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Adventure by Water and by Air

Becky Wise photo

The zipline course at the Pigeon River Adventure Center in Hartford, Tenn., saves the best for last.

It was the closest I’ll probably ever get to flying, gliding along the course’s final cable for a full quarter mile, soaring 120 feet in the air above the broad waters of the Pigeon River. Suspended in air and time, I could see everything—the endless sky above, the Smokies all around, the Pigeon River Valley, and below, the clear, lapping waves of the same river I would be paddling down a few hours later.

{module Share this!|none}This is but one of the experiences offered by Wildwater, a leader in outdoor adventures for 40 years and among the top three outfitters in the country. Through excursions in eastern Tennessee, Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, Wildwater has introduced more than 1 million people to the excitement of the great outdoors. Before rafting schools and clinics even existed, Wildwater, the oldest whitewater rafting outfitter in the Southeast, was among those bold enough (and some might say crazy) to chart unknown territory in new outdoor recreation. Today, the company continues to lead the pack as it expands to offer the newest outdoor adventures and complete vacation experiences.

Uncharted territory

Fueled by young people during the 1960s, a surging interest in outdoor recreation evolved into a movement—then an industry. Adventure-seekers abandoned traditional pastimes of hunting, fishing and boating for new thrills in mountain climbing, skiing, backpacking and kayaking. The decade saw the formation of the first college outdoor programs, and, through the ‘70s, substantial development of commercialized recreation.

One member of this generation of new outdoor pioneers was Jim Greiner. After earning a college degree in campground management, Greiner worked for a parks and recreation department in Danville, Va. A lover of books and all things Southern, Greiner became enthralled with the scenery in James Dickey’s 1970 novel Deliverance and, while traveling to a conference in Alabama, set out to lay eyes on these mountain rivers by way of a detour along South Carolina and Georgia back roads. He pulled over on Highway 76 to walk across a bridge and gaze at the Chattooga River below and happened to encounter the film crew for the iconic movie adaptation of Dickey’s novel. Then, as furiously as the white-capped rapids of the Chattooga, ideas began to churn in Greiner’s head.

He returned home to Danville and asked his cousins if they’d like to accompany him on a run down the Chattooga. The cousins did not have at their disposal the type of sophisticated equipment available today, of course, but they acquired a few paddles and jackets from an Army Surplus store, and some canoes, and off they went. Not bothering to scout the rapids ahead of them, they simply launched their canoes into the river, navigating through a short, but hairy, section of whitewater.

After catching his breath, Greiner had a proposition to make. “What do you think?” he asked his cousins. “Should we start a business?”

In a move that rivaled the absurdity of paddling unscouted whitewater, Greiner dove headfirst into the fledgling rafting industry, cashing in his life insurance policy to begin in earnest a career on the river while supporting a young family of six. Together—Greiner, his wife Jeanette, his twin daughters and two sons—the Greiners began running raft trips in June 1971.

“We were the first on the Chattooga River and only the second in the whole Southeast,” said Becky Wise, the Greiners’ oldest daughter. Becky was 10 years old when her family started the rafting business. “Everybody was excited about it,” she remembered. “We always had been into the outdoors. We had been camping since we were little. It was a natural transition into doing the rafting.”

From the very beginning, the company required an all-for-one effort, with each family member expected to contribute. Greiner maintained his full-time job as a parks and rec director, so it was up to Jeanette and the gang to hold down the fort (in this case, an old apple barn) during the weekdays of the season.

“At the time the business started and after, it ran from when we kids got out of school and into the fall. Dad would drive in on weekends,” Becky said. “Mom was here with four kids, ages 10, 10, 8 and 2. It was pretty hectic.”

Jeanette immediately began assisting her husband as a raft guide. The rafts, by the way, were at that time acquired through Army Surplus and were heavy and sometimes difficult to maneuver, especially when they filled with water (today’s rafts are self-bailing). The guides would hoist the rafts onto racks mounted on old heavy duty trucks, with rafters piling in the truck bed underneath the raft for the ride to the put-in. Becky and her siblings answered the phones, took reservations, packed lunches and cleaned the equipment before becoming raft guides themselves.

40 years, 4 rivers and 1 million guests later

Becky’s husband, Jack Wise, began working for the company in 1981.

“We were both raft guides, and that’s how we met,” Becky said. Jack is now vice president and CEO of Wildwater, and Becky serves as webmaster, manages employee benefits and occasionally helps out with the company’s new zipline canopy tours. Becky’s brother Jeff is vice president of marketing and guest services for Wildwater and president of its zipline canopy tours division, Adventure America. Rounding out the family affair are a number of other relatives who continue to help out, including Jack and Becky’s children, who spend summers as raft guides, and Jeff’s kids, who help with zipline tours.

“We want there to be a legacy for the company. There are very few companies that actually survive past two generations,” noted Becky. “We’re at two generations right now, and we’ve got a couple of grandkids who are interested in making it a career.”Jim and Jeanette are mostly retired now and live in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., but they’re still involved. “My dad will be putting his two cents worth in on his deathbed,” Becky said.

