Where to go rafting and camping in the Eastern US
 

We are looking for a place to go for a short vacation in August. The Gulf coast of Florida is simply too hot to stand the whole summer!

My son is almost 10; I think he'd love whitewater rafting, but should probably stay at class III or maybe IV level rapids. We absolutely need a guide in the raft, but would rather be on a smallish trip with around 20 people than on a mass float with 80 people. He'd probably love a zipline too.

We've camped at Unicoi State Park in Georgia and loved it. My only issue there is that after driving all day (and doing plenty of driving in our daily lives!) I'd like to park the car at the campsite and leave it.

SO, can you recommend a campsite that's close enough to rafting and zipline or other similar activities that we could hike there, or at most ride our bikes from the campsite?

Most of the big outfitters have campgrounds for their rafters. My favorite outfitter is NOC - and they have operations on the whitewater rafting rivers in eastern TN, western NC and north GA.

Check out their website - http://www.noc.com/

There is some on the French Broad River also. But around Nantahala there is a lot available. And fishing in Cherokee wouldn't be too far.

Correction to my post above = The NOC doesn't run the Chattooga in NE GA. Both outfitters - Wildwater and Southeastern are good and I'd use either. The Class IV section is where they filmed Deliverance and it's a scary run on Class IV waters, especially if the river is high. With a child I'd definitely opt for the Class III segment. You can also hike along the river to watch folks being dumped out of the rafts at Bull Sluice if you are interested. ;)

If you can get a space, camping at Black Rock Mountain State Park would be a great treat - at over 3000 ft elevation. Also visit Tallulah Gorge SP if you are in the area. If you want to camp on a lake, Moccasin Creek SP is great - but the parks are very popular.

Re the rivers - I think my favorites are the Nantahala and French Broad. It may be because we had a FABULOUS guide but I really like the scenery down the French Broad. The guide shared a lot of Cherokee Indian history along the river and the quiet/floating parts were just gorgeous. The whitewater is good for all of them. I think the Ocoee is my least favorite (due to location) but it is very controllable (think Disneyesque) due to the "improvements" made in the river for the Olympics. If you want great whitewater, I'd say the Chattoga or the New River in West Virginia - but with a 10 year old a Class III on any of them will be a blast.

You can start here - http://usnwc.org/ - & then head to the Mts. Ample places to camp, check this out also - http://ncrafting.com/

I found Big Creek Expeditions on line. They say they have all of this, but I don't see pix or descriptions of the campsites or zipline, only the rafting, with very brief mention of the others. I'd like a relaxed campground with some privacy between the campsites.

Starrs, thanks for all the comments! I'll get looking. Sanparis, those kind of umbrella organizations are great too, as a way to check out various outfitters. Thank you :)

Hard to believe it but Deliverance is now 40 years old.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2212550AA7YnQY
The scenery along the river was great even if the acting was not. Rent the movie to see if you want to go there.

That's about 10 years older than I expected--wow! I usually am making the opposite mistake ("10 year reunion, really? Seems like it just ended a year or two ago")

But scenery aside, what I'm really looking for is a place where I can park the car for days on end, walk to the launch site for rafting, walk to a zipline, hike to go hiking, bring our food with us and never even touch the car key. That's key ;)

"...at I'm really looking for is a place where I can park the car for days on end, walk to the launch site for rafting, walk to a zipline, hike to go hiking, bring our food with us and never even touch the car key."

The only place that would come close to that is in my first link - the NOC website.

But even NOC may have to shuttle you to the zipline, etc. I don't know where they built their zipline.

The locals know it's been 40 years. A lot aren't happy with the Deliverance Festival. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...ance-festival/

Do NOT let your 10yo watch the movie.

Popular Tshirt in the Tallulah Gorge SP gift shop - "Paddle harder, I hear banjos".

Maine!?!?! Moose country!!!

http://www.northernoutdoors.com/

http://threeriverswhitewater.com/

http://www.penobscotadventures.com/

Lookin Glass, those might be nice, but we live in Florida and aren't willing to drive that far.

DS has already asked about that line. I was extremely vague in my response, made no mention of "pretty mouth"s.

sorry, just saw a bunch of states and wasn't paying attention! good luck!!!

If you can make it a little farther North for rafting, I would goto West Virginia. Check out the New River and the Gaulney Rivers. Best whitewater rafting in the east. West Virginia has some real nice state parks for camping as well. For scenery, the Western North Carolina/Northern Georgia/East Tennessee mountains can't be beat. The Smoky Mountains are a great place to camp. As far as whitewater.......WV probably has some better rivers, but still probably some good whitewater rivers in NC.

I've driven to WV to raft the New River out of Thurmond, WV. The rafting was good - but not that much better for the OP to drive up to WV from FL.

asdaven, I meant to include Tenn, but don't know how to add it in now. W Va might come into question some summer when I'm visiting my parents in SE Ohio. This trip is in part a reaction to family drama that's I'm staying away from this year.