Highland Outdoors | Spring 2020

Highland FREE

SPRING 2020

New river dries

outdoor wv botanic education garden

Squirt Boating

Climbing Guides

Get Your Race On! Upcoming Events

Great Greenbrier River Race - April 25 Marlinton National Trails Day & Stump Run 5K - June 6 Cass Scenic Railroad State Park Space Race Rumpus - June 12-14 Green Bank Observatory Mountain Trail Challenge 5K & Half-Marathon - August 8 Watoga State Park Slatyfork Enduro - August 9 Slatyfork Possum Trot / WV RoadKill Cook-Off - September 26 Marlinton Greenbrier River Trail Marathon - October 4 Greenbrier River Trail State Park Cass - Marlinton Turkey Trot - November 27 Green Bank Observatory For more race dates, visit our web calendar

Welcome to Nature’s Mountain Playground! Escape to the mountains, where epic adventures can be found in the serenity of the great outdoors! e drive here is only part of the fun!

Plan your next adventure at the link below.

Call 800.336.7009 or Visit NATURESMOUNTAINPLAYGROUND.COM/Adventure99

66 666 66 6 61-26, 2020 * Albr6ig6h 666 66 t, WV6 6666 6 May 666666 66 6 6 6 66 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

5k race

rumpke mountain boys

The dirty grass players

’

the boatmen

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Kids Tent Under 12 free workshops silent auction & Raffles

delicious food the famous art market downriver race 5k race

proceeds benefit

’ The Jakobs Ferry Stragglers ’ stewed mulligan

6tickets and more available at cheatfest.org6

The Lords of lester ’ william matheny ’ hello june ’ aristotle jones ’ The Fly birds Cooley Gang ’ The five & Dime ’ shelf life string band ’ tom & fiddle mike

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

5

West Virginia’s Outdoor Magazine

STAFF Publisher, Editor-in Chief Dylan Jones Associate Editor, Design Nikki Forrester A Bunch of Other Stuff Dylan Jones, Nikki Forrester

Welcome to our first issue of the 2020s!

Back in the days of my youth in the flannel-clad 90s, our society dreamt collective dreams of what 2020 would hold: flying cars, interstellar wormhole travel, and those little red lights from Star Trek that could immediately cure any ailment.

Welp, cars still sit on wheels, “Interstellar” is just a movie, and Spock ain’t saved us yet. Heck, you’re still reading a print magazine! No one saw that coming.

To celebrate the death-defying continuation of reading things on paper, we’ve hand-crafted another grass-roots, small-batch issue of West Virginia’s outdoor magazine for your enjoyment. To kick off entering a new decade (which technically doesn’t start till 2021), we’ve made some major changes to make Highland Outdoors a more environmentally conscious and sustainable operation.

We’ve switched our printing operations to HG Roebuck & Son, an award-winning Baltimore-based print

house that prides itself on working with small publications like ours. Highland Outdoors is now printed on Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certified paper with eco-friendly, soy-based inks.

Traditional magazine inks use hundreds of chemicals whereas our new ink uses only four and is biodegradable. To cap it all off, Roebuck’s printing operation runs on 100% renewable wind power.

Highland Outdoors has never been more recyclable, so please consider recycling this issue when you’re done with it!

We’ll also be working with an expert carbon auditor to assess our carbon footprint. From our home office electricity to the freight delivery of the magazine and our distribution route, we’re going to be tallying our emissions in 2020 and offsetting them through a combination of local and international reforestation initiatives.

So, while you wait to be beamed up into a wormhole-traversing flying car, kick back and enjoy this old-fashioned print magazine. We think it’ll make your future bright. w Dylan Jones, Publisher

6

HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

ADVERTISING Request a media kit or send inquiries to: info@highland-outdoors.com SUBMISSIONS Please send pitches and photos to: dylan@highland-outdoors.com EDITORIAL POLICY Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers.

SUSTAINABILITY This magazine was printed on paper certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative with eco-friendly inks. Please consider passing this issue along or recycling it when you're done.

DISCLAIMER Outdoor activities are inherently risky. Highland Outdoors will not be held responsible for your decision to play outdoors.

COVER Climbing guide Tyler Allen on Timber (5.10c) at the New River Gorge. Photo by Bryan Miller.

Copyright © 2020 by Highland Outdoors. All rights reserved. Highland Outdoors is published by DJones Media, LLC and printed at HG Roebuck & Son in Baltimore, Maryland.

Randy Jones

FROM THE EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS Tom Cecil, Gabe DeWitt, Nikki Forrester, Andy Forron, Paula Harris, Dylan Jones, Randy Jones, Matt Kearns, Kyle Kent, Bryan Miller, Molly Moroose, Adam Polinski, Todd Romero, Dave Smaldone, Erin Smaldone, Philip Smith, Alex Snyder, Liz Stout, Jesse Thornton, Gus Trauth, Doug Wood, Katie Wolpert, Jay Young

Paddlers navigate the technical rapids of the New River Dries, pg. 20.

Contents 10

12

16

20

LIQUID GOLD

MIND THE GAP

DOWN THE DRIES

The makings of maple syrup

The push to complete West Virginia's longest hiking trail

GROWING FROM THE ROOTS UP

Jay Young

By Todd Romero

By Matt Kearns

By Nikki Forrester

By Katie Wolpert

26

32

38

TIME TO CLIMB

INTO THE MYSTIC

By Dylan Jones

By Dylan Jones

THE PERKS OF OUTDOOR EDUCATION

By Alex Snyder

EVERY ISSUE 8 Briefs 40 Profile 42 Events 43 Gallery

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

7

B oxer s

NEW TRAILS COMING TO WOLF CREEK PARK

By Andy Forron West Virginia is fortunate to have a boatload of outdoor recreation opportunities in the New River Gorge region. There are thousands of climbing routes, hundreds of miles of whitewater, and a great trail system right out the front door. While the adventure options are many, most of them lie within the boundaries of the New River Gorge National River parkland—but not for long. Efforts are underway to construct a new multiuse trail system in Fayetteville’s Wolf Creek Park.

trails is a hot topic. Because National Park Service regulations make new trail construction an arduous process, folks looked into other options. It didn’t take long to connect with Fayette County officials involved in the development of Wolf Creek Park, a county-owned thousand-acre, mixed-use development that lies outside the bounds of the federal national park property. Lucky for us, Wolf Creek is not your typical business park and recreational trails are part of its master plan.

With local trail use and visitation numbers on the rise, the need for new

While the process for building new trails has been easier than that for

federal lands, it’s taken a few years to get the ball rolling. In early February, grant funds were approved through the county, and a contract was signed with a local trail builder to complete the trail system. Official work starts on April 1.

So, what have we been doing in the meantime? Potlucks. We have group meals and build trails one Sunday each month. I’ll admit I was a little shocked when I saw the response to a Facebook event I recently posted. I was even more surprised when I saw 30-40 people, standing in a parking lot at 8 a.m. on a snowy February morning, fired up to go build some trails.

Thanks to the huge volunteer effort, we’ve made some major leaps on the trails in Wolf Creek Park. We’ve cleared 12 or 13 miles of corridor and built around 3.5 miles of trail. The time donated by volunteers has cut the project cost considerably, meaning we’re going to have even more trails when it’s all said and done. It just goes to show what you can get accomplished with a little bit of food and a solid local community. w Andy Forron is a local trail guru and owner of New River Bikes in Fayetteville. Stop in to the shop to find out how the project is going!

DISC GOLF COMING TO COOPERS ROCK Tossers, rejoice! A disc golf course is slated to be built on a 71-acre section of Coopers Rock State Forest. Permission has been granted for the construction of a championship-level course featuring two nine-hole sections along with a six-hole beginner’s course. The course acreage has been permanently reclassified and will be managed exclusively for disc golf and other

8

recreational activities—no hunting or timbering may occur inside its borders.

The WVU Disc Golf Club also had input in the process.

More than two years of meetings, hikes through potential sites, flagging, map-making, and emailing led to the agreement between the Morgantown Mountain Goats Disc Golf Association, WV Department of Natural Resources, WV Division of Forestry, and the Coopers Rock Foundation (CRF).

The chosen parcel is attractive from a disc golf perspective, featuring ample parking close to the I-68 Coopers Rock exit, restrooms and picnic tables, and space for sizeable fairways. The varied terrain will have connector trails and a scenic stream. The course will also feature the longest single fairway in the

HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

Courtesy Andy Forron

By Adam Polinski

B r ie fs Mountain State at approximately 1,000 feet—all contained within a maturing eastern hardwood forest.

