Asheville, NC Outdoor Activities

Wahoo Ziplines Adrenaline Park centers on the country’s longest over-water zipline, a four-line stretch that runs for more than half a mile above the French Broad River. Visitors can find more pulse-racing entertainment aboard the park’s fleet of New Zealand-style jet boats or by walking across the Mountain Dew SkyBridge’s glass floor, which recreates the feeling of walking in midair or stepping on a million invisibility cloaks. Patrons should call ahead to reserve seats on the park’s double-decker bus, which can chauffeur them to and from the site.

Two miles might seem like a negligible distance when you’re driving a car. But when you’re skydiving from two miles above the earth, you relish every foot that separates you from the ground. As the only safety net for their patrons, Skydive East Tennessee’s licensed instructors escort divers up to 11,000 feet into the sky, where they enjoy aerial views of the Smoky Mountains, make white beards out of fluffy clouds, and embark on 45-second freefalls. Before ever stepping foot into the company’s aircraft, the seasoned staff goes over all the details of the trip, ensuring jumpers know exactly what to expect as they leap from the plane and finish their fall with a scenic 5-minute parachute ride. A camera crew can document the whole experience, from the instruction period to the landing, and assembles the footage into a keepsake DVD set to music.

By engineering an indoor, upwards-facing wind tunnel, the brilliant minds behind Flyaway Indoor Skydiving have managed to recreate the adrenalized thrill of freefalling sans the previously required airplane. In the studio’s unique flight room, ersatz divers hover several feet above ground as wind-powered force neutralizes the effects of gravity around them. While a typical outdoor skydive lasts only about a minute, Flyaway delivers a minimum of three straight minutes of simulated freefall, ensuring massive endorphin rushes and flashbacks to past lives spent as a Canadian goose. Before liftoff, the facility’s experienced trainers fill visitors in on everything they need to know about body control, safety procedures, and effective screaming techniques. Classes begin every 30 minutes and operate on a first come, first serve basis. Height and weight restrictions apply.

River and Earth Adventures stands out from other wilderness outfitters by being completely operated by their own guides. Their fleet of seasoned cave, mountain, and water-navigating guides work in tandem with professional ecologists and geologists, focusing Blue Ridge Mountains excursions on environmental education as well as adventure. During all day trips, guides divulge area history and expound on forest and river ecosystems as well as geology in caves whose interiors rest at 60 degrees year-round to keep them free of snowman hermits.

Each trip also immerses adventurers in athletic activity, whether on hikes to summits and secluded waterfalls, spelunking through electricity-free cave tunnels, or rafting and kayaking down the Watauga River rapids. For those in search of extended excursions, guides lead children's adventure day camps and combination trips that further an environmental focus and bottle-cap collections through river cleanup projects.

As a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee's School of Architecture, Jon Felderman savored free time away from his office job in downtown Knoxville. Ditching his button-down shirt and tie, Jon headed to the Pigeon River on the weekends during the spring of 1996 to begin his training as a river-rafting guide. In just a year, Felderman's skill and enthusiasm had earned him promotions from river guide to trip leader and then to river manager—all while he maintained his full-time architecture job. Finally, in 2004, the inexorable draw of nature inspired a massive change: Jon abandoned the rigors of city life for good, founding his own rafting company, Big Creek Expeditions. Staffed by experienced guides who share Jon's love of the great outdoors, today the company leads trips down both the upper and lower Pigeon River and orchestrates rafting and camping packages for overnight expeditioners.

The career thrill-seekers at Outdoor Adventures of the Smokies guide quests into the Smoky Mountains by a variety of means, including helicopters, safari wagons, and ziplines. Aerial views of Tennessee's rolling farmlands and vast oceans overwhelm the senses as hot air balloons hoist at least four riders aloft from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains National Park. The lower Pigeon River's gentle class I and II rapids sharpen the skills of beginner whitewater rafters as they spend 90 minutes maneuvering frothy crests. Up to 12 land-bound adventurers can pile into monster trucks for five heart-racing laps around a track with two large hills, two petite mounds, and two traffic lights that turn yellow at the last second.