Erica’s latest trip report (must read!) mentioned that she spent time learning paddling at Nantahala Outdoor Center as did I. Just wondering…which other members have done the same?
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Happy Nobel Prize to my physics prof, Leon Lederman (1988)! ⚛️
NOC, anyone?
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My wife and I took a two day tandem course there in 2024. Instructor was Will Dupree. He was great, and we had a blast!
I paddled the Nantahala a fair bit in the mid-late 70s, and remember it mostly as a gas station and restaurant. It quickly changed! By 1985, it was a far cry from its beginnings. In college, I'd leave from Durham after work on Friday, get there about 11pm, paddle (kayak, in a homemade Lettman Mark IV) the river 2x on Saturday, once on Sunday and then head back home 5 hours.
Paddled the river a lot in the 80s and 90s in open boats and yaks but never took any lessons. Bought a nice wooden Silver Creek kayak paddle from them way back in the day and ate at the restaurant often.
I first paddled the Nanty back in 1982 or '83. It made me decide to buy a wetsuit; that water was cold! The NOC store was THE place to find whitewater gear in western NC back in those days. I paddled the river many times and with many friends over the years, but back in the early 2000's it just got too crowded with rafts to be enjoyable.
The restaurants were great. The "Rivers End" was almost always the post-run meal, usually had the Sherpa Rice. Later "Relia's Garden" came along with a bit more upscale but delicious fare worth the visit even if we weren't paddling.
I did take a roll class (kayak) there way back when.
The restaurants were great. The "Rivers End" was almost always the post-run meal, usually had the Sherpa Rice. Later "Relia's Garden" came along with a bit more upscale but delicious fare worth the visit even if we weren't paddling.
I did take a roll class (kayak) there way back when.
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I never took lessons at NOC, but I knew a lot of canoeists who did in the 80s and 90s. And my tandem partner taught solo open canoe there for a while in the 90s after he moved from CT to NC. They used to have a mail order catalog operation like NRS, Cascade and Charlie Waldbridge, and I bought some gear from them.
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Will Dupree also did two days of instruction with me. He was great.
Never took classes but used NOC to paddle the river for a day with my daughter and her boyfriend in the late 1990’s. I remember eating at their restaurant and learning they were in a dry county. With us being from Wisconsin and in need of a few beers, we had to travel to a neighboring county to buy some. I also remember seeing numerous wanted posters for Eric Rudolph, the Olympic bomber who was known to be in the area and eventually was captured nearby.
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