04/28/2026
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This summer in the Smoky Mountains, you can hop on a tube and float a clear mountain stream past several beautiful waterfalls in the heart of the North Carolina Smokies! In the Deep Creek area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, this stretch of water offers one of the most fun ways to spend a hot day. Local outfitters like Deep Creek Tubing send visitors down about a mile of cool, flowing mountain water. The upper part runs through a tighter channel with small rapids that twist and bounce your tube, while the lower section opens up into a slower, easy float.
Along the route, you’ll drift right past Tom Branch Falls, which drops about 80 feet beside the creek, and nearby Indian Creek Falls, a 25-foot cascade tucked just up the trail. Deep Creek is one of the few places in the park where swimming and tubing are both allowed, and its waters stay chilly even in summer, fed by high-elevation streams. Most people carry their tubes up the shaded path along the creek to start again, turning it into a full day of floating, swimming, and hiking.