The course will be under the closed forest canopy —there will not be any wholesale removal of large trees to create open fairways. Naturally occurring alleyways inside the forest will help dictate the configuration of the fairways. Within the fairways, conversion to a disc golf course will entail trimming of undergrowth, removal of greenbrier, pruning of tree limbs, and removal of some trees four-inches in diameter and less.

The boundary of the 71-acre parcel will be marked by state agencies, and will allow hiking, trail-running, and cross-country skiing inside its borders.

Some hikers and runners may especially welcome the Safety Zone status of the course during peak hunting season.

Construction is scheduled to start this spring, and while sections could become playable this year, the entire project is expected to take two years.

The Morgantown Mountain Goats are bringing in a professional course designer and will be creating the fairways based on his design. CRF will

be laying out and opening up connector trails between the fairways.

The Morgantown Mountain Goats plan to host regional weekend tournaments. The new course will likely be the region’s crown jewel and, along with existing courses in Morgantown and Fairmont, should make northcentral WV a disc golf destination. w Adam Polinski is a founding member of the Coopers Rock Foundation and has been roaming around the forest since 1981. And yes, he knows exactly which tree or boulder you’re talking about!

SECOND CHANCE FOR NATIVE BROOK TROUT

By HO Staff Native brook trout reintroduction in the Eastern Panhandle is underway thanks to efforts from the WV Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) and Reymann Memorial Farm in Hardy County.

Courtesy WVDNR

The brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is the state fish and the only salmonid native to West Virginia. Its distinctive coloration and association with the state’s natural areas have garnered unparalleled endearment in Appalachia and beyond. Brook trout require cold, oxygen-rich water.

Deforestation, development, and environmental degradations like acid mine drainage and sedimentation have greatly diminished brook trout habitat.

Currently, brook trout streams represent only two percent of total stream miles in the Mountain State.

Entire counties where brook trout once flourished are now devoid of breeding populations, but its highly anticipated return has begun.

The WVDNR works in the Eastern Panhandle where native trout are increasingly susceptible to adverse habitat changes at lower elevations.

Reymann Memorial Farm, a private farm operated by West Virginia University, features an aquaculture facility that houses brook trout collected

from donor streams in the Cacapon and Shenandoah watersheds. Their offspring will be reintroduced in streams that show improving parameters for temperature, water quality, and shade.

Candidate streams for reintroduction were chosen following several years of electronic stream temperature monitoring.

“Our goal with this project is to successfully reestablish heritage strain brook trout in streams from which they were extirpated,” said Keplinger. “Native brook trout have experienced significant range contraction… and we have a major interest in trying to regain what is lost to whatever degree that current conditions allow.”

From spawning and egg collection in the fall to winter hatches, spring fingerling stockings, and summer

population sampling, this is a yearround operation. Brook trout may never return to the prevalence they once held, but a step in the right direction reveals a great deal of resilience for this beloved species.

“This year’s cohort of brook trout fry looks to be our biggest to date, and we plan to distribute them to four different streams within our district,” said Jake Whalen of the WVDNR. “Two of the streams will be first time reintroductions. It’s tough to beat the excitement of anglers who’ve successfully caught brook trout in these stretches and knowing we’ve helped perpetuate an experience that was thought to be long gone.” w This report was written using information and quotations from a WVDNR press release. Happy casting (and releasing)!

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

9

Liquid Gold

By Todd Romero

A

s the end of winter draws closer to the vernal equinox, the sun gets higher in the sky and mother nature ushers in another spring season. Folks start making plans for their gardens, digging for early ramps, and swapping out their skis for

boats, bikes, and climbing gear. The transformation from late winter to spring also creates the perfect conditions for prized sap to flow from sugar maple trees. Sugarmakers all over the northeast eagerly collect the sweet sap to transform it into the amber-colored liquid gold commonly known as maple syrup.

10 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

If you’ve ever driven around the rural country sides of the northeast, you’ve probably seen buckets hanging from trees and blue tubing strung through the forests like a calculated matrix of webbing. These elaborate systems collect ample amounts of sap from the sugar maple (Acer saccharum). While these images are commonly associated

Dylan Jones

The Makings of Maple Syrup

“West Virginia has more sugar maple trees than Vermont. The abundance of sugar maples throughout our steep hills and hollows is advantageous for collecting sap using nothing but gravity.”

Dylan Jones

with the northeast, we also have an abundance of maple trees and a climate conducive for producing maple syrup right here in Central Appalachia.

Although West Virginia has more sugar maple trees than Vermont, the Mountain State produced just 14,000 gallons of maple syrup last year.

To make syrup, sugarmakers start by tapping trees to collect sap. This happens near the end of winter when temperature cycles are ideal for the sap to run, or flow, from the tree long enough to collect a substantial amount. The requisite temperatures for sufficient sap runs are daytime temps around 40°F and nighttime temps below freezing, preferably in the 20s. Pressure is built up during these freeze-thaw cycles, which causes the tree to push sap containing water, minerals, and sucrose to its upper portions. High up in the crown, this sap provides the tree with the resources it needs to start budding in spring. The abundance of sugar maples throughout our steep hills and hollows is advantageous for building tubing systems and collecting sap using nothing but gravity.

That number, however, is on the rise. Several initiatives seek to boost production of maple syrup in West Virginia. Future Generations University in Franklin is working with local producers to harness the latest technologies to increase efficiency and production.

Experience Learning, an outdoor education program located on Spruce Knob, runs Maple in the Classroom, a travelling program that fosters youth interest and teaches children how to tap trees and make syrup. The Eastern WV Community & Technical College works with the WV Maple Syrup Producers Association to host Mountain State Maple Days, a showcase for syrup producers. The fourth-annual event is being held on March 21 and coincides with the WV Maple Syrup Festival in Pickens, creating a statewide celebration of all things maple.

The sugar maple is the state tree of New York, Vermont, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. The three northeastern states rank in the top-four maple syrupproducing states in the U.S., and Vermont tops the list with over two million gallons of syrup produced each year.

Present-day methods of collecting and processing sap have significantly improved. Sugarmakers drill 1.5-inch holes deep into trees and install spouts (or spiles) to allow the sap to flow into a vessel or a tube system that runs downhill into a collection tank. The

sap is then boiled and concentrated into syrup.

It takes an average of 40 gallons of maple sap to produce one gallon of syrup, but just one tap in a tree can produce a few gallons of sap per day. Sap officially becomes syrup when its temperature reaches 219°F (7°F above the boiling point of water). Commercial syrup is tested for density to ensure it is 66% sugar content.

It’s extremely easy to make your own little stash of syrup using only your kitchen stove. Although it may take a while, boiling five gallons of sap will produce about a pint of delicious, homemade syrup. On a positive note, you can humidify your home while you’re at it!

If you love maple syrup and have access to a few maple trees, try and make your own. It’s a fun family activity, and you may get enough of a sugar high to want to make more every year. Or head out to a local market and support one of West Virginia’s great syrup producers. This ain’t no Aunt Jemima! w Todd Romero runs Canaan Valley Maple from his home in, you guessed it, Canaan Valley.

Maple sap is collected, tested for sugar content, pumped through a reverse-osmosis system, and boiled to become delicious amber nectar.

The Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory sits atop Peters Mountain and the Allegheny Trail.

MIND THE GAP The push to complete West Virginia’s longest hiking trail

T

he Allegheny Trail (ALT) is a 300+ mile footpath that runs north to south from the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border to the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. The trail features paved and unpaved roads, forest roads and rail grades, and luscious single and doubletrack.

Since the 1980s, the ALT has been in a state of disrepair and it’s still not complete. But the West Virginia Scenic

Trails Association (WVSTA), a group that formed 40 years ago to build and maintain the ALT, is pushing to complete the project’s final miles.

THE TRAIL The trail kicks off on the Pennsylvania border near Bruceton Mills. The first 90 miles follow county highways and back roads. According to through-hiker Emily Huguenin, who hiked the trail in September 2017 with her husband Tim, the entirety of the trail is lined with wild

12 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

apple trees. “The very tastiest apples were around the Don Knotts Family Cemetery on Close Mountain,” she said.

After passing through Thomas and Davis, the trail enters Blackwater Falls and Canaan Valley state parks, then descends to the Glady Fork of the Cheat River at Gladwin. The ALT follows the sparkling Glady Fork to the eponymous town of Glady before reaching its headwaters. Along this isolated stretch the route manages to avoid all the wilderness areas that flank it, making

Jesse Thornton

By Katie Wolpert

the trail an exclusive destination for ALT hikers.

