Blue Ridge Outdoors January 2018 by Summit Publishing

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January 2018

FEATURES 15 BEST OF THE BLUE RIDGE AWARDS

DEPARTMENTS 8 BACKTALK

Readers respond to development plans for Cumberland Island, professional hiker woes, and Norton, Va., winning BRO’s top adventure town contest.

1O QUICK HITS

The dark lord rises in West Virginia • Red wolves and their defender • A.T. rooster rescue • New Virginia wilderness and North Carolina state park • New IMBA trails

26 FLASHPOINT

A hiker comes to terms with increasingly crowded trailheads.

49 TRAIL MIX

Steep Canyon Rangers’ New Sound • Drew Holcomb’s Handpicked Vinyl

50 THE GOODS

Iditarod runner Peter Ripmaster’s gear picks COVER I L L U ST R AT I O N BY

Who are the top raft guides and most inspiring thru-hikers? What’s the best bike shop in the Blue Ridge? Thousands of readers from across the region voted in our seventh annual Best of the Blue Ridge Awards, which include 75 categories from the A.T. to zip lines.

36 BLOOD ON THE ROAD

Collisions and clashes between motorists and cyclists are on the rise. How can our roads be safer for everyone?

42 NATURAL ASSETS

Can outdoor recreation replace the extractive industries that have dominated the mountains for more than a century? Meet the outdoor entrepreneurs and leaders rebuilding regional economies and transforming Appalachia.

47 RIDING THE IDITAROD

Appalachia’s John Logar won the 1,000-mile footrace in 2014. He’s headed back to the Alaskan race in 2018—this time, on hiks bike.

JEREMY COLLINS /

800-933-PARK (7275) | www.virginiastateparks.gov

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10 Trails, 36 Skiable Acres; Full Service Ski Area Upgrades to Snow Making; New Compressors, Piping, Water Pumps and Automated Pump Controls Upgraded SnowMagic Equipment Increases Warm Weather Snowmaking to 300 Tons/Day New Magic Carpet Surface Lift with Canopy Ober Gatlinburg Freestyle Terrain Weekly Events Day, Twilight and Night Sessions Full Service Ski and Snowboard Tuning Shop Gear and Clothing at The Shops at Ober #ober #ogft Aprés Ski at The Loft Lounge and OberGatlinburg.com • 1001 Parkway, Gatlinburg TN • (865) 436-5423 Casual Dining at Seasons of Ober

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BACKTALK

THE LAST RED WOLVES, WILDFIRES, CUMBERLAND IN CRISIS, PRO HIKERS, COAL COUNTRY, TOP TOWN TRIBUTES PROFESSIONAL HIKERS: WORTH IT?

"Basically being broke and creative is how to be a professional hiker. What do you guys think? Is a permanent outdoor lifestyle better than having stability and comfort or not?" —Appalachian Trail Girl, via Facebook

RED WOLF IN THE CROSSHAIRS

"Shameful but absolutely not surprising. Humans can and should do better...the responsibilities of an apex predator are complex." —FC Shaw, via Facebook

NORTON PROUD

"Traveled the world and seen many beautiful places in other countries and our United States. My hometown of Norton compares to any and all in beauty and culture..." —Alvin R Mays, Valencia, Pennsylvania

"Grew up in Coeburn. Married a girl from Norton. Worked on the highrise when it was built in early '80-81. Worked as a butcher at the pig factory. Wound motors at Brooks Electric. I’m so glad to see Norton being recognized. I work in outdoor nature tourism in Georgia now and think it’s an excellent future for Southwest Virginia." —Gary Hill, via Facebook "An inspiration for so many post-coal-industry Appalachian towns. Congratulations, Norton!" —Amy Lough Fabbri, via Facebook

FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE

"The biggest problem with wildfires is that people have been brainwashed by the Sierra Club into thinking that cutting any trees is a mortal sin." —Clifford Albertson, Asheville, N.C., via Facebook

"Need more prescribed burns." —Paul Spencer, via Facebook

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COMMON GROUND IN COAL COUNTRY? "Beautifully stated, Professor Smith. The area and its challenges are complex, but a new age is dawning. Keep up the good work. —Jamie Woods Wampler, via blueridgeoutdoors.com

"Typical liberal outsider claiming they are the only answer for Appalachia." —Thomas, via blueridgeoutdoors.com

"Well said. I think this story plays out in many places, such as with our redwood forest here in Humboldt. The constant divide that is perceived between those who extract the resources for their jobs feeling attacked by those who see the damage from excessive resource extraction. How can we engage each other more effectively to work towards a positive end?" —Justin Legge, via blueridgeoutdoors.com

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

I read both "Rebel Yell" and "Cumberland in Crisis" in your December issue in one sitting. I was struck by how the problems described in both are two sides of the same coin. The Sagebrush Rebellion crowd who don’t want the federal government to own any public land are very similar to those who want to build more homes in Cumberland Island National Seashore. The first group expresses itself in standoffs, while the second group with lawyers and limited liability corporations. But both believe that our United States shouldn’t protect special places of natural significance. Why is a large part of Cumberland Island National Seashore still private? The NPS should have bought this years ago. We as a country should be buying up private inholdings in national parks.

THE BIG PICTURE

I love BRO. I devour every issue, and honestly, it really helped us adjust to living in and appreciating Virginia after we moved here. We are forever indebted to BRO for introducing us to the beauty of Virginia and for pushing us to get out and see the state. The problem is that with the gear guide in the November issue, I happened to be looking at all of the expensive gear as I was watching the news about Yemen. While I don't expect BRO to weigh in on international politics, I do wish that a lot of the gear you advertise and review wasn't so expensive. We love the outdoors, but we can't justify spending that much money when there are cheaper alternatives that are also good quality, especially when there are so many people suffering and starving around the world. —Maryam, via email

—Danny Bernstein, Asheville, N.C.

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QUICK HITS A.T. HIKER RESCUES IMBA DIGS IN The International Mountain Bicycling ROOSTER Association's Dig In Campaign is During her southbound thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail last fall, Heather Bolint noticed a stray rooster wandering near the trail in Pennsylvania. She searched the surrounding area in an effort to find the chicken’s home, but when she realized he was definitely lost, she decided to carry “Eddie” the rooster 42 miles down the trail to Harper’s Ferry, W.Va, where she arranged for him to be taken to a nearby farm animal sanctuary.

YETI'S REAL IDENTITY

A new study from the University of Buffalo analyzed 24 samples of bone, feces, hair, and skin from Tibet that allegedly belonged to Yeti, a mysterious, ape-like, bipedal creature rumored to live in the Himalayas. Genetic analysis revealed that the samples came from local brown and black bears.

WADE MICKLEY

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life."

—Lauren Van Lew, 20, of Sevierville, Tennessee, who is colorblind, got a view of the changing leaves in the Great Smoky Mountains for the first time through a new special viewfinder placed atop 3,590-foot Mount Harrison.

NATIONAL PARK PRICE HIKE

In late October, the National Park Service proposed tripling entrance fees. At Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, fees could increase from $25 to $70. The stated intent of the higher fees is to address an $11 billion backlog of maintenance issues, but critics have pointed out that the increased prices would only raise about $70 million a year. Meanwhile, President Trump plans to cut funding for national parks by $400 million.

$115 MILLION Amount generated annually by paddlers, climbers, and mountain bikers in Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest, according to a study by Eastern Kentucky University.

PATAGONIA VS. TRUMP

After Trump rolled back protections for 2 million acres of public lands, the outdoor brand Patagonia announced plans to sue the administration. The Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the power to establish national landmarks, does not explicitly grant the power to strip that protective status. 10

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FIRES CREEK RIM TRAIL RESCUED

In November, Mainspring Conservation Trust purchased fifty acres in the Fires Creek watershed that will become part of Nantahala National Forest and restore full access to the popular 20-mile Fires Creek Rim Trail. The trail through this private parcel was closed in 2010.

The Pursuit of Endurance: Harnessing the Record-Breaking Power of Strength and Resilience by Jennifer Pharr Davis It takes one to know one. Jennifer Pharr Davis, the first woman to set a speed record on the A.T., provides powerful and personal insights into ten of the world’s most accomplished and inspiring endurance athletes in her new book. Among them are two pillars of Appalachian adventure: 16-time A.T. thru-hiker Warren Doyle and former A.T. speed record holder David Horton. Both Doyle and Horton have stunning outdoor B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

supporting 68 new trail and bike park projects in 31 states, including a new 20-mile trail system in North Georgia, 25 miles of trails at Patuxent River State Park in Maryland, a 20-mile multi-use trail system on Chapman Mountain near Huntsville, and an 8-mile connector trail in Cobb County to connect to the Allatoona Creek trail system. IMBA also announced nine new EPIC mountain bike trail designations for 2017. The four-loop, 42-mile trail system at Tsali Recreation Area near Bryson City, N.C. is one of only 45 premier biking destinations in the country designated as an EPIC ride by IMBA. —Mason Adams

NEW STATE PARK PLANNED FOR N.C.

In November, the North Carolina House approved a bill that would create the Black River State Park near Fayetteville, N.C., protecting 2,600 acres and nearly 35 miles of the Black River. It would safeguard cypress trees that are more than 1,600 years old, the 10th oldest forest in the world.

NEW VIRGINIA WILDERNESS?

Senator Tim Kaine introduced a new bill that would designate 5,600 acres of the George Washington National Forest as Wilderness. The Virginia Wilderness Additions Act of 2017 would expand the existing Rich Hole and Rough Mountain Wilderness areas, which contain old growth forests and one of Virginia’s largest black bear populations.

achievements, but they have dedicated themselves to helping others reach their goals—including Pharr Davis. She also ventures out on the trail with ultra legends Andrew Thompson, Scott Williamson, Heather Anderson, and Scott Jurek, following the highs and lows of their record-chasing journeys. Best of all, Pharr Davis shares her own experiences and reflections on and off the trail. All of these phenomenal athletes are also everyday human beings who stumble, divorce, fail, and struggle like the rest of us—and also find a way to persevere. G O O U TA N D P L AY

