Knoxville Outdoor Activities

Visitors enter a gleeful realm of recreation and friendly competition amid the indoor and outdoor attractions of Putt-Putt Golf & Games. The emerald corridors of 54 mini golf holes meander throughout the playscape, forming three 18-hole courses that gradually escalate in both difficulty and the territorial aggression of their native windmills. The thunderous clap of bat barrels smacking line-drives resonates from the baseball and softball cages, where mechanical hurlers sling baseballs at four different speeds and softballs at fast- and slow-pitch standards. More than 50 arcade and ticket-redemption games hungrily devour tokens in the game room, and guests can sate their appetites with pizza ($9 for a large), hot dogs ($1.50), and scoops of Blue Bunny ice cream ($2 for one scoop).

Ski Scuba Center is an aquatic activity hub where undersea sojourners purchase gear and learn to reach new oceanic depths. With more than 50 years of diving experience among them, instructors prepare flippered feet to scuba, swim, and lifeguard, edifying water-goers and offering certification during private and group classes. The Center also sends its snorkel constituents to Florida and the Caribbean on scuba trips and presents a number of tips on equipment-servicing treatments, such as filling tanks with air and feeding sugar cubes to well-behaved goggles.

In 2011, WBIR-TV reported that local racecar driver Trevor Bayne dropped by Oakes Farm to see his face carved into the corn. The farm had adopted Bayne as that year's maze theme, plotting its pathways to shape the corn into his portrait and an image of his racecar when viewed from above. On the ground, however, the maze was a tangle of curves and dead ends that often took guests up to 90 minutes to traverse on foot, or 10 minutes on the warpath.

This year, the corn maze has chosen to celebrate Extreme Makeover Home Edition. The farm updates its agricultural labyrinth annually to reflect a new motif but never fails to entertain explorers with its routes and their interactive games. Just as entertaining are the hayrides that ferry visitors to and from the pumpkin patch, the smell of autumnal sweets from the Cornfections stand, and the echoes of laughter from inside the Mine Shaft—a giant slide in the farm's Back 40 entertainment area. These attractions, alongside animal exhibits, pedal karts, and open zones for freeform play, draw families and reporters alike to the seasonal hotspot. In the days approaching Halloween, however, the farm endeavors to make patrons flee.

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.

Beach Island Marina's fleet of houseboats, pontoon boats, and goldfish saddles lets visitors explore Norris Lake's tree-lined waters during single-day outings or extended stays. Back on land and nestled against the forest, wood cabins and RV campsites bring the comforts of home to natural waterfronts. For boat owners, Beach Island Marina also repairs vessels and stows them in 100-foot boat slips. Liven post nautical-navigations at the nearby Bubba Brew's Sports Pub & Grill located next to the marina on Norris Lake. Here, three bars, 25 flat-screen televisions, pool tables, and darts woo revelers who are eager for food, frosty beverages, and pints of pirate lore.

The Nantahala River rushes through Class II rapids and higher, but it also runs through the stories of the countless people who've dared its churning waters and tumbling falls. One such story centers on Steven and Sue, who met at a Hendersonville summer camp and soon fell in love with each other and the Smoky Mountain air. Eight years later, the Matzes sold off the trappings of corporate-Atlanta life and founded Adventurous Fast Rivers Rafting with their two children, four dogs, and more than a dozen wilderness-loving employees.

These instructors—certified in First Aid and CPR—ready groups for each guided or unguided exploration by teaching proper raft and boat control, as well as describing techniques for crew coordination. A hand-painted map points out routes through the Nantahala Gorge that avoid interview-hungry nature documentarians. Adventurers have just as many rafting options as routes, including Aire and Hyside self-bailing inflatable rafts, funyaks, sit-on-top Torrent kayaks, and traditional bucket rafts. After either disembarking at the riverside outpost—recognizable by the tree growing through its center—or preparing for a final plunge down the Nantahala Wesser Falls, river-farers dry off and examine photos taken during the plunge down the Falls. The outdoor picnic area's park-style charcoal grills make it easy to throw a post-river barbecue.