River Ranch Resort

Abby Feek

2024-05

I am not a camper. I don't enjoy sleeping in tents or even RVs. HOWEVER, these little pods were so freaking cute and comfortable! The bed was amazing! Probably one of the best I've slept in while on a vacation. The staff was friendly and helpful and it was such a relaxed vibe. They have a pretty good sized store with essentials and the prices didn't seem unreasonable. Ice is also available. The only thing I would have liked would be a mini fridge in the regular pods but with our coolers and the available ice, it wasn't a big deal to keep our food cold. If I get the chance, I will go back! This is the only way I will camp!

s “Meandmytruck” j

2024-05

I was invited to stay here for a small group event but after looking at how they charge per camp site, I decided not to give them my business. They don't charge "per camp site" such as CoE or State Parks do, they charge per person, with a 2 person minimum. It says so on their booking page and I verified by a few phone calls. The bored girl with her mouth full of chewing gum that I disturbed by calling said so. (It would be a great job is the stinking customers would just leave her alone!)If you are a solo camper, be advised that while you will use 1/2 as much water or utility, (if any) you will be charged twice as much to stay here.On that note, my little 15 ft camper does not require electric or a water hook up so I would use none of their utilities, but they would make me park in their RV-parking area, and charge me accordingly as if I drove a 50 ft. motor-home running 2 AC units, coffee pots, hair dryers, and a big screen TV (none of which I have or use).A self contained 15 ft camper trailer requiring no electric leaves less foot print on the turf than the typical tent, but they will not let you park in a "tent camping" spot. Each tire leaves a 6 inch mark. Compare that to how much a tent smashes down. 12 inches compared to several, maybe even 100 or more, square feet.I am not a tree hugger "Go Green!" person, but put in this perspective, if you are - you can see that this place is not environmentally conscious and doesn't serve the solo camper who just wants a quiet place to float the river or sleep or star gaze in quiet. Nope, you sir have to pay double and sleep among 40 foot motor homes.If you are looking for a Party-Spot, I think this is your place, crowded, loud, a bar, a store - if that is your scene, great. But if you are a solo camper just looking for a spot to camp so you can float the river, this is not your place. 2 nights would have ran me $130, before I rented a kayak to float. Wowzer. I will not be camping here but I hope you have a good time.I know the town of Noel just lost their Chicken Plant putting half the town out of business and they want to push tourism to make up for the lack of jobs and taxes. Maybe the town government should talk to the river businesses about attracting people instead of discouraging people to visit. The spot I would have rented on a Tuesday night for 1 will probably sit empty. Seems like bad business to me. My vacation dollars are as taxed as yours thanks to Brandon, so I will camp where it is affordable.

Sheila B

2024-04

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Jared Jacob

2024-05

This is my go-to outfitter for Elk River kayaking. Service is always efficient and the facilities are clean.

Darion Waller

2023-08

The campsites are rather small and close together that’s the nature of camping to me. Ours was situated kind of cool so we had a lower campground tent and an upper campground tent (site 138). Right off the river so can go observe tadpoles and frogs if you’d like. The 5 hour float trip did take the 8 hours we expected, we stopped a couple times but to start the day we didn’t really row for about 3 hours and then we realized we had only made it 1 mile. There’s a couple ripe swings along the river as well if you’re up for thrill. They seemed pretty well organized and compared to the other couple resorts we drove by, I believe this was prime real estate.Food & drinks: Right outside the resort there’s like a dollar general and a gas station so if you do forget anything you can grab most anything you’d need.

Lindsay Kane

2024-04

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Patrick Ryan

2023-09

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Juan Castaneda

2023-08

We had a lot of fun here. Great place to camp and do a float trip in general. They're store was nice and had anything we would need for a float trip. Will be very useful if you forget to buy certain things for the float. It was a blast! I hope to make another trip here.Nearby activities: They had sand volleyball courts and a beach right by the river.Walkability: Camp sire isn't huge which makes bathrooms and showers close by.Food & drinks: They have an all you can eat breakfast. Nothing crazy but it was still nice. It was around 10 dollars per person.

