Gatlinburg area activities/opeators

augie · Post by **augie** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 9:14 am

My family's bi-annual family reunion has been scheduled for June of next year. The sister whose turn it is to host/plan has chosen the gatlinburg, TN area as the venue.

For the most part, each of the siblings (there are eight of us) have rented a cabin in the Pigeon Forge area that will accommodate them and their downline families.

The "official" reunion will be on Saturday and Sunday, but our party of four will arrive on Thursday and leave Monday. we'll have at least one full day to ourselves, and I'd like to go hiking and/or whitewater rafting.

Do any of you have any tips as to places, operators, etc. that you've had good experiences with?

Thanks!

Nic in KC · Post by **Nic in KC** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:13 pm

I just happen to have my journal from our Smoky Mountains trip handy!

Do you have your cabin already booked? We loved where we stayed.

The hikes we enjoyed were:

Laurel Falls-moderate hike that was about 1 mile each way. Falls are very pretty at the top.

Clingman's Dome: mostly paved and I didn't write down how long, but it seemed like a straight up hike. You hike to the top of the highest point in the area. The view from the top was beautiful and we got some great pictures.

Abrams Falls: 2.5 miles one way, but an easy hike.

We didn't really hike, but drove the loop in Cades Cove at Sunsent. Really pretty and has historic houses all around the valley that you view. Wildlife was good on this drive also.

We went in the fall so no help with the rafting. We stayed away from downtown and really had a great trip. We also really enjoyed the aquarium and I'm very picky about such things.

We had a great breakfast at the AppleWood Farmhouse and there was a bbq restaurant that did a breakfast buffet that was our favorite.

I hope you have a great reunion!

Gigi · Post by **Gigi** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:43 pm

We enjoyed our white water rafting trip on the Upper Pigeon River with Smokey Mountain Adventures. It is actually down near the NC border and has a few class IV rapids. We also went horseback riding at the Sugarland Stables and Cade's Cove stables in the national park. Both were nice trips - the usual walk through the woods - no galloping - but the scenery was great in the park. Bluff Mountain Adventures has some ATV trips that are fun. The scenery was beautiful but it is also more of a sight seeing trip - the machines are governed down so you can't get too crazy on them. Also, if you have never ziplined, Wahoo Ziplines is fun. The guides were really good although it is a bit pricey for only 6 runs but it is fun to do if you have never done it before.

GraysonDave · Post by **GraysonDave** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:46 pm

This ad

http://halfoffdepot.com/external_link.p ... 9%20Value)

runs on the Atlanta halfoffdepot.com every now and then. The ones that are currently available expire before your trip, but you might want to check back just in case.

poolmom · Post by **poolmom** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:33 pm

My family has a cabin in Gatlinburg. We always take guest to (Roaring Fork Motor Trail). It is a 6 mile one way road that loops around the back side of Gatlinburg. It has many trails to hike. A couple of hikes to waterfalls. Alot of old homesteads you can walk around. They have a website that will show and tell you all about it. We hiked to one waterfall that was 1.2 miles. Not a bad hike but alot of it is up hill. But well worth it. There are alot of places on the little pigeon river to tube and raft but it depends on how much rain as to how deep it will be. Most of these places are up closer to the North Carolina boarder. Cades Cove is an 11 mile loop outside of Pigeon Forge with many hikes and alot of wildlife. Both are great places with beautiful sceanery. Hope this helps

augie · Post by **augie** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:30 am

Thanks everyone.

For some reason I never saw that there were any replies to my original post until just now, but I appreciate all of them.

My sister that is "hosting" selected Colonial Properties as our rental company,then each of us reserved a property based on our own wants and needs.

I've seen some negative comments and reviews for Colonial on TripAdvisor, but they're mostly from posters that have one or two posts, so I don't know if they're legitimate, or just competitors bad mouthing the other guys.

Thanks again - I'm still open to any and all further inputs!

hoosierdaddy · Post by **hoosierdaddy** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:29 pm

I would second the Cades cove drive. It is a nice drive and guarenteed to see deer and turkey. If you are there later in the day might see a bear. The Abrams Falls hike is nice. Wide smooth trail that is mostly flat. The falls is not very high but has the greatest amount of water of all the falls in the smokies.The trail hear is along the road in Cades cove.

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