The upper Nantahala River - Standing Indian Campground

 It was time.  Time to get back on the river.  Time to get away from books and computer, bills and finances.  Time to put on the wading boots and feel the crisp water rushing past my pale shins.

I packed up the man-van and decided to head up to the Nantahala River.  I hadn't yet decided where, but I first wanted to check out a section by Rainbow Springs that years ago was open to the public.

I drove out of Franklin on 64 towards Hayesville, headed up the mountain pass, and made a right turn on Rainbow Springs Rd./FR 437.  From the looks of my decade-old NC atlas, the public section was to start somewhere around the confluence of Bryson Branch and get juicy at the confluence of Buck Creek.  I noticed that since I bought the atlas, someone had bought up all the property on either side of the river and posted no trespassing signs.  My only chance would be that one of the landowners would allow me to wade on his property.  No dice.  Sometimes I wish there were an Occupy Trout Rivers movement.  It might fizzle like its real-life counterpart, but at least it would give me a viable way of responding to selfish rich people. [I'll take this post down when I become a selfish rich person.]

So, I turned the man-van around and made my way up-river on FR 67 to the Standing Indian Campground.  It lies near the Appalachian Trail, so there is a mix of RV and hiker folks wandering around the cultivated paths and paved roads.  It also offers a great inroad to the river.  As the upper Nantahala passes through the campground, it encounters the modernization of man: a bridge and manicured bank, camp sites running along the river, etc.  But, once I parked my van in the day-parking lot (a $2 fee), walked down and over the river, and headed downstream a few hundred yards, the river become somewhat secluded.  Certainly the well-worn path allows easy access to the river, but I only ran across one other gentleman fishing that day.

The river was as pristine and pretty as you'll find in the App Mountains.  The fish (mostly rainbows) appear to range 8-10 inches, but I'd be interested to see what inhabits the pools near spawning season.  The wading was slick, but it was such a relaxing time, I couldn't complain.  I'll definitely be back...