Winter Outdoor Activity: Snow Tubing in North Carolin and Tennessee

During the winter I like to go tubing! Living in Florida though, it's pretty difficult finding cold weather, let alone snow or icy hills to take the tubes, sleds, and skies to. A quick and easy escape from the warm Southern beaches is to head North to the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains. There you'll find some awesome fun tubing for the whole family!

Beech Mountain Resort is located at 1007 Beech Mountain Pkwy in Beech Mountain (which is in northwestern North Carolina). Ski Beech is the highest ski area in Eastern America! Beech Mountain has 15 ski trails, 10 lifts, ice skating, and tubing on over 95 acres. Beech Mountain's website says that during this past summer they bulldozed a custom course just for tubing. The tubing area at Ski Beech is two lanes which can be viewed from the View Haus. Tubing tickets cost $16 on weekdays and $20 on weekends and Holidays. Each ticket is good for a 2 hour tubing session. Because tubing can be dangerous, all tubers have to sign a release.

Sugar Mountain Resort is located at 1009 Sugar Mountain Drive in Avery County, NC. Their resort has over 115 acres for snowboarding, ice skating, skiing, and tubing. Sugar Mountain's tubing area has several 10-12 feet wide "chutes". These lanes are 700 feet long, with Magic Carpet lifts taking you back to the top, and lighting for night fun runs. You purchase a ticket at the tubing booth that is good for a single 1 hour and 45 minute session. A limited number of tickets become available 30 minutes prior to each session. Prices are $20 per person per session on weekdays and $25 on holidays and weekends. You can view the Sugar Mountain Resort website for more information.

Ober Gatlinburg's Ski Resort is located at 1001 Parkway in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The Resort offers several trails for skiing, snowboarding, skating, and a relatively new tubing parl. The tubing park features ten chutes at over 400 feet long. The lanes even have a 50 feet vertical drop! The sessions are an hour and 45 minutes long, and prices are $20 on weekdays and $25 on weekends and Holidays.

Tubing is so much fun because of the speed and drops! If you aren't blessed with the right weather conditions in your own local area, North Carolina and Tennessee offer great options, as seen above. Sugar Mountain is my favorite. Take the whole family with you because snow tubing is best enjoyed when the whole gang is having fun. Kids can ride with adults and have a blast too. Be safe and enjoy the snow!