Big Bear Whitewater Rafting — Attraction in Newport

Full disclosure: I used to be a raft guide on another river, so I am intimately familiar with the culture surrounding rafting companies. However, I am also pretty far removed from that time in my life because in the 21 years since I quit doing that, I have become a husband and father.

I tried to go into our experience at Big Bear and rafting the Pigeon as a complete Noob. I wanted for my family to have a good initial experience rafting and I didn't want to get in the way of our guide. I think that I did pretty well. The only time that I messed-up was when I saw all the rafts in front of us showing the all-good sign and reflexively did the same. Ooops, I'm not the guide...however, Romie, our guide, just laughed.

Now, to the objective review: We had an absolute blast! Romie was an amazing guide and her whole crew was just so much fun! They had a complete rehearsed bit for the safety briefing that had everyone laughing and having a very good time from the first moment to the last. Everyone was on top of their game and the entire experience was just the best. Also of note was Clayton, our bus driver, who my family chatted with for about 30 minutes before our trip. That dude is hysterically funny.

Our daughter gets really apprehensive about new things and even she had a good time with the trip. Our son, who definitely found the camera in the rafting shots, had the time of his life.

The Pigeon is a fun 3/4 river with a lot of fun 2's. I will definitely run it again and I will definitely do it...

We recently had an amazing experience rafting with Big Bear Rafting. Booking was super easy with a phone call and it just got better from there. On arrival, everything was ready for us and we were fitted with all the gear to ensure a safe trip. That was extra important for us with younger kids with zero experience with rapids. Our guide, Montana, was amazing and she had us ready for a really fun trip on the Upper Pigeon route. What a fun run thru rapids and beautiful Tennessee scenery!

And they do offer photos too. They have a photographer along the route who got some really great candid photos of us as we traversed the rapids. And as far as souvenir photos go, they are good quality images and a very good value with nearly a dozen digital photos for less than most places in Pigeon Forge will charge you for a single image. I think that is a big perk for Big Bear!

The area was hit hard by Hurricane Helene last year, and while recovery efforts are still ongoing, they are open and ready to take you on a great ride! And if you have done this trip before, the storm has changed the river and the route is better than ever.

We would highly recommend Big Bear to anyone looking for some great rafting with some really...

We had a great time with Big Bear Whitewater rafting for our whole group! We had seven boats of people and everyone loved it! Rawley and Gray were our rafting guides and they were wonderful! We got our tickets off of Groupon. So when you get there, make sure you bring bug spray and sunblock. Then leave everything in the car. Bring cash for tips later though. They didn’t really have Venmo, etc. easily accessible. I wish they would put just a QR code in the office so you could tip who you wanted. Then you’re gonna get in your groups and get assigned a guide, get your gear on and get some information. Then you take a bus ride to the river. They made the bus ride really fun and silly and also gave you a lot of instruction. I felt very safe even though I’ve never gone Whitewater rafting. It was super fun. You’re obviously going to get very wet. They go rain or shine. The water is pretty brown and gross but it could’ve been because there was just a storm. Then you take a bus ride back and you can buy pictures that they took which were totally worth it. We had a ball and it was a huge highlight of the week. Rawley was awesome and very strong so if you need help, you can be very...