We have excellent ammenities when it comes to rafting the Pigeon River.  Our men and women bathrooms are the best on the river and include showers for freshening up after your rafting trip.  We have plenty of parking for our rafting customers on our outpost premises. 

Our outpost is located on a campground with river access, fishing areas, and even RV hookups. 

Plenty of accessories are available for sale in our outpost if you happen to forget to bring a pair of river shoes, need a wet suit on a cooler than normal day, or would like to purchase shirts or hats or photos to take home with you to remember your rafting adventure.

Hello perspective rafters!

The 2009 rafting season here in the Smoky Mountains on the Pigeon River has gotten off to a great start.  Our experienced raft guides, one by one, are coming back and gearing up for the season. 

Why is this important you ask?  Well, our raft guides have been working with Big Creek Expeditions for years and our outfit is the best at retaining raft guides year after year.  We pride ourselves on employing experienced guides who pride themselves on providing great rafting experiences for our customers.  The Pigeon River rafting experience is much more than riding a raft down the river.  Our guides go the extra mile to ensure your group has a safe, pleasant, and exciting adventure during the day of your trip.

We have a full team of returning raft guides to meet the high demand of rafting on the Pigeon River.  As you may or may not know the Pigeon River is one of the most rafted rivers in the nation as it draws groups from all over the US, being within about a 12 hour drive for nearly 50% of the US population - including Atlanta, Birmingham, New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Miami.  Only a couple of hours farther away are Oklahoma City, Houston and Dallas, both within driving distance.

Come on out and see our view of the Pigeon River.  You can easily find out how to get to us and you can find our best deals by booking online.  Our guides are ready and more than welcome to provide your group with a rafting experience like no other.

This weekend was a nice weekend for rafting.  The weather was warm during the day and the water was not too cold.  We did have wet suits for added comfort for our customers.  Several groups came each day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

We did try out our new video Flip and are still working on the process of taking the video from start to finish.  We've worked in several of the rapids and different zooms and angles.  Soon we will have things in order and will have an offering for rafters to take home some video of their trips down The Pigeon River.

This week calls for weather in the sixties so feel free to come by for a whitewater rafting trip in the Smokies.  We are close to Sevierville, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Forge right off of Exit 447 on I-40.

Check us out on facebook and become a fan of Big Creek Expeditions.

Good morning!  Here at Big Creek Expeditions we are geared up for the whitewater rafting season. 

We're exploring the possibility of offering videos of our rafting trips this year.  We just purchased a device called "The Flip", which has an optional waterproof case accessory.  We'll be trying it out this weekend to see how it works.  We'll post our resulting videos online here on our blog, so check back to see how it turns out. 

Even if it does not work out so well, we will as always provide the option for our customers to purchase a photo CD of their groups going through some of the most technical rapids on The Pigeon River.

Today begins our journey at Big Creek Expeditions to utilize our website and blog as a feedback mechanism.  The idea is threefold. 

1. First, we would love to hear your feedback about your rafting trips here in our blog by you providing your comments to this blog post.
2. Second, we are in the process of building a Fans page on Facebook and hope that it will provide our rafting community with an opportunity to share stories, pictures, and videos of their rafting trip... and who knows what other great things will come out of it!
3. Third, we are working on a Survey and Feedback page on our site.  The survey will be really simple, quick to take, and only consist of 5-8 questions.

Over the course of the 2009 Rafting Season and beyond, we will continue to reference all this feedback for ideas on how to improve your adventure and to gain insight into what folks are really digging about their rafting trips on The Pigeon River. 

Please check back often.  Especially after your trip this year, come back to our site and take our survey.  When it is ready, there will be a "Feedback" link on our site right next to "Questions".

Big Creek Expeditions Rafting Schedule for Online Reservations

Please feel free to visit our reservations page which will automatically display the corresponding information based on the day you pick.

Spring Schedule - Full water releases are not guaranteed during this time of year. These trip times are the check in times for the guests.  

