Dynamic Outdoors

My favorite outdoor adventure club! I’ve been going on DO trips since 2008 and I always have a great time and meet awesome people. The trips and getaways are also a super value. The guides are professional, encouraging, and friendly. It’s a fantastic way to get out of the city and back to nature.

awesome trips, very knowledgable trip leaders and it’s all for a very reasonable price. they have so much going on all the time locally and internationally, and they make the trips accessible and fun for you regardless of your skill level. would definitely recommend :)

I have been going on trips with DO for awhile now, and they have always been a lot of fun. The boy-​to-​girl ratio is not always what you would hope it to be (if you are a straight girl). The ratio definitely gets a lot better as you go on more challenging trips, such as white water rafting or via ferrata. I did not get to know the organizer, Igor till recently. He is actually a nice guy and he really tries to accommodate everyone. He would let us decide as a group on what we would like to do in our free time. If there was a disagreement he would try to come up with a solution that would be fair to both sides. I would and I have been recommending this group to friends.

Pretty economical fun trips

The concept is good but not new. There are better and safer options with the same offerings in the city.
If you are smart and seasoned, you probably know enough already to never go on a trip with DO.
If you are a total beginner and don’t know anything about outdoor activities (hiking, rock climbing, mountaineering, rowing, etc.), do a little research. You’ll quickly see that DO guides are inexperienced and their ‘certifications’ are limited to internet stuff anyone can read some blurb and get. Find those with real certifications and safety training.
If you are just up for a good party, DO does have some networking/​party events.

Watch out ! Igor, the guy running this company is the kind of guy you want to stay away from. We booked a rafting trip with them and they left without us leaving us stranded in NY at 8 am ! We were 5 minutes late and we called to say we were on the way. Nonetheless, he left knowing we were 5 min away. After this we didn’t want to have anything to do with them and asked for a refund. After endless negotiations we got 80 $ out of 190 $ !!!
Reading the reviews, I realize they definitely don’t have their customers best interest at heart. Word of advice: stay away from Dynamic Outdoors and tell your friends to do the same.

I came across Dynamic Outdoors in an online search for groups that organize hiking trips.
I liked the pictures of past events they have on their website — made me wish I were one of those people — white water rafting or trekking in remote locations…
Luckily, I discovered DO just in time to make it to their last two hikes of the season, and I LOVED IT!
I had done hiking with friends and co-​workers before; — my DO experience was far superior!
On the first trip — a light to intermediate hike to Gertrude’s Nose — the group of people couldn’t have been more suitably matched — I guess DO didn’t have a lot to do with that, but again, the people who chose DO, seemed to be of a very similar… kind?
It was your usual mix of investment bankers, lawyers, IT, arts and sports people; on personalities level — everyone was there to really have a great time, so we all did.
Yes, the weather was perfect and the foliage was gorgeous, and as our group leader Ralf put it (and was proven right a week later) this was the best and last weekend before a rain turned the leaves brown… Still — I’d have to go with the conversation & the spirit of the gang as what was truly exceptional!
Pick-​up locations were very convenient and there were no delays.
There was also a lot of making sure you are doing well — climbing, stopping to take all the pictures you want, and «oh, you want to go see that orchard and get some apple cider and pick some apples — no problem, we could do that».
Almost everyone dozed off on the drive back to the city, with that great sense of being pleasantly tired and soooo glad you got to spend a day in nature, because now you are ready to go through your work week re-​charged and… totally making plans for your next trip with DO;)
At least I did. And my second trip was even more eventful!:)

If you had a good, uncomplicated, safe, professionally-​managed outing with DO, you were lucky. They sometimes get it right, I understand. But basically they’re experimenting on you.
Don’t be fodder for these unscrupulous people. With all the social networking options available these days it is NO PROBLEM to find — for free! — others who like to hike or kayak or do yoga outdoors or ski or whatever, and organize an outing.
When I went on a DO «Yoga Hike Swim» outing three years ago, our entire group was stopped by a state cop who detained us for a good hour because the lake was clearly marked NO SWIMMING and there was no lifeguard. The guide had actually encouraged us to swim with a twinkle in his eye like we were all twelve years old again and sneaking down to the swimming hole when we shouldn’t. I’ve certainly grown out of that stage, and so should DO; I’m surprised to see they’re still misbehaving. If they haven’t cleaned up their act by now, they never will.
I don’t like complaining. But in this case, I felt a responsibility to do so, especially after seeing their Dealist snowshoeing offer in my mailbox.

Very unprofessional and deceiving. Went through a similar experience like Jaimie M. and Robin W. I been to a couple of trip and it does feel like the group organizer puts the trip together for his own person gain without regards to the safety and well-​being of his clients. If he can, he’ll try to get one over on you.
Will never go on another DO trip.