“It truly is a family business,” said Carolyn Allison, media liaison for Wildwater. Carolyn has been with the company for more than 15 years, and her husband, Lee, has managed rafting and zipline operations at the company’s Nantahala location. “It’s a business I’m really happy to be involved with because the product is such a good thing,” she said. “In July, when we’re really busy, we have to remember that we’re lucky—people come to where we live to vacation. We live here every day.”

Today, Wildwater is a company of several hundred employees that offers whitewater rafting excursions on four rivers: the Ocoee and Pigeon in southeastern Tennessee, the Chattooga in Upstate South Carolina and the Nantahala in southwestern North Carolina. With the addition of a canopy tour at the Ocoee this June, Wildwater will feature zipline canopy tours at all four locations, as well as lodging and numerous other recreational activities. Wildwater partners with other companies and outfitters in the region to maximize adventure opportunities. Families can save money and enjoy an event-filled vacation by purchasing packages that combine lodging, rafting, canopy tours and more.

“We have generations of families who have been going with us,” Carolyn Allison said. “We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for the families so everybody has a chance to be involved.”

In addition to providing unforgettable adventures, Wildwater hopes to foster an appreciation for nature and wildlife by exposing people to the outdoors. While paddling rivers or zipping through the forest, guides and rangers may discuss the importance of protecting waterways or the effects of invasive species.

“We want to feed them information about the area very subtly,” Carolyn Allison said.

Educational programs for school groups feature water quality testing and animal and mineral identification. And, Wildwater’s activities get families outside and exercising at a time when obesity has reached epidemic proportions.

Whitewater rafting

Wildwater’s rivers feature rapids ranging from Class I (easiest) to IV, sometimes higher, on the VI-class scale of difficulty. The upper section of the Ocoee was home to the whitewater rafting competition in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

My first whitewater rafting trip took place on the Pigeon River, and after suiting up with enough gear to bear a striking resemblance to the Michelin Man, I was ready to hit the river.

With “Jedi Mike” Kohlenberger—an experienced guide of whitewater rafting trips since the mid-‘70s—at the stern, we negotiated dips, boulders and swirling waters with relative ease, watching fish jump to our left and right in the calmer sections of the river. We floated by remnants of a railroad bridge dating back to the Pigeon Valley’s days as a lumber town, long since destroyed by floodwaters.

While at the Pigeon River Adventure Center, plan for lunch at the Dog House, the center’s porchside grill, where hotdogs came loaded with homemade chili and coleslaw and fresh jalapeños—delicious.

Zipline canopy tours

All canopy tours are ziplines, but not all ziplines are canopy tours—meaning the zips travel through the forest canopy, not over open fields. All of Wildwater’s zipline courses travel through forest canopies and are built with minimal impact to the forest ecosystems. Wildwater also books canopy tours at Toe River Lodge in Plumtree, N.C., and soon will open a canopy tour in the Asheville area. Its first zipline course opened at the Nantahala Adventure Center three years ago.

Ziplining is completely safe—zippers are equipped with sturdy harnesses and helmets and are connected to the zip cables from start to finish thanks to multiple carabiners. That doesn’t stop a few folks from getting the jitters, though, and Jedi Mike, who also works as a zipline ranger at the Pigeon Adventure Center, said it’s men who tend to chicken out more often than women.

Todd, Amy and Bailey, a family on spring break from Indiana, were part of a canopy tour at Pigeon, which crosses over the Pigeon River and into a hardwood forest. Enjoying perspectives normally reserved for owls and squirrels, zipliners crisscrossed from steep hillside platforms over a slot canyon carved out by a mossy mountain stream to a rocky outcropping and then to stands built around tall, mighty sycamores.

At the Nantahala Adventure Center near Bryson City, N.C., Todd and his 10-year-old son Tyler from Charleston, S.C., joined the ranks for the canopy tour, stepping across suspension bridges from tree to tree and soaring over hemlocks and vast thickets of wild rhododendron.

Other adventures

In addition to rafting, zipline canopy tours and lodging, Wildwater’s many adventure offerings include canoe and kayak clinics, the Raft and Rail excursion, a scenic Jeep tour, a high ropes course, climbing walls and teambuilding activities. The Raft and Rail combines a tip on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad and a whitewater rafting trip at the Nantahala center.

Whether visitors are seeking a family-bonding weekend, a new personal challenge, a romantic weekend getaway or are checking a goal off their bucket lists, Carolyn Allison said, “We’re really honored that they’ve chosen us.”

The right rafting adventure for your family

Have young children ready for their first whitewater rafting trip or older kids looking for more of a challenge? Wildwater provides minimum age and weight restrictions for each of their river offerings to help plan the best trip for each family. Wildwater runs rafting trips mid-March through Thanksgiving.

EASIER/FAMILY TRIPS Beginner/Class I-III

SWIFTER/MORE EXCITING TRIPS Intermediate to Advanced/Class III-IV+

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