The ALT connects treasures through Randolph County as it traverses Shavers Mountain, crosses virgin forest on Gaudineer Knob, and drops into Durbin, Green Bank, and Cass, continuing along the Greenbrier River Trail for a few miles before entering Seneca State Forest. The ALT passes a Civil War cemetery before reaching Huntersville, a great spot to rest and resupply.

Section 1 Section 2

Section 3 Section 4N Section 4S

95.1 miles

64.2 miles

PA line to Blackwater Falls State Park

91.8 miles

Blackwater Falls State Park to Cass Railroad

Illustration by Gus Trauth

Leon Dubansky completed the ALT in spring of 2019 as his first long-distance hike. The section south of Cass was his favorite. He recalls walking along doubletrack surrounded by moss and old hardwood trees. “We were just going up and down along this rolling ridge for about 50 miles, it was really a beautiful section,” he said.

After passing through Watoga State Park, the ALT reaches the town of Neola, which has a post office, grocery store, and, according to the WVSTA guidebook, “sometimes a restaurant.”

The final section contains both stunning scenery and ‘the gap.’ The trail passes under the Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory on Peters Mountain in Monroe County where volunteers count migrating raptors in autumn. It’s worth stopping and chatting up WVSTA president Brian Hirt, who can often be found tallying eagles.

Hirt has been involved with the WVSTA and ALT for over 20 years.

He gets various complaints about the rugged nature of the trail and, although he understands why, he doesn’t

Cass Railroad to C.R.14, Greenbrier Co.

15.6 miles C.R.14 to I-64

21 miles

Laurel Branch to Appalachian Trail

WVSTA. The incomplete mileage is almost entirely in the Washington and Jefferson national forests and just over the state line in Virginia.

Doug Wood, who carved the original trail through the rugged Allegheny Mountains, is hopeful the trail will be completed soon. “We can build a constituency [of trail supporters] to pressure the landholding entities to let us fill in the gap,” he said.

empathize much. “One of the really great things about the ALT is that it’s not at all like the AT where it’s dug right down into the dirt,” Hirt said. “You have to keep your eyes open, watch for blazes, look for turns. It’s more of a wilderness hike like you might find out west.”

At its southern terminus, the ALT finishes along the well-worn tread of the Long Green Tunnel where it intersects the Appalachian Trail.

THE GAP Currently, a 20 to 30-mile section of the ALT remains stubbornly unfinished despite perennial efforts from the

Although the WVSTA had a route in mind for years, they re-walked it in January to create a GPS track to submit to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). They have permission from landowners and written support from local governments.

Now, the WVSTA just needs permission and environmental approval from the USFS. That approval comes in the form of expensive environmental assessments.

There’s hope that recent environmental studies related to road damage from the 2016 floods will encompass areas of the gap that the ALT would cross, allowing the WVSTA to piggyback off the road rebuild. This opportunity combined with a shift in the political winds at the USFS could create a fortuitous situation. “We want to push pretty hard right now,” Wood said. “It’s right there. Anyone can hike it; we just can’t call it a trail.”

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

13

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES Long-distance trails like the ALT can serve as points of pride for our state and create economic windfalls for the towns through which they pass. Laura Hirt, a lawyer who lives in Marlinton, hiked over half the trail earlier this year and has been a dedicated volunteer since.

“A normal working person can make a goal of hiking the whole trail in an ordinary vacation,” she said.

Like many projects in West Virginia, a small group of volunteers maintains the ALT. “There’s been some attitude in the past that the trail was poorly maintained so we’ve tried to work really hard on maintaining it,” Laura said.

Volunteers clearing fresh tread in a push to complete the ALT.

WVSTA made a push to re-blaze the trail last year, and as that project nears completion, it’s turning its

focus downward. “For a long time, it was just trying to keep it opened up but now we’re going to try to actually improve it, to do a lot more tread work,” said Wetzel County local Jeff Byard.

“The more people we get to use [the ALT], the more beaten down it is, the easier it is to follow,” Laura said. “It may take two years, or it may take another twenty, but I feel very strongly this trail is going to get done.”

Visit wvscenictrails.org to join WVSTA, support the push for completion, get info on trail workdays and other community events, or order the newest edition of the ALT hiking guidebook. w Katie Wolpert works for Experience Learning on Spruce Knob. She’s an accomplished long-distance runner and longtime ALT user.

Top: Doug Wood. Bottom: Jesse Thornton

The spectacular view from Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory on Peters Mountain.

14 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

3rd Annual Greenbrier River Trail Marathon Inagural Half Marathon

New River Yoga Festival 3 DAYS OF YOGA & ADVENTURE INCLUDINGÂ HIKES | MEDITATION | CLIMBING | RAFTING | SUP YOGA | MUSIC | AND MORE

Pocahontas County, WV; Flat, fast, scenic, USATF-certified course; October 4, 2020!

Go to https://aptiming.com/race/970 to register!

AUGUST 28TH - 30TH, 2020 ACE ADVENTURE RESORT

newriveryogafestival.com

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

15

GROWING FROM THE ROOTS UP E

llen Hrabovsky was just leaving her woodshop when she picked up the phone. She had spent the past few hours cutting pieces of wood, routing out letters, and hand-painting trail signs. These signs, she told me, are just a fraction of the wooden creations she’s built for the West Virginia Botanic Garden (WVBG) over the past 20 years.

Hrabovsky’s woodshop and home abut the WVBG property, an 85acre parcel that blends architectural gardens with hearty hardwood and hemlock forests. She started walking and building trails through these woods long before the property became the WVBG. “One of our biggest assets is our forests,” she says. Because the area has never been commercially logged, the forests are old, diverse, and healthy.

SOWING THE GARDEN Since the late 1800s, Tibbs Run, a stream traversing through the property, was used to supply water to Morgantown. A reservoir was constructed in 1912, and although Morgantown switched its water source in 1969, it wasn’t drained until 1980.

As the water filtered out, uncertainties about the future of the land flooded in.

Ideas to create a botanic garden in West Virginia started brewing in the early 1980s, but early members were still searching for a location more than a decade later. While scoping out the Tibbs Run Reservoir, the founders realized the prior land use created a diverse array of environments ideally suited for a botanic garden. “It’s a microcosm of all these different habitats that you might find throughout West Virginia,” says WVBG executive director Philip Smith, “which made a lot of sense for us as we want to curate a collection of plants that were culturally significant as well as appropriate for the land.”

In 1999, the city leased the property to the WVBG and supporters got to work. Unlike other botanic gardens around the country, there was no large endowment or foundation support to launch the project, leaving its fate in the hands of dedicated volunteers. “It was all grassroots,” says Smith. “Volunteer support has been foundational for the garden since day one.”

Supporters organized fundraising campaigns and events to kickstart the garden’s growth, including selling

Paula Harris

By Nikki Forrester

memberships and offering ticketed “Gardens of the Mon” tours to showcase home gardens around Morgantown.

Volunteers also began cleaning up the land, which was essentially a dump site at the time. Hrabovsky recalls mounds of tires and trash, campfires left burning, sleeping bags, tents, and even a VW bus. “In the beginning, we had so much cleaning up to do and basic maintenance to take care of that working full time on the gardens wasn’t feasible,” she says.

But once the massive amounts of trash were removed, the land took on a new appearance, highlighting the diversity of plants and wildlife that defines Appalachia.

A HODGEPODGE OF HABITATS The WVBG is home to mixed forests, meadows, and wetlands, which support a broad range of plants and animals.

“With so many different habitats, we’re still discovering what species we have here,” Smith says.

Because the area was never commercially logged, many of the hemlock trees are more than 200 years old. These forests contain several mosses and lichens rarely found in Appalachia. By maintaining open meadows, the WVBG provides habitat for hawks and other predatory birds.

There are also multiple types of wetlands on the property. Wetlands comprise less than 0.5% of West Virginia, the lowest in the 48 contiguous states thanks to its mountainous topography. Ephemeral wetlands and an emergent scrub-shrub wetland, which was created when the reservoir dam was breached in 2017, provide excellent homes for frogs, salamanders, turtles and other critters. “It’s a whole system out there,” says Jim Anderson, a professor of forestry and natural resources at West Virginia University who leads amphibian and wetland walks at the garden. “It’s not just plants and it’s not just a garden.”

The curated gardens provide yet another hub for wildlife diversity. A

pollinator garden was planted last year that attracted hundreds of bees and insect species as well as a variety of songbirds.

