To book a river float trip or kayak rental at Walnut Hills Family Campground in Durand, Michigan, you reserve directly with Cheff’s Canoe Rental at cheffscanoerental.com (online booking, or call the number on their site), then book your campsite separately on the Walnut Hills rates page. Cheff’s is an independent livery that works out of the campground’s Shiawassee River boat launch, next to the camp store, and it rents Old Town canoes, kayaks and tubes with a bus ride included. You don’t have to camp to float, but campers can walk or golf-cart to the launch, and the river trip pairs with a swim in the spring-fed lake and the Wibit water park back at camp.
Here’s how booking works, the float options and roughly how long each takes, what the rentals cost, what’s included, how to bring your own boat and when the river is at its best.
How to book a float trip at Walnut Hills, step by step
- Pick your dates and your craft. Canoe, kayak or tube. Spring water is faster and suits canoes and kayaks; June through early August is prime tubing.
- Book the float with Cheff’s. Use the Book Now button at cheffscanoerental.com or call Dan Cheff at the number on the site. Floats are not booked through the campground’s reservation system, so a campsite reservation does not hold a boat, and a boat reservation does not hold a site.
- Book your campsite (optional). Reserve on the Walnut Hills rates page. Weekends from Memorial Day through September fill, so book the site first if you want a specific weekend.
- Meet at the canoe launch. It’s next to the store at the front of the campground. Campers walk or ride over; day visitors park in the lot beside the launch and pay the campground’s parking fee at the store.
- Float, then ride back. Depending on the trip, Dan either drives you upriver so you float back to the campground, or you launch at camp and he picks you up downstream and trailers the boats behind the bus.
Day visitors also register at the store. Wristbands for the Wibit and beach access on weekends are separate fees.
Shiawassee River float options from the campground
Cheff’s runs two main river sections, and tubes take about twice as long as a canoe or kayak over the same stretch. Our team describes the options this way:
| Trip | Craft | About how long | How it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upriver to the campground | Canoe, kayak | About 4 hours | Bus ride upstream from the launch, float back down and pull out at the campground |
| Campground downstream | Canoe, kayak | About 2 hours | Launch at the campground; pickup at a downstream pull-out |
| Tube float | Tube (and cooler tube) | About 2 hours | A separate pull-out on a local farm keeps the tube trip to two hours instead of four |
| In-park float | Your own tube or boat | 30 to 45 minutes | Start at one end of the campground and drift to the other; good for short attention spans |
Times are estimates. Cheff’s notes that trip length changes with river conditions, how much you paddle and how often you stop. Tubes move slower than boats, which is why Dan Cheff arranged the farm pull-out: a two-hour float is the length most tubers are hoping for.
How much do canoe, kayak and tube rentals cost?
Cheff’s sets its own prices and posts them on its rates page, so check there before you book. At the time of writing, its 2-hour trips are listed at $40 for a canoe with transport, $30 for a kayak with transport and $20 for a tube, plus $20 for a cooler tube. Group pricing for churches, schools and scout groups is by phone. Prices can change by season, so treat these as a guide.
What the campground charges is separate: your campsite if you’re staying, and a parking fee for day visitors using the launch lot (listed on the rates page). Bringing your own tube or boat and launching from the campground doesn’t carry a rental fee. Our guide to campground fees beyond the site rate covers the other extras to ask about.
What’s included with a Cheff’s rental
- The boat or tube. Old Town canoes, kayaks and river tubes; the website lists a fleet of 36 boats and 50 tubes.
- Life jackets. Dan provides them.
- The shuttle. A bus with a boat trailer, plus a second bus Cheff’s added for the shorter tube floats.
- Dogs. Cheff’s says well-behaved dogs are welcome on its trips. Back at the campground, dogs can swim in the river at the boat launch (the swim lake and beach are for people), and they stay leashed except inside the fenced dog park.
For age, size and life-jacket rules, see river tubing age and size restrictions, and for current conditions see river safety and condition checks.
