Nantahala Outdoor Center
The Nantahala Outdoor Center ("NOC") is a real location - it's the Outfitter's Store and Welcome Center building, at the the Nantahala River Headquarters, 13077 Highway 19, West Bryson City, NC 28713, 800-232-7238
The URL is www.noc.com
It's near Wesser, North Carolina, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is adjacent to the Nantahala river, commonly referred to as the Nanty. It is also close to the Appalachian Trail and many AT thru-hikers stop, visit and shop when passing through.
"Nantahala" means "River of the Noonday Sun," according to their tourist brochures, but in truth no one is sure what it really means. The river lies deep in a narrow, spectacular rock-strewn gorge along US-19. The Nantahala is a small, friendly stream as whitewater rivers go, and on warm days in the summer it is packed with a colorful collection of kayaks, rafts, inflatable kayaks and tubes. There are several places where people congregate to watch the action.DW9
In the Spearfish Lake Tales universe the NOC was managed by Leon and the staff at times included Scooter Whitsell. The NOC was where Scooter stopped her first Appalachian Trail attempt, leading to her subsequent employment there. Duane MacRae also worked at NOC at different times before moving on to Canyon Tours.