Trinity Head

2023-08

Great place to go with friends. The only thing I didn't like was the last 1/2 mile of the float took a long time because the water didn't move at all. You couldn't touch in the water. You had to use all muscle the whole time to get to the end. It was a little hard after being on the river for 6 hours already. Over all, we had a great time with our friends.

Lucas Tickles

2023-09

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corey waddell

2023-09

This was our first time here and we really had a good time. Since this is the end of the season, it is hard to say how it would be during their summer months because everything was shutting down. The help was polite and helpful. I do wish they had a map or more detail on how long it would take by way points etc. along the way. I knew it would take longer than normal because we haven't had alot of rain so the current was slower. It took us about 8hrs with some short stops and me keeping everyone moving. They said 5 to 7. If u are planning on taking a raft it will take a lot longer than a conoe or kayak etc. We had a couple canoes and a 4 & 6 person rafts for.Since everything was pretty much shutdown you should pack accordingly during trip and for after. Not many options for food etc.

Stephen G.

2023-10

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Jacob Tullis

2023-06

Love river ranch resort, had a group of 40 people this last trip down there. The only issue I had was when we tried to drop our own kayaks in the river. They wanted to charge us to take them to the drop off spot when we were more then capable of doing it ourselves, we decided to go ahead and do just that and got yelled at for it. Seems a bit money grubby to me but all in all was still a good time.

Jessica Short

2023-09

Cabins serve thier purpose, this was my 1st time in them. I'd say the new tiny homes look way cooler but only room for 2 ppl. There was a step up from our cabins that we were told were nicer. There's also a house that I've been told is very nice. It's a fun spot & love the volleyball.The breakfast used to be pretty good & a open area to dine, but that's shut down for some reason now. The bathrooms could use a face lift for sure. Pizza is delicious however!! Staff are all nice & helpful.

Abby Simon

2023-07

Only few miles off highway and always a delight! Has general store for merch and all the things you forgot (dry bag, waterproof things for phone, water shoes etc). Has options for 5 and 8 mi floats and cops driving by often after dark so felt safe (wasn't outside much during day but assume they patrol then too). Will definitely be back!!

Michelle Gill

2023-06

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Michael Rosseno

2023-09

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Cole Kram

2023-08

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Shea Cyrene

2023-08

My best friend and I visited River Ranch Resort the first weekend of August '23. From the moment we pulled in we knew this would be quite the experience, and boy were we right! The folks who checked us in answered every question we had before we even asked! The store has just about anything you might need or might have forgotten, as well as a solid selections of snacks. We stayed in mega-pod #10, and it was just the PERFECT size for two people. Heavily air conditioned, a mini fridge, full bathroom with a shower and running water, and the BED. Oh my god the bed. It was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on outside of my own.The Glow Float on Friday evening was a blast, such a cool event to have!We overslept our check in time on Saturday for our big float day (im not kidding about that bed), and staff helped us get on the bus and into the river with no hiccups.The campground felt like summer camp for adults, and we had a blast walking around meeting people and ordering a DELICIOUS pizza for dinner.Unfortunately, on Sunday we had a pretty huge hiccup. A drunk man on Saturday night was not happy that I turned down his advances, and he slashed all four of my tires early Sunday morning before we were awake. When we woke up and discovered our dilemma, I walked to the store and flagged down a man, Bill, for help.Bill came down to our spot, assessed the issue, and did not hesitate to take action to help us be on our way. He brought his air compressor, filled my tires and did some magic to find all the holes in my tires, and patched everything he could with tubes. Then he had us follow him up the road to where his little shop was, and he and two other men took even more action to make sure we would get home safe.Without the help of Bill and those other men i have no doubt we would still be stranded somewhere. They were so so very kind and patient and helpful, and they really tied a beautiful bow on a wonderful weekend, regardless of the circumstances.We will forever be grateful for Bill's help that day, and there is no doubt in my mind that WE WILL BE BACK!!!!Thank you again to all of the staff that made this weekend so special for us.

