Best Camp Chairs for River Trips

Choosing a camp chair for your river trip is an important consideration. One of the best parts of a multi-day river trip is settling into your camp chair—after a long day running rapids—with a cold beverage, a hot plate of food, and the anticipation of some good story-telling or guitar playing with your friends. While essentially any seat dubbed a “camp chair” on any outdoor gear site will serve its purpose on a river trip, here’s a guide to choosing the best camp chair for river trips, which entails some additional considerations. (Note: Some of these are affiliate links, which means we might earn a tiny commission if you end up buying something from one of these merchants. Thanks for supporting RiverBent!)

Blue Ridge Chair on Colorado River trip — *Blue Ridge Chair on Ruby-Horsethief Canyon on the Colorado River*

Packability: If you’re bringing a camp chair, you probably have a raft in the party, which means you don’t necessarily have to have a chair that packs up into a slim tube. But as long as other criteria are met, having a compact chair certainly helps if you’re trying to lighten the raft load for a low-water trip. And chairs that are light but ungainly (like those chairs you take to the soccer game) can be annoying to fit tidily in a raft load.
Durability: Camp chairs get slung around on a river trip. They’re packed and unpacked daily, they can get smashed in the load, and they’re exposed to water and sand and sun. If you’re looking for a chair that will survive many years of river trips, consider the construction of the chair. Light, strong chairs are typically expensive but might be worth the investment if they can survive the abuse of river tripping for many seasons.

*Blue Ridge Chairs on the Gunnison Gorge … tilted up for guitar playing or back for relaxing*

Comfort: The chair needs to feel good—whatever that means to you. Wooden chairs feel great to some. Others want soft, sling-type chairs. Most camp chairs sit low to the ground, but getting out of those can be troublesome for people with limited flexibility. Chairs like the classic Crazy Creek require strong thighs to exit with grace. And as one river tripper said, “If you go on a river trip with a torn ACL, you’re going to want a higher chair when you try to get out of it.”
Features: Are cup holders important to you? A pocket on the back where you can stick your river map? A padded headrest? Rocking motion? All these features—and more—are available, but of course add to the weight and complication of your chair.
Ease of setup: The ideal camp chair can be set up one-handed, or at least with a minimum of moves.

*Some chairs pack up in a convenient little tube*

River Camp Chairs We Love … and One We Don’t

Selection of your camping chair for river trips can be a very important process. You need to balance concerns of weight, space, and comfort while finding the chair that works for you. On a recent trip with a large number of people, I asked what type of chairs everyone had and why they like them. Here are four chairs that members of our party loved… and one they didn’t.

NEMO Stargaze

Several people on our trip had the NEMO Stargaze Luxury Recliner or its smaller cousin, the NEMO Stargaze Low Chair. This chair got high marks for comfort and durability, although it seemed a little difficult to set up to me. “It’s comfortable, it packs really small,” said one user. Referring to the swaying motion that’s possible with the NEMO recliner, this river tripper said, “I just really like having a hammock for my butt.” Short people might not like this one: One user who is 5-foot-1-inch claimed that it was very uncomfortable for her. A new version of this on the scene is the NEMO Moonlight Reclining Camp Chair.

Coleman Big-N-Tall

The Coleman Big-N-Tall Quad Chair received rave reviews from the tallest member of our group for being easy to get into and out of, as well as its stash pocket and oversized cup holder. “It was designed with extra support—it’s very stable,” he said. “Plus, it’s got a little see-through pouch on the right arm to put your phone in.” (This particular user loves his Big-N-Tall so much that he keeps it in his living room—we have not seen him in river camp with his phone.)

Blue Ridge Chair

The Blue Ridge Chair is my personal pick—the recline makes it extremely comfortable to sit in, it’s easy to play guitar in since it has no arm rests, it folds up and transports easily, and it’s easy to strap to a load. It’s also low enough to take to a music festival or sports event and not block the people behind you. Modeled after the classic “Higgins” chair, which was designed a few decades ago by a Southeastern boater named Steve Higgins, the Blue Ridge Chair is not for everyone (see the note below about the classic “Higgins” chair). Warning: It is three times the price of many of these other chairs, but we have one similar that has lasted through more than three decades of river trips.

REI Camp Stow-Away Low Chair

This REI chair has now been discontinued in favor of the Camp Low Chair, but several people on our trip loved it for its low profile, compact fold, and relaxed comfort. “You literally just pull it open and fold it closed,” said our reviewer, who has had this chair for about five years and said it’s proven extremely durable. But with the compact simplicity of this chair comes the lack of a cupholder. Plus, the low profile makes the user (and their supper) easy pickings for any “nosy and impolite” river dogs.

*REI Co-op Stow-Away Low Chair is no longer available (sadly), but the REI Co-Op Camp Low Chair is similar*

Classic “Higgins” Chair

Designed and made decades ago by Southeastern boater Steve Higgins, these chairs are the prototype for the Blue Ridge chair and others under different names. We’ve had two of these since the mid-80s: They have survived several multi-day trips a year for nearly 35 years. Wooden chairs are heavy, but these come in two pieces that slide together in a neat, flat package that raft captains appreciate. They don’t look as comfortable as they are: You can scrunch them down into the sand, lean forward in them, rock back. These chairs are polarizing: Some of us would not bring any other chair on the river. But others have tried them and hated them.

*This Higgins Chair will turn 35 in February 2022 and is still going strong hundreds of river trips later*

Big Agnes Mica Basin

One chair that has come to our attention and we tried in the store, but haven’t tested on the river yet, is the Big Agnes Mica Basin, which comes in various sizes. It is lightweight but surprisingly sturdy, and held up well when tipped back a bit. It’s a pricey chair, but packs down well and would be a solid option for river trippers.

One reader’s favorite: ALPS Mountaineering Adventure Chair

When we solicited feedback about river chairs on Instagram, one follower nominated the ALPS Mountaineering Adventure Chair, offering the comment: “If you know, you know.” This one is certainly a classic, but a bit high off the ground for our tastes (we like to be close to the sand). However, we love the looks of the ALPS Mountaineering Rendezvous Elite Chair.

Chair that didn’t make the cut: REI Flexlite Camp Chair

The REI Flexlite Camp Chair received thumbs down from all who tried it. The highish sides made it hard to play guitar, the sitting position was too upright, and the feet (or, as one reviewer called them, “the stupid little spikes”) dug into the ground and made the chair unstable.

River camp chairs for all

At the end of the day, everyone just needs a place to park after they get off the river. Everybody needs to have a chair so they don’t plant themselves on top of the cooler or dry box, which is annoying all evening through. We usually throw in a couple of Crazy Creek chairs (super affordable and amazingly comfortable) for anyone who doesn’t bring a chair, and they work just fine for folks who are reasonably limber (plus, they are decent music festival chairs). So many camp chair choices out there—it’s just a matter of finding the right combination of durability, comfort, and usability that works best for you. And keeps you from sitting on a dry box or cooler.