Bought a daily deal coupon from Living Social for a trip here. The deadline for the promotional value was December, months after the last trip could be scheduled in September. There was no mention of the last date of trip in the original Living Social posting or the daily deal coupon itself. All trips were filled up early and I could not get in contact with the owner. What kind of business has an email account that bounces because it it full and a turned off cell phone for a business phone? Business is run irresponsibly. I was able to get a refund from Living Social but was turned off by the whole experience with Dynamic Outdoors. I learned my lesson from this experience to always check reviews on Unilocal before I ever buy an outdoor trip daily deal.

Have to share my experience after the rock climbing trip in the Gunks. I was right about being in good hands and tons of fun. I am still giddy about it!!!
Igor and Alex were awesome. They were patient and encouraging and pushed me to challenge myself. So glad I did, Finished a 5.8 at the end with Jason belaying without using the cheater block or hanging on the rope and as clean as I could muster at the end of the day. Finger tips and toes are hurting a bit but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face the whole drive home!
So now the question lies, do I go to the Labor Day Caving/​Hike/​Camp/​Rock Climbing trips next, or do I go for the Level 5 White Water Rafting in Gaulie??? Arrrgghh, so wish I could go to both!

I have to bump my review up 1 star.
The Groupon leader reached out to me and apologized for being late. When I mentioned that we overpaid, he offered a partial refund.

I initially found out about DO via a Groupon deal that I wasn’t able to purchase and I am so glad I found them! They specialize in outdoor activities for New York’s who either don’t drive or don’t want to drive, and that is something I’ve been looking for.
I went to the July 10^th white water rafting trip in Lehigh and had a blast. The bus transportation was prompt and pulled out exactly on time which I appreciate being that I am stickler for being on time. I had been rafting 3 times before, and although I’m not a pro, the rapids were class 2 – 3 which I found to be boring, but it was still a great time.
The only «complaint» I have is that I didn’t see much of the DO people along the way. I would have liked for them to have been more accessible. Then again, considering the size of the group, I cant really blame them. All in all it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to doing another trip with them. Actually put the down payment on a class 5 rafting trip in West Virginia. Hoping to be a regular with this crew. It was a lot of fun!

So I signed up to go on whitewater rafting trip with Dynamic Outdoors. They advertised a guided trip down Class 3 rapids, with three or four of their own guides. I guess I didn’t exactly do my homework, but essentially we were just joining the giant groups at Pocono Whitewater (
). There’s nothing wrong with this trip, but it’s a huge operation — hundreds of people per day — and DO had nothing to do with it. The ‘guides’ from DO were not in our boat; who knows if they were even there.
In the end, it appeared that we were paying for a van rental. Considering you can show up as an individual small group as you please for $ 62, it would be a total rip-​off if you paid the full price of $ 129. Even our ‘discount’ price was a tough sell, considering what was provided.

After reading these reviews, I am shaking my head at myself for booking anything without checking Unilocal first. Dynamic Outdoors’ poor organization/​dishonesty and spotty safety practices were both raised by other Unilocalers but I unfortunately didn’t check before going.
Booked a weekend away with Dynamic Outdoors (DO) for Ice Climbing and a hike of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire a few weeks ago. I went with a friend and rarely write one-​star reviews, but some major issues in terms of misrepresentation and safety issues that make this a one-​star organization and really need to be outlined here:
— Like other Unilocalers have noted, we had the unpleasant surprise of 2 complete strangers being placed in our room without notice. Totally fine if disclosed but shady/​uncomfortable without a warning.
— More importantly there were some major safety/​liability issues — the day of the hike was seriously scary. Some clients were not even able to put on crampons properly, and the «guides» were unavailable/​unwilling to help them. It got to the point where my partner helped several people get theirs on before we could continue. Not good on a steep incline.
— A group of novices were in front of us, one with an improperly secured mountaineering axe hanging precariously from her pack. Instead of staff/​guides checking her at any time, we had to let her know about this and help her secure it for our own safety.
— Then dangling axe girl’s friend’s crampon fell off! She managed to get it back on (because again no guides were around to help, they were all towards the front, with the exception of one fellow at the back who was assisting with a cluster of even more incompetent hikers.)
— All of this made me very nervous, but the final straw was when the girl in front of me slipped (should not have happened in the first place, but she was completely unable to self-​arrest which is not all right to have people like this on a mountain) and slid 10 feet towards me, crampons and axe first! So scary.
— After almost getting spiked in the face, I made the executive decision to end our hike early, notified the guide behind us that we would meet them at the lodge, to which he rewarded us by giving us an incapacitated hiker to take back down the mountain!
— Completely inappropriate, and not our job to be responsible for this guys’ safety when there were paid guides around! I protested, but the guide refused to help him so short of leaving him alone to fend for himself, we had to help him down.
— Unfortunately this poor man was almost completely paralyzed with fatigue/​fear when going back at first, to the point where he was inching down and needed to be coached step by step down until the path got flat enough to walk again. Maybe not his fault, but again, not our responsibility. We breathed a sign of relief when we finally had him back to the lodge safely.
– There was a weird mix of «guides» and other presumed volunteers/​employees of DO on the trip. I think their practice for these trips is to plan things for their friends, and then market the event to unsuspecting bystanders to help fund the trip at the expense of paying «clients.» There did not seem to be many repeat customers other than the «staff», if any. (I put quotations there as several people were introduced to us as «staff» or «guides» but were uncertified and unpaid, and some even paid for themselves to come on the trip, but at a discount!)

