Let Lazy Otter make your paddle trip easy!

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Catch a ride on the Lazy Otter shuttle to make a trip on the French Broad using your own equipment a snap! Put in at Lazy Otter HQ in Horse Shoe and float seven miles to the Westfeldt take-out near the Sierra Nevada brewery and Asheville Airport, or we can take you up-river to the Horse Shoe Bend put-in so you can paddle back to us. The paddles are on flat water, but Lazy Otter recommends participants be able to swim and be comfortable maneuvering their boat around obstacles. Expect the float to Westfeldt to take 2.5-3 hours, depending on water flows and your effort. The Horse Shoe Bend float generally lasts about 1.5-2 hours.

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Shuttle-only trips to Westfeldt Park are available by reservation (call 828-756-1386, no on-line reservations for shuttles) with our scheduled Sierra Nevada Express trips. The meeting place is at Westfeldt where we'll load you up and take you upstream to Lazy Otter HQ, and you'll paddle back to your car at your leisure. The cost is $23 per person (not per boat).

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Shuttle-only trips to the Horse Shoe Bend put-in are available by request on the day of your trip and subject to availability, so call on the day you'd like to paddle to inquire. Meet at Lazy Otter HQ. The cost is $10 per person (not per boat). Remember that this is a very easy shuttle to do on your own with two cars since the public access is only one mile away from Lazy Otter HQ by road. If you can shuttle yourself, the charge to use the boat ramp is $5 on weekdays and $10 on weekends.

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A friendly tip since we're not always able to provide shuttle service, the Westfeldt Park take-out is right by the Asheville Airport so you may be able to use Uber or Lyft to shuttle yourself. If you have at least two paddlers but only one car, you can launch from Lazy Otter (see below), paddle down to Westfeldt, then leave one person at the take-out to watch the boats while another gets a ride-share back to pick up the car. The cost will usually be comparable or cheaper than our shuttle service.

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Just want to shuttle yourself?

Lazy Otter HQ has a prime riverside location in Horse Shoe, located 13 river miles downstream from the Penrose access, ten miles downstream from the Blantyre access, four miles downstream from the Horse Shoe Bend access on Highway 64, and seven miles upstream from Westfeldt Park. If all you want to do is park on our property and use our boat ramp, the cost if $5 per car and up to four boats Monday through Friday, and $10 per car and up to four boats Saturday and Sunday. Reservations are not required, but you should call to let us know you're coming so we can make arrangements if we won't be on site. No new parking or boat ramp use is allowed when the office is closed! Parking for multi-day trips costs either $5 or $10 for the first day as above, and then $5 for each additional day your car will be on site.