GROWING THOUGHTFULLY The natural, unmanaged habitats are a critical component of the WVBG, which is why “Tibbs Run Preserve” was added to its name in 2017. “We want to showcase what’s already here,” says Smith. “We don’t have to modify it or make it special, but we also want to have some of these other elements that county or city parks don’t have.”

Underlying these elements is a commitment to growing the WVBG in a thoughtful way that emphasizes the natural beauty of West Virginia without overpowering it. The first planted garden was established in the shade, in part because West Virginia is the third most forested state in the country. “It was put in under the trees to show that you can have a nice garden without having to cut down all the trees,” says Hrabovsky.

Currently there are nine gardens at the WVBG, including a rhododendron garden (the state flower), a meditation garden, and a hammock haven. Other gardens are in the works, including an Appalachian garden that will showcase heritage plants of the Mountain State, such as pawpaw, ginseng, and goldenseal.

Alongside the gardens, educational opportunities have grown dramatically over the past two decades. Throughout the year, the WVBG hosts nature walks that cover everything from wildflowers and mushrooms to amphibians and birds. They also offer family and kids programs, gardening workshops, art workshops, and yoga classes.

Top: photo by Dave Smaldone.

Second from top: Jim Anderson shows off a large snapping turtle, photo by Dave Smaldone.

Center: The first entry sign to the WVBG hand-crafted by Ellen Hrabovsky on a large piece of red oak, photo by Erin Smaldone.

Bottom two: photos by Philip Smith.

In 2017, the WVBG opened its first building, a solarpowered house designed and donated by the WVU College of Engineering. The building was an exciting new addition that models sustainable practices while providing space for presentations, nature camps, and events.

With a recently revised master plan, more changes are afoot, but the WVBG remains committed to growing in a way that honors its Appalachian heritage.

“Throughout history, people in Appalachia have learned how to use the land and how to be good stewards of the land. I feel like we’re a unique type of botanic garden in how we try to model and reflect that,” says Smith.

PLANTING SEEDS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION At its core, the garden is a destination for visitors and locals looking to spend time in nature. “Morgantown is becoming such an urban area that a lot of kids are never exposed to nature the way I was growing up in Preston County,” says Annette Tanner, a former board member and longtime volunteer at the WVBG. “That’s important because we all depend on the world we live in.” From helping with the Children’s Fall Festival to greeting visitors at a host station, Tanner introduces people of all ages to the garden and provides

recommendations for places to explore that best suit their interests.

The desire to expose more people to nature is also a main driver of the educational programs and events organized by Smaldone. “Having a place accessible where people can just be immersed in this natural, beautiful place and learn about it really gives them an opportunity to feel like they have a sense of place,” says Smaldone. “And when you love something, you want to protect it.” w Nikki Forrester is associate editor of Highland Outdoors.

She has a PhD in ecology and evolution, and can’t seem to stop writing about plants.

Molly Moroose

The WVBG hosts an annual garden party and the Fall Children’s Festival, as well as a small dinner series with local chefs. Last year, they had a “Howl-OWeen” trick-or-treat event to give back to all the dogwalkers that regularly visit the garden. Over 200 dogs attended, many in costume.

New events are on the horizon as well. This July,

the garden will host its first running event. “The main cause of the event is to teach people about wellness and how to live a healthy lifestyle, which includes spending time outside,” says Erin Smaldone, education director at the WVBG.

18 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

MAY

22, 23, 24

2020

WWW.ARTSPRINGWV.COM BECKLEY

77/64 Exit 45

WEST VIRGINIA

l a c o L p o h S A SHOWCASE OF APPALACHIA’S FINEST HANDCRAFTS, ARTS, AND CUISINE. SUPPORTING MORE THAN 2,800 WV ARTISTS. (304) 256-6843

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

19

DOWN THE DRIES

WORDS BY MATT KEARNS PHOTOS BY JAY YOUNG

A

ppearing as a deep gash in the ancient Appalachian Plateau, the New River Gorge carries a legendary stretch of whitewater known around the globe. But not many know that just downstream from its famous bridge and the still waters of Hawk’s Nest Lake lies a section of technical rapids that snake around house-sized boulders, a secluded place where the towering Nuttall sandstone cliffs meet the frothing river’s lapping edge.

Meet the New River Dries: a rarely paddled five-mile stretch that is now open to private and commercial paddling trips that go out on scheduled dam release days. From tunnel disasters and industrial draining of the New to riverbed rock climbing and local movements to restore the river’s natural flow, few stretches of whitewater in West Virginia are mired in as much controversy as the Dries.

DISASTROUS PAST The Dries get its name from a hydropower project that dammed and diverted water from the New River through a tunnel, effectively bypassing 5.5 miles of the original riverbed and leaving it mostly dry throughout the year.

The history of the Dries goes back to the 1930s when the Union Carbide company needed to power a new manufacturing facility on the banks of the Kanawha River at the town of Alloy. Hawk’s Nest, just upstream from Alloy, was chosen as the dam site. Workers dug a 30-footwide tunnel under Chimney Corner and U.S. Route 60— over three miles through the mountain—to send water to the turbines of a powerhouse near Gauley Bridge. Transmission lines still run electricity generated by the plant five miles down to the mills in Alloy.

The rock through which the tunnel was bored contained high levels of silica and became an occupational disaster. Drilling and blasting in the confined underground space stirred up deadly dust, the fine silica particles wreaked havoc on workers’ lungs. The resulting disease of silicosis is closely related to the infamous coal mining scourge of black lung.

The death toll from silicosis at Hawk’s Nest has never been fully realized. Of the nearly 3,000 tunnel diggers, Union Carbide admitted 109 deaths. A Congressional hearing uncovered 476 deaths, and historical review by epidemiologists suggest at least 764 people died from silicosis.

Much of the work—and death—at Hawk’s Nest was shouldered by African Americans. Segregated, unmarked, mass graves for poor workers were common. The Hawk’s Nest Tunnel remains among the worst industrial disasters in the United States and is memorialized just off Route 19 on Whippoorwill Road south of Summersville.

DAM DEBATE Hawk’s Nest Dam, its tunnel, and the Alloy manufacturing plant are still in operation today. As a licensed hydropower project, it is subject to permitting by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Hawk’s Nest permit was renewed in 2017 and will dictate the next several decades of operation.

Environmentalists, paddling enthusiasts, and commercial rafting companies were unhappy with the status quo at Hawk’s Nest Dam. The Dries are subject to hydrologic schizophrenia, facing irregular and unpredictable flows. Most of the time the water level is at a paltry 100 cubic feet per second

A paddler styles one of the many technical slot moves on the Dries.

(CFS), the minimum ecological release required from the dam. But during highflow events the Dries becomes a raging torrent, reaching up to 100,000 CFS, filled with the surplus water that the tunnel can’t take. Advocates for a new flow regime for the New River launched the Wet the Dries campaign to promote scheduled releases more suitable for recreation and the aquatic habitat.

However, releasing more water through the Dries means less water in the tunnel and less electricity available for the Alloy facility. Worried about losing manufacturing jobs, politicians wrote to FERC opposing any increase in recreation or ecological flows. During the relicensing process, Hawk’s Nest Dam became yet another chapter in the false choice debate between the environment and industry.

Ultimately, compromise prevailed for the Dries. FERC agreed to let more

water through the dam to “wet the dries,” but it wasn’t quite at the volume or frequency desired by advocates.

Improvements to recreational access, including better trails and put-ins, were also stipulated in the relicensing. It’ll be a year or so before those projects are finished, but the recreational whitewater releases started in March of 2018. There are nine days (two in March and seven throughout summer) scheduled for 2020 with target flows between 2,200 and 2,500 CFS.

Go with the Flow In June of 2019, I met up with a local paddling crew to experience the New River Dries during a scheduled release.

We drove past several buses and trailers stacked with rafts, proof that the whitewater companies are trying to make hay while the sun shines. These commercial trips, however, must have

24 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

put on just in front of or behind us because it felt like we had the whole river to ourselves.

We could have started at the Cotton Hill bridge, slated to get more parking and toilets, but chose to carry our boats an extra mile on the gated road leading upstream to Hawk’s Nest Dam. We scrambled through large boulders— popular with the local climbing scene— near the base of the dam to maximize a longer run. The extra paddling came at a cost: the biggest rapid of the day was now first. Without the chance to warm up, I snuck around; stronger paddlers in the group ran it without error.

The whitewater through the Dries at the recreational release was solid class III. The run wasn’t as pushy as the high-volume rapids of the Lower New or Lower Gauley, but it was very technical and the rapids were consistent. The Dries is full of huge boulders and rock

gardens—one must be steadily alert for pour-overs.

