Lower Pigeon River Rafting: Family-Friendly Outdoor Adventure
4.9
150 Ratings
Hartford

Nearest rafting spot to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. A fantastic experience for kids as young as 3! Experience the great outdoors with the 5.5-mile Lower Pigeon Rafting Trip. Perfect for young kids or those who prefer more of a leisurely float.

Duration: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Pigeon River - We have a big facility with picnic tables and a food truck, plenty of parking.
    We are located by the Pigeon river and there is a campground right next to us.
  • Smoky Mountain Outdoors Rafting - The River Outpost is where all customers check in to go down the river.
    Everyone needs to show up 45 minutes before there schedule time in order to check in.
What's Included
  • Souvenir photos (available to purchase)
  • Professional guide
  • All required rafting equipment
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
  • Food and drinks
  • Hotel pick-up or drop off
Additional Information
  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • Swimsuits and shorts work best. Secure shoes with a heel-strap are required (tennis shoes, water shoes, or sport sandals with a heel-strap). Bare feet and flip-flops are not allowed. Don’t forget to bring a change of clothes and a towel
  • Minimum age is 3 years
  • 7 people per boat
Location
3299 Hartford Rd
Hartford Road
Please, be there 45 minutes before you raft time.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(150 Ratings)
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Coryy785
Aug 30, 2023
Amazing trip for the family - Amazing trip! Our guide was “Rev” Dean and was wonderful. We “surfed” backwards, safely+intentionally bounced off of a big rock, jumped out to swim, spun in a circle with kids standing in the front, experienced a class 3, and had a lot of laughs. Highly recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Grandtour47410388961
Aug 28, 2023
Great flit - We really enjoyed our rafting trip on the Lower Pigeon on Sunday! Our guide Ziggy kept us entertained, and in the boat. Really enjoyed ourselves!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kelly
Aug 17, 2023
Exciting! Even the lower falls! - So I should give some advice as I downplayed the fact these were the lower falls and not the bigger rapids, we got plenty wet and definitely had to paddle through some rapids, it ends with level 3 rapids, some level 2 and some calm water with an opportunity to jump overboard and swim, then they pull you back in. You do not need your phone, you will be hanging onto a paddle and paddling through the trip, there's really not much time to get the phone out of its waterproof case and snap shots. The tour guides had funny stories and talked you through everything really well. I'm not sure we really needed to arrive 45 minutes early, but we are nearing the end of tourist season so maybe it's just slower, but we sat for that full 45 minutes waiting. I can see if you hadn't filled out wavers beforehand or purchased tickets before, there would be more paperwork. A good trip, had some exciting parts, I might even consider doing the upper falls, but honestly this was a good level of excitement no one was disappointed. My advice: leave the phones at home and bring a change of clothes (I got soaked while my kids got moderately wet and my husband was mostly dry, I regret not bringing a change of clothes as it was a 40 minute ride back to the hotel and the car seats are still wet)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kluegerj
Aug 3, 2023
So good! - Had a great time on the lower river trip. Went with our 3 year old, 6 year old and 11 year old. Enough excitement for the older 2 but mild enough for our “shark lookout”. Austin was our guide and he was amazing - fun, knowledgeable, good with the kids. Would definitely recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jackholla48
Jul 27, 2023
Rev Dean - Request REVEREND DEAN THE DUNKING MACHINE because he was amazing. 75 never looked so young on someone and he was phenomenal at encouraging and coaching. We were the last boat to leave and ended up second as Rev Dean never got us into trouble (getting stuck or losing passengers). Great guy
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Martin_b
Jul 21, 2023
The trip was great and... - The trip was great and our guide, Logan, was excellent. He had a great knowledge of the River and surrounding areas and made it very fun, especially for our children
Review provided by Viator
Zeybautista
Jul 11, 2023
Very organized rafting company - Our raft guide, Tia, was excellent and very friendly. Learned a lot from her experience of the Smoky Mountains.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dklawler
Jun 8, 2023
Awesome - This was our second rafting trip. We had a blast. We felt safe and the guides are awesome and great sense of humor. Thank you!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tirsabel
Jul 29, 2023
Nice rafting trip - We did the lower pigeon River Rafting Tour (Family Float). It was easy to find location. Parking was easy. we did all the paperwork online, and so nothing to do after check in. the arrive 40 minutes early was a bit of a drain and seemed unnecessary. I can understand how arriving 15 minutes early would have been a bit of chaos. Essentially once you get there and check in, you are asked to wait on a big covered gazebo. July in Tennessee is hot hot hot. And waiting there with our kids, with no fans on for what ended up being at least 50 minutes. Once you are called off for your rafting group (7 or less people, plus guide), the guide will get you fitting with helmets and life jackets. They were great about making sure that we had well fitting life jackets. For the family float, you then walk down a little bit and the rafting take off point is right at the main office location. I think for the Upper pigeon river you have to take a bus to the take off point. We then got in our rafts and did a float down. The guide gave us local information about and taught us about the river. Once the rafting is done, we were loaded onto a bus for a short ride back to the main office, turned in our equipment and were done. Our guide was Hannah who was okay. It seemed there was a lot more playing around going on in the other rafts, my kids kept asking to splash water (pretty hot!), but none of that seemed to be encouraged by her, so I told them not to do it. I pre-bought the photo package for $44 online when we bought our tickets. Online it says they guarantee at least 10 photos of your raft. This ended up being 10 photos from all the same location. My mistake was to assume there would be 10 different photos, but essentially it was all the same photo, and about 12 of them. Not sure exactly how it would have worked. They had a wall of Venmo QR codes for all the guides, which also made tipping very easy and that was much appreciated.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
G9706pfwilliamw
Jun 23, 2023
Overall great experience for family. - Overall a great experience, this company seemed to have their routine down and were very structured. Our float on the lower section went by slightly faster than we had hoped but had plenty of kid safe rapids and the kids were allowed to get out and swim at one point. (Quickly). Our guide Ashley barely spoke which made our trip very sleepy. She did her job of handling the trip safely but that’s about all. We saw that most of the other guides were trying to have fun, joke, and interact with their guests. We would use SMO again in the future and maybe even try the upper section as well.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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