Adventure in the Smokies - Tubing All Day

Water sports - one of the best things about choosing summer for your Smoky Mountain vacation!
Townsend, "the quiet side of the Smokies" (unless your kids scream with joy on the river), has two river routes.

The Lower Section gets described as the family friendly float.  Just gentle, relaxing rapids for age 2 and up.

The Upper Section, dubbed the adventure float because of the class 2 rapids and swimming holes, is appropriate for age 6 and up.

My kids wanted the adventure.  They also wanted their own raft.  This meant mom sometimes connected the tubes with rope and then used a lot of arm muscle keeping us together.  So worth it.  The ride switched between quiet scenic floats to a bit of small rapid excitement.  The kids squealed with delight and then jumped up and down to go again...and again.  When the sun beats down, but you feel cool in the water - it's the perfect combination.

We may have paid a bit more for River Rat outing ($15 adult, $12 children), but we felt we got our money's worth.  Other nearby operations claim lower costs (River Rage $10, Cowboy Tubin' $10, and Tube Junction $8).  Most places begin at 10AM and provide unlimited rides til closing (5:30 or 6PM).

River Rat earned the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence.  I'd give River Rat a positive rating too; it offered nice facility with restrooms and a friendly shuttle driver.  At the end, River Rat doesn't even make you drag your tube back.  They have a tube return (pictured in photo below).