Many rapids force a paddler to choose between multiple slot moves between the big boulders. Some slots were blind drops, whereas others dumped into dangerous sieves clogged with debris.

Scouting here is essential for a safe run. Fortunately, the crew I was with knew the Dries well, as they had paddled here since the first release.

When the river finally allotted me enough time to look around, the scenery was absolutely stunning. It seemed as if the towering sandstone cliffs perched nearly 1,000 feet above the New River Gorge were brought right down to the water’s edge. With Route 60 high above, out of sight and out of mind, the Dries felt remote and isolated with only a passing coal train to break the solitude.

The beautiful scenery and the novelty of paddling one of the first new releases made the whole thing feel like a grand adventure. The fact that it’s only an hour outside of my hometown of Charleston was icing on the cake.

When the tunnel is full and Hawk’s Nest Dam is releasing excess water, the New River Dries is nationally known among top paddlers for its huge, standing waves that are perfect for river surfing and playboating. But at the smaller recreational flows, my group didn’t find many good waves. They also cautioned me about a number of dangerous undercuts that come into play at the level during a scheduled release. A few of the more experienced

paddlers thought that another 1,000 CFS or so would be perfect for kayaking, but such an agreement will probably have to wait at least forty years until the next relicensing.

In addition to the scheduled recreational releases, the minimum environmental flow was also raised from 100 CFS to 150-300 CFS. According to outfitters, this new baseline is friendly for duckies, suggesting trips through the Dries are still possible outside of release weekends.

About 5.5 miles from Hawk’s Nest Dam, you’ll pass the powerhouse on river-right, marking the point when the tunnel returns its water to the New River and the end of the Dries.

Expect about another mile of flatwater to the takeout above Kanawha Falls in Gauley Bridge.

Until the recreational improvements are complete, parking is limited at the Cotton Hill lot. Get there early and carpool with a friend or two. If you’re not lucky enough to go with experienced paddlers that know the Dries well, be sure to scout the rapids and choose your lines carefully.

Alternatively, you can head to one of the many great local rafting companies and sign up for a commercial trip. Either way, the Dries are worthy of a spot on your West Virginia bucket list. w

fine beer for free folk

CRAFT BEER food live music fayetteville,wv 1 mile from downtown

304.900.5238

@freefolkbrew

Matt Kearns is a Coast Guard veteran and native West Virginian. He travelled through all 50 states and realized West Virginia was best, so he came back home.

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

25

Time t0 climb

By Dylan Jones

T

he Mountain State boasts a wealth of exposed rock among its hills and hollows, but two regions standout as world-class climbing destinations: the New River Gorge (NRG) and Seneca Rocks. Both climbing meccas feature world-class guides that show clients the ropes. From basic toprope and rappelling trips for beginners to advanced multi-pitch and instructional courses, West Virginia’s climbing guide services offer something for everyone.

Most of the guides featured in this story are certified through the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) or Professional Climbing Guides Institute (PCGI). Both organizations offer ascending certifications that instill technical mastery and professionalism. If your guide isn’t certified, they’re overseen by a certified manager, so you can be sure you’re making a wise choice by booking a trip with any of the outfits mentioned here.

New River Gorge

The Appalachian Plateau features a layer of erosionresistant rock known as Nuttall sandstone. The New, Meadow, and Gauley rivers relentlessly sliced their courses through it for eons, creating some of the finest single-pitch climbing routes on the planet.

Over 3,000 routes exist here, some up to 120-feet tall and varying in difficulty from beginner to extremely difficult.

The “Coolest Small Town” of Fayetteville is the hub for this tight-knit climbing community, and the NRG is big enough to support three rock guiding outfits, each offering its own unique flavor and interpretation of the region’s treasures.

New River Mountain Guides (NRMG) Operating out of Water Stone Outdoors in downtown Fayetteville, NRMG has been a bedrock of the guiding scene since 1994. Founded by Elena Arenz, NRMG now functions under operations manager and senior instructor Jeff Hearn’s whacky brand of fun.

Hearn, who joined the ranks at NRMG in 2011, has been climbing since 2001. He is AMGA-certified and is WV’s only authorized Rock Warrior’s Way instructor, a mental training program for climbers. “We take an in-depth look at attention and how it’s focused during climbing,” Hearn says. Considering there are only a handful of Warrior’s Way instructors in the country, the unique program sets NRMG apart from other guiding outfits.

A climber savors the exposure on Ecstacy (5.7) at Seneca Rocks. Photo by Tom Cecil.

NRMG offers sport and traditional climbing trips as well as custom instructionals and Warrior’s Way sessions. Hearn also claims that NRMG has the goofiest guides. From cut-off jorts to spandex and SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

27

tutus, the NRMG crew certainly knows how to keep it interesting. “I’m pretty goofy, and we’re supposed to be having fun,” Hearn says.

“Last summer, we put our helmets on backwards and tried to toprope race to the top of two climbs. We looked like total goobers.”

New River Climbing School (NRCS)

Appalachian Mountain Guides (AMG)

Wolff says being in control of each trip allows him to ensure the highest-quality experience and zero in on his clients’ goals. From first-time climbers to visiting experts looking to climb the classic routes within their range, Wolff has seen it all.

“We may be the smallest service in the gorge, but I feel that’s a benefit to the client,” Wolff says. “Every person that calls will talk to me and likely climb with me, every experience is fully customized.”

Founded by prolific climber Jim Taylor in 2001, AMG provides custom instructionals and AMGA certification courses and exams. Co-owner Kyle Kent holds the AMGA’s highest certification of Rock Guide.

AMG is permitted to run unique climbing trips on Summersville Lake from the deck of its pontoon boat.

Guests can climb on ropes from the boat, explore the cliffs on paddleboards, or attempt challenging deepwater bouldering routes that keep guests within the legal height limit for falling into the lake. “Summersville Lake is one of the most incredible places one can climb,” Kent says. “When appropriate, guests are able to lead climbs from the boat or try incredible bouldering problems. It’s a customized experience for any level of climber.”

Kent says the diversity of climbing programs is what makes AMG stand out. He’s also quick to highlight the cooperation among guiding outfits in the NRG. “We have a fantastic, amicable working relationship with each other."

Last but certainly not least, NRCS is the one-man show put on by PCGI-certified guide David Wolff. Since 2012, Wolff has offered PCGI courses and trips geared for both aspiring and advanced climbers.

When Wolff needs extra muscle, he contracts guides from NRMG and other local outfits to get the job done.

“One of the things I love about guiding here is how well we get along,” he says, “We look out for each other and are good friends.”

Seneca Rocks

East of the Allegheny Front and west of North Fork Mountain, the Potomac River meanders through the bucolic German Valley past a series of Tuscarora quartzite fins known as the River Knobs. Seneca Rocks, the most prominent of the knobs, rises 1,000 feet above the valley floor.

Top: Climbing from the deck of AMG's pontoon boat, photo by Kyle Kent.

Center left: The goobers of NRMG, photo courtesy NRMG.

28 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

Seneca Rocks is widely considered the traditional climbing mecca of the east. The South Summit is the highest true summit accessible only by technical climbing east of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. If Fayetteville is small, the town of Seneca Rocks is microscopic. Yet Seneca and its neighboring knobs feature enough terrain to support three guiding outfits.

Seneca Rocks Mountain Guides (SRMG) Founded by world-renowned climber and route developer Tom Cecil in 1990, SRMG has been a major hub of Seneca’s modern climbing scene for 30 years. While SRMG offers a full range of guided trips and instructional courses, it specializes in courses for climbers transitioning from gym to crag.

Cecil, who holds PCGI’s highest certification level, has established over 100 routes in WV, but one of the most valuable things he’s established is SRGM’s training facility, which features 35-foot walls with simulated cracks to practice traditional gear placement, anchor building, and advanced techniques.

“We do a complete review of your skills in our gym where there’s no rockfall or distractions before heading out on the rock,” Cecil says. “Most climbers have an unbalanced skill set. A lot have climbing ability, but we’re teaching hazard awareness and route-finding skills.”

Tori Hyndman, a PCGIcertified guide who joined SRMG in 2013, loves showing clients what they’re capable of on Seneca’s rock faces.

“The look on someone’s face when they get to the top and achieved this goal that six hours ago seemed impossible, that’s the best moment of my day,” Hyndman says.

Seneca Rocks Climbing School (SRCS) Offering climbing instruction since 1971, SRCS is the MidAtlantic’s longest-running guiding service and is based out of The Gendarme, a gear shop named after the famous rock spire on top of Seneca that fell in 1987.

