White Water Rafting in Gatlinburg

[greenwagonmom Member Find all posts View Profile Close greenwagonmom]

Thanks for all the great info on Gatlinburg and the Great Smokies National Park. Has anyone gone White Water Rafting in this area? I noticed that some outfitters will take children as young as 3 on the Lower Pigeon Forge. I thought that our 5 year old might enjoy this. He as been canoeing in MO, so he might be ready for a rafting trip. Thanks!

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

I had hoped someone OY would have responded as I was wondering the same things. We're wanting to go in late August or Sept and need to get scheduled.

A lady at work rafted the Nantahala, without a guide, and they were all rookies. I don't think we want to do that for our first go and I definitely wouldn't do it with a young'un.

I was looking at the Pigeon, since it seems most outfitters are there.

I have flyers and such, but no experience. I'll take a look at the materials I have and see if there are age requirements.

Meanwhile, I hope someone that has been there and done that shows up!

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

Three year olds and up are allowed at Tennessee Rafting Trips with Smoky Mountain Outdoors - Go White Water Rafting in Tennessee on the Big Pigeon River - Experience Tennessee Whitewater Rafting

that's the only flyer I could find this morning.

[greenwagonmom Member Find all posts View Profile Close greenwagonmom]

I have the brochure for Smoky Mt. Outdoors too. I also have one from Wlildwater Ltd. Rafting Pigeon River, Wildwater Ltd. Rafting--Hartford, Tennessee that will take children from age 4 on up on the Lower Pigeon Fun Float. This company also offers a discount after 2pm. We were wondering why? I've rafted and canoed in Missouri without a guide, but our rivers are pretty tame. I think a guide would be good for newbies in the Smokies.
My husband and I went on a guided trip in Montana years back and had a good time. I am looking forward to trying it again!

[swilshire Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close swilshire]

Everyone I know from around here has always gone to the Ocoee for white water rafting. I'm not sure how good it would be on the Pigeon. I've heard the Nantahala mentioned, but I'm not even sure where it is.

Sheila

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Don't take children on the Ocoee. It's too rough!! I would do an easier one first. Find one for families, I don't know one to recommend. shaggy

[swilshire Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close swilshire]

I don't know the name of the river that runs under the road from the interstate to Sevierville, but the Rescue Squad pulled a whole slew of kids off it earlier in the week. Apparently a torrential downpour came up. Two people in a canoe got in trouble somehow and the Rescue folks went to rescue them. Then a big group of kids from a camp started coming down the river. When they were ask if they needed help, they said they did. I guess the bottom line is just that they got cold and scared, but a bunch of them were "rescued". Thank goodness I didn't have a kid on the river that day while I was sitting home hearing this unfold on the television news. It sounded like a disaster when it was being reported, but in the end, everyone was safe and sound. I never heard what ages the kids were.

Sheila

[robin Banned Find all posts View Profile Close robin]

In my opinion the best river to raft is the Nantahala River across the Smokies from Gatlinburg and about 20 miles west of Cherokee NC. People come from all over the U.S. to raft the Nantahala.

It's a safe river for children and adults alike. You can go guided or unguided. NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) is the hub of rafting with 3 restaurants, an outfitter's store, a rental store and a convenience store. They have everything you need for a day of rafting for the entire family. It's a dam controlled river so the water is always at a certain level during release times. Many rivers in this area are down due to a shortage of rainfall, but not the Nantahala.

[robin Banned Find all posts View Profile Close robin]

I agree with Shaggy that the Ocoee River is too rough for children and/or novices.

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

In my opinion the best river to raft is the Nantahala River across the Smokies from Gatlinburg and about 20 miles west of Cherokee NC. People come from all over the U.S. to raft the Nantahala.

Isn't that quite a drive from Gatlinburg? I'm not sure we could do the drive and the rafting trip in a day trip comfortably.

[robin Banned Find all posts View Profile Close robin]

Isn't that quite a drive from Gatlinburg? I'm not sure we could do the drive and the rafting trip in a day trip comfortably.

Even though it's only about 35 miles from Gatlinburg to Cherokee it takes us about 1 to 1-1/2 hours depending on traffic (lately they've been paving the NC side so it's been slow, but that should be finished by now). That would be plenty of time for a day trip to raft and then get back to Gatlinburg before nightfall, especially in summer.

We'll be heading over that way Tuesday.

[swilshire Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close swilshire]

We drove from Knoxville to Asheville on Saturday and saw several rafters right about the state line. I'm not sure how much water they had. I noticed farther up where it's too rocky to raft that the river was almost totally dry.

Sheila

[robin Banned Find all posts View Profile Close robin]

The water may also be low on the Pigeon river as it's not dam controlled as the Nantahala River is. When we were in Pigeon Forge earlier this year we had accomodations alongside the Piegon River and it was low, low, low. We've had some good rains lately, so hopefully it's better now.