North Carolina's Nantahala Outdoor Center Promises Unparalleled Adventure in the Great Smokies

15.11.2024 - 09:40 / matadornetwork.com

In the heart of the Appalachians, where the Great Smoky Mountains and North Carolina’s Nantahala National Forest meet, there’s a town called Bryson City where adventure and serenity also converge. It’s a place where the roar of the Nantahala River soundtracks whitewater rafting trips, where the wind whistles as you whip down mountain biking trails or zip line runways, and where nature’s subtler sounds backdrop afternoons spent hiking or relaxing on Fontana Lake.

About 20 minutes from Bryson City, in the heart of the national forest, there’s one outdoors operator that visitors trust to facilitate all of those adventures and more: the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). Travelers could easily spend an entire trip to this slice of North Carolina without ever leaving the NOC campus — which also has lodging and all the necessary amenities on site — except to venture out into nature on guided excursions. But the town of Bryson City has its own charms, from the historic downtown to romps on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

For the thrill seekers, the curious, and anyone who’s drawn to majestic mountain landscapes, here’s what you need to know about recreating in Bryson City and its scenic surroundings with the NOC.

Photo: Tammy McCracken

Perfectly positioned between one of the country’s most-visited national parks and North Carolina’s largest national forest, with the Tuckasegee River and Fontana Lake within rock-throwing distance, Bryson City is considered the outdoor adventure capital of the Great Smoky Mountains. The region, whose peaks and valleys have been sculpted over millennia, has deep-rooted ties to the Cherokee Nation — Nantahala means “land of the noon day sun” in Cherokee, reflecting the way sunlight only graces the Nantahala Gorge’s floor around noon.

The Nantahala National Forest spans 531,286 acres, some 200 miles of which lay tracks for the Appalachian Trail (AT) and more than 500 acres of which belong to the NOC. The NOC was founded in 1972 by Payson and Aurelia Kennedy, along with their friend Horace Holden Sr. What began as a modest motel and petrol store by the Nantahala River quickly evolved into a premier outdoor adventure destination, largely thanks to the veteran guides and staff who run its campus at the intersection of the Nantahala River and the AT. Today, the outdoor center facilitates upwards of 100 exhilarating activities for more than a million visiting adventurers each year.

Nantahala Outdoor Center: 13077 US-19, Bryson City, NC 28713

Editor’s note: Reporting for this story was done before Hurricane Helene barreled through North Carolina in September. A representative for the NOC has shared the following message: As communities across North Carolina continue to recover from the