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QUICK HITS

STARING DOWN FATE

THE FINAL YEAR OF ONE MAN’S LIFE FIGHTING TO PROTECT THE ENDANGERED RED WOLF BY ANNA KATHERINE CLEMMONS

IN COLUMBIA, N.C., THERE LIVED A MAN WHO knew the endangered red wolves perhaps better than anyone. Red wolf federal biologist Chris Lucash had worked to reintroduce endangered red wolves into the wild since 1986, when zero existed outside of captivity. With the help of Lucash and his colleagues, that number peaked at an estimated 130 individuals; however, the population has declined drastically in recent years. Today, an estimated 45-60 wild red wolves remain, and the entire program—like the animal itself—faces possible extinction. As he watched the debate of the endangered red wolves’ existence in the wild unfold in recent years, Lucash soon faced another battle: his own mortality. In June of 2015, Lucash, at the age of 53, was diagnosed with ALS. The next day, the documentary Staring Down Fate was born, a parallel examination by filmmaker Jeff Mittelstadt of Lucash, as he battled his rapid physical decline, and the red wolf program, as supporters fought for its survival. Mittelstadt first met Lucash in April of 2011. A novice filmmaker, Mittelstadt was finishing work for his master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from UNC-Chapel Hill while also founding a non-profit, WildSides. Mittelstadt’s interest in human-wildlife conflict led him to the endangered red wolves, the original intended subject for his project. And that, in turn, led him to Lucash. “I did not intend on doing a featurelength documentary,” Mittelstadt said. “My purpose was to create an educational and documentary interactive multimedia website that would provide depth into the red wolf issue.…The whole purpose was to figure out ways to rise above a conflict by finding similarities among people on different sides of the conflict issue.” Mittelstadt had asked Lucash if he could shadow him as the latter worked with the red wolves. The young filmmaker arrived early one morning and stepped out of his car to introduce himself. “I put out my hand, and I was all excited, because we were going

to look for red wolf pups,” Mittelstadt remembered on an episode of WUNC’s The State of Things. “And Chris just looked at me and said, ‘You know, we’ve never invited a film crew back.’ And they turned around and walked into the woods.” Though he was intimidated, Mittelstadt followed—and trekked with the team through the woods for seven hours. As the day ended, Lucash told Mittelstadt: ‘Come back whenever you want.’ Mittelstadt returned the next weekend and spent 16 hours with Lucash. “Not long after that, I felt like I’d known him forever,” Mittelstadt said. That feeling was echoed by many whom Mittelstadt spoke to, friends and colleagues who expressed a duel understanding of Lucash as a hardened biologist as well as a good friend with a big heart and an unconditional love for nature. Lucash lived in a house with a fertile yard and garden space with his wife, Alisa Esposito, and their three children: Amie, Noah and Eden. About 5’11”, strong and fit, Lucash loved the physicality of his fieldwork; however, as Mittelstadt continued to shadow him throughout 2011 and 2012, Lucash began to complain of back pain. By the end of 2014, Lucash often found himself exhausted and in near constant pain. He had a noticeable foot drop and his voice was getting softer. The issue of the red wolves had become more contested politically, and Lucash continued to advocate for their existence in the wild. In early June of 2015, after seeing

CHRIS LUCASH (LEFT) AND JEFF MITTELSTADT (RIGHT) / COURTESY JEFF MITTELSTADT

several doctors and specialists, Lucash received his devastating diagnosis: ALS. He texted Mittelstadt the next day, asking the filmmaker to tell his story. Mittelstadt knew right away what his answer would be—“but I had to think of a lot of things in terms of quitting my paying job, and how my life would change at that point,” Mittelstadt said. “My first reaction was sadness [for Chris and his family]. I cried and I was angry, and then it was weird—a strange feeling because it was mixed with honor to be asked, and that fed back into the sadness even more again.” Mittelstadt put his red wolves interactive project—which he’d worked on for the previous four years, filming stakeholders from all sides of the issue—on hold, realizing that given Lucash’s terminal illness, time was a key factor. He began filming with Lucash, his family, his colleagues and ALS experts, showing not only Lucash’s physical decline, but also exploring possible environmental factors correlating with Lucash’s diagnosis. The result—Staring Down Fate— is a raw, intimate portrait of Lucash, interwoven with the story of the endangered red wolves. Lucash passed away on June 4, 2016, less than a year after his initial diagnosis, and the film beautifully chronicles his final year of life. Mittelstadt continued to work on the film after Lucash died, sifting through

over 400 hours of footage, logging, scripting and editing until June of 2017. Once he’d finished, Mittelstadt entered the documentary, which is slated for public release in January, into several film festivals. Staring Down Fate was voted Best Feature Film at the Sunrise 45 Film Festival in Michigan this past summer and received an honorable mention award for feature documentary at the 2017 Southern City Film Festival. Mittelstadt plans to screen the documentary on campuses and in communities beginning in mid-January. Alisa and her three children now live in Pittsboro, N.C., where she runs Sparkroot Farm, a farm focused on connecting people back to the environment and nature. “I want people to realize that we need to learn and research more about the potential environmental correlations with ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases, because if only 10-15% of ALS cases are purely genetic, there’s a potential ability to keep people from getting ALS in the future,” Mittelstadt says of the film. “From the wildlife conservation side, I want everybody to see Chris and his dedication to another species—which is pretty selfless in and of itself—and think about, how do we want to live our lives with nature, with wildlife and with purpose, so that we can become less afraid of dying the way he did …and to try and make the world a better place.”

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QUICK HITS

THE DARK LORD RISES ONE OF THE MOST HATED MEN IN WEST VIRGINIA PLANS TO RUN FOR SENATE BY MASON ADAMS

TWO YEARS AGO, DON BLANKENSHIP’S LAWYERS argued that the longtime coal baron was so despised in West Virginia that he could not receive a fair trial from a state jury. Now, the former Massey Energy CEO is setting out to prove his counsel wrong by joining the 2018 West Virginia Republican primary for U.S. Senate. “I’m Don Blankenship, candidate for U.S. Senate, and I approved this message,” he announced at the beginning of a 30-second ad posted to his Vimeo page. Blankenship’s entry into the race for the seat currently held by former Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, was reported on Wednesday by Mountain Statebased media outlets and confirmed by the chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party. Blankenship will join an already heated battle between U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, essentially breaking down along the national battle lines that are emerging between GOP factions: Jenkins represents the establishment Republican selected by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, while Morrisey is the insurgent backed by former White House aide Steve Bannon of Breitbart. Blankenship’s candidacy blows up that dynamic. His persona and name recognition dwarfs that of either of the others, as he has been a presence in West Virginia coal culture since the early ’80s. His career has been a long series of labor, miner safety, and environmental horrors, making him the subject of countless books and news stories, including a Rolling Stone profile that memorably labeled him as the “Dark Lord of Coal Country.” In “Mine War on Blackberry Creek,” a documentary film produced about a labor fight in the early ’80s, a stillnew-to-Massey Blankenship laid out his vision of raw capitalism as “a jungle.” “Unions, communities, people —everybody’s gonna have to learn to accept that in the United States you have a capitalist society, and that capitalism, from a business standpoint, is survival of the most productive,” Blankenship said. Blankenship and Massey won 12

that fight, breaking the United Mine Workers of America in what now looks like a turning point in labor history. Blankenship’s subsequent rise through the company saw a dramatic expansion in brutal mountaintop removal strip mining techniques, as well as a relentless approach to maximize profit by cutting costs that endangered not only miners but those who lived in the communities around Massey mines. In one case, people living near a Massey mine found that their groundwater had been poisoned because the company disposed injected toxic waste into abandoned coal shafts. Blankenship’s own neighborhood was affected; he had a private water line run to his house from nearby Matewan, but didn’t offer the service to others. Simultaneously, Blankenship invested millions of dollars into building the West Virginia Republican Party. At one point in the 2000s, he gave $3 million toward the election of a state supreme court candidate, who then helped overturn a $50 million jury decision against Blankenship in a civil suit. The biggest outrage in a career full of them came in April 2010, when 29 men died at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine after sparks from a longwall cutter ignited a massive explosion. Four separate investigations found that poor ventilation, poor rock dusting, and a company culture that encouraged poor safety practices created conditions for the explosion. Blankenship, however, has peddled a different theory, blaming the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for creating the conditions that caused the explosion. He commissioned a 2014 documentary to tell his side of the story, prompting several individuals featured in the film to disclaim it—including Manchin, who was governor at the time of the disaster. Federal prosecutors eventually brought criminal charges against Blankenship, not for the disaster itself but for conspiring to skirt safety regulations at the mine. Blankenship faced three felony counts worth a potential 30 years, but was convicted only of a misdemeanor that put him in

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WADE MICKLEY

prison for one year. Since emerging from confinement earlier this year, Blankenship has used Twitter and his website to push his Upper Big Branch theory blaming the government, as well as to attack Manchin and former President Barack Obama. Blankenship clearly intends to use his Senate campaign—and the media attention that will come with it—as a megaphone for the message he’s been hammering the last few years. Greg Thomas, a representative for Blankenship, told West Virginia Public Radio that his run for office is “about getting the truth out about [the Upper Big Branch disaster] and exposing a government cover-up.” “It’s going to be interesting whether or not this political campaign is just an extension of this campaign to clear his name, or whether he’s really going to weigh in on the issues facing West Virginia in the future,” said Bill Price, a Charleston, West Virginia-based Sierra B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

Club organizer. For conservationists and environmentalists, there’s not much to like about any of the three GOP candidates. “All three of them are fairly conservative and pushed back significantly on any environmental regulations,” Price said. “As far as their votes on anything related to the Clean Power Plan, the Stream Protection Rule, there’s not any significant difference between any of them.” Scott Crichlow, an associate professor of political science at West Virginia University, said that Blankenship exemplifies a recent trend in politics where personal brands largely outweigh policy stances. In a low-turnout, threeway Republican primary—in the last GOP U.S. Senate primary in 2014, only 85,322 people cast ballots—there’s a real chance that Blankenship could capture a plurality of voters. Says Crichlow, “If he actually puts resources into this and it’s a three person, well-resourced race, it doesn’t take that many voters to win.” G O O U TA N D P L AY

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Go Gaston. Get Outside.

For the outdoor enthusiast in all of us, Gaston County offers amazing blueways as well as a wide array of other activities. Let us help you unplug this weekend and connect you with our Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s numerous natural assets. Stop by our Visitors Center or call us today for a FREE Visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide. 620 N. Main St., Belmont, NC | 704-825-4044 | #gogaston | gogaston.org

BEST OF THE BLUE RIDGE What’s the best bike shop in the Blue Ridge? Who are the top raft guides and most inspiring thruhikers? Where is the most scenic waterfall? What are the toughest events in the region? And where can you get the best local beer and pizza after a day of adventure? Thousands of readers from across the region decided the winners of our seventh annual Best of the Blue Ridge Awards, which include 75 categories, from burgers to biking trails.

BY JESS DADDIO MCAFEE KNOB / JESS DADDIO

DESTINATIONS HIKING TRAIL

Greenbrier River Trail Caldwell—Cass, W.Va.

With three overlooks into the Monongahela National Forest and a cozy overnight shelter, the trail is a gem in its own right, never mind the brisk mountain-fed swimming hole.

Paralleling the Greenbrier River for nearly 78 miles, this easily accessible rail-trail provides an intimate look at both the history and natural beauty of West Virginia.

FINALISTS

Roanoke, Va.

Cascade Falls, Va. Art Loeb Trail, N.C. A.T. SECTION

McAfee Knob Catawba, Va.

The iconic rock outcropping along the A.T. at McAfee Knob is engulfed by near-360-degree views of rolling Blue Ridge Mountains. Expect to work hard for those vistas—the trail climbs a buttbusting 1,700 feet in just 4.4 miles. FINALISTS

Roan Mountains, Tenn. Dragon’s Tooth, Va. SWIMMING HOLE

Blue Bend Recreation Area Monongahela, W.Va.

Devil’s Bathtub, Va. Skinny Dip Falls, N.C. RUNNING TRAIL

Mill Mountain With over 10 miles of trails just minutes from downtown, Mill Mountain Park makes it easy for Roanoke residents and visitors to squeeze in a quick trail run before, after, or even during work hours. Climbing to the Roanoke Star at 1,847 feet justifies a post-run beverage.

it becomes world-class whitewater in West Virginia. FINALISTS

Nantahala River, N.C. James River, Va.

