Wildwater, the oldest outfitter in the Southeast, announced that it has resumed activities at all five of its adventure centers with new social distancing and health guidelines in place.

Celebrating its 50th season on the river, Wildwater decided to suspend all activities in mid-March as the U.S. entered its struggle with COVID-19. With locations in four states across the Southeast (South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee), Wildwater has closely monitored the situation in each state and has acted in accordance with orders and guidelines set out by those states’ governors as well as the CDC and the White House. As each of those four states has entered the first phase of their respective re-opening plans, Wildwater has followed suit and decided to reopen with the necessary health precautions advised by the CDC.

“We’ve kept a close eye on this from the beginning, and the wellbeing of both our guests and staff has always been of great importance to us,” said Director of Marketing Woody Woodruff. “With many statewide restrictions being lifted and people itching to get outside, we felt that the time was right to resume our operations.”

Woodruff recognizes that Wildwater’s offerings of outdoor adventure activities will appeal strongly to families who are wary of international or cross-country travel and will be looking to vacation regionally and to stimulate local economies. “We’re excited to get back to giving our guests the best adventure they can have, but we want them to be assured that we are following best practices and doing everything we can to prioritize health and sanitation,” he added.

Measures Wildwater has enacted at its facilities in response to COVID-19 include:

  • Encouraging increased handwashing and sanitizing;
  • Using online waivers to decrease touchpoints;
  • Asking that only group leaders report to the office for check-in;
  • Limiting capacity inside of its facilities;
  • Implementing extra cleaning procedures for equipment; and
  • Adjusting bus loading procedures to decrease contact.

In addition to these new procedures, Wildwater will also offer the option of private tours for guests concerned about crowds. For more information on Wildwater’s re-opening procedures, visit the COVID-19 response page here.

Photo courtesy Wildwater