I had a blast in Costa Rica, Iceland, Mt Marcy, Mt Whitney, Oktoberfest … and went to Colombia with them recently.
Don’t miss out on my great videos.

I had a really great time with Dynamic Outdoors when I went rock climbing on Oct 16, 2010.
The day was brisk and apparently the best type of weather for climbing. We went to the «gunks» which was a short van ride from the city. I went with my bf and a friend and it was really nice. We got to explore around and take our time with the rocks. There were different instructors, some who explained more thoroughly what to do (i.e. where to put your feet/​hands) while others let you explore. They included all equipment: helmets, shoes, ropes, harnesses, belay.
glad they did because i smacked my head not once, but TWICE on my first climb. i heard the guy belaying me got a real kick outta that — TWICE.
We got to climb the rocks at our leisure and as beginners I think we got a great variety of ones to choose from. The hike up to the rocks was a workout in itself. Overall we had a great time together and are in the process of finding another activity to do with DO because it’s a deal for things we couldn’t normally do.
ice climbing anyone? :)

It was one time and it will be the last time. A friend of mine somehow convinced me to go on a trip to Greece with Dynamic Outdoors because of the good price, young crowd, and all the activities included.
Well My first night we arrived in Santorini, it was a rude awakening to find out that not only did I share a room with my girlfriend I had to share one with 2 other girls, so it was the 4 of us with 3 beds (2 twins & 1 full). Even though we complained to the front desk, the only thing they could do was provide us a cot. In Mykonos we were lucky to get a closet size room with two twin beds pushed together. Even if we wanted to push them apart we couldn’t. In Athens, closet size room with 3 twin beds all pushed together for myself, my girlfriend, and another girl on the trip.
The description of the trip was slightly misleading. Things that we thought were included weren’t at all. Literally nothing was included on the trip. If it wasn’t for the wonderful people on the trip, I would have regretted this whole entire adventure. Nothing was planned and organized properly.
So in total the people paid for $ 2100 – 2200 per person, plus an additional $ 250 – 300 of our own pocket money that we thought the activities were suppose to include but didn’t. I didn’t come there expecting for 5 star treatment but for the price I paid I did not expect broke college student hostel type quality either (which is what the trip was about).
While I don’t mean to bash Dynamic Outdoors, and I bet many of their other activities are great, but just be careful what’s included. Because at the end of the trip many people found out that because we went to Greece in the off season, the prices for the hotels were ridiculously cheap. When you put 3 – 4 people per room you begin to realize that the trip organizer was profiting big time.
I seriously question the other reviewers on this page. It’s strange how many of the reviewers giving it 5 stars have only reviewed 1 – 2 places (generally its DO being the only place they review).

Dynamic Outdoors continues to impress me! I recently found DO on
. I was initially interested in their day hiking trips but after looking through the website I decided to start with an international trip. Between the itineraries and low costs I knew this was the best organization to book a trip with.
My first trip with DO was to Turkey in May… and it will not be my last. I’ve always wanted to go to Turkey and through DO I was able to see the best sights the country had to offer. Everything from the other travelers, organizers, and itinerary, I was very pleased. DO goes above and beyond to find the most economic prices… if you have any doubts just take a look at the competition. The group leader was very accommodating to all 15 of us; whether we wanted to spend more time hiking, sightseeing, or just relaxing he made it happen.
Since getting back I’ve gone on hiking trips with DO and have been equally pleased. If you’re looking to get outside the city, and have good time with a great group of people, Dynamic Outdoors is the way to go!

I’m not sure why my last review was taken down. But I have participated in more trips with DO over this summer, each one has been a lot of fun! The recent one I went on was the camping trip over labor day weekend. Although a post below may say otherwise, the rock climbing was amazing. I felt sooo safe, being that it was my very first time climbing. I feel like «m m» put a bad review probably because they are with the competitors. LAME. Karma is a biat-​ch so I think unless you have something of substance and real to say, then just keep it to yourself.
In any case, I’ve gone on plenty of hikes/​rock scrambles with DO and the lead hikers have been great and knowledgeable. I still commute from Philadelphia to NYC just to participate in these events. And to comment on some people’s reviews that DO is not for them, then they probably aren’t friendly, outgoing, energetic people who like to challenge themselves and have a good time. :-)