Date: 2009-04-26
From: Wesser Bald Shelter

To: Nameless tent and water site
Miles today: 8.2

It was 58F in the shelter when I got up at 6:30. During the night there were some loud sounds which Danger said were barred owls hooting back and forth to each other. I hiked out at 8:35.The hike today can be described as follows: A long, treacherous, steep downhill of 2,500 feet, an hour immersed in something akin to a mad carnival, and finally an 1,100 foot hot, steep uphill.Since I was headed into town and getting more food there, I left most of my extra food at the shelter for someone else to use rather than carry it.I had thought the 5.7 mile downhill portion in the morning would be a piece of cake, but it had much more to it than that, including places where there seemed to be no way to get down whatsoever. Improvization was the name of the game and it was exhausting. I finally reached the bottom at noon.At that point everything changed. I was at the NOC! ... that is the Nantahala Outdoor Center, See: http://www.noc.com if you are interested. The NOC is a place that caters to river rafters, kayakers, bikers, hikers and folks just out for a good time. It is located right on the good-sized Nantahala River. The entire complex covers about 40 acres and has maybe 15-20 buildings ... restaurants, an outfitter, cabins, a train station, souvenir shops, etc. This was a Sunday and there was a kayak show of some sort going on in the outdoor spaces so the place was packed with weekenders, kayakers, hikers, and Harleys roaring up and down the narrow winding road. I had sent a food drop ahead to here so I picked it up along with the replacement part for the pole I had broken a few days ago. I sat near the river with Danger and another hiker I had met in Franklin, Kermitt, a gal originally from Wales, now from Boston. Danger also had a food drop here so we re-packed our packs with new food, had a beer and a beef BBQ sandwhich, and prepared to move on ... but not before I went into the restaurant and asked to talk with the manager. It just so happens that a long time ago, one summer while in college, Bon Bon and her boyfriend worked here. At that time the NOC was a small Mom and Pop enterprise with just an handfull of employees. Bon Bon was the waitress in the restaurant and her boyfriend was the cook. Now, the place employes 250 people in the peak summer months, and another 400 people on 5-6 other rivers where they offer river sports! The business is still in the same family and her former employers are still alive. The old restaurant is long gone and there must have been at least 6-8 waitresses bustling about in the new restaurant when I stoped in. I gathered what facts and brochures as I could, took pictures of the current menu, and will pass everything on to Bon Bon in due course. The NOC is located in a deep, narrow gorge, and when I hiked out and up the other side, the sun was beating directly on the mountain side I was hiking up. It made for a hot afternoon, and, being a gorge, the trail was an unrelenting 3,000 foot up. I did not make it up to where I had planned to go. At the 1,100 foot up point, I was low on water, the next water was two miles further on, and my legs said, "No more." So, after first walking right by it, but then going back to check things out more closely, about 4:45 I pulled off at a poorly marked water source with a few fairly flat areas for camping. A few minutes later Hog on Ice came by, and, fortunately, just happened to see my blue pack down near the water source. He was also ready to stop, so we stayed there for the night. I was rather shocked to discover that whoever had been there the night before had not put out their campfire. It was still smouldering when I started cooking dinner with my alcohol stove!PhotosI am still losing weight and carrying too much food so this was left for othersVery steep trailThe NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) where Bon Bon was a summer waitress during her college yearsCamping at the side of the trail near a water source