Experiencing a float trip at War Eagle Resort in Tahlequah, OK

I’m all for trying new things. I’m not an outdoors guy. And with everything going on in the world, the entertainment and trips are very limited. My friends and I wanted to do a small little getaway and I threw out the idea of a float trip. I’ve never been on one and at that moment decided I would take reign on all the planning. After researching the available float trip options around the Midwest, so many of them were booked and didn’t have the rooms available for our party size. Fortunately, we found some rooms at War Eagle Resort.

They had multiple options available like little two-bed motels, cabins, bunkhouses and more that slept anywhere from 4 on up. We all reserved motels. I didn’t take any pictures as blogging about it was the furthest thing from my mind. Most of the trip, I just wanted to disconnect from my phone and get my mind off of everything.

The motel rooms were nicer than we had imagined and cleaner. It really was similar to a small motel room you’d find elsewhere. There was a small pool just in front of the motels, but we hung out in the grassy area with lawn chairs, grilled food, drank and caught up on old times.

We arrived on Friday because our float was scheduled to start at 8:30am on Saturday. It was a quick 3 hour 45-minute drive to Tahlequah, OK so arriving Friday was better than having to leave early Saturday morning.

Once Saturday hit, we all went to the meeting area where our ores, life jackets, raft and a bus were awaiting this group of crazies.

The bus took us to drop-off spot on the Illinois River.

There were two options for floats, a short float that was around 3-4 hours and a longer one that could last between 6-8 hours. We opted for the latter of the two.

We rented three 6-person rafts and put four per raft with a cooler and found it to be most comfortable.

I snapped a couple of pictures at the very beginning of the float and put my phone away for the rest of the day. Besides, you don’t want to see pictures of everything I saw!

It was a cool, relaxing time with perfect weather. The sun came out for a portion of the float, the heat came beating down but the water was right there for us to jump in if we were getting too hot.

I chilled, drank, swam, sat on the banks and people-watched, exchanged pleasantries with other floaters, and had a great time. Literally, everyone was there to enjoy themselves. It was really what I envisioned a float trip would be like. Everybody was really cool with other groups on the float. It was like one big happy family of people excited to be outside.

Our float took roughly seven hours. Our endpoint was right back at War Eagle Resort where a bus took us on a few minute drive back to our rooms.

After sleeping (or passing out) that evening, I woke up and thought to myself, “Wow, that really was a good time. I’m going to do this again.” As we were driving back to Wichita, we started to plan out our next float trip and where to head to next time. But before that drive, we stopped by Moe’s Barbeque which was located right on War Eagle Resort. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Because we grilled all weekend, I didn’t stop by earlier.

We ordered a breakfast burrito and breakfast chicken sandwich which were both great and about put us to sleep on the way home.

The War Eagle Resort staff was super nice. They did a great job of keeping the place clean. Only drawback is their phone lines can get busy at times and all reservations have to be done over the phone. #FirstWorldProblems

All in all a fantastic time where I’m incredibly sore, tired and so excited to sleep in my bed again. Until next time.

Check out War Eagle Resort’s website or Facebook page for more.