Little Platte Paddle Co. · Kayak, board and bike rental at Smithville Lake

The fleet

What is actually on the rack

Counts are what we own, not what is free at two o'clock on a Saturday. Call ahead on a holiday weekend and the tandems get held for you.

Sit-on-top kayaks, single

14 boats · 10 ft · up to 275 lb

The default boat and the one almost everyone should take. Stable enough to stand up out of, impossible to swamp, and easy to climb back onto in open water. Paddle, seat back and a life jacket come with it.

Plain white plastic kayaks stacked hulls outward on a steel storage rack on gravel beside grey lake water.

Tandems

5 boats · 12 ft

Two adults, or one adult and two small kids. These go first on Saturdays.

A long red tandem kayak resting on a concrete ramp at the water's edge with two paddles laid across its deck.

Paddleboards

8 boards · 10 ft 6 in

Inflatable, pumped stiff before you leave the counter. Ankle leash and a belt life jacket come with each one. Best before ten in the morning, when the lake is flat.

A stand up paddleboard with its paddle laid across it floating on glassy water at sunrise, seen from the shore.

Trail bikes

6 bikes · sizes S to XL

Front suspension hardtails for the Smithville Lake trail system. Helmet included and required for anyone under sixteen. A flat kit rides in the seat bag.

Five hardtail mountain bikes lined up in a steel rack on a paved path at a wooded trailhead in dappled light.

Kids' boats

4 boats · 6 ft

Short hulls for ages six to eleven, with a youth jacket fitted at the counter.

Small orange life jackets hanging on wooden pegs above a plank bench inside a lakeside shed.

What comes with every rental

No extra charge

A Coast Guard approved life jacket fitted to the person wearing it, a paddle, a whistle on the jacket, a dry bag for phones and keys, and two minutes of instruction at the ramp on how to get back on the boat if you come off it. The dry bag is the one people are most glad about later.

A life jacket, a paddle, a whistle on a cord and a yellow roll top dry bag laid out on a pale wooden counter.

Rates

Two hours, half a day, or all of it

Everything is priced per boat, not per person, and a tandem is one boat. Rates below are illustrative for this mockup.

Craft	2 hours	Half day	Full day
Single kayak	$25	$40	$55
Tandem kayak	$38	$58	$78
Paddleboard	$28	$45	$60
Kids' kayak	$18	$28	$38
Trail bike	$22	$35	$48
Family four pack Two singles and two kids' boats	$75	$115	$155

Half day is four hours. Full day is open to close. A card is held at the counter and released when the boat comes back. Nothing is charged for a late return of under thirty minutes.

How it works

Reserved on a weekend, walk up on a weekday

Call the day before
Friday and Saturday sell out by mid morning in July. A reservation holds the boat until eleven.
Sign at the counter
One waiver per person. Anyone under eighteen needs a parent to sign it in person.
Get fitted at the ramp
Jackets are fitted, not handed over. Two minutes of instruction and you are on the water.
Come back to the same ramp
Boats come out where they went in. Rack them and the card hold drops off.

Where to put in

Little Platte Park, west side of the lake

The rental rack sits at the gravel ramp on the park road, past the second parking loop. If you reach the swim beach you have gone too far. Trailered boats use the main ramp instead, which is north of us.

Drive timeAbout twenty minutes from Liberty, thirty five from the Northland.
ParkingFree in the gravel loop next to the rack. Clay County day use fee applies at the park gate.
RestroomsVault toilets at the loop. The nearest flush restrooms are at the marina.
WaterBring it. There is no spigot at this ramp.

Map to be drawnSimple line map: Highway DD entrance, the park road, the gravel ramp with the rental rack marked, the parking loop, the swim beach to the south and the main trailer ramp to the north. No satellite photo.

Season and weather

Open from the first warm Saturday in April to the last one in October

Seven days a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day, 9 to 7. Weekends only in April, May, September and October, 10 to 5.

The lake closes us, not the calendar. Sustained wind over about fifteen miles an hour puts whitecaps on the main body and the rack does not go out. Lightning within ten miles closes the ramp for thirty minutes past the last strike. Both decisions get posted to the board at the top of this page in the morning and updated if the day turns.

If the board says open and you are driving more than half an hour, call anyway. Nobody minds.