Nantahala Outdoor Center

It's NOC, OK? I'm not going to type it again. Quiz later.

3/30 Saturday
We had light rain overnight at Glassmine Gap, but slept well. We had our usual late start and several thrus passed our camp as we were eating breakfast and tearing down. It was a nice morning for a walk and we passed Winding Stair Gap around lunchtime. There were many thrus getting shuttled in from the hiker bash in Franklin. There was also trail magic at the gap, but they had just run out of chili but we did get Easter candy. We wanted to get a little ahead in milage to stage for a short day into NOC on Monday, so we walked 15.2 miles and finally camped on the side of a snow covered mountain in desperation.

3/31 Easter Sunday
A light rain overnight made most of the remaining snow disappear. We had a clear morning with a little rain in the afternoon. Snow, ice, slush, mud, and pools of water were all prominent along the trail.
For those that asked us before we left if the trail is hard to follow, today the answer would be a solid 'no'. It is as if we are following an army. The solid black line two feet wide with ankle deep mud snaking through the forest? That's the trail. Coming down the cold northern snow covered slope of a mountain you are almost assuredly going to be walking through slush now that things have warmed up. There are times when we would prefer ice again, over the sucking mud. Occasionally a stream intersects the trail from above, and decides that it would now rather flow down the trail, forcing you to walk upstream among the ice cold water. Most of the time you cannot avoid it, as you are on the side of a steeply sloping mountain or on its narrow ridgeline, and there is simply nowhere else to go. You are either walking north or south, the only two choices available to you.
We made it to Wesser Bald shelter, getting us to within six miles of NOC for the next day.

4/1 Monday
We had a short 6 mile hike into NOC, all downhill as we descended from the mountain ridgeline to the valley floor. Here the Nantahala River has carved its way through the mountains, and we descend 2500 ft to river level.
The trail exits the forest, crosses a highway, and leads directly through the hiker paradise that is NOC. Their main business is catering to white water sports fanatics, but the steady supply of hikers coming and going makes it worthwhile to cater to them as well. There is an outfitter, restaurant, pub, cabins, lodge, hostel, adventure center, zip lines, and of couse various whitewater rafting/kayaking trips. The only thing missing is dancing bears.
We called from the mountaintop the day before and made a reservation for a room in a cabin. We could not check in until 3, so being of course hungry we went to the restaurant for lunch. Wander and I split a large Greek salad, and I had a large hamburger with onion rings along with several local beers. It was wonderful. We would later come back that night and get a pizza.
While waiting we ran into Bulldog who had just done his laundry and was headed back to the hostel where he was staying.
Our cabin turned out to be a rather cool affair. It contained 10 rooms situated on different levels and half levels. The large main room held a TV, sink, and refrigerator. The different stairways and overhead walkways gave the place an MC Escher-ish feel. Somehow it all worked, though. We stuffed our faces with more food throughout the night, watched some TV, and got to know some of the other thrus that were staying there.
We made plans for the rest of the week, and called the Hike Inn at Fontana to make a reservation there. We arranged a shuttle for our friend Mudpuppy to come and walk with us for two days before the Smokies. We also contacted another friend that happens to be visiting the Smokies right now and made plans for him to visit us at the end of the week. This will be a busy week coming up, even though we don't have to make that much milage to stay on our schedule. Our main plans for the remaining week center around how to get people to bring us food, or to bring us to food. That's all we want you for, really.
Approaching the Smokies, which contains the highest point on the trail and a continuous stretch of high ridgeline for 70 miles, you want the weather to cooperate. Especially in April. Looking at the weather, we plan to take three days to get to Fontana, two of them while hiking with Mudpuppy, take a zero day on Friday when it is supposed to rain, and then start the Smokies on Saturday. We will see.

At mile 137.3