The Nantahala Racing Club and Nantahala Outdoor Center announced they have been honored with the American Canoe Association’s 2025 “Event of the Year” award for hosting the 2025 Junior Olympics and Regional Teams Development Camp. 

Every fall, Becky and I leave Moses Creek for a week to go to Isle of Palms in South Carolina, and we stay on the beach there in a complex called the Sea Cabins. I make sure that two canoes go with us, a tandem we use to explore the quiet inland waterways together, and, for ocean surfing, a small solo canoe that I paddle here on our mountain rivers. We also rent bikes, and we walk the beach. 

It’s the week paddlers from across the state and even the nation look forward to all year; it’s also the week Swain County resident Tom Womble has been working toward for a half-year as the “boots on the ground,” planner. 

Evy Leibfarth may as well have been born on the river. Her parents met while working as raft guides on the Nantahala and had her on the water with them before she could even hold a paddle.

Like some mountain man who’s happy in his holler, I’m happy to live up Moses Creek. It’s the right place to read, write and ramble in the woods around our house — the 3Rs of retirement for me. But sometimes, days having passed, and wondering how the water flows, I’ll drive down the creek to the Tuckasegee River, where the valley opens up and traffic rushes past, and looking around, I’ll think, “So, this is the world!” 

Lake Junaluska Outfitters summer activity passes are now available. The passes provide admission to the lakeside pool all summer long, as well as discounts on recreation, shopping and dining at Lake Junaluska.

It takes something special to draw me out of Moses Creek — there’s so much here to see and do and write about.

Jackson County Recreation will host a series of events throughout September.