Since the days of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, the image of floating down a river on a hot summer day has always created a sense of adventure.

Located in the heart of the Catskill Mountains is a five-mile stretch of river that has become one of the most popular tubing courses around. People come from all over to ride the rapids and drift with the current as the Esopus Creek winds through the beautiful mountains and greenery of the Catskills.

If you've never tubed before, head for the Town Tinker Tube Rental headquarters on Bridge St. in Phoenicia, NY. There the expertly trained Town Tinker staff will rent you all the equipment you need, as well as giving you tubing instructions and safety tips.

Town Tinker has two courses, novice and expert. As the name implies, the novice course is for first-time tubers and those who prefer a gentler ride down the creek; the expert course is for more experienced tubers. Each course is about 2 1/2 miles long and each takes about 2 hours. The novice course begins near the Town Tinker headquarters on Bridge St. This course has a variety of exciting rapids, fun flumes, and calmer stretches just made for drifting. At the end of this course, our Town Tinker Tube Taxis will be your transportation back to Bridge St. The expert course, which is definitely more challenging and contains the best of the whitewater, begins 2 1/2 miles upstream from headquarters. Transportation to the entry point is by Town Tinker Tube Taxis. Along the expert course, you'll encounter larger, faster sets of rapids with names like "Railroad Rapids" and "The Chute". Any way you like it, you can find it on the Esopus Creek.

Of course, tubing, like other recreations and sports, has its hazards as well as good points, but common sense and following a few tubing tips can diminish the problems.

Tubing is fun, it's cheap and almost anyone can have a good time tubing...friends, families and people of all ages.

Children must be over 12 years old and good swimmers.

Experience nature's ultimate water park tubing on the Esopus