SCRS guide Claire Murphy is an AMGA-certified instructor and an aspiring Rock Guide. She started climbing in the gym and quickly transitioned to guiding after discovering The Gendarme. “We have the advantage of having a gear shop that functions as a gathering place right there with our climbing school,” Murphy says. The Gendarme also features instructional areas to educate clients in any type of weather.

Although Murphy spends her winters ice climbing and mountaineering in Colorado, she’s always stoked to return to Seneca in spring. “The terrain is mind-blowing, there are achievable routes that can get a person who’s never climbed before to a technical summit,” says Murphy. “There’s nothing else like it in the region, you get to have this alpine-style

Center right: Tori Hyndman placing gear at Seneca Rocks, photo courtesy SRMG. Bottom: A guide brings a client up Seneca Rocks, photo by Tom Cecil.

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

29

climbing day and then sit on the porch, eat pizza, and look at the rock you just climbed.”

Nelson Rocks (NROCKS) Just 11 miles south from Seneca Rocks lie the split fins of Nelson Rocks.

Imagine slicing Seneca in half along its length. Take those two slices, place them 200 feet apart, and span them with a swinging suspension bridge 150 feet above the ground. This is the site of NROCKS, one of WV’s more unique private adventure resorts.

Along with its Via Ferrata—an adventure route on which participants climb and traverse a series of iron rungs and cables with safety clips—NROCKS offers toprope climbing trips geared for beginners.

“The Via is a great way to try climbing and see if it’s something you’re into, it’s also fun for climbers who want to move light and fast and explore Nelson Rocks,” says NROCKS manager Bryan Williams.

Although NROCKS only offers toprope climbing, Williams says the unique formation of Nelson Rocks is worth a visit and perfect for families who want to give climbing a shot on the rock or on the meandering Via Ferrata.

Fortunately, advanced climbers aren’t left out: both SRMG and SRCS offer guided trips at Nelson Rocks for rockhounds who want to sample harder technical routes like the incredible 10-pitch Millenium Route established by Tom Cecil.

Giving Back

These outfits and their guides give back each year through climbing advocacy and stewardship.

NRMG works closely with the New River Alliance of Climbers (NRAC) to host (Not) Work Week, an annual week-long trail work event that’s improved climbing access in the NRG. Working out of their homemade facility, AMG’s Taylor and Kent manufacture sustainable glue-in bolts, rebolt aging routes, and donate their bolts to NRAC’s hardware replacement initiative.

Accidents happen, and through SRMG, Cecil runs a community rescue team and hosts an annual rescue training course to teach climbers how to perform selfrescue and work together to get injured climbers down from Seneca’s dizzying heights.

On the lighter side, SRCS fosters a sense of community by hosting annual events, including the chili cook-off and the legendary Cinco de Mayo party that benefits the American Alpine Club.

When you support these guiding outfits, you support trails and climbing access, new hardware on classic routes, and the thriving community that calls West Virginia’s outstanding crags home. w Dylan Jones is publisher of Highland Outdoors and spent a summer as a climbing guide in the NRG. He’s since traded his days being hunched over his belay device for endless days being hunched over his keyboard.

30 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

See your family from a new point of view

Via Ferrata, Ziplining, Wild caving, Rock climbing merit badges, On-Site lodging

Matthew Threlfall on Guillotine (5.10+) at the NRG, photo by Bryan Miller.

REserve the climb 877.435.4842 | NROCKS.com

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

31

Into the My stic Words by Dylan Jones Photos by Gabe DeWitt

J

im Snyder’s head, sporting a helmet and diving goggles, quietly emerges from the crystal-clear water of the Cheat River.

Next come his hands, each strapped to a ping pong-sized paddle. His boat stays just under the surface, its svelte shape distorted by boils of water rising from the depths.

At first glance, he appears as a bizarre river creature until a grin stretches ear-to-ear. He catches an eddy, drifts his way upstream, spins his boat into the current, and, raising his arms to the sky, returns to the blue realm from whence he came.

Snyder’s breathtaking dance with the mighty Cheat is known as squirt boating. There are progressively niche-ier versions of most adventure sports, each level embedded within the next like a radical Russian nesting doll. Now, imagine the most specialized version of paddling. If you look way out beyond it to the furthest fringe, you’ll find squirt boating—and Jim Snyder.

Squirt Notes

Modern squirt boating’s origins trace back to the early 1980s, when clever C1 canoe racers in D.C. started squirting— leaning back, submerging their sterns, and shooting forward—to sneak gates on slalom courses. Kayakers soon picked up the move, finding holes and rapids where they could get their crafts to go perpendicular to the water and spin around.

According to Snyder, Friendsville, Maryland-based kayaker Jess Whittemore was the first paddler to consistently get his boat to go completely vertical and fall back on an eddy line. “Jesse didn’t stop with head-high squirts, he founded a lot of great techniques that are used today by thousands of people,” Snyder says.

Some of those moves have entertaining names: splats, meltdowns, and blasting holes. “He was pushing the limits of everything everywhere that he could.”

Snyder, an ex-raft guide who lives in Albright, is in his 46th year as sole proprietor of RivrStyx, where he’s a master craftsman of elegant wooden paddles. He’s also a predominant squirt

boat designer who’s been crafting boats with various shapes and materials for over 30 years. His paddles and boats are in use around the globe and his wait list is long, so don’t get any ideas.

Although Snyder doesn’t like to take credit for much, he does have one claim to fame—he was the first paddler to do a cartwheel in a kayak on flat water.

Snyder’s famous move took place near Albright on the calm pools above the Cheat Canyon. “That was a big turning point in the sport,” he says.

Snyder soon started designing boats specifically for squirting. Sleek profiles, high-density materials, and custom bumps to fit over knees and feet were employed to sink the crafts further underwater. “There were a couple years where all we were doing was chest-deep moves; nobody in the big boats could do much yet,” Snyder says.

“It took another level of progression before people started actually going underwater.”

Jim Synder goes deep at Fascination Alley on the Cheat River Narrows.

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

33

Magical Mystery Tour

That progression happened in the mid-80s with the advent of the mystery move—an intentional plunge into a current that pulls the squirt boater deep and keeps them underwater for as long as the current or their lungs permit. To accomplish this, paddlers look for dynamic areas on a river where underwater features create a large downstream current flowing against an upstream eddy. “We’re basically trying to play on the interface between the opposing currents,” Snyder says. “We call it roaming the Realm.”

Being voluntarily sucked underwater and held in stasis doesn’t appeal to most, so what’s the draw? For Snyder, it’s all about what he calls the appetite.

“Look at it as three-dimensional puzzle solving,” Snyder says. “Even if the currents are only dropping two inches, it’s enough to power you into a really deep mystery.”

Progressive squirt boat designs in the late 80s enabled 10-second mystery moves. With an insatiable appetite to go deeper, Snyder and his crew started finding new venues, like Fascination Alley on the Cheat River and Halls of Karma on the New River, that were powerful enough for long mysteries.

Although Snyder has whirled his way through 25-second drops, top-tier squirt boaters have recorded mystery moves up to a minute and four seconds.

“It’s a little scary when you’re going that long because you’re trying to be cool and calm, you’re also not sure that the physics are going to bring you back out,” he says. “You have to do something to get back out from those really deep realms, which uses energy, oxygen, and time.”

Zombified

Collectively, mystery move aficionados are endearingly referred to as zombies.

Snyder offers up several reasons why, the most head-turning being hypoxia: when a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply.

34 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

During a long and deep mystery move, the brain becomes starved of oxygen, resulting in what Snyder describes as a trance-like state where thoughts and movements slow down.

“You don’t really feel like talking to anybody and just want to go get the next mystery,” he says.

Coupled with pressure, things start to get a little weird. “It messes with your mind because it gets real dark and the goggles squeeze into your face,” he says. “Your boat compresses on your legs, and you really don’t know where you’re going, you’re like a leaf in a storm.

By the time you get out of your boat, you can’t walk very well, you kind of stumble around all bleary eyed.”

(Sub)culture

Simply put, the squirt boat world is small—small enough to fit under a 40-foot by 60-foot tent. In a recent poll, Snyder tallied 200 active squirt boaters globally, which, as a percentage of the world population, is 2.6 x 10 -6. “There’s no money it for anybody,” Snyder says with a chuckle.

Most of the zombies know one another and regularly travel to get deep with each other. In 2019, Snyder completed his 27th trip to a gathering on the Toyokawa River in Japan.

