River Cruiser Kayaking - Parma Heights, Ohio

Patrick O.

Dan handled everything perfectly. He's a pro. He will take care of you. If you're looking to do some kayaking in the Cleveland area here are my recommendations:
1. Talk to Dan. This isn't an 'a la carte' situation where you pick a trip from a menu and book a time. Dan is extremely knowledgeable about where to put in and where to get picked up. Just talk about it with him and come up with a plan.
2. You're paying for the kayak for the day, so make sure you have a gameplan worked out with Dan at the start.
3. Make sure you have plenty of water and maybe a little food to take with you for your trip.
4. If you haven't kayak'ed much, or at all, make sure you take a lesson. It's not difficult, but you need a modicum of instruction prior to getting out on the water. If it's your first trip ever, maybe book a guided tour.
5. Bring friends. Dan has lots of boats. The more the merrier.

I am not affiliated with River Cruiser Kayaking in any way other than being a happy customer. Great job Dan, thanks for a great trip down the Cuyahoga!

Michelle G.

Great trip! I enjoyed it so much last year that I brought my family along this year. From forest to steel mill to city, you see everything on this trip. Dan was very helpful and responsive. I highly recommend River Cruiser Kayaking!

John M.

Dan is very great. Got us in the water and checked up on us halfway through to make sure no one in the party needed to bail. Fantastic views of the Cuyahoga and it's transition from nature to industry.

Brian G.

It was a great day kayaking with Dan. I am in my early 60s. I have kayaked a few times over the years but still consider myself a neophyte. My wife has kayaked even less than I have, and she has not kayaked for several years. We wanted to go with someone that would make the day easy for us by taking care of all the prep, giving us some instructions and guiding us safely down the Cuyahoga River. We wanted to spend the majority of our time on the water. Dan had everything ready, he walked us through the prep and got us on the river quickly. Then we were able to spend our time enjoying the view, and listening to the history and stories that Dan shared with us along the way. We saw the beautiful river, some great birds, tons of amazing bridges, and several industrial plants along the way where loading a huge freighter and seeing the operations of the plants from the water were part of our adventure. I would highly recommend Dan and the trip. He is a quality operator and well worth the money. We will definitely look him up the next time we are in Cleveland.

Nishimwe S.

Really amazing area! Great place to be if it is your first time kayaking. The person who helped us with our kayaks was really nice. I’m totally coming back.

John M.

We booked a trip for 8 with River Cruising Kayaking on July 4th. We put in off the towpath trail in Cuyahoga Heights and paddled to Merwin’s Warf. It was great. Dan met us at the takeout right on time and drove us to the put in. The kayaks and gear was all ready to go when we got there. He took the time to share tips for our trip and highlighted some of the great things we would see along the way. The first third was through a wooded area with plenty of Great Blue Herons and Bald Eagle. The rest of the trip was through the industrial section of the flats that no one ever sees. The steel mills and all of the lift bridges from water level. I recommend the trip and booking with Dan. As he pointed out for us, there is really nowhere that you can get out of the kayak in the industrial section, so take a good stretch at Harvard Rd. if you need one. Great trip. Thanks Dan (and Charlotte)!

Joanne L.

My friend and I (ladies in our 50's) took a kayaking lesson with Dan. The location was on a quiet lake in Richfield it was perfect. Dan is a great instructor he's very knowledgeable, thorough and patient. We feel 100% more confident in our ability to go out on our own. We highly recommend taking a lesson with Dan.

Grace K.

My friend and I had a really positive experience with our kayak adventure for the day. This is a small outfit company run by Dan, who is a super nice, accommodating guy who knows the river well. He needs at least two parties to book around the same time to make sure that it's worth his time, but we were willing to pay the cash price to ensure that we got to go when we wanted to go. So, he's very flexible to leave when you want if you are the only party. He communicated with emails and texts very well, and now accepts Venmo thanks to our little SNAFU of losing a life jacket. We don't know how, but it must have fallen out of the back toward the end of the trip. He also is caring enough to make sure to ask that you have sunscreen and water with you as you travel.
Dan met us near the ending point of the trip and drove us in his car to meet where our tandem kayak awaited us at the starting point. Our trip began somewhere in the industrial valley, where most Clevelanders have not travelled, so it was an interesting trip. It would be super cool to have a little map of the river along with the points of interest (plants that do something with tons of gravel?) along the way.
Not knowing the Cuyahoga very well, we kept anticipating that we were almost to the flats (a total of 9 miles from the starting point), but the river kept curving back and forth....I feel like we were in front of Tower City three or four times. It is super neat to see downtown from this point, and it would be really neat to approach the city lights at night from a shorter distance. After two hours of pretty steady paddling, we ended the trip right in the flats, so if you time things well, you could hop out and have a nice bite to eat or have a little drink. You would just need to get back to your car or make sure that Dan knew that you were going to stay in the Flats for a little bit.
I would definitely trust Dan again. It was a very nice day! I would really give 4.5 out of 5.