FINALISTS

CLIMBING CRAG

Seneca Rocks, W.Va. Looking Glass Rock, N.C.

Fayetteville, W.Va.

CAMPGROUND

New River Gorge The sheer quantity of bullet-hard sandstone in the New River Gorge makes the area one of the best sport and traditional rock climbing destinations in the world. Many climbers of international renown have journeyed

Big Meadows

Shenandoah National Park Post up for the weekend with backdoor access to Shenandoah National Park’s treasured waterfalls and trails. Within minutes of leaving your campsite, you can be at the base of Dark Hollow Falls or hiking along the Appalachian Trail. FINALISTS

Deep Creek Tube Center & Campground, N.C. Flag Rock Recreation Area, Va.

FINALISTS

Jackrabbit Trail, N.C. Blue Ridge School Trails, Va.

BIKING TRAIL

Greenbrier River Trail

PADDLING RIVER

Caldwell—Cass, W.Va.

New River

Take a day or a week to pedal this historic rail-trail, which passes over 35 bridges, through two tunnels, and along some of the state’s most remote and vibrant forests.

North Carolina—West Virginia Designated a Wild and Scenic River in 1976, the 320-mile long river starts in North Carolina's High Country. After long stretches of flatwater in Virginia,

to this quiet pocket of southern West Virginia to test their mettle on the area’s (oft-sandbagged) 1,400+ established routes and boulder problems.

MILL MOUNTAIN / JESS DADDIO

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TEL. 866-620-5752

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WINTER ESCAPE S TAR TI N G AT

FINALISTS

Carvins Cove, Va. Bryce Mountain Bike Park, Va. URBAN PARK

Mill Mountain Roanoke, Va.

This nearly 2,000-foot mountain is visible from just about anywhere in downtown Roanoke and serves as a constant reminder for the Star City’s residents to make time to go outside and play. FINALISTS

James River Park, Va. Steele Creek, Tenn.

SUP SPOT

Summersville Lake Summersville, W.Va.

Over 28,000 acres in size, Summersville Lake is West Virginia’s largest lake. Its 60 miles of shoreline are largely undeveloped and dominated by soaring sandstone cliffs, which served as the venue for PsicoRoc 2016, the country’s first outdoor deep water soloing competition. FINALISTS

Fontana Lake, N.C. Roanoke River, Va. BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY SPOT

SKI RUN

Cupp Run

Snowshoe Mountain Resort, W.Va. Hope your quads are ready. This run plummets 1,500 vertical feet in just over a mile. FINALISTS

Shay’s Revenge, Snowshoe Mountain Resort, W.Va. Cliffhanger, Wintergreen Resort, Va. TERRAIN PARK

Snowshoe Mountain Resort Snowshoe, W.Va.

With 28 acres of freestyle terrain and five different terrain parks, you can session Snowshoe’s features all day long and still not hit every jump or jib. FINALISTS

(tied) Wintergreen Resort, Va., and Canaan Valley Resort, W.Va. Bryce Resort

Peaks of Otter Bedford, Va.

Comprised of three rolling mountaintops—Sharp Top, Flat Top, and Harkening Hill—the Peaks of Otter were once prized Native American hunting grounds. Today, visitors can fish the iconic waters of Abbott Lake, wine and dine at the Peaks of Otter Lodge, or camp out under the stars at the base of Sharp Top Mountain. FINALISTS

Black Balsam, N.C. Mount Mitchell, N.C. WATERFALL

Cascade Falls Giles County, Va.

KID-FRIENDLY OUTDOOR DESTINATION

FloydFest Floyd, Va.

No matter their age, kids will love exploring, creating, and imagining in the Children’s Universe and Little Planets play area at FloydFest. Bring some instruments and costumes, too, to participate in the annual Peace Parade. FINALISTS

Bryce Resort, Va. Sliding Rock, N.C.

Blue Mountain Brewery Afton, Va.

FINALISTS

West Virginia

This high elevation wilderness area is laced with spruce trees and tannin stained creeks, rhododendronchoked trails and blueberry-studded meadows. Wild and lush and teeming with life, this 17,000+-acre wilderness area is unlike anywhere else in the Southeast. FINALISTS

Linville Gorge Wilderness, N.C. Cranberry Wilderness, W.Va.

Bryson City, N.C. Shenandoah County, Va.

Various locations

FINALISTS

Dolly Sods Wilderness Area

FINALISTS

Not telling

PET-FRIENDLY OUTDOOR DESTINATION

Centrally located to a wealth of outdoor adventure, Blue Mountain Brewery’s ample outdoor space seats more than just explorers of the two-legged variety. Bring your pup after a day on the trail and soak in the Blue Ridge mountain views and locally made brews.

WILDERNESS AREA

Though the city’s population is close to 100,000, Roanoke’s close-knit districts give it a small-town, knowyour-neighbor feel. Couple that sense of community mindedness with in-town greenways, trail systems, and river access, and you’ll be wondering why you didn’t move to Roanoke sooner.

PLACE TO ENGAGE IN NEFARIOUS ACTIVITIES

The 69-foot falls plunges between 200-foot rock walls into a vast and deep pool. The idyllic waterfall might look like the picture-perfect place to swim, but its waters should only be appreciated from the banks. Crabtree Falls, Va. Linville Falls, N.C.

SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN RESORT

DOLLY SODS WILDERNESS AREA / JESS DADDIO

Canine Social Club, N.C. Jackrabbit Trail, N.C. PLACE FOR OUTDOOR SINGLES TO LIVE

Asheville, N.C.

Given the endless outdoor adventures, nightly live music offerings, and booming craft beer scene, it’s no wonder that Asheville has become a haven for the young and restless.

That’s probably a good call. We’re not in the business of keeping secrets anyway. FINALISTS

Gauley Fest, W.Va. Blue Ridge Parkway, N.C., Va. PLACE TO PLAY HOOKY

Fayetteville, W.Va.

While Fayetteville certainly has plenty of novice-level trail and paddling adventures like riding the Arrowhead Trails or SUPping the Upper New, if gnar is what you’re after, gnar is what you’ll get. Nothing like a little chunder to make you forget about the “guilt” of skipping work. FINALISTS

Green River, N.C. Massanutten Resort, Va.

FINALISTS

FLY FISHING RIVER/CREEK

Roanoke, Va. Shenandoah Valley

Virginia

Shenandoah River

PLACE TO RAISE AN OUTDOOR FAMILY

Roanoke, Va.

The lazy Shenandoah River provides some of the best smallmouth, largemouth, musky, and carp fishing in the country, and with relatively mild

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SUMMERSVILLE LAKE / JESS DADDIO

temperatures, you can float it yearround.

for adventure.

FINALISTS

West Virginia North Carolina

Mossy Creek, Va. Davidson River, N.C. FLATWATER

Summersville Lake Summersville, W.Va.

This mammoth body of placid water hides countless rock features and inlets to explore, making it possible to paddle out onto the lake and escape the crowds even in the height of summer. FINALISTS

Smith Mountain Lake, Va. Lake Lure, N.C. LUXURY DESTINATION

The Greenbrier

White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Set amid the rolling Allegheny Mountains, a visit to the Greenbrier is about as close to visiting a Parisian chateau as we can get here in Appalachia. But with on- and offsite adventures like biking the Greenbrier River Trail and fishing Howard’s Creek, there are plenty of opportunities to see the wilder side of West Virginia, too. FINALISTS

Primland, Va. The Omni Homestead Resort, Va. STATE FOR OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Virginia

Within a five hours’ drive, you can be paddling whitewater on the James River, shredding singletrack at Douthat State Park, bouldering at Grayson Highlands State Park, or hiking on any number of the state’s 544 miles of the Appalachian Trail. It’s a one-stop-shop 18

FINALISTS

WHAT MAKES A GREAT PLACE TO RAISE A FAMILY? Our top two finalists for the “Best Place to Raise an Outdoorsy Family” couldn’t be more different. The mid-sized city of Roanoke, Va., has a population of nearly 100,000, while the small town of Bryson City, N.C., is home to just over 1,400. Where Roanoke was historically a railroad town, early Bryson City residents earned their living from farming. Despite their differences, there is one theme that unites them as the region’s leading adventure basecamps for families: access. “The Appalachian Trail is a 15-minute drive away, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is only 10 minutes away,” says Roanoke resident Nicole Lenderking, whose 10-year-old son is actively involved in the youth cycling scene. “Our house sits on the edge of Carvins Cove and feels like it’s out in the middle of nowhere, but then you’re less than 20 minutes from downtown. “Where we used to live in town, we could jump on the greenway and ride our bikes, without cars, to the bottom of Mill Mountain and its extensive trail network,” says Nicole’s husband Troy. “It’s pretty unique to have that type of a trail system just one mile from downtown.” Down in the westernmost corner of North Carolina, Bryson City is the literal gateway to a number of the region’s most prized outdoor destinations, such as the Nantahala River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Fontana Lake, and Tsali Recreation Area. For Bryson

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City, N.C., resident Mac Brown, who runs his own fly fishing guide service, that proximity to the outdoors was appealing to him, first as a thru-hiker on the Appalachian Trail (’86), then as a seasonal guide for the Nantahala Outdoor Center, and later as a father. “The more you give kids a passion for the outdoors, the more likely it will make them better citizens down the road,” says Brown. “Swain County is a huge playground, with 90% of the land being federally owned. We run and ride mountain bikes, and I know it makes my kids more responsible individuals.” With frequent family friendly festivals and events, a reasonable cost of living, and a central location to a number of other major urban centers, it’s no wonder outdoorsy families are flocking to these communities. “There’s not any amount of money that would make me want to leave from here,” says Brown. “I wouldn’t move anywhere else in America.”

EVENTS RUNNING EVENT

Blue Ridge Marathon Roanoke, Va.

Each spring, hundreds of runners from all walks of life head to the Start City to see if they have what it takes to tackle the country’s toughest road marathon. The course certainly packs a punch, with over 7,430 feet of climbing in just 26.2 miles. FINALISTS

Park to Park Half, Va. Shut-In Ridge Trail Run, N.C. BIKING EVENT

Tour de Valley Waynesboro, Va.

Ride through Shenandoah Valley’s bucolic countryside on this fully supported century and metric century. Though technically a race, this event has a much more inclusive feel, almost like a big group ride. FINALISTS

Shenandoah Mountain 100, Va. Assault on Mount Mitchell, N.C. PADDLING EVENT

Gauley Fest

Summersville, W.Va. Since 1983, the annual whitewater releases on the Gauley River have pulled paddlers from their respective corners of the world to the banks of this rowdy, big-wave river. The B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

festival includes vendor exhibitions, downriver races, and plenty of Pillow Rock Creature Craft carnage to keep even non-boaters entertained (if you don’t know what a Creature Craft is, do yourself a favor and look it up). FINALISTS

Green Race, N.C. Nantahala Racing Club Whitewater Open, N.C. CLIMBING EVENT

New River Gorge Craggin’ Classic Fayetteville, W.Va.

Made for climbers, by climbers, this multiday event is part party, part manual labor. The weekend kicks off on Friday with an all-day stewardship project in the Gorge, slingin’ rocks and wrestling rhodo. Afterwards, it’s all-you-canboogie glow stick parties and dyno comps. FINALISTS

Triple Crown Bouldering Series at Hound Ears, N.C. HomoClimbtastic, W.Va. TRIATHLON/MULTISPORT EVENT

Captain Thurmond’s Challenge — The New River Gorge Games Fayetteville, W.Va.