The International Canoe Federation (ICF) hosts the Freestyle World Championship each year, featuring a squirt boating competition as a subset of its larger competitions. The Mystery World Championships is the prime gathering for the U.S. scene. The winner chooses the next year’s venue; the 2020 Worlds are slated for Maine.

The epicenter of Snyder’s universe is Fascination Alley, a magical spot on the Cheat Narrows where a river-wide barricade of boulders constricts the river as it flows into a deep, Olympicsized pool. When flows are low in peak summer, the Alley’s clear waters take on a gorgeous hue. “You can see every fish that’s down there, see every rock,” Snyder says. “It’s truly an amazing experience, it’s like being in a fishbowl.”

Top: Billy Brown. Center: Spectators watch mysteries. Bottom: Rose Wall dancing.

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

35

Behind the Shots

Gabe DeWitt, a Morgantown-based photographer and artist, quickly become renowned for his squirt boating photography following a 2015 assignment for Nature Conservancy Magazine and has been obsessed with the Realm ever since.

So, how does he get those shots?

Breath

The Endless Dance

Rose Wall is a semi-local squirt boater and close friend of Snyder’s.

Hailing from Michigan, Wall started kayaking eight years ago while attending college in Baltimore.

Now, Wall pays the bills as an engineer for a robotics company half the year. The other half is spent in—and under—water, pursuing her paddling passion in West Virginia, the Grand Canyon, and Chile.

Wall is the current women’s squirt boating world champion.

She won gold after bagging two 17-second mystery moves on the Sort River in Spain at the 2019 International Canoe Federation Freestyle World Championship.

Walls longest mystery move clocks in at 40 seconds and took place in Gemini, a deep mystery venue on Oregon’s Willamette River. While others have stayed down longer, few possess the athletic prowess and grace she exhibits when entranced by the flow.

Underwater video footage by local photographer Gabe DeWitt shows Wall effortlessly spinning

her boat like a corkscrew, her arms and hands slicing through the current with the surgical precision and intention of an interpretive dancer. “It’s one of the only times in life that I’m totally present in what I’m doing,” Wall says. “It’s sensory overload. You’re using your whole body and can feel where the currents are on your skin. The sunbeams filter through the water, all the bubbles are reflecting the light, it’s really entrancing.”

At its core, a mystery move is an interpretive dance. To go deep and stay there, a squirt boater must be able to read and interpret the complex fluid dynamics of moving water. Whirling currents, eddies, eddy fences, and spiraling strings of bubbles offer elements through which an individual may enact this ephemeral pas de deux— their partner, of course, being the relentless flow of water. w Dylan Jones has spent countless hours swimming at Fascination Alley, but has not yet worked up the courage nor the lung capacity to strap himself into a squirt boat.

36 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

“Every time I go underwater it’s like a game.

How long do I get to play this time? I can currently stay down a little over two minutes if I’m not stressing my muscles. I slowly exhale underwater to keep my heart rate down. I count prime numbers to distract my conscious mind.”

Movement

"I love to climb around on rocks underwater. I stabilize myself in the current and control the camera with one hand by bracing it against my shoulder. There are secondary and tertiary flows in the current that can you lock you in place. It’s like being Superman in this obstacle course gauntlet with people flying by.”

Lighting

“It’s beautiful how dramatic the lighting is, there’s a lot of dynamic light and juxtaposition with the surface and flow of the water.

Light diminishes rapidly once it hits water; blue is the only wavelength that makes it down. You have to do a lot of work in postproduction to rebalance the light.”

Gear

“I used a GoPro at first but invested in an Outex underwater camera housing that allowed me one-handed use of my DSLR camera. A good pair of low-profile free-diving googles treated with anti-fogging solution is crucial. I have a wetsuit with weights for when I really want to sink. I wear river sandals, as a foot entrapment is ever-present on my mind.”

Check out DeWitt’s work: wv-art.com

THE NEW RIVER GORGE’S

LOCAL BOATING SHOP

J A C K S O N K AYA K

QUALITY INGREDIENTS, UNEQUALED EXPERIENCE. FAYETTEVILLE, WV 219 WEST MAPLE AVE 304.574.2200

Open Daily for Lunch & Dinner! www.PIESandPINTS.net

LIQUID LOGIC PYRANHA DAGGER

FAYET TEVILLE, WV

ACEADVENTUREGEAR.COM 304-574-1900 SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

37

THE PERKS OF OUTDOOR EDUCATION

W

e stood smiling for one more picture at the mouth of the cave. It was the third cave our group had visited in two days, and we were muddy, tired, and overjoyed to feel the warmth of the sun on our skin again–at least the skin that wasn’t caked with mud.

Our caving adventures were part of a larger outdoor education expedition. On the trip, we backpacked through rhododendrons and past waterfalls, canoed and rafted down the Cheat River, and biked through remote areas in the Allegheny Mountains.

Over the course of our two-week trip, participants discovered nature, learned about themselves, and developed lasting relationships with their trip mates.

When people look at posters or visit websites of outdoor education programs, they often see photos of whitewater rafting, climbing, backpacking, and other adventure sports. It’s easy to assume that outdoor education is synonymous with ‘adventure vacation.’

And while that is not necessarily incorrect, it also falls short of the depth provided by an outdoor education experience.

“Education” is the key word, and “outdoor” is a qualifier

encompassing what and how we teach.

Although programs vary in their goals, activities, location, and curriculum, the outdoor education industry typically focuses on helping people learn about themselves, how to interact with others, and the natural world. Adventure, community, and nature are key components of most outdoor education programs around the world.

ADVENTURE It’s the exciting part of the experience. Outdoor education often has white knuckle components, such as rafting, mountain biking, rock climbing, and high ropes courses. For some, the white knuckles appear when considering spending a night outside on a backpacking or canoeing trip, crawling through the total darkness of a cave, or leaving technology behind to venture into the wilderness.

While adventure experiences are fun, they also involve risk, uncertainty, challenge, and growth. By overcoming obstacles and learning to manage risk, participants reflect and grow from their experiences. Thus, adventures can create the opportunity to build selfefficacy, self-esteem, and self-identity.

White water rafting, for

example, is exciting and fun, but it can also teach participants how to navigate obstacles, go with the flow, and work together as a team.

Likewise, when faced with the challenge of paddling long miles on rainy days, participants often say things like, “If I can do this, I can do anything.” A simple ray of sunshine that dries out the participants’ boots the next day becomes euphoric, a pleasure often overlooked in everyday life.

COMMUNITY When people return home, the stories most often told are of the wild and exhilarating adventures, but the enduring parts of the experience are usually the relationships. Many outdoor education programs focus on developing an intentional community. As the group moves through dynamic and challenging environments, individuals must work together to accomplish a goal and support each other through the most difficult obstacles.

The dynamic and immersive environments that are critical to the outdoor education industry create ideal opportunities for teaching participants about leadership, communication, and conflict resolution.

These important life skills are not always taught in schools or learned at home.

Caving: National Youth Science Center. All other photos: Alex Snyder

By Alex Snyder

NATURE The setting of these programs is a key element of their successes and outcomes. There is an abundance of research showing how beneficial nature is for the body, mind, and spirit. The natural world eases and relaxes our minds, inspires creativity, and increases our physical well-being. An immersive experience in nature without cell phones and other technology allows us to get away from the daily stresses of everyday life.

Nature is the best teacher.

There are patterns we can see in the veins of a leaf that follow the same patterns of the rivers and tributaries of a watershed; that same pattern repeats in our own circulatory systems that pump blood through our bodies. Spending time in nature can open our eyes to a new perspective on life. It can help us understand who we are as individuals and who we are as a species on this planet. It provides us with a blueprint of the way the world works, and when we look closely, we can see how that pattern is deeply embedded in who we are.

LOCATION Many outdoor education programs can be found out west. The sweeping vistas, towering mountains, and rocky canyons create a landscape well-suited for adventures far from home and away from the doldrums of everyday life. But that doesn’t mean the Rockies or the Canyonlands are the only place we can find adventure, build community, or learn from nature.

The Mountain State boasts some of the most pristine, wild landscapes in the eastern United States.

One aspect that makes this place so special is the ability to get far away and yet still be close to home.

There is a movement in outdoor education toward place-based learning and developing a relationship with the natural world near our homes. With numerous wilderness areas and untamed rivers in and around the Potomac Highlands, this area is prime territory for outdoor education.

There are endless opportunities to learn from the wild rivers and flourishing landscapes of West Virginia. Here, nature grows–and overgrows–faster than trail maintenance crews can keep up. The numerous wilderness areas, state parks, national forests, and a National Wildlife Refuge provide some of the best opportunities to bike, backpack, canoe, kayak, raft, spelunk, and climb in the United States.

