Do you have your own equipment, need a place to park, and require transportation to the launch site?  We will transport you and your equipment for 1/2 price.  Transports are done within the trip times offered each day. For example, if we are not offering a 10 mile trip with our equipment, we do not do a 10 mile transport trip. You must start at our facility – do not paddle or float to our facility and then want transport because you are not authorized to use our dock at that point.

We reserve the right to see your equipment before quoting a price for transport and/or not transport your equipment due to size limitations such as for rafts exceeding a 2-person capacity.  We do not transport tubes that have heads, wings, legs, (novelty items) or pool tubes/rafts and equipment etc.  The price for transporting a double tube is half price of renting two of our single tubes. The price of transporting a double kayak is considered to be the same as transporting a 2-person canoe.  Transports are considered a discounted price – only one discount is valid per purchase. No trailers (or other extended vehicles) allowed on weekends due to parking limitations!

How it works … you must start your trip at the Pale Whale at 115 Riverside Drive, Cooksburg, PA 16217. When you arrive, unload your equipment in the grassy area in front of the Cooksburg Dry Goods Gift Shoppe then prepare for your trip (restrooms, sunscreen, etc.). Please park in a parking spot and then unload and do not block traffic. Once ready, sign waivers and get your trip tickets then you’ll be ready to go!

If you are renting equipment from us AND transporting your own, then your personal equipment must use the public docks which are currently located in the Henry’s Run Day Use Area upriver from us. The Cooksburg Canoe Launch public dock is currently closed due to construction by the PA DCNR. The Pale Whale is located on private property and is for use of those guests renting from us. This does not mean that if you rent some equipment from us, that you can use our dock for all your personal equipment that we did not transport. You can only use our dock for private equipment that has been transported with us.

You can check out the Cook Forest State Park public and private property lines throughout the forest by clicking here on map. Please keep in mind that our 10-mile launch is also private property, so if you are meeting friends/family who have taken their own equipment, they will need to launch at Clear Creek Canoe Launch (upstream from our launch) or Barnett Canoe Launch (downstream from our launch) – please see Cook Forest River Trail Map for details on where these are located.

Remember, we cannot provide a taxi service, you must rent equipment for us to transport you on a van based on our regular trip times – no exceptions. Please plan appropriately if you are bringing your own equipment to the river.

Cook Forest State Park, Clear Creek State Park, and the Allegheny National Forest have many public launch sites as well as parking available to those who wish to transport their own equipment. You can stop by the Cook Forest Park Office  in Cooksburg to pick up maps of both Cook Forest and/or Clear Creek or check out their downloadable maps online at http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/index.aspx then choose “Find a Park”.