Southeast States
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky

Georgia
Chattooga Section III
Exciting whitewater, but less strenuous than Section IV. Very popular with large groups, first-timers, and less-experienced rafters. Beautiful scenery through two national forests.
Chatooga Section IV
Challenging whitewater in one of the most inaccessible and beautiful canyons in the southeast. Previous rafting experience and good physical shape are recommended.
North Carolina
Nantahala
The easy whitewaters of North Carolina’s most popular rafting trip, which flows through ancient Cherokee tribal lands, are a favorite for beginners and families.
Tuckaseigee
Easy whitewater is ideal for families with children as young as four years. Good opportunity to learn paddling skills with inflatable kayaks.
French Broad
During summer months an ideal introductory river for families or first-time rafters as it is neither too demanding nor technically difficult.
Wilson Creek
Offers adventuresome rafters an excellent early spring rafting options through one of the regions most technical whitewater groges.
Watauga (Gorge)
Spectacular whitewater run for physically fit, adventuresome rafters. The not-too-well-known gorge contains fifteen Class III-IV+ rapids, plus a couple of Class V drops.
Tennessee
Nolichucky
Notable intermediate-advanced level rafting trip with fairly continuous Class III-IV whitewater in a scenic canyon. Requires active participation and good physical health.
Watauga (Section V)
Great beginning-level raft trip whose friendly Class II+ whitewater is easy enough for families with small children. Scenic course featuring limestone bluffs, old farms, homesteads and hardwood trees.
Big Pigeon
Good non-technical introductory raft trip with moderate whitewater just north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Ocoee
The extremely popular Ocoee in southeast Tennessee in one of the premier whitewater runs in the eastern America. Less than 5 miles in length, the raft trip features almost continuous intermediate-level whitewater.
Kentucky
Cumberland
Relatively easy rafting trip that follows a very narrow course through a rocky gorge in the primitive Cumberland Falls State Park. During the warmer summer months it is enjoyed by families and first-time rafters.
Levisa
Whitewater enthusiasts seeking a challenge above and beyond the upper Gauley or upper Yough trips may find it on the Russell Fork. Sign up early for special October-only raft trips made possible by fall water releases.

Accessible mountains, deep canyons, rock-filled rivers and streams, numerous dams and reservoirs, and plentiful rainfall provide the necessary ingredients for a wide range of whitewater rafting opportunities in the southeastern United States. Several of eastern America’s most popular intermediate and advanced whitewater trips are located within the Appalachian Mountains regions of northern Georgia, western North and South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and eastern Kentucky.
     Likewise, many beginner and family-oriented rafting trips welcome children from seven to ten years old are located near one of the most visited national parks in the United States, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
     The famed Chattooga River, a National Wild and Scenic River along the Georgia-South Carolina border, has both beginning (Section III) and advanced (Section IV) all-season whitewater stretches through beautiful and largely inaccessible canyons.
     North Carolina's most popular raft trip, the Nantahala River, which flows through ancient Cherokee tribal lands, is also the southeast's favorite for beginners and families. Nearby, the even milder Tuckaseigee provides family rafting for even younger children. Northwest of Asheville the scenic French Broad River has a variety of rafting choices for families, including inflatable kayaks. Further north in western North Carolina, Wilson Creek and the Watauga Gorge provides some of the state's best technical whitewater.
     The Nolichucky River, which creates Tennessee and North Carolina's deepest canyon, has both challenging and easy whitewaters. After exciting springtime water levels become too low for adventure rafting, outfitters offer summertime introductory raft and kayak trips for families. Similarly, on the Watauga River near Elizabethton in northeastern Tennessee, there are daily family raft trips. And at Hartford, just north of the main entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, visitor of nearly all ages may enjoy a scenic and exciting raft trip on the Big Pigeon River.
     Tennessee's Ocoee, the southeast region's favorite technical whitewater, because of its continuous rapids, has been chosen as whitewater course for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
     Eastern Kentucky's North Fork of the Cumberland, below the spectacular Cumberland Falls, provides a very scenic and enjoyable trip for first time rafters.
     Finally, the Russell Fork of the Levisa, which flows from southwestern Virginia into eastern Kentucky, is often touted as eastern America's most technically difficult commercial whitewater trip.