Through these incredible landscapes of West Virginia, we have spectacular opportunities to grow and learn. Outdoor education is an underappreciated and powerful tool to teach participants life skills that may be hard to learn in the classroom. w Alex Snyder is co-founder and executive director of Appalachian Expeditions, an outdoor education nonprofit based in Tucker County. He lives in Davis with his wife and APEX co-founder Libbey Holewski.

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

39

P ro file How do you see your adventure recreation management program improving the state?

By Dylan Jones When Fayetteville citizen and infamous emcee of the Appalachian Outdoor Film Festival Dave Bernier contacted me about his colleague whom he felt was worthy of a profile, I was happy to finally receive a recommendation (yeah, readers, please send ‘em in).

After a few minutes on the phone with T Grant Lewis, PhD, I was filled to the brim with excitement for West Virginia’s future.

As director of the Adventure Recreation Management program at West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech), Lewis is training the next generation of outdoor leaders. By combining direct

participation in adventure recreation with traditional management philosophies, these students are working to, as Lewis puts it, elevate the profession.

Lewis is a vocal member of the growing movement that sees outdoor recreation as an indispensable part of West Virginia’s future.

He brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and stoke to the table, and I’m thrilled that our state has energetic folks like him to curate its future. I caught up with him to discuss his new life in the Mountain State, the program he oversees at WVU Tech, and the future of the outdoor recreation industry.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

40 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

What’s your coming to WV story?

I grew up in southeastern Massachusetts. I was working at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia doing something similar to what I’m doing now. That program ended, so I went to Weber State University in Utah to help build an academic program in outdoor and community recreation. This position [at WVU Tech] came open and I decided that it was time to come back east. It’s a good fit in terms of being closer to family and friends in a community that’s really supportive.

What does the program entail?

It’s about diffusing the idea that adventure has to be something super dangerous, adventure is what you make of it. We want our students to be exposed to a variety of different activities. You take courses and choose whether that’s paddling or mountain biking or climbing, so you get a wider sense of what people may be experiencing when they come to your programs.

We’re helping to support the development of people who can provide those adventure opportunities for people. We’re trying to make sure that our students are prepared for those managerial roles, so they’re getting a background across administrative abilities, risk

Courtesy WVU Tech

T Grant Lewis

One of the areas I keep hearing about is the desire to shift some of our economic resources to tourism. When we start thinking about what tourism currently looks like, outdoor recreation is certainly at the top of that list. One of our big areas of focus is trying to support the development of future recreation managers. When I say future, I’m talking three to five years from now as we start getting students through our program who can help elevate the profile of the profession. We really can create jobs that are full-time, that are benefited, that are helping to improve not only the economy, but also the overall physical and mental wellness of the people.

management, legal issues, budgeting, marketing and fundraising. The hope is that students have the breadth of knowledge and skills that will help them transition into those roles.

What challenges will your students (and we) face with outdoor recreation in WV?

Courtesy T Grant Lewis

I think we’re still at a point where not everybody is ready to embrace the change, there’s still a very strong hold on what industry was here, which was obviously the mining of natural resources. There’s still pushback in terms of ‘this is not what we want.’

Not everybody is welcoming the shift to hospitality and tourism with open arms. I also think [the students] are going to have to consider how, whether or not we want to admit it, changes in our climate are going to impact our resources?

One of the characterizations of young Millennials and the generation that’s now coming up is that they do something once and get instant gratification and move on to something else. That’s not a good economic model for us; we need people to come back.

What are we doing from season to season and from year to year to get people to want to come back? As a society, we’ve become disconnected from one another. How do we get people to reconnect with one another, to reconnect to the natural world? That can be a challenge when somebody is not used to being outdoors.

"What we have in our backyard, in some aspects, dwarfs some world-class outdoor towns that people flock to."

How can we responsibly grow WV’s adventure towns?

That was a conversation we had [recently] as we were looking at the curriculum. As citizens, how do we get out there and educate people who are coming to our region? If we get that growth of the outdoor economy, right now it’s manageable, but is that going to become more unmanageable? For example, if we can continue to keep Fayetteville and the area right around the New River Gorge the way it is but build up around Oak Hill and Beckley and Summersville, then you can live 15 or 20 minutes away and still go recreate where it’s really nice and have all these cool restaurants and shops because all the congestion

is dissipated into a larger area. We can position events around other places in the state so we can maintain those small town identities but still put on large-scale events. People can see what those areas have to offer, and then it’s not like every weekend the greater midAtlantic region is descending upon the same place, time after time.

What are some promising trends in outdoor recreation at the state level?

There’s an effort happening through [WVU’s main campus] to research the economic viability of outdoor recreation in the state of West Virginia, part of that is mapping out what resources exist. For instance, what

they’ve been doing is looking at the New River Gorge as an epicenter. Within a 90-minute drive, what do you have access to? They’ve been looking at the miles of whitewater, the number of climbing routes, the amount and length of mountain biking trails and comparing those to Asheville,NC; to Chattanooga,TN; to Boise, ID; and Boulder, CO. What we have in our backyard, in some aspects, dwarfs some of these world-class outdoor towns that people flock to.

A lot of people know the area, but they don’t realize the resources until they see those numbers. I think that’s going to make people stand up and start recognizing that this has a powerful economic impact to the state, and we have to harness it. w

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

41

E ve nt s C ale nd a r

Wetland & Amphibian Walk at the WV Botanic Garden Join WVU professor Jim Anderson on a walk to see a variety of animals and plants in wetland habitats.

ADD YOUR EVENT Send us an email with details about your event, where it is, and when to info@highland-outdoors.com

Kick off the spring rafting season with live music, food, and ice sculptures carved by renowned sculptors.

27th Ramp Dinner at MasonDixon Historical Park Bring your appetite and some breath mints for this annual celebration of all things rampy.

50K & Half Marathon at Coopers Rock State Forest Ditch the pavement and hit the dirt for this challenging footrace through a magical forest.

Canaan Valley Half Marathon & 10K Lace up your shoes and run through scenic Canaan Valley in this second-annual footrace.

1-3 5 7 - 10

2

42 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SPRING 2020

Fire and Ice Festival at Adventures on the Gorge

Join us on the banks of the mighty Cheat for this beloved festival featuring music, art, food, and more.

Head to Seneca Rocks to kick off climbing season with tacos, margaritas, and various shenanigans.

59th WV Wildflower Pilgrimage at Blackwater Falls State Park Head to the promised land of flowers, birds, and unique plants for this beloved annual walk.

First Annual New River Gorge Fest at Ace Adventure Resort Celebrate one of the oldest rivers in the world with live music, vendors, camping, and more.

New River Gorge Rim to Rim 10K at Fayetteville Run from one side of the New River Gorge to the other on a scenic course, featuring 1,300 feet of descent and ascent.

Snowshoe Bike Park Opening Day Fulfill yer need for speed, berms, and drops at Snowshoe’s legendary bike park.

Freepik

Bring your WV driver license for a free lift ticket and spring skiing with your fwends!

Head to the MTB capital of Preston County for group rides, demos, and more.

26th Cheat River Festival at Albright

Cinco de Mayo at The Gendarme

15 - 17

WV Ski Free Day at Snowshoe Mountain Resort

Kickoff Campout at Big Bear Lake Trail Center

16

Need a sugar rush? Head to Pickens for this annual celebration of all things maple.

Don your finest flannel and puffy jacket for this annual outdoor film festival in Morgantown.

MAY

21

Maple Syrup Festival at Pickens

24

Snowshoe’s annual spring break party includes free concerts, competitions, games & more.

24 - 26

Ballhooter Festival at Snowshoe Mountain Resort

25

Get your climb on at this firstannual uphill ski race on the slopes of Canaan. Race starts at 8 a.m.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

25

Sunrise Scramble at Canaan Valley Ski Resort

APRIL

25 - 26

29

22

21

13 - 15

8

MARCH

G aller y

Spring is my favorite of West Virginia’s four seasons. The return of migratory birds and the emergence of amphibians from their winter hideaways bring a symphony of song that is so very welcome following the quiet winter months. Additionally, the diversity of flora that inhabit the state is breathtaking. The multitude of green hues that burst forth during the spring months is one of my favorite sights. I greet each returning animal and plant species like an old friend, smiling my welcome in response to each song I hear and plant I see peeking forth from the earth. Photos and caption by Liz Stout.

SPRING 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

43