A campground where you can kayak with your own boat
You don’t need a rental to paddle here. Guests can launch their own canoes, kayaks or tubes from the Walnut Hills boat launch, and two of the drop-off and pull-out points on these floats are public access sites, so you can float from the campground to a pull-out without Cheff’s at all. Set a vehicle downriver first thing in the morning so it’s waiting at the end. If you’d rather not shuttle, Dan offers a ride for bring-your-own paddlers for a fee; he can carry people, not private boats, so coordinate that by phone. River-frontage sites 27 to 42 sit right on the water, and when the river is up a nimble paddler can slide a kayak in straight from the site. Our riverfront camping guide covers those sites.
Michigan float trips on the Shiawassee: when to go
The Shiawassee is part of an 88-mile National Water Trail (designated 2020) running from Holly to Chesaning, and the stretch at Walnut Hills is cleared of downed trees and strainers. People who know both rivers often tell us they prefer it to the Rifle River because the water is deeper, so you’re not scraping bottom in low-water years, and it’s about an hour and a half closer to Flint, Lansing and Detroit. Cheff’s figures about 27 minutes from Lansing or Flint and about 51 minutes from the Detroit metro.
- April to May: faster water, best for canoes and kayaks.
- June to early August: ideal tubing, warm and slower.
- Mid-August to October: depends on rainfall. In a dry year the river gets low from early to mid August; with a normal summer it floats well to the end of the season.
Before you book, check the river: the water trail coalition has real-time depth and flow sensors along the river, and Friends of the Shiawassee River posts conditions. There’s also a 360-degree virtual tour of the river (photographed in 2019), linked from the Walnut Hills home page, so you can preview the stretch you’ll float.
Which float is right for your group?
- Parents with small kids: canoes, so the kids ride in the boat with you. The two-hour downstream trip is the easy first float.
- Teens and young adults: tubes, often with a cooler floating alongside in its own tube.
- Paddlers who want a full day: the four-hour trip from upriver back to camp.
- Short attention spans: the 30-to-45-minute in-park float with your own tube.
A campground employee’s version of the perfect weekend puts the float on Friday: Thursday on the Wibit, which is free for campers Tuesday through Thursday, Friday on the river, and Saturday back at the lake for the events and the food truck. Food trucks come every weekend from Memorial Day through September, so nobody has to cook after a day on the water.
Staying at Walnut Hills
Walnut Hills has 201 RV sites, including 80 full-hookup 50-amp sites and river-frontage sites 27 to 42, plus 18 tent sites and two air-conditioned camping cabins that sleep four. Nightly rates are dynamic and start around the high $40s for RV sites; the weekend after Memorial Day, the weekends around Labor Day, May and October are the best-value windows and still good float weather. Cheff’s Canoe Rental history runs with the park: Mike Cheff ran canoe floats from this stretch for years, and his son Dan restarted the business after GatherGrounds took over the campground in 2022, adding the tube bus. See the amenities page for everything else on site and our Michigan river tubing campgrounds guide for how the Shiawassee compares with other float rivers.
Float trip booking FAQ
Can I book the float trip when I reserve my campsite?
No. Campsites are booked with Walnut Hills and floats with Cheff’s. Book both if you want both.
How far ahead should I book?
Book the campsite early for summer weekends, since Memorial Day through September usually fills. For the float, book as soon as your dates are set; call Cheff’s for groups or for services the website doesn’t sell, such as a shuttle for your own boats.
Do I have to camp to rent a kayak or tube?
No. Day visitors park in the lot by the canoe launch, pay the parking fee at the store and meet Cheff’s there.
Is there canoe or kayak rental at The Oaks Campground?
No. There is no river float near our sister park in Munith. The Oaks has a fishing lake you can paddle with your own boat, and Portage Lake’s public boat launch is about nine minutes away.
What is Cheff’s cancellation policy?
Cheff’s sets its own terms; check them when you book. The campground’s cancellation policy for campsites is on the rates page.