This adventure triathlon is the pinnacle of endurance—competitors start by mountain biking 15 miles to the Cunard put-in for the New River Gorge, kayak seven miles of class IV+ whitewater, and run 6.5 miles (which climbs 1,100 vertical feet) back to town. FINALISTS

App(ugh)lachian Race Series, Va. Luray Triathlon, Va. ADVENTURE RACE

GO Outside Fest Wild Gear Chase Roanoke, Va.

Be it a water bottle or a kayak, everybody wins in this checkpoint scavenger hunt. Racers are given a cue sheet with hints to destinations within a two-mile radius of the festival, with the goal being to hit as many of the places as possible. The more checkpoints you visit, the sooner you’ll get to pick your free swag in the gear tent. FINALISTS

Shenandoah Epic Adventure Race, Va. Asheville Urban Odyssey, N.C. G O O U TA N D P L AY

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

heritage while still welcoming the eclectic new-age sounds of today. The 2018 lineup is already looking stellar, with Foster the People, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, and Langhorne Slim, to name a few.

and foot, and come prepared to put your navigational skills to the test.

FINALISTS

COSTUMED EVENT

GO Outside Festival, Va. Mountain Sports Festival, N.C.

Gauley Fest

Summersville, W.Va. It seems appropriate that the festival celebrating the unruly Gauley River is just as raucous. We’d be concerned if it wasn’t.

MUD RUN/OBSTACLE COURSE

Spartan Race Series Various locations

The challenge-by-choice format of the Spartan Sprint allows participants of all abilities to take part in the action. Start out small with the 3.1-mile distance, or take on the Ultra Beast 12-14-miler before tackling the Spartan’s namesake obstacles like the slippery wall, fire jump, spear throw, and rope climb.

FINALISTS

Mad Anthony Mud Run, Va. Muddy ACCE Race, Va.

Picture this: thousands of racers decked in five-piece Santa suits, running through the night while hundreds more elves hand out candy canes and gingerbread cookies on the course. Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Super Hero 5K, N.C. Thrill on the Hill, Va.

GO Outside Festival, Va. LOCKN’ Festival, Va.

FLY FISHING EVENT

WNC Fly Fishing Expo

FloydFest

Shenandoah Epic Adventure Race

Floyd, Va.

Bentonville, Va.

Nestled high up in the mountains of central Virginia, FloydFest is a festival that has truly mastered the art of paying homage to the region’s musical

For eight years running, this 24-hour race has pushed even the toughest endurance athletes to their limits. Cover over 100 miles of ground by bike, boat,

Lamilite socks are designed to be worn in place of socks and will not retain any moisture as other socks do. They do not retain odor nor will not stretch out of shape. Machine washable / dryable, durable, and long lasting!

Great Outdoor Provisions Surf-n-Santa 5-Miler

FINALISTS FINALISTS

TOUGHEST EVENT FESTIVAL

The Barkley Marathons, Tenn. The Green Race, N.C.

Virginia Beach, Va.

ROWDIEST EVENT

GAULEY FEST / ROXY HARBITTER

FINALISTS

Asheville, N.C.

Considered by many anglers to be the most comprehensive fly fishing event in the region, this expo is no doubt educational, but it’s after the long day of workshops and clinics that the true fun begins: BBQ cookouts, beers, fly

A SUMMER ADVENTURE THAT LASTS AN ETERNITY

LAMILITE INSULATED SOCK

Available in 8” and 13” sizes!

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828.450.3331 | CAMPCEDARCLIFF.ORG | JA N UA R Y 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

fishing films. That’s the stuff true friends are made of. FINALISTS

Rumble in the Rhododendron Fly Fishing Tournament, N.C. Mossy Creek Invitational, Va. THE POWER OF EVENTS TO DO GOOD Combine live music, beer, food, and likeminded people, and you’re bound to have a good time, but these days, festivals are doing more than hosting big parties. Some of the most popular festivals are actually breeding grounds for do goodery. Just ask American Whitewater’s Executive Director Mark Singleton. Though AW’s Gauley Fest is undoubtedly a wild weekend of whitewater shenanigans, the event is also the largest gathering of the organization’s supporters in the country. And that, says Singleton, gives AW a prime opportunity to continue education and outreach on upcoming projects, like the organization’s campaign to establish rivers like the Nolichucky River as Wild and Scenic in commemoration of this year’s 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic

Rivers Act. “Activism was really the genesis of Gauley Fest,” says Singleton. “Back in the early ‘80s, there was a proposal that would have dewatered the upper three miles of [the Gauley] River and put in a pipe from the current dam location down to below Pillow Rock. It was boaters who came together to push back on that proposal and a secondary dam proposal at Swiss. That kind of public engagement shaped AW as an organization that could rally grassroots support and really protect rivers for their recreation and conservation values. Now, the management of the New and Gauley Rivers is a national example of what good river management can look like.” Three months prior to Gauley Fest and on the other side of the New River Gorge Bridge, Atlanta-based climber Alex Rowland’s brainchild event HomoClimbtastic is paving the way for inclusivity in the world of adventure as the world’s largest queer-friendly climbing convention. “Climbing can be a tough sport to break into if you don’t already know people,” says Rowland. “When I first started climbing, it felt like a bit of a struggle to find outdoor climbing

partners." So 10 years ago, Rowland started the HomoClimbtastic Club. Its first convention only had a five-person turnout, but Rowland had so much fun, he was hardly discouraged. Now, the event, which is held annually on the third weekend of July, regularly brings in 100 climbers from all over the country. From a drag show to a floatie pride parade on Summersville Lake, the festival is entirely too much fun, and that, says Rowland, was sorta the point. “A lot of activism can be really tough, and I wanted this to be more than activism,” he says. “This is work, but I wanted it to feel much more like a celebration than anything else.”

FINALISTS

Ellie Quinn, Va. Megan Robinson, Va. INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT TO FOLLOW

@ellieontheat

Did you know that an empty Mountain House package can hold two dirty diapers? Or that an umbrella is a necessary piece of gear if you’re expecting to breast-feed on trail? Though Kanga, Roo, and Sherpa’s (that’s Bekah, Ellie, and Derrick Quirin) thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail is over, their Instagram handle continues to be a great resource and inspiration to active families with young children (plus, that Ellie is just too stinkin’ cute).

PEOPLE

FINALISTS

ADVENTURER OF THE YEAR

@blueridgemtguides @moonmegroanoke

John Forbes Kingsport, Tenn.

You’ll know John Forbes when you see him on the trail. His long gray beard is unmistakable, hiding behind it a whimsical grin that hardly contains his enthusiasm for hiking in the Tri-Cities region, excursions which he thoroughly documents on his page Tri-Cities Hiking Adventures. Give him a follow!

PHOTOGRAPHER

Billy Bowling Lebanon, Va.

Specializing in landscape photography, Billy Bowling is always outside capturing the diversity and underrated beauty of the Southeast, particularly in his home state of Virginia.

Portion of proceeds of Harpers Ferry goes to support Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

US MATERIALS

US MANUFAC T URING

SUPP

US WORKERS

PUBLIC LANDS

NEW FOR 2018 Appalachian Trail Collection Comfort Compression using LYCRA® Fiber for all day comfort Harpers Ferry

Max Patch

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / JA N UA R Y 2 0 1 8

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

Impact cushioning & ventilation zones provides extra protection, while also facilitating air flow. Available in Men’s & Women’s

G O O U TA N D P L AY

www.farmtofeet.com

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

FLY FISHING GUIDE

Eugene Shuler

Fly Fishing the Smokies Born and raised in the Smoky Mountains, Eugene Shuler was destined to be an angler. As a third generation guide, a love of regional rivers and tailwaters runs thick in his blood and is obvious in his many leadership roles—he’s a United States Coast Guard Captain, a certified fly fishing instructor from New York’s prestigious Wulff School of Fly Fishing, and the founder and president of the North Carolina Fly Fishing Team’s Board of Directors (which has won more tournaments than any other fly fishing team in North America). FINALISTS

Ken Kastorff, Endless River Adventures Patrick Sessoms, Due South Outfitters ELLIE AND BEKAH QUIRIN / JESS DADDIO

FINALISTS

Sarah Rhulen, N.C. Sam Dean, Va. LOCAL/REGIONAL ATHLETE

Ben King

Charlottesville, Va. Originally heralding from central Virginia, professional cyclist Ben King now spends most of his time in Italy, where he’s training as a member of the prestigious Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka. In the under-23 division, King crushed the competition at the 2010 USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships and the 2010 Pan-American Time Trial and Road Championships, which he won. FINALISTS

Gordon Wadsworth, Va. Travis Pietila, Va.

A.T. THRU HIKER

Bekah, Derrick, and Ellie Quirin

CLIMBING GUIDE

Deb Simon

Hard Rock Climbing, Fayetteville, W.Va. Deb Simon’s passion might be rock climbing, first, but with that love comes an even deeper appreciation for wilderness medicine. Last year, both Deb and her husband Bryan, who are co-founders of Vertical Medicine Resources, became the first nurses ever to receive a Master’s degree in Mountain Medicine, and their cowritten climbing and wilderness first aid guidebook Vertical Aid has quickly become a standard of excellence in the climbing industry. FINALISTS

Grant Price, Blue Ridge Mountain Guides Karsten Delap, Fox Mountain Guides

Roanoke, Va.

Bekah and Derrick Quirin always dreamed of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, so when they were blessed with the birth of their first child, Ellie, they decided not to let that dream pass them by. In September 2017, the Quirin family, whose trail names are Kanga (Bekah), Roo (Ellie), and Sherpa (Derrick), completed a flip-flop thru-hike of the white blaze with their then-one-year-old daughter, poopy diapers and all. FINALISTS

Jennifer Pharr Davis, N.C. Joe ‘Stringbean’ McConaughey, Wash. INSPIRING OUTDOOR PERSONALITY

Megan Robinson Roanoke, Va.

Megan Robinson is an equestrian first and foremost, but more than anything, she’s an advocate for moving bodies and open minds. Catch her at The Y in Roanoke, where she provides active outreach to youth and families.

RAFT GUIDE

Will Norris

Nantahala Outdoor Center, N.C. Will Norris isn’t just a raft guide. He’s a kayaker, canoeist, standup paddleboarder and rower, too. For the past 17 years, Norris has been facilitating downriver experiences for locals and out-of-towners alike, and as a Rescue 3 International swift water instructor, he prides himself on safety first, and fun times second.

FINALISTS

Thomas Mabry, Tenn. Juliet Kastorff, N.C. OUTDOOR LEGEND/PIONEER

Chip Chase

FINALISTS

Canaan Valley, W.Va.

