Blog for Zipline Attraction in the Smoky Mountains
Located in Pigeon Forge, TN and near Gatlinburg and Sevierville.
A Summer Of Adventure
By Ross Bodhi Ogle
Posted on July 23, 2024
Whether or not you've already taken your official family vacation this year, there's still a lot of summertime left to put a little adventure into your life. And by adventure, we mean getting outside (and sometimes indoors) and stretching the boundaries of your comfort zone. If you're the kind of person who likes to have options, then we recommend packing your bags and visiting the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Even if you just plan a day trip or a weekend outing, that's still lots of time to get into something that will get your adrenaline flowing and make you really feel alive.
Here are some of our suggestions:
Smoky Mountain Ziplines
We can't think of a more fun way to get the blood pumping than by soaring through the treetops hanging from a zipline cable. Our Gatlinburg ziplines canopy tour offers seven ziplines of varying lengths, totaling nearly 5,000 feet in overall air distance. That's almost one mile! Imagine: It's just you up in the air, suspended from the zipline cable by a safety harness and zooming along with the wind in your face as you let gravity pull you faster and faster toward the platform at the other end. And we make it easy, even if you've never ridden a zipline anywhere before. We provide all the safety gear, instruction and on-site transportation, and along the way, you'll see some stunning scenery of the Smokies range.
Hiking and camping
You'll always find adventure inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, especially when you lace up those hiking boots and hit the trail. There are some 800 miles of trails within the park, and if you're wanting to challenge yourself, you can really aim big by considering a hike to the summit of Mt. LeConte, one of the tallest peaks in the Smokies. You can make it up and down in a single day or, if you make reservations about a year in advance, stay in the lodge on the mountaintop. As for camping, you can give that experience an adventurous twist by doing some back-country camping. You'll need to get a permit from the park service to do this, but this means hiking into your campsite out in the less developed areas of the park and spending the night in truly primitive conditions. Do you have what it takes?
Ride roller coasters
Being adventurous doesn't necessarily have to mean immersing yourself in the middle of nature. There are lots of destinations in the Smokies where adrenaline junkies can find their happy place by riding roller coasters. At Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, for example, they have some of the most challenging coasters in the Southeast, everything from wooden to steel, tame to mild, with lots of twists, turns and loops to keep the thrills coming. On a smaller scale, you'll find many attractions in the Smokies that have alpine coasters, smaller rides where passengers coast their way from mountaintop to bottom with the full assistance of gravity. Guests control their speed with a handbrake. The Goat Coaster at Goats on the Roof in Pigeon Forge is one example.
Other options
The above suggestions are just a few ideas to get the thinking process started. Others include finding attractions where you can climb manmade rock walls or get lots of air time jumping on trampolines. If you really like air time, you might try skydiving or take an aerial tour of the Smokies in an airplane or helicopter. There are also lots of outdoor attractions where you can do things like ride horses or ATVs out in the country.