There is the possibility of water being released on non- guaranteed days based upon rainfall and demand for electricity. Hundreds of guests go down at what we refer to as low water releases. Rapids still exist at low water releases but they would be classified as class II & III instead of III & IV.  

Dates: March 5, 2009 thru April 26, 2009 TU, TH, SA & SU Trip time: 11:00 am 

On non scheduled days – Mon, Wed & Fri  Call for Availability on this day.  

Dates:  May 2, 2009 thru May 17, 2009 SA & SU  Trip Time: 11:00 am 

Pre-Summer Guarantee Release Schedule – Full water releases are scheduled on these days.  These trip times are the check in times for the guests.  

Dates:  April 28, 2009 thru May 21, 2009 TU, WE & TH  Trip Time: 12:30 pm & 2:30 pm 

Summer Schedule – Full water releases are scheduled on these days. These trip times are the check in times for the guests.  

Dates: May 23, 2009 thru Sept 5, 2009 TU, WE, TH & SA  Trip Times: 10:30 am, 12:30, 2:30 & 4:30 pm 

Fall Schedule - Full water releases are not guaranteed during this time of year. These trip times are the check in times for the guests.  

There is the possibility of water being released on non- guaranteed days based upon rainfall and demand for electricity. Hundreds of guests go down at what we refer to as low water releases. Rapids still exist at low water releases but they would be classified as class II & III instead of III & IV.  

Good morning, rafters!  This is the second edition of our Morning Mountain Minute. 

We are here today to speak about rafting safety.  Big Creek Expeditions prides itself on rafting and river safety.  Prior to each trip, we run all the rafters through a safety talk.  The talk encompasses things to remember such as:

1. "Nose and Toes" in the air if you happen to go overboard, although your guide will make every effort to keep your group in the boat.
2. Always keep the top of the paddle in hand as you do not want it to hit your neighbor when going through a rapid.
3. Keep your helmet and PFD (personal floatation device) on at all times.
4. Listen to your guide as he will direct you when to paddle and when to relax, shouting out commands like "All Forward", "Relax", "All Back".
5. Foot protection is required. You will need old shoes or sandals that go around your ankle.  FLIP FLOPS ARE NOT ALLOWED ON THE RIVER.

Additional information can be found on our site on our safety page and our questions page.  Remember that the Pigeon River has several Class III and Class IV rapids.  There are both Upper and Lower Trips.  Upper Trips are more technical and are restricted to those 8 years of age and older and 70 lbs. and greater.  The Lower Trips are suited for younger groups ages 3 and up.

Upper Trip

Lower Trip

Our first weekend of the season brings us some wonderful weather. The temperatures are to be in the 70s.

We invite your group to enjoy our view of the Smoky Mountains and warm weather while rafting the Pigeon River.  As allows, call us 877-642-7238 anytime or book online.   

In the future, we will try to provide a weekly weekend river rafting report, so feel free to check back on Fridays for the inside scoop on the weekend events.  Better yet, just subscribe to our RSS feed.  Or, if you prefer, sign up for email updates of our RSS feed and any updates will automatically show up in your inbox the next morning after being posted.

I just wanted to provide a quick morning update for the week, our first week we have opened our doors for the 2009 rafting season.  Usually I will provide this update on Monday, but yesterday it was rather chilly out.  A snow storm had blown through the entire southeast and parts of Tennessee received over 6 inches of snow. 

Of course, snow storms don't present the ideal rafting conditions, but the weather forecast is calling for warmer temperatures later in the week presenting the opportunity for some great rafting.  Last week we received our shipment of 50 wet suits in preparation for folks coming to raft the Pigeon River during the months of March and April.  Wet suits won't be necessary for every trip in March and April, but if the rafting rapids are a little chillier than normal as they are this week, you will be comfortable wearing one of the wet suits.  Additionally, our winterized bathrooms have been opened up and we are ready to go. 

I'm going to be at the outpost beginning Thursday all day.  Please call or reserve online and stop by for a trip down the river.  We would love to have your group.

Jon Felderman

1-877-642-7238