nantahala outdoor center noc is a commercial outdoor guide service and retail store . it opened in 1972 when payson and aurelia kennedy and horace holden sr. took over the old tote n tarry motel . noc is based in western north carolina near bryson city near the great smoky mountains on the nantahala river . noc is surrounded by nantahala national forest . the appalachian trail passes directly through the heart of the noc crossing the nantahala river on a bridge next to the outfitter . 1 noc operates whitewater rafting trips on eight southeastern rivers the chattahoochee chattooga 2 cheoah french broad nantahala nolichucky ocoee and pigeon . the noc also teaches people to paddle in its canoe and kayak paddling school . 3 they also offer mountain bike rentals group programs outdoor retail restaurants ropes courses kayak touring fly fishing and hiking . 4 former noc president john burton who until recently was an owner operator of nearby nantahala village resort was a member of the original 1972 olympic slalom team . his teammate angus morrison currently a head guide for nantahala river guided trips was also on the olympic team that year as well as in 1976 and 1980 . more recently olympians lecky and fritz haller horace holden jr. wayne dickert currently head of noc instruction joe jacobi scott strausbaugh and scott shipley have all trained with the nantahala racing club at noc on the nantahala river . 5 jacobi and strausbaugh paddling c 2 are the only americans ever to have won an olympic gold medal for the us in whitewater which they did in barcelona in 1992 . 6 references edit wilbert carolina june 1 2004 . rapid transit the nantahala outdoor center teaches novice kayakers at the facility where whitewater olympians train . money.cnn.com . finding your way to the whitewater . query.nytimes.com . october 27 2007 . hurt iii harry july 28 2007 . tucking forward chilling out and waiting for the hands of god . travel.nytimes.com . wilbert carolina june 1 2004 . rapid transit the nantahala outdoor center teaches novice kayakers at the facility where whitewater olympians train . money.cnn.com . wilbert carolina june 1 2004 . rapid transit the nantahala outdoor center teaches novice kayakers at the facility where whitewater olympians train . money.cnn.com . barcelona roundup ; u.s. paddling pair makes a golden splash . nytimes.com . august 3 1992 . external links edit official website official website of the nantahala racing club coordinates 35 19 52 n 83 35 30 w 35.3312 n 83.5918 w 35.3312 ; 83.5918 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title nantahala outdoor center & oldid 678282236 categories buildings and structures in swain county north carolinanorth carolina outdoor recreationvisitor attractions in swain county north carolinacompanies based in north carolinahidden categories coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 28 august 2015 at 12 27 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view