dangerous and I didn’t want to take any chances in 35 degree whitewater!
We then set off to launch our boats and begin our 7 mile journey downstream. Our guide Russell was awesome. He had us paddling in unison and powering through these big rapids like 4-​Wheel Drive, Super Man, and Phoenix. It was awesome to watch the water engulf my two friends up front, mainly because it was so cold and I stayed pretty dry in the back! Their photographer got some awesome photos of us coming down the last big rapid, which we purchased later, pretty expensive but well worth it for the memories.
We all had such a blast on this trip and I’d love to do it again. Once you hit that first rapid, the blood gets pumping and the adrenaline racing, and the cold doesn’t matter anymore! So book your trip with AVA, you won’t be disappointed!