Picking up where Part I left off!

We left Gatlingburg, TN on Thursday morning and headed over the mountains to Bryson City, NC. Of course there was some nice rain to keep us nice and wet on the way over.

We got to Bryson City, found a restaurant, found a hotel and checked in! Once we were in and settled, we hopped on The Duc and cruised over to the NOC or Nantahala Outdoor Center. We wanted to check it out before Friday, ask what kind of gear we would need to bring and of course…just ride the Duc through the mountains!!

NOC

We decided to head back to the room and relax since the next day was going to be full of kayaking!!!

Friday morning we arrived at 8am to meet our private instructor for the day and get geared up!

Got the wetsuits, paddles, spray tops, kayak skirts and big smiles!

The first part of the day would be spent at the lake to practice paddle strokes, edging and the roll over/escape!

The temp was 56 when we got there!

Playing on the lake!

Practicing our paddle moves out on the lake

About to practice the "How to escape your kayak if it flips over". Just a reminder that it was in the 60s outside when we were about to do this...BRRRRR And yes, I am wearing a nose plug!

After spending the morning at the lake, we headed over to the drop point of the Little Tennessee River for some white water kayaking. Since this was our first time white water kayaking, we were doing the part of river that went from Class 1 to Class 1 Plus. When you are just learning, this is perfect.

Back in September I did some white water rafting in some Class IV. That was awesome!! However, we had the guide in the raft helping out. With this, it was just us so starting out in some Class I plus was good!

Brown bag lunch by the river on the side of a mountain, not bad!

Working our way down the river

Colin doing his thing out in the river

Hanging out in the eddy in the rain

This was amazing!!! If you ever get the chance or have been wanting to try white water kayaking, DO IT!!! You will love it. The Doc and I loved it so much we are actually planning another trip up there to do the week long white water kayaking deal they have. More details to come on that as we plan it.

Once the day on the water was complete, we headed back to the hotel to pack up the saddle bags and enjoy the storm. The next day we had a 10 and 1/2 hour drive home on the bikes so we needed our rest.

Rain in the mountains, there isn't anything better

10 and 1/2 hours on the motorcycle and it was all interstate riding. I’m not going to lie, my butt was so sore and tired by the time we got home around 6:30pm. Every hour or so we would pull over and give our butts a break and stretch out.

What a trip though!!! Zip lining, ropes course, aquarium, mountain side putt putt, sky life, The Dragon and some white water kayaking! I would say Spring Break 2012 was a raging success!