Family Offering Outdoor Adventures Brings the “Next Big Thing” to Asheville
In 1971, when my family started Wildwater, the first whitewater rafting outfitter in the Southeast, little did we realize our company would be known as trend-setters in outdoor recreation. Not only did my parents start a company that would launch the whitewater industry in this part of the country (now with rafting on four rivers in three states), Wildwater went on to develop the first Raft & Rail attraction in the U.S. and the first yurt resort in the Southeast.
With a history of setting trends and leading the Southeast into the “next big thing,” we also were one the first companies in the Southeast to offer commercial zipline canopy tours. Growing up around the family business, I too was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. But instead of looking for more water, I started looking up at the trees and with my wife started Nantahala Gorge Canopy Tours. We now offer canopy tours at all four of Wildwater’s rafting locations. We also built Asheville Zipline Canopy Adventures — the region’s first urban zipline course, offering vistas of the downtown Asheville skyline combined with flying through 150-year-old trees.
While canopy tours have become one of the hottest trends in outdoor adventures in the U.S., we’re already working on the “next big thing”: the first full-scale treetop adventure facility in Asheville and North Carolina. Asheville Treetops Adventure Park, currently under construction and scheduled to open October 1, will be sort of like a jungle gym in the trees, with 50 challenge elements.
This will be an outdoor adventure like none you’ve ever experienced before and we’re thrilled to bring it to the area. Our adventure park will provide yet another great way to enjoy the beauty and excitement of Asheville. Tune in next month to learn more!
Jeff Greiner, of Asheville, has been in the outdoor adventure business since the age of 9 when he helped his parents with their whitewater rafting business, Wildwater, which now offers outdoor adventures at the Nantahala, Pigeon, Chattooga and Ocoee rivers with three generations active in the business serving tens of thousands of guests. Today he is Vice President with the company and also co-owns a sister business offering zipline canopy tours in five locations. He is a board member of America Outdoors Association.