Alisa Hudgel, ACE Adventure Resort Sexy Tony, New and Gauley River Adventures

Foraging master, shot ski aficionado, dancing machine, Chip Chase brings

DEB SIMON

the party wherever he goes. Ullr reincarnate, Chase is happiest when the snow is falling on his magical kingdom, aka White Grass Ski Touring Center, and the shine is flowing freely ( just don’t ski through his parking lot, people). FINALISTS

Ken Kastorff, N.C. Mike Fischesser, N.C. THE IMPORTANCE OF ADVENTURING AS A FAMILY Appalachian Trail record holder Jennifer Pharr Davis and her husband Brew have taken backpacking trips on the Appalachian Trail and hiked in all 50 states with their first-born daughter, Charley. But it wasn’t until her most recent thru-hike of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, during which she raised awareness and advocated for continued support of the trail, that she finally started to see the effect that time in the outdoors was having on her children. “It’s hard to get Charley to do chores and pick up her room. She’s four, and turned five while we were on the trail. But one day during the hike, she was going along the beach picking up trash. I hadn’t asked her to do anything, so when I asked her why she was doing it, she said, ‘I’m saving the turtles.’ She had just visited a sea turtle rehabilitation and rescue center, and had learned the connection between pollution and human impact and the environment and was putting it into practice.” For Bekah and Derrick Quirin, thru hiking the Appalachian Trail with their one-year-old girl Ellie presented not only the opportunity for their daughter to be steeped in the natural world that first brought the Roanoke, Va., couple together, but also the chance to witness some of her most formative months. “When Derrick was working fulltime and he would come home, he would get bummed that he didn’t get to see Ellie’s milestones firsthand,” says Bekah. “It was really awesome to have him right there when she took her first steps on the trail or started saying ‘Daddy.’ From my perspective, seeing his face light up when she would do those things was a really big deal.” Of course, all of that is not to say that adventuring, on any scale, with a young family is easy. Jennifer Pharr Davis’ husband Brew struggled being a “stay-at-home-dad without the home,” while he and their two children (both under the age of five at the time) followed and often hiked with Pharr

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Davis on her Mountains-to-Sea Trail thru hike. And though Pharr Davis does not have any intentions of hiking another long-distance trail in the near future, she’s okay with it, so long as she can continue to show her children the lessons the outdoors can offer. “We were out there for three months and three days. There were highs and lows and at the end, we came out closer as a family,” she says. “We like to paint a really rosy picture of adventure and talk about the highlights, but getting through the low points and staying committed to the team is also really important.” For families curious about what it takes to get kids adventuring, Bekah Quirin, who regularly leads Hike It Baby hikes in Roanoke, says to start small on greenways and local parks and build up a solid set of backcountry skills before introducing a young child into the mix. “The books will tell you to stick to a schedule, but that’s not realistic for an adventuring family,” says Bekah. “If you want a flexible baby, you have to raise a flexible baby.”

FOOD + DRINK PIZZA

Pies & Pints

Multiple locations in Ohio, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Virginia What began in 2003 as a oneroom pizza shop for Fayetteville, West Virginia’s raft guides has now grown into one of the region’s top dining destinations. The restaurant’s gourmet pizza options (think grape and gorgonzola) paired with top-notch artisanal beer from around the world makes for the perfect post-adventure meal. FINALISTS

Blue Mountain Brewery, Va. Hill and Hollar, W.Va. BURGER

Secret Sandwich Society

Fayetteville, W.Va., and Richmond, Va. The Society’s burgers are of the stickto-your-ribs variety, the perfect refuel after a hard day on the rock or trail. We like the Eagle for its savory combination of seared mortadella, roasted garlic mayo, pickles, and a pile of crispy onions, all topped off with an over-easy egg. Trust us on this one.

FINALISTS

Firefly Fare, Va. Gillie’s, Va. BREAKFAST

Cathedral Café & Book Store Fayetteville, W.Va.

SECRET SANDWICH SOCIETY

FINALISTS

Citizen Burger Bar, Va. Jim’s Drive In, W.Va.

Blue Cow, Va. Kline’s, Va.

TACO

RESTAURANT

Lewisburg, W.Va.

Fayetteville, W.Va., Richmond, Va.

Thunderbird Taco Tex-Mex done right. This quaint yet hip taco joint dishes up some truly authentic plates made with locally sourced beef steak and kickin’ ingredients like chili roasted sweet potato and cream cheese-stuffed charred jalapeno. FINALISTS

A Place to Eat, Md. Brazos Tacos, Va. BBQ

Ridge View BBQ Institute, W.Va.

Sometimes it feels good to be bad. Load up on Ridge View’s hickory smoked, slow cooked BBQ for a true taste of the south, and add the pork rinds.

FINALISTS

Scratch Biscuit Company, Va. Sunny Point Café, N.C.

Secret Sandwich Society The SSS doesn’t just make good food, they do good, too. The restaurant recycles everything and is 100% wind powered, which speaks volumes in this day and age. FINALISTS

Blue Mountain Brewery, Va. The French Goat, W.Va.

Dirty Ernie’s, W.Va. BBQ Exchange, Va. ICE CREAM

The Stache

Fayetteville, W.Va. The Stache checks all of our boxes, with an inviting atmosphere, fun rotating flavors (our favs are the cappuccino crunch and dark chocolate raspberry truffle), and an apple pie sundae that rivals grandma’s best. It’s also probably the only place in Fayetteville where you can buy an ice cream cone and a sixpack of fart bombs.

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / JA N UA R Y 2 0 1 8

LUNCH

Secret Sandwich Society Fayetteville, W.Va., Richmond, Va.

Say ‘goodbye’ to your boring old PB&J brown bag and ‘hello’ to your new favorite lunch. For a sweet and savory sammy, check out the Truman, which features turkey, peach jam, blue cheese spread, and crispy onions piled high on a toasted baguette. Hungry yet? FINALISTS

FARM TO TABLE RESTAURANT

Wild Wolf Brewing, Va. Bellair Market, Va.

Frostburg, Md.

POST ADVENTURE HANGOUT

SHiFT

For SHiFT, “farm to table” isn’t just a marketing ploy—it’s a way of life. Dine with the seasons at this locally sourced, vegetarian and vegan friendly eatery in downtown Frostburg. FINALISTS

FINALISTS

No trip to the New River Gorge is complete without breakfast at Cathedral. Located smack in the center of town, this place cranks out everything from pancakes to breakfast burritos and has won the hearts of so many locals and tourists alike that their iconic mugs have been photographed in everywhere from the Carolina coast to the mountains of Nepal.

Wild Wolf Brewing, Va. The Station, W.Va.

The Grove

Fayetteville, W.Va. Beer on tap? Check. Groovy atmosphere? Check. Poetry slams and live music? Double check. The Grove is the place to be during your next weekend in the New River Gorge. FINALISTS

Silverback Distillery, Va. Parkway Brewing, Va.

VEGETARIAN

Laughing Seed Café

BAR/PUB

Veggies unite! This vegetarian only restaurant was the first of its kind in downtown Asheville and has been serving up some impressive, internationally inspired veggie dishes for over 20 years. Try the Harmony Bowl smothered in sesame ginger sauce once, and you might never go back to meat.

Frostburg, Md.

Asheville, N.C.

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

Dante’s Bar Every good outdoor town needs a place to kick back with a beer or cocktail and let loose a little. Dante’s is just that, offering killer happy hour deals, free pool and karaoke on Wednesdays, and live music throughout the weekend. FINALISTS

Blue Mountain Brewery, Va. G O O U TA N D P L AY

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

The Grove, W.Va. BREWERY

1812 Brewery Cumberland, Md.

After a day biking the C&O or Great Allegheny Passage, stop in at this truly unique brewery. Housed inside a barn that dates back to 1812, the 2,500-foot, two-story brewery is a destination in its own right. Head there on Thursdays for game night—Sorry is a lot more fun with a couple of IPAs in you.

LATE NIGHT EATS

The Station

Fayetteville, W.Va. From beer to bread, The Station’s mission is to source all of their ingredients from local suppliers, so if you’re starving after a night of dancing at The Grove, you can partake in all of that regional goodness until midnight. FINALISTS

C&O Restaurant, Va. Texas Tavern, Va.

FINALISTS

Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company, W.Va. Blue Mountain Brewery, Va.

COFFEE SHOP

WINERY

As if their decadently smooth pour-over wasn’t reason enough to frequent this café, Clatter also offers a stylish space to meet, plus a substantial food menu to keep you fueled through your work. Try the Appalachian Ramen bowl if you’re there for lunch.

Toasted Goat Frostburg, Md.

Admit it. You’re a sucker for labels. So are we, and Toasted Goat’s quirky hand drawn labels are among some of our favorites. It’s just a bonus that the wine is pretty tasty, too. FINALISTS

King Family Vineyards, Va. Veritas Vineyard & Winery, Va.

Clatter Coffee Frostburg, Md.

FINALISTS

Mudhouse Coffee Roasters, Va. Sweet Donkey Coffee House, Va.

putting up $500 with another local business for a combined $1,000 on one of the Gorge’s 10 toughest and unconquered boulders. “If you send the boulder and show it on social media, you win the bounty. The response has been crazy,” says Secret Sandwich Society owner Lewis Rhinehart. “There are international climbers in town right now trying to get these bounties. This is what Fayetteville is about and it’s what West Virginia is becoming about."

BUSINESSES OUTDOOR COMPANY

Diamond Brand Outdoors Asheville, N.C.

What started in 1964 as a simple 900-square-foot glorified garage has now expanded into more than just a brick-and-mortar retail space. Diamond Brand helps its customers not only gear up for their adventures but also learn how to recreate safely in the outdoors through regular clinics and the annual Asheville Outdoor Show. FINALISTS

Endless River Adventures, N.C. Blue Ridge Mountain Guides, Va. BEYOND THE DISH

CIDERY

Bold Rock

Nellysford, Va., Mills River, N.C. No matter which end of the Blue Ridge you reside, it’s guaranteed that if you pick up a bottle of Bold Rock, it’s going to be made with apples grown right in your backyard. With a wide selection of hard ciders ranging in dryness, Bold Rock is setting the standard for regionally made hard cider. FINALISTS

Hawk Knob Hard Cider & Mead, W.Va. Blue Toad Hard Cider, Wintergreen DISTILLERY

Silverback Distillery Afton, Va.

Bottom’s up at this green-thinking Virginia-based distillery. Silverback utilizes geothermal technologies to produce its vodka, gin, rye whiskey, and honey rye whiskey, which means that your spirits were produced with the least possible impact on the environment. FINALISTS

Smooth Ambler Spirits, W.Va. Virginia Distillery, Va.

When April Moon Harper opened up Sunny Point Café in West Asheville 14 years ago, the neighborhood hardly had any restaurants, let alone competing breakfast joints. Now, the district is hoppin’, with a whole suite of restaurants, music venues, and bars. And despite the increase of businesses, Harper says Sunny Point’s success is largely due to their commitment to the neighborhood. “I worked in a neighborhood restaurant in Atlanta and really felt like they were the way to go,” she says. “Once you get that core of regulars, you really become a member of the community." Each month, the restaurant uses tabletop donation envelopes to raise money for local organizations like Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which Sunny Point then matches up to 20 percent. Secret Sandwich Society’s flagship restaurant in Fayetteville, W.Va., also supports local organizations and events like the New River Gorge Craggin’ Classic, the Gauley Fest Animal Race, and the annual Video Boater Challenge. In November, they joined a number of Fayetteville businesses in supporting the inaugural “Boulder Bounty” by

OUTDOOR SHOP

FINALISTS

Endless River Adventures, N.C. REI, Various locations FLY FISHING OUTFITTER

Fly Fishing in the Smokies Gatlinburg, Tenn., Bryson City N.C.