Cristofer Leon Salazar

2023-08

I do not suggest for any reason that you rent or camp on this site, now they charge 2 nights even if you want a single night of camping.so do not buy firewood for your campfire because if they confuse your ticket they will go to your camping area and tell you to leave or pay triple what you paid at the beginningI paid more than 600 dollars to be on this site and even so they charged me 170 dollars more because, according to them, they got confused with the ticket, I mean bro what the hell!?

Anthony Evangelista

2023-08

We stayed several nights in their glamping pods for a float trip. I'm not a novice to camping and while I know bugs are to be expected. Neither I nor my fiancee were expecting to find spiders all over the inside of the glamping pod and while it wouldn't have been that bad if they had to just give me a broom or something to brush them down myself but not have anything made it difficult.So I decided to ask at the store if they could have someone come down to clean out the webs while I went to my friends who were staying in the Mega pods. Funny enough found out they had similar issues but one of them had cleaned them out. So about two hours later when I came back to the store they said they did have someone go out and while the majority of the webs were gone quite a few were still remaining. At that point I just found a stick long enough to clean the remaining webs out myself.

Lee JC

2023-09

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Mary Martinez

2023-07

We camped out and it was a beautiful camp ground! Restrooms and showers were clean. People who worked were very kind. Great experience for my 1st float trip.

Chelsea Hazell

2024-04

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Alexis Trude (Alex)

2023-07

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Sally Stamback

2023-06

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David Mitby

2023-05

I have been floating for 25+ years all around MO rivers. Came down for first time for a Fri-Sun float. Pros: Huge store with just about anything you need available and they also serve food. Plenty of trees for shade. Had plenty of showers, but take $.50 with you to pay for one. They will deliver pizza to your campsite. Cons: It's right next to a Tyson chicken processing plant to the north less than a few hundred yards. Thank God we mostly had a south wind all weekend, except late Saturday night! North wind smelled horrible all around the camp! Camped in a RV full hookup spot which was small, not very level and all dirt. No gravel or concrete pad whatsoever. If it rains (which it did the last morning), expect a very muddy mess. Entire campground felt crammed together and you are practically on top of other campers. Sat in river first day down and pretty regular noise of trains and traffic on nearby bridge and roads, so not very relaxing. Paid $40 for then to portage my kayak which involved them pretty much putting in on the back of the bus, then pulling it off and setting it on the ground when we got to put it. Had to do my own carrying for all the rest of it. Seemed kinda expensive for what little they did compared to other campgrounds I've been to.Maybe instead of giving people a fancy, color 40 page booklet to their campground, they could at spend the money putting gravel on some of their RV sites. Sadly, I was scouting this campsite for a 6+ camper/RV trip next year, but we will definitely pass. If like noise, the smell of rotten chicken processing and getting everything muddy, this is the place for you!

Ubern00bie

2023-06

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Harrison

2023-05

I have used this outfitter several times now, and have never been dissatisfied with my experience. The pricing is very fair and the convenience they offer makes floating the elk an easy decision. The river has always been pretty easy to float, even for new comers. The river was pretty crowded the day that I went so I would recommend starting early in the day to avoid the party crowd.

Rheanna Martin

2022-05

Camping and floating was fun. The campsites are really close though and our camping neighbors did not respect the quiet hours. They played their music loudly until 3am. Had my husband reported it to the staff, I am sure they would have told them to be quiet. The staff at this resort tend to the campers needs and are very kind. I would never come back on a weekend though. I would prefer to visit when it isn't very busy and full of party crazed people. If you're looking to have fun and meet new people. This is the place to come.