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Sunburst Ranch is located on a beautiful stretch of the North Fork River in Missouri. With over a mile of riverfront, you can bring your own inflatable devices and take a nice float without ever leaving the campground.
Cabins. RV Sites. Riverside Camping
Canoes. Kayaks. Rafts. Tubes
This was my first year using Sunburst Ranch to float the North Fork river. I have previously used Twin Bridges for ~15 years to float the same river. Last year I eventually got fed up with Twin Bridges poor service and decided I would go elsewhere. I was blown away by the service and accommodations at Sunburst Ranch.
I think throughout the year of planning this trip I called and spoke to Stephanie ten times just to ask questions and confirm details. Every time we spoke she was great and answered all my questions thoroughly. I floated Hammonds Mill and The Landing twice each. These floats are great. We stayed at The Overlook and Memories Made cabins and were totally blown away by house awesome the houses were. They have recently been renovated and are so much nicer than anything we are used to staying in for a float trip. The both sit right next to each other and it was great for our group of around 30 people between the two houses. These houses allowed us to still be together and easily cook large group meals after we got off the river.
My favorite part about the folks at Sunburst is that they were willing to work with me. I float with a large group that likes to have a good time on the river (I.E. can't typically drive home from a day of floating). My biggest concern about using Sunburst was that my group was used to either staying at the take out point or being bussed back from a day on the river so we had never had to worry about driving after floating. Stephanie was able to work out a day where they actually picked us up from our lodging in a bus and delivered us home after floating. This is just one small example of their flexibility and customer service.
I can't say enough great things about Sunburst Ranch. I will absolutely be back here soon. The staff, Stephanie in particular, is terrific and well organized. The floats and lodging are tremendous and extremally reasonably priced.
Stayed at The Landing cabin over Memorial Day Weekend with some friends a few years ago and had so much fun we've made it an annual tradition. We just got back from our 3rd year staying there. We did a peaceful float by canoe on Saturday from Hammond Camp and saw tons of wildlife: turkey, deer, great blue heron, bald eagle, brown trout, rainbow trout, and almost no people. On Sunday we did the shorter float by raft to The Landing and had a great party on the water. I can't say enough good things about Stephanie, Brian, and the whole Sunburst staff who make us feel at home. Well worth the drive to get away from it all for a few days.
I was very unhappy with my experience. I drive for the Amish and I brought a group to kayak, I just bought my own kayaks and while I understand the reason I would have to pay the normal fee to put my own kayak on their trailer and ride their shuttle I made my own transportation arrangements and still had to pay 10 dollars per kayak to dock with the Amish I transported there. Also the attitude of the guy that checked us in was less than acceptable. I wasn’t asking for anything free except to walk up
His dock with my own kayak and load it on to my own vehicle, he was very rude about it.
We switched to Sunburst a few years ago on a recommendation and have been coming back ever since! The staff at Sunburst are always very friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating. We decided to move our large family float (70+ people!) to Sunburst this year spread between cabins, camper rentals, personal RVs, and tents. We rented 30 canoes and 5 kayaks for the Hammond float and they even had everything staged and ready for us when we got there! Stephanie was able to help us get everything organized and helped us correct some of our own booking mistakes, our bus drivers were very patient with our stragglers, and they were very kind and understanding when a freak storm blew through and some of our group was forced to abandon their wrecked tents in the middle of the night. We very highly recommend Sunburst and will definitely be back for both our small and large floats!
The best place to float and camp on the north fork! The owners are hands on with every aspect of the daily operations and it shows with the organization and attention to details. The entire staff is amazing, we have stayed at many river campgrounds and Sunburst is by far the best and most accommodating.