Float or wade, walleye or smallmouth, winter or summer, these guides can do it all. If you need another adventure to add to your bucket list, tack on the outfitter’s Smokies Backcountry Trip, a two-day, one-night backpacking and fly fishing trip into the heart of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. FINALISTS

Endless River Adventures, N.C. Mossy Creek Fly Fishing, Va. RUNNING SHOP

Fleet Feet Sports Various locations

From the outside, Fleet Feet might look like any old specialty running store, but talk to the staff behind the counter and you’ll see what makes this fast-growing chain of franchises one of the most respected in the industry. Fleet Feet works hard to introduce non-runners to the sport through inclusive clinics and non-intimidating group runs. FINALISTS

River Rock Outfitter

Foot RX, N.C. Ragged Mountain Running, Va.

Fredericksburg, Va.

“Adventure in any direction,” with the help of River Rock’s seasoned staff. Opened in November of 2014, the family owned outfitter is located right on the Rappahannock River where the company offers water-based instructional courses in flatwater and whitewater paddling.

BIKE SHOP

New River Bikes Fayetteville, W.Va.

Located in the old Fayetteville feed store, New River Bikes embodies everything we love about Fayetteville—

DIAMOND BRAND OUTDOORS

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the quirk, the character, the shirtoff-your-back hospitality. The shop’s owner Andy Forron is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to any and all forms of riding, be it mountain biking, road riding, or bikepacking. Just don’t tell him you like Strava. FINALISTS

Motion Makers, N.C. Blue Ridge Cyclery, Va. ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATION

Southern Environmental Law Center Charlottesville, Va.

Now more than ever, it’s hard to keep track of the numerous threats and policy reversals that risk damaging the places we love. That’s why the Southern Environmental Law Center exists, to be not only a resource for concerned citizens in the Southeast but also the warriors who defend those without a voice—our water, air, mountains, forests—in the courtroom. FINALISTS

Trout Unlimited, Various locations Friends of Rappahannock, Va. RAFT GUIDE COMPANY

Nantahala Outdoor Center Bryson City, N.C.

When Payson Kennedy and his wife Aurelia opened the NOC in 1972, they never envisioned their outfitter would become one of the most recognized breeding grounds for competitive paddlers in the world, but that’s just what it’s become. Raft guides here do more than push rubber. They’re well rounded paddlers of all disciplines, and 22 of the NOC’s staff have gone on to be Olympians.

Fox Mountain Guides, N.C. CLIMBING GYM

River Rock Climbing Roanoke, Va.

For the fourth year in a row, River Rock has taken the cake as Best Climbing Gym in the region. Their facility is impressive (and conveniently located next to a taproom), offering a diverse mix of beginner and expert problems, hands-on instruction, youth teams, and yoga classes to balance out all of that upper body training. FINALISTS

Peak Experiences, Va. Climb Max/Smoky Mountain Adventure Center, N.C. SKI RESORT

Snowshoe Mountain Resort Snowshoe, W.Va.

Few places in the Southeast rival Snowshoe when it comes to natural snowfall. The mountaintop resort can receive upwards of 180 inches, and with 251 acres and 57 trails to explore, it’s a big kid’s literal winter wonderland. community-minded yoga facility.

delicious sandwiches.

FINALISTS

APRÈS SPOT

Uttara Yoga, Va. Now Yoga, Va.

Charlottesville Farmer’s Market, Va. Downtown Roanoke Farmer’s Market, Va.

Nellysford, Va.

ZIP LINE

FINALISTS

Wintergreen Resort, Va. Beech Mountain Resort, N.C.

Wild Wolf Brewing Just a short drive away from the Appalachian Trail and Crabtree Falls, Wild Wolf is almost too conveniently located to pass up after a day on the trail. Their food portions are hearty, not to mention locally sourced, and with 13 beers on tap, it’s easy to find a brew that works for you.

FINALISTS

Endless River Adventures, N.C. ACE Adventure Resort, W.Va.

NANTAHALA OUTDOOR CENTER

FINALISTS

Stumptown Ales, W.Va. Appalachian Mountain Brewing, N.C.

Adventures on the Gorge

APP FOR THE OUTDOORS

Fayetteville, W.Va.

Strava

Humans might not be able to fly, but they can zip line, and short of donning a wingsuit and jumping off a cliff, this is the next best (and safest) thing. Sail 200 feet above ground on a mile-anda-half course, where you’ll zip through the trees at a speed of up to 65 miles per hour.

Strava’s ability to connect, inform, and motivate athletes of all disciplines is changing the way we go outside and play. Athletes can track mileage and elevation profiles, test themselves on timed segments against a leaderboard of area athletes, and join challenges to give their training the extra edge it needs.

FINALISTS

Seneca Rocks Climbing School

YOGA STUDIO

The Gorge Zipline, N.C. Navitat, N.C.

Seneca Rocks, W.Va.

Asheville, N.C.

FARMER’S MARKET

Named for that iconic flake of rock that rises high above the community, Seneca Rocks Climbing School has been showing both new and veteran climbers the ropes since 1971 when the school and climbing shop were based out of the back of a Volkswagen bus.

Paying $20 for a yoga class seems to be the standard fare in larger cities, but it’s that pay-to-practice philosophy that pushes away the people who need yoga most. Asheville Community Yoga is a nonprofit that offers yoga classes on a donation basis. In 2016, the center crowdfunded over $150,000 to purchase their building outright, a testament to the tribe that supports this

CLIMBING GUIDE

FINALISTS

Blue Ridge Mountain Guides, Va. 24

Asheville Community Yoga

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WNC Farmer’s Market Asheville, N.C.

Open year-round, seven days a week, this centrally located farmer’s market was first opened in 1977 and has since become an impressive facility over 38,000 square feet in size. Aside from vendors selling items like local fruits, vegetables, preserves, and crafts, the market also houses a deli that whips up B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

FINALISTS

Mountain Hub Yonder OUTDOOR ADVENTURE AUTOMOBILE

Toyota Tacoma

Pop a camper shell on the bed of this do-it-all adventuremobile and you’ve got yourself a home-on-wheels. FINALISTS

Subaru Outback Jeep Wrangler G O O U TA N D P L AY

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

UP-AND-COMING OUTDOOR BUSINESS

River Rock Outfitter Fredericksburg, Va.

Born of a love between Keith and April Peterson, two like-minded, adventurous souls from Louisiana, River Rock’s mission is to provide an accessible and unassuming experience for all levels of outdoor enthusiasts. FINALISTS

Gearu Outdoor Rentals UOU Outdoor Guides, RVA LONG LIVE THE INDEPENDENT RETAILER Now more than ever, independent outdoor retailers have to figure out ways to stay relevant and contend with the pressures of the Internet. Though it might seem like an uphill battle, the challenge is presenting shops the opportunity to be more than a retail space. “Our old location was really just four walls and the epitome of old school retail,” says Diamond Brand Outdoors’ Marketing Manager Chris Bubenik. “It wasn’t a destination necessarily. But when we moved, we rethought our place and redesigned it as a space where customers could really immerse themselves in the experience.” The Asheville shop added some special touches, like complimentary coffee available right when you walk in the door. It also created “personal shoppers,” who customers could set up appointments with, before or after business hours, to get one-onone advice and attention. All of that, combined with free monthly clinics and community support initiatives totaling in $70,000 of funds raised for over 60 local organizations, has really allowed Diamond Brand to become a mainstay of the Asheville outdoor community. “We have always felt respect and support from the Asheville area, so we look to it as a responsibility on our part to put that support back out there and make things happen,” says Bubenik. Up the road at Motion Makers Bicycle Shop, owner Kent Cranford feels a similar sense of responsibility not only in supporting local events and group rides but also in being a voice for the area’s cycling community. “It’s important to maintain the riding we have now, but we want to promote and grow the opportunities we have to get people to ride bikes,” says Cranford. “Our old customer base was people who were already in the cycling

community, whereas now, we have an amazing amount of first-time cyclists that we’re selling stuff to. Advocating for continued increase of greenway miles is going to be super important in the future.” “You’re really looked at as an expert,” says New River Bikes owner Andy Forron. “At the bike shop, you get to see firsthand what people want to ride, whether it’s singletrack or railtrails. It’s like a research project. So then, when those planning meetings and efforts start in town, we already have a lot of firsthand knowledge as to what people want to ride.” Forron says that, though the retail side of the business might dwindle in years to come, he feels pretty confident that the independent bike shop will continue to be a hub for information, service, and even socializing. “It’s almost like a bar,” he says of his Fayetteville-based shop. “There’s almost always someone just sitting in here. And even though people have apps like Strava or Ride With GPS, they still come in and ask where to ride. All of that local knowledge, that’s still at the bike shop, and so is the service. The Internet is not going to fix your bike.” “We’ve lived in states all over the country and no matter where we moved, the first place we always went was the local outfitter,” says River Rock Outfitter co-owner April Peterson. “They knew about the fun things to do in the area, and the moment you step into any outfitter, you instantly feel like you have friends. That alone speaks to why independent outfitters will always have a place in communities.” Since opening in 2014, River Rock has helped Fredericksburg, Va., residents rediscover and preserve the town’s incredible natural resources. Peterson sits on the Main Street Exploratory Committee as the board’s Vice President, and she says it was important to her and her husband that the outfitter be involved in the revitalization of Main Street from the very beginning. “Retail is not dead, and you can see that in the power of Main Street communities and downtowns everywhere,” she says. “We partner with local businesses, breweries, restaurants, coffee shops, and even other retail spaces, because I believe at the end of the day that there’s not a finite pie. We’re not all fighting for the same crumbs. We can make that pie bigger and bigger and we can each have a bigger slice.”

Celebrating Asheville’s Unique Art & Culture

June 9, 2018

Asheville, NC

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FLASHPOINT

THE OVERLOOK ISN’T REALLY SECRET—THERE ARE FRESH FOOTPRINTS IN THE DIRT WHEN I ARRIVE, AFTER ALL— BUT IT’S STILL MY SPOT, A PLACE THAT AT LEAST FEELS LIKE IT’S UNDISCOVERED.

JANE BALD, N.C.(LEFT) AND DEVIL'S BATHTUB, VA. (RIGHT) ARE INCREASINGLY POPULAR OUTDOOR DESTINATIONS.

