THE NANTAHALA OUTDOOR CENTER:
A SOUTHEAST OUTDOORS MECCA
The Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City, North Carolina is an ideal destination for adventurers of all types. Located just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the center has become a magnet for people interested in whitewater canoeing and kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking, kayak touring, and other outdoor activities. Over the years, the NOC has become world-famous for its unsurpassed outdoor instruction programs.
Originally published in Washingtonian Magazine
The center was started as a family venture in the summer of 1972. Horace Holden and Payson and Aurelia Kennedy of Atlanta opened a restaurant, a motel, and an outfitters store in the Nantahala Gorge. Their objective was to provide facilities, services, and instruction to help others enjoy the mountains, the Nantahala River, and other nearby rivers. Soon, they began offering guided rafting trips on the Nantahala and the Chattooga, as well as whitewater canoe and kayak lessons.
Today, the center employs more than 300 people during the height of each season and the company is considered a national leader in the whitewater recreation industry. Many NOC staff members are highly-ranked international paddlers.
The NOC has built a reputation as the school of choice for beginners and experts. "We didn't start out to be a mecca, but the success of our students and instructors has made us a sort of institution," Payson Kennedy says.
The NOC's whitewater instruction schedule is extensive. In kayaking and canoeing, students can sign up for everything from weekend sessions to intensive seven-day camps. Skill levels range from beginners to experts and the student-to-teacher ratio is never more than five-to-one.
The course possibilities are almost endless. They offer river leader courses; a sampler course (one-day introductory courses on canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and kayak touring); kids' courses; week-long youth programs; women's courses; fast-track kayaker weeks; tentative kayaker courses; and sea kayaking.
Though its paddling school and whitewater rafting expeditions on five Southeastern rivers continue to be the NOC's focus, its programs have expanded considerably over the years. They now boast an extensive adventure travel division (with trips worldwide), mountain biking, a corporate team building program, retreat and meeting facilities for groups, a booming mail-order business, a variety of accommodations options, three restaurants, and much more.
"Our business is outdoor recreation," says Payson Kennedy. "Our mission is to help our guests recreate--to find new freshness in life, to create themselves anew." For further information, contact the Nantahala Outdoor Center at U.S. 19 West, Box 41, Bryson City, NC 28713, (704) 488-2175 or (800) 232-7238.