 Nantahala Outdoor Center rolls out two new programs in the spring of 2010, Fly Fishing School and Wilderness Survival School, both all-inclusive weekend programs based at the company’s Nantahala River headquarters in Bryson City, North Carolina, about an hour's drive west of Asheville.
“We wanted to create new courses that our guests were asking for,” said director of adventure programs for NOC, Jonathon Bryant. “Both Fly Fishing School and Survival School are weekend programs, so guests don’t have to take time off work. Each is packed full of useful information people want to know, and is accessible even for beginners.”
In Fly Fishing School, participants can master angling basics in just two days, with guide service, transportation, meals and lodging included in one package. NOC fishing pro and author JEB Hall leads the weekend and covers topics such as wading, casting and choosing the right fly—all in the famed streams and rivers of the Smoky Mountains. Available weekends are March 13-14, April 10-11 and May 8-9, with a cost of $375 per angler.
Also new in 2010, NOC’s wilderness medicine instructors are offering a program for outdoor enthusiasts who really want to get their hands dirty. Jono Bryant co-leads Wilderness Survival School, with instructors from Southwestern Community College’s Outdoor Leadership program. Covering survival psychology, shelter building, emergency signaling, edible plants and other topics, students will participate in simulated scenarios in the Nantahala National Forest surrounding NOC. The Smoky Mountain region tends to be underestimated as a threatening environment for visitors to its backcountry, with unforgiving humidity, dense forest cover and widely-fluctuating temperatures. These scenarios give students experience surviving in a temperate rain forest, but the course covers other types of terrain, as well. These new programs round out NOC’s other spring offerings, including early-season whitewater rafting, the Class IV Kayaking Creek Week, Raft Guide School and SOLO Wilderness Medicine certification courses.
Nantahala Outdoor Center is the nation’s largest outdoor recreation company. Over a half million guests visit NOC annually to embark on a diverse collection of more than 80 different whitewater rafting and land-based itineraries, learn to kayak at NOC’s world-renowned Paddling School, travel to foreign countries with NOC’s Adventure Travel program, test the latest outdoor gear and shop at its flagship retail stores or enjoy NOC’s resort amenities such as its four restaurants and multi-tiered lodging. A privately-held, employee-owned company, NOC is one of the largest employers in western North Carolina and 22 Olympians and Olympic coaches have called NOC home. NOC has been recently recognized by The New York Times as the “Nation's Premiere Paddling School,” “The Best Place to Learn” by Outside, and as “One of the Best Outfitters on Earth” by National Geographic ADVENTURE.
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