THE PATH MORE TRAVELED

COMING TO TERMS WITH A CROWDED OUTDOORS BY WALLY SMITH

THE PARKING LOT IS FULL AS I PULL INTO CARVERS Gap, the low swag nestled between Roan Mountain and the balds to its east. I've driven up on a Wednesday for a hike on the Appalachian Trail, and the scene is impressively crowded for an early morning during the workweek. At least 20 people are milling around at the trailhead, while a sniffing match between two dogs nearby has devolved into a chorus of growls. I find myself hurrying out of the car and into the woods. It's no secret that places like the Roan Highlands are increasing in popularity. According to the Outdoor Industry Association, more than 144 million Americans participated in outdoor activities last year. Here in the South, where large urban centers close to the mountains supply an increasing number of people seeking to get outside, the growth rate of participation in outdoor activities has outpaced the rest of the nation. A report from the U.S. Forest Service estimates that the number of regional adults spending time outside has risen by nearly seven million in recent decades. That growth has undoubtedly been a benefit to communities across 26

the Blue Ridge looking to tourism as a way to diversify their economies, but more people heading into a finite area of public land inevitably means overcrowding. And it's not just popular outdoor destinations like the Roan that are becoming packed—the lesstraveled portions of the region are being discovered, too. I’ve experienced that change myself. A few miles over the mountain from my house in far Southwest Virginia sits the Devil’s Bathtub, an out-of-theway swimming hole that’s hidden up a gloriously wet, seven-mile loop trail that crosses the Devil’s Fork of Big Stoney Creek nearly 15 times. It’s a beautiful hike, but it’s hardly unique by southern Appalachian standards. There are bigger swimming holes and more scenic waterfalls nearby within the same county, let alone the larger region. But for years, it was one of those special places where you could slip off and be alone in the woods, even on a summer weekend. Then, the internet happened. Starting sometime in 2012, photos of the Bathtub began surfacing on social media, many showing a cascading series of pools below an idyllic stone

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bridge. The images attracted a huge amount of attention because they seemed so out-of-place for Virginia, and that’s because they were: many of the photos were actually mislabeled shots from a similarly-named hike in Ohio. Even though it was a case of mistaken identity, the damage had already been done. Within a year’s time, that hidden, out-of-the-way hike became arguably one of the most popular swimming holes in the East. It’s since been featured on “best of” lists by the Weather Channel and Reddit, and several hundred cars now routinely descend each weekend on a cramped trailhead lot that holds six or seven vehicles, at best. Food wrappers and dirty diapers line parts of the trail, and rescues of unprepared hikers are commonplace. This past summer, an acquaintance who lives near the trailhead announced that her family was moving to get away from the crowd. Seeing both these local treasures and well-known destinations like the Roan become so popular can be bittersweet. On the one hand, our public lands really are public—these aren’t places that any of us can serve as gatekeepers to. But at the same time, don’t we share at least some responsibility for making sure that our love for a place doesn’t contribute to ruining it? I’ve spent more time than I like to admit fuming about people irresponsibly promoting the Devil’s Bathtub, yet as I was recently sifting through online photos of the place in a fit of rage about seeing it ruined by B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

overcrowding, I came across something that looked familiar: one of my own images, posted online from before the hike became popular and shared on a tourism website. The monster I’d been raging against was myself. At Carvers Gap, I don’t have any illusion of completely escaping the crowds, but I know just where to go. I hurry by photographers posted along the A.T. on the summits of Round and Jane Balds, then scoot past several families on the side trail to 6100-foot Grassy Ridge. Just beyond the summit, there’s an unmarked manway that’s easy to miss unless you know where to look. I locate it and wriggle an extra half-mile out to a knob of exposed rock well below the ridge crest. The Toe River Valley splays out below me, and the Black Mountains fade into blue on the horizon. Despite the crowds nearby, I sit there for an hour and never see another soul. The overlook isn’t really secret— there are fresh footprints in the dirt when I arrive, after all—but it’s still “my” spot, a place that at least feels like it’s undiscovered. Will it stay that way forever? I doubt it. Am I a hypocrite for writing about it in a magazine? Probably. I certainly don’t have easy answers for how we can best balance the need to share our mountains with others while preserving the character that makes them so unique. But if you do head out there and find that spot on Grassy Ridge, at least do me a favor: keep it between us, okay? G O O U TA N D P L AY

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

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he mountains of Virginia offer endless beauty in every season. The vibrancy of Autumn turns serene under a fresh blanket of snow. From fun on the slopes to sipping wine by the ﬁreplace, the County of Bath is a winter playground that rejuvenates visitors of all ages.

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Athletes and spectators alike love these annual competitions in the Alleghany Highlands. Pristine lakes and rivers and courses with stunning mountain views make these scenic races Uniquely Alleghany.

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Come to Madison for the hiking, history, artisans, scenery, the fishing, the Taste of the Mountains, Music and Apple Harvest Festivals, the brewery, wineries, or your destination wedding! Stay in a B&B, cabin, camper, RV, lodge, vacation rental house, tent or even a yurt!

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Come get lost and find yourself Come explore Patrick County, Virginia. Picnics at a covered bridge or along the Blue Ridge Parkway, canoe rides, traditional mountain music, artisan studios, local wineries, bed and breakfasts, camping, hiking, mountain biking, and fishing are just a few of the attractions awaiting you. From the rugged outdoors to 5-Star luxury, there is so much to discover in Patrick County. www.visitpatrickcounty.org

TOP 10 WAYS TO EXPLORE Virginia’s Blue Ridge

VisitVBR.com

Hike a Piece of the APPALACHIAN TRAIL Anyone will tell you to hike to McAfee Knob first and foremost – the most photographed location on the Appalachian Trail. For an 8.5-mile roundtrip hike, you’ll be rewarded with stunning panoramic views of the mountains and a breathtaking experience of Virginia’s wilderness.

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Visit SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE Pick your spot from 500 miles of beautiful shoreline. Fish, camp, picnic, or just relax by the water with the family. Boat rentals and lodging are available in multiple locations along the lake. This area is a destination in and of itself if you are looking to escape for a weekend.

Check out the UPPER JAMES RIVER WATER TRAIL “Wet” your appetite (pun totally intended) for Virginia paddling on this gorgeous waterway with its cascading falls and rock walls. If paddling is not your deal, you can enjoy a tranquil picnic on the banks, or fish for fresh trout.

Mountain Bike at CARVINS COVE NATURAL RESERVE

Take in views of the BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS Ready for the ultimate American auto-tour? The Blue Ridge Parkway is addictive, so beware; it boasts grand views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, cozy picnic spots, overlooks with historical information, access to numerous hiking trails, and surprises around every hairpin turn. Take in a view from above and spend an hour or two exploring this incredible scenic byway.

Enjoy 30 miles of LUSH GREENWAY Maybe you want to get in a good power walk or run, but want to stay away from the woods? The Roanoke Valley Greenways may serve your purpose. Traipse over bridges, through the trees, and past lovely views of the city and of the mountains as you enjoy Virginia’s Blue Ridge from the comfort of the path.

See the world on SHARP TOP MOUNTAIN The Sharp Top Mountain trail will take you to a photographer’s dream – 360° views of the mountains, the valleys below, and of the Peaks of Otter Lodge. Excellent, challenging hiking abounds here, and visitors can enjoy close proximity to the action by checking in at the Lodge, which boasts delicious buffet meals and even better views. This area is also a fisherman’s paradise, as nearby Abbott Lake is chock full of bass, catfish, blue gill, and more.

Join the fun of an OUTDOOR EVENT The calendar is always full of exciting outdoor events in Virginia’s Blue Ridge! Take part in the challenge of the Blue Ridge Marathon – America’s Toughest Road Marathon, and learn about the latest outdoor gear and trends at the GO Outside Festival. From triathlons to trail days, we love celebrating the outdoors in the Blue Ridge Mountains! Check out VisitVBR.com/events for more information.

The second largest municipal park in the US, Carvins Cove has plenty to offer – over 60 miles of scenic multi-use trails, including 50 miles of singletrack for epic mountain biking. Load up your bike or tie on those walking shoes for a day at the Cove.

Hike the MILL MOUNTAIN STAR TRAIL Doesn’t it sound intriguing? Believe it or not, this trail really does take you to a star – the world’s largest freestanding man-made one, overlooking the Roanoke Valley. Start at Mill Mountain’s base and work your way to the summit, where you can check out the star and the views, and enjoy a family picnic while you’re there.

Take a trip to ROARING RUN For a family-friendly adventure, try an excursion to Roaring Run Recreation Area. Walk along a trail that follows the Roaring Run stream past rock walls and over footbridges. You will also find a 19th century iron ore furnace that was used during the pre-Civil War era. Plan for a picnic here or an afternoon of pleasant fishing.

BLOOD ON THE ROAD COLLISIONS BETWEEN MOTORISTS AND CYCLISTS ARE ON THE RISE. HOW CAN OUR ROADS BE SAFER FOR ALL USERS? BY JESS DADDIO

aturday, October 7, 2017. Hurricane Nate is wreaking havoc in the South. Forecasters predict the reckless cyclone will make its way to western North Carolina in a few days’ time, just the impetus 57-yearold Cullowhee, N.C., resident Jack Summers needs to go for a bike ride. He sets out late that afternoon, following Tilley Creek Road down Cullowhee Mountain Road. With gravity on his side, he gains quickly on a truck up ahead, which pulls over and waves him by. “They were very courteous,” he says. “I go a lot faster than automobile traffic on the downhills.” Aside from the truck, Summers passes very few cars, a rare treat in the bustling community surrounding Western Carolina University where Summers teaches chemistry. He hangs a right at the intersection onto NC-107 and eases into the bike lane. It’s a short climb out of town, but Summers cranks up it in no time. Just as he begins to crest the top of the hill, he hears it, the most dreaded sound to cyclists

everywhere, that of tires squealing on pavement. “Next thing I know, I’m on the ground. I never lost consciousness. I thought about getting up and gave it a half-hearted try, but I felt something in my back, so I just laid there and waited for the ambulance to come to me.” In a matter of minutes, an off-duty EMT and a young medical student are at his side, applying pressure to Summers’ back, which is bleeding profusely. One ambulance ride and a helicopter lift later, Summers was posted up in a bed at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., alive, but badly injured. He had a compressed vertebra, a broken fibula, and a three-inch hole and Morel-Lavallée lesion the size of a cantaloupe on his back. “I’m doing much better,” Summers tells me six weeks later in the comfort of his home. “I’m able to walk around without any kind of support. I feel like I was very lucky. I could have easily been killed at the scene of the accident. The people that stopped and helped me very likely saved me from bleeding

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to death right there,” and from being another number in a grim statistic. Between 2000 and 2012, the number of cyclists in the U.S. commuting by bike increased by more than 250 percent. Reason would lead us to believe that as more bicycles take to the road, the more motorists become accustomed to their presence and, consequently, the less often collisions occur. But the trend is going in the opposite direction. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that 818 cyclists were killed in motor vehicle collisions, an increase of 12.2 percent from 2014. Like Summers, another 45,000 cyclists were injured in automobile-related crashes, which was not significantly different from the previous year’s estimated 50,000 injured. Anecdotally, one need only browse the Internet to see that altercations of all degrees are on the rise between motorists and cyclists. Just a few days before an unlicensed and uninsured 24-year-old driver struck Jack B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

Summers, Claude Donald Watson was caught on camera punching an Asheville-area cyclist in the face at a traffic light. A few months prior in Virginia’s Rockbridge County, a 14-yearold boy died after a 73-year-old woman made a left turn into him while he was riding his bike. And these are only a few that made 2017’s headlines. “We took in three new cases this week,” says Ann Groninger, a personal injury attorney and co-founder of Bike Law, who specializes in representing injured cyclists, including the Asheville rider who received that on-camera punch-in-the-face. “Everyone who rides a bike on the road probably has had some experience like that,” whether it’s getting buzzed, or doored, or run off the road entirely. “Most drivers are probably tolerant [of cyclists], but there is a loud segment of drivers who aren’t and they’re the ones calling their legislators saying, ‘Get these bicycles off the road.’” The problem for cyclists and motorists, whether or not they choose to believe it, is that legislators are G O O U TA N D P L AY

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listening and people are dying on our roads at a rate that is unacceptable.

