canoe and ride

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    • #107409

      We are in south central Fl. Looking for the best place in the Southern States to go canoeing, camping and biking not all in that same order. camp sites don’t have to be something where somebody has been before. We know how to make fire from what is on the river and can eat off of the land. But we are only blue trail riders maybe some minor red. We will only be able to take a week at a time so keep that in mend. Thinking maybe Louisiana to South Carolina.

      Thanks for your Ideas.
      RazorRay

    • #107410

      Ray,

      My suggestion…

      The Nantahalla outdoor center/river near Bryson City, NC is a good place to make your base camp..The river is a class II-III+. Lot’s of lakes in the area too. Some free drive up spots in the area (although these fill up quick once rafting season kicks up)and a few pay campgrounds. The AT and Bartram trails intersect in this area so there are more free/primitive campsites to be found in the as well (you may have to hike your stuff in a little for the night). The trails @ Tsali are only about 15 minutes from the NOC. You’ve also got JackRabbit, Tanasi, Fontana Dam and bent creek mtb trails all within an hours driving distance.

      -Trent

    • #107411
      "trentb1" wrote

      Ray,

      My suggestion…

      The Nantahalla outdoor center/river near Bryson City, NC is a good place to make your base camp..The river is a class II-III+. Lot’s of lakes in the area too. Some free drive up spots in the area (although these fill up quick once rafting season kicks up)and a few pay campgrounds. The AT and Bartram trails intersect in this area so there are more free/primitive campsites to be found in the as well (you may have to hike your stuff in a little for the night). The trails @ Tsali are only about 15 minutes from the NOC. You’ve also got JackRabbit, Tanasi, Fontana Dam and bent creek mtb trails all within an hours driving distance.

      -Trent

      There are also trails right there at the NOC. Last time I was up there (over a year ago now) they were working on expanding the trail system (although there was already singletrack there to ride). I’m due for a return visit sometime soon to see what kind of progress they’ve made.

    • #107412

      Hi there Ray,

      I would like to provide a contrasting suggestion.

      If you love the solitude of nature, meeting people that share your interests and you’re not big on paying 12 bucks for a peanut butter sandwich, I would suggest you stay away from all things NOC. Every day, you get a train load of tourists that clog up the area making it feel like your at Disney Land, you pay 7 times the market value for anything they sell and the people most likely to hang out there are people that have decided to live the whitewater lifestyle without actually getting in the water that much.

      I would suggest you look into the "other" gorge, that being Ocoee. The Ocoee center was home to the kayaking competition in the 96 Olympics and they have built up the area quite a bit. Thunder Rock campground is right next door and it sits on the Tanasi trail system, which totals about 30 miles of absolutely fantastic mountain bike trails. There is also a lake within a mile for the calmer paddling.

      Between Tsali and Tanasi, I’ll take Tanasi every time. Much more variety, you’re not restricted to trails depending on the day, you never ride through horse crap and as a final bonus, you’re not near Robbinsville or the NOC 😀

      Any trips to town would take about a half hour, either to Cleveland, TN or Murphy, NC Ducktown is closer and has eats and groceries.

    • #107413

      I lived/paddled/biked in both areas for 3 years during the summers. The Nantahala Gorge is absolutely beautiful….in contrast, the area around the Ocoee/Tanasi was strip mined and blasted for decades and sees 3x the amount of traffic as the Nantahala Gorge.

      As someone who has lived in both places and knows them VERY well, I would say the last poster is waaay off in his assessment. Sounds like he has some kind of personal vendetta against the NOC or never really took the time to explore the area. Oh and this restaurant (there are many in the gorge) sits right on the river and is owned by the NOC, does anyone else see a 12$ pbj on there???

      http://www.noc.com/images/stories/pdf/R … r_2011.pdf

    • #107414

      I’ve yet to ride through a strip mined section while at Thunder Rock CG or Tanasi riding area. If you get lost and ride 10-15 miles to the west, you will run into the mines, however. So be real careful not to accidentally ride 10-15 miles outside of Tanasi and you should be good.

      As someone who has spent a lot of time in both places, I would say that the previous poster is waaaaay off in his assessment of me being waaaay off in my assessment of the NOC being nothing more than a tourist trap. It sounds to me like he’s just posting to advertise on the behalf of the NOC or perhaps he has a vendetta against the Ocoee Whitewater Center.

      Another possibility you must consider is that the previous poster is being controlled by aliens and is working to direct as many people as possible to the NOC, where they will feed upon your brains and dispose of your corpse via the River’s End restaurant as the sandwich du jour(Soylent Green on rye). Having tasted their sandwiches, I feel this is the most probable scenario.

    • #107415

      My 0.02: I’ve had a burger at the river’s end before, and it was quite tasty and not excessively expensive. And we sat right above the river–great view!

    • #107416

      Further north than South Carolina, but the upper reaches of the James River has good canoeing and mountain biking. The Buchanan area has very good canoeing and excellent back country mountain biking on the Jefferson National Forest (you won’t find most of those rides on a map or in a guidebook, seek out a local guide).

      The New River has good canoeing too, the Pembroke area has excellent floating and is close to the trails of Pandapas Pond. Further upstream near the Shot Tower there is a campground on the New River State Park trail, a rails to trails. I think you can hook into the Iron Mountain trails there, but that is a little out of my turf.

    • #107417

      Just went and camped at Tsali last week, went to the NOC a couple of times to eat, there weren’t very many people there at all, I had the Tail of the Dragon burger one day, which was delicious, shared a large greek pizza the next, which was even better, and both days I spent less than 15 bucks on dinner. So, I guess take that for what it is worth.

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