James River Reeling & Rafting

I rafted with my family through James River Rafting and Reeling. We purchased our trip through Groupon and headed on up to Scottsville. We arrived at the JRRR facility and waited for the group to be assembled and loaded onto the former school bus. We then took an approximately ten minute bus ride to the drop off point. From there, we grabbed a sturdy rubber inner tube and hopped in.
Our float lasted between 3 – 4 hours. The length of the float is entirely dependent upon the depth of the river as well as if/​when your group stops for lunch or to hang out on any rocks. The water is relatively clean (it is a river) and the grasses and algae are minimal. Less active people may have a bit of trouble getting in and out of the rafts at the beginning, but there are people to help with this. Overall, our float was very relaxing and great family bonding.
The take out location is in the parking lot of the JRRR facility. Staff are there to provide you with your keys. Upon exiting the river, restroom and shower facilities are available in the JRRR building. There are also items available for purchase including sunscreen, water shoes, minimal snacks, and some camping supplies. I would advise purchasing food and drink and packing in a cooler before arriving in Scottsville as options are basically limited to one gas station. You can rent a separate tube for your cooler which I highly recommend. As you will be under the sun, be sure to pack several drinks per person, sunscreen, hat, and water shoes/​Crocs.
The only reason for a four star over five: tubing prices are a bit high without a Groupon.

We went rafting down the James on a recent Saturday. My friend made the reservations so I am not sure how that process was but she did not seem to have any complaints.
This business gets extremely busy on weekends in the summer so I would definitely make sure you have reservations. Everyone in the shop was friendly when we checked in especially considering they had a ton of groups and it was a little chaotic.
Our van driver was nice. The only off putting experience we had was with an employee at the river. They have twine for cooler tubes however this company does not allow you to tie your tubes together. That is find and I can understand their policy for this. However we all wanted a small piece of twine to tie our water bottles to our tubes and this guy was absolutely convinced that we were going to tie our tubes together… yeah ok, with about a yard of string that would work well… He got snotty and gave us a jokeable piece of twine just kind of rubbed our whole group the wrong way.
However the float down the river was fun and relaxing. Once we were done our car keys were waiting for us and we drove back to the shop where they had some nice facilities to clean up and shower and change.
A fun experience if you are in the area, but it can definitely get crowded on the weekends. Oh and bring your own twine.

Went here with a group of girlfriends on Sunday, the 25^th of August. We drove almost 3 hrs to check this place out. Thank you Unilocal for great review — Unilocal was the determining factor as to whether or not to go river tubing here.
What a great experience. The staff was very friendly and informative. The company is very well-​organized. Check-​in was a breeze. There was plenty of parking with clear instructions. The bus ride up the river was fun. We were given tubes and we figured it out!
The day we went, the water levels were between 3 – 5 feet. We hit a couple of rocks here and there but nothing too bad. Overall, we enjoyed our trip. Spent about 3 hrs floating down the river, taking a 20 minute break to eat our lunch.
The exit was visible for a mile away and we had enough time to paddle to our exit. It was a very peaceful trip. Great Scenery.
Finding our vehicle was easy. Their showers were nice with hot water. Their restroom/​shower/​changing area was very well-​kept/​clean and maintained.
It wasn’t hard finding the location nor bad to get out.
They do offer campsites, kayaking, canoeing, so we will be trying them again in the future. River tubing was fun.
River was pretty clean when we went there… nothing dirty about it. Love nature!

Fantastic day kayaking on the river in August 2013. Great instruction on how to handle the small rapids (no one dumped) and where to exit. Staff was helpful and flexible. Bathrooms were clean. Just a jun, reasonably priced outing.

I’ve had these guys take my friends and me out on the river several times, both in tubes and kayaks. By nature, it’s a lot of people taking on old school bus to the river. But, Reeling and Rafting does it well. They’re on time and have clean bathrooms. Good trip every time.

Enjoyed Our day on the James river Friday, August 3, 2012. Friendly, efficient staff and a very friendly great Dane made our day. It was so nice in the river that we «ANCHORED» in place for about a.m. hour while snacking and reading our books. Someday I hope to come back here, rent a kayak and do some smallmouth bass fishing

I’ve never been tubing on the James River or any other river for that matter. My wife got a Groupon for this place a while ago and we decided that it was finally time to cash it in. We took a couple of our friends and had a great time.
We took a cooler so we could have lunch and something to drink while we casually floated down the river. Also a great place to keep SUNSCREEN and a camera or cell phone. This was particularly awesome because they just stick a cooler in a tube for you and you tie a rope around it and it just floats along with you. Brilliant! They even load the coolers up and take them off the bus for you. What service! And they will also take your keys for you and keep them on a peg board at the end of the trip so you don’t lose them in the river.
What I’ve learned about this experience is that the higher the water level, the faster the current, and the faster you’ll get from point A to point B. I have to say that even though the bus driver said that it would be 3.5 — 4 hours I think it ended up being a five hour trip. The water level was a little more than three feet on Sunday July 29 when we went. I was ready to get out of the water at around hour 4 but I had to paddle my way to the end to get to the place to get out.
Going into this I was most worried about the river being gross, but when I got into the water I didn’t care. It was a great temperature and very relaxing. Yes, the river did get kind of gross at some points, but it’s not like it was slimy with junk sticking to me or anything. It was just algae that looked strange to me because I wasn’t used to seeing something like that, but I think that’s just a sign that the river is healthy… at least that’s what I’m telling myself. It was just *there* and it wasn’t bothering anyone… you couldn’t even feel it touch you as you floated by it. And if I wanted to I could have gotten myself over to the other side away from it but I didn’t care really.
Being in the river all day and not rinsing off before getting into the car did cause my car to stink for a couple of days after, but you can probably avoid that if you let the car air out by keeping the windows down for a day. Overall I had a great time, so did my guests, and I’d do it again… maybe on a day when the water was a little higher.

Fun day rafting on the river. Took 4 hours, but was a good time for myself, my husband, and our 10 and 7 year old. The place was run by mostly teenagers, but they seemed to know what they were doing.
The river is kind of gross in some places. I recommend taking some soap and a change of clothes, they have some decent shower facilities you can use afterward.
The only reason I gave 4 stars is because we were on the same «bus» as a really obnoxious man that was a fan of cursing loudly. I mean, we could hear him all the way up and down the river. Dude, loud «F Bombs» aren’t cool around kids. I am no stranger to spewing profanities myself, but it’s not necessary to scream them around children. Have some respect.
I realize that this is no fault of the companies, but I had to take away a star for that negative part of the experience.