The Public Health Crisis No One is Talking About

There are several factors that are contributing to the clash between cyclists and motorists. The economy is finally starting to recover, which means lower unemployment rates, more discretionary income, and more drivers. The year 2016 saw 3.2 trillion miles on the nation’s roads, which was up 2.8 percent from 2015. Traffic congestion that same year increased on average between 2 and 4 percent. Drivers are rightfully frustrated with all of that wasted time spent commuting in heavy traffic, but they’re also more distracted than ever, which is leading to more collisions. According to the NHTSA, distracted driving in 2015 led to 3,477 deaths, an increase of 8.8 percent from 2014. Distracted driving includes anything from texting while driving to using a navigation system or eating. Even responding to a text at a red light can lead to distraction for up to 27 seconds after responding to the message. It was distraction, believes Jack Summers, that led to his hit-and-run incident last fall. “The fact that I heard the tires squealing, that to me suggests that it was not an intentional act,” he says. Summers admits that he could have made himself more visible to the driver by using bike lights, but it was still full daylight at the time, there was perfect visibility, and he was riding in a designated bike lane. By all intents and purposes, Summers should have been safe, and that, says Bike Law founder Peter Wilborn, leads to one very important question. “Why is it still wickedly unsafe to ride a bike? Everything else about safety in the last 20 years has improved. Cars have antilock brakes, we have better helmets. As more and more people ride, you would think the accident rate would go down, because that’s what it’s supposed to do, like death by cigarettes. At some point, with public awareness, smoking-related deaths plummeted. That’s what you would expect for cycling, but it’s not gotten safer. We have a public health crisis that has not been addressed.” For the last 20 years, Wilborn has been at the frontlines of bicycle advocacy as a lawyer, activist, and cyclist. His passion for the cause is

rooted in personal tragedy. In 1998, an underage driver ran a red light and collided with Wilborn’s 28-yearold brother Jim, who died instantly. Wilborn sought the legal aid of the most reputable lawyer in town, but was appalled at the lawyer’s initial reaction to the case. “We were all crowded around a conference table beside ourselves with grief, and the first thing he said was, ‘Did Jim have a DUI?’ When we looked at him aghast, he said, ‘Why else would a 28-year-old man be on a bike?’ That moment changed my career.” Wilborn started by representing injured cyclists in his home state of South Carolina. After joining ranks with affiliate lawyer and fellow cyclist Ann Groninger out of Charlotte, N.C., the team expanded into North Carolina and has now grown into Bike Law, a nationwide network of cyclist-lawyers representing injured cyclists in over 25 states and Canada. At times, fighting for the cyclists’ cause feels like an uphill battle. Unfair and archaic legal doctrines like contributory negligence, which prevents recovery of damages for injured persons if they are found to be as little as 1 percent responsible for the collision that injures them, are still in existence in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, and, until recently, the District of Columbia. The difficulty of enforcing bicycle safety laws and adequately investigating bicycle-vehicle collisions further compounds the problem and pits motorists against cyclists. Drivers claim that cyclists don’t pay taxes, and therefore should not be allowed on the road, that they run stop signs and traffic lights, hog the lane, and split lanes. Cyclists, meanwhile, berate drivers for passing when it’s not safe, using vehicles as weapons of intimidation, seeding anti-bicycle sentiment among law enforcement and decision makers, and not giving the legally required three feet of space when overtaking cyclists. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in between. The vast majority of cyclists are also vehicle or property owners, which means they, too, pay the taxes that upkeep road infrastructure. Drivers, cyclists, and even pedestrians break traffic laws every day, from failing to use a turn signal to jaywalking across the street. While not always courteous, it is legal in 39 out of 50 states for cyclists to ride two abreast. And not all drivers are aggressive towards cyclists—some may simply be anxious. But to Wilborn, all of this is

superfluous. “A war between bicycles and cars is frankly absurd,” he says. “It’s sandbox fighting. It’s this phony polarity that’s playing out in the national discourse, where everyone is either left or right. It gives them this self-righteousness of victim blaming that is intellectually dishonest. Why are cyclists being killed? It’s because policy makers have failed to understand transportation planning and plan accordingly. All of them, in every city, every county, every state, were caught completely flatfooted by the boom of people wanting to learn to bike or walk. There is no war. There is a lack of safe infrastructure which makes it likely that criminal drivers are going to kill cyclists at an alarming rate.” The NHTSA’s statistics from 2015 support Wilborn’s argument. Of the 818 cyclists who died that year, 70 percent of those fatal crashes were in urban areas, 61 percent were not at intersections, and only 3 percent were in bike lanes. In 2014, the League of American Bicyclists dug deeper into the NHTSA’s data from 2011 to 2013, and similarly found that most fatalities occurred on high-speed “arterial” urban roads and that 40 percent of all cases were the result of a rear-end collision. What if, Wilborn says, we did away with blaming crashes on one user group or the other and looked at the facts? What if we recognized that as cities grow, so too do their humble outskirts, which turns once quiet

mere 5 percent of drivers started taking public transportation or cycling to work, rush hour congestion could be reduced by 30 percent? “It’s an easy straw man. People think it’s the cyclist slowing down traffic when cyclists are just the visual representation for a much bigger problem,” says Wilborn. “You have all of these drivers that are frustrated, and your initial reaction is not to blame yourself, or the other people doing the same thing as you. It’s to blame the guy that’s different.”

Cities Saving Lives

Chattanooga Police Department’s Rob Simmons has seen the contention between drivers and cyclists play out firsthand on the streets of downtown Chattanooga during his tenure on the city’s bike patrol. In 2009, the city’s cycling community took a devastating hit when one of its very own was killed after a large truck passed too close, snagging one of the rider’s saddle bags and throwing him from the bike. The cyclist, 51-year-old David Leonard Meek, was a rule follower. He was dressed in reflective and fluorescent clothing, his bike sported flashing lights, and he was riding as far to the right as possible. Yet when Simmons read the crash report filed by the officer on duty, he was perplexed. “The officer who wrote it stated that the vehicle could have seen the cyclist, but it’s not clear that he should have seen the cyclist. What he was saying was that even “A WAR BETWEEN BICYCLES with the lights and the AND CARS IS FRANKLY vest and the cyclist riding ABSURD. IT’S SANDBOX where he was supposed FIGHTING. IT’S THIS PHONY to, it wasn’t the fault of POLARITY THAT’S PLAYING OUT the driver. If you’re doing everything that the law IN THE NATIONAL DISCOURSE, requires you to do here in WHERE EVERYONE IS EITHER Tennessee, how is it not LEFT OR RIGHT. IT GIVES THEM someone else’s fault? How THIS SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS is there no responsibility OF VICTIM BLAMING put anywhere?” THAT IS INTELLECTUALLY That fatality sparked a newfound sense of DISHONEST." responsibility in Simmons —PETER WILBORN that transcended his own passion for cycling. With country-road-commutes into dangerous the support of the police chief, Simmons real-life rounds of Frogger? What if launched the Chattanooga Safe Biking we elected leaders who prioritized Initiative in 2015. His initiative had a alternative and safe transportation three-pronged approach: educate for all road users? What if we saw motorists, educate cyclists, and enforce cyclists not as spandex-wearing elitists the three-foot passing rule by way of parading around on $10,000 bikes, the C3FT, a bicycle-mounted device but as working class citizens who use that can detect the exact proximity of the bicycle not for recreation but for passing vehicles. transportation? What if we saw cyclists Additionally, Simmons visited police as a solution to the problem, that if a JA N UA R Y 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

departments throughout Tennessee and distributed an 11-page training manual on everything from how to properly investigate bicycle-vehicle collisions to listing specific cycling laws. The initiative was a tremendous success. Between 2015 and 2016, Chattanooga-area bicycle-vehicle crashes dropped 26 percent. Coupled with Simmons’ Safe Biking Initiative, Chattanooga is one of the Southeast’s leaders in the Complete Streets movement, which provides safe access for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders. In the past seven years, the city has constructed 30 miles of separated greenways, one mile of protected bike lanes, 38 miles of bike lanes, and 37 routes with “share the road” signage. The Bike Chattanooga Transit System launched its bike share program five years ago, and already has 38 stations and 300 bikes scattered throughout the city. Chattanooga’s Assistant City Traffic Engineer Ben Taylor says the increased bike infrastructure has been met with some skepticism, but that the implementation of bike lanes helps solve other problems such as speeding and parking. “Business owners might complain and say that no one really bikes down

their way, but those same folks have complained about high traffic speeds and are in an area that has three new restaurants and apartment complexes being built. We’re turning a four-lane to one lane each way with a parking lane and a bike lane, which still serves the driving public by helping calm traffic.” The increased bike lanes are also good for business, as any number of economic impact studies can attest. The Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville, S.C, for example, injects close to $7 million annually. Local and non-local visitors to the Virginia Creeper Trail in Damascus and Abingdon, Va., spend more than $2.5 million in the region, supporting a host of restaurants and lodging facilities. A 2013 study conducted by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) estimated that upgrades in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure could even reduce health care costs by as much as $76 million while providing a one-time property value increase of $64 million. The investment seems like a no-brainer, yet many bike infrastructure projects have stalled in recent years. Last October, North Carolina was among a number of states that returned close to $4 million in Transportation Alternatives Program

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(TAP) funding designated specifically for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. “If we are serious and we are committed to public safety, then that money should have been spent,” says Asheville On Bikes Executive Director Mike Sule. It’s no secret that the southern metropolis is booming with mountain biking and road cycling tourism. The city was recently selected as the only East Coast destination to host the prestigious three-day Haute Route, an international cycling event expected to generate more than $1 million in the western North Carolina region. “The growth of cycling is way more than the infrastructure development that needs to happen,” says Cane Creek Cycling Components Retail Services Coordinator Bryan Flack. “If we want to be the progressive town that we like to think we are and I know we want to be, let’s see some pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.” But according to Ed Johnson of the NCDOT Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation, sometimes, spending that federal money is harder than it seems. Though NCDOT has awarded over $5 million in grant money for infrastructure since the inception of its Planning Grant Initiative in 2004,

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there are two caveats to securing that funding: municipalities must submit a publically vetted plan and they must be ready to match 20% of NCDOT’s funding. “That becomes a real hurdle for some of the smaller, rural communities where 20% is a considerable amount of money,” says Johnson. “When it came to the so-called ‘return’ of the TAP funding, many of the municipalities that were to receive that funding were not in a position as of yet to be able to spend it. State funds cannot be used for matching the federal money by statute.” Municipalities can get creative, though, says Johnson, and many North Carolina communities have been able to achieve that 20% match through support from Land and Water Conservation Fund, Clean Water Management Trust Fund, Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or even private sectors and county health departments. The process can be tedious and timeconsuming, and if a municipality has not already established that publically vetted plan, it could run out of time to nab those funds. Though the cost of constructing big projects like greenway systems ($1 million per mile, on average) is often cited as a hindrance to increasing

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bicycle friendly facilities, Roanoke’s Transportation Division Manager Mark Jamison begs to differ. Though Roanoke is well-loved for its extensive greenways, Jamison says the city has spent the past 15 years knocking out what he calls the lowhanging fruit of the transportation world: repaving and repainting. “It’s not something we had to spend a lot of money doing because we were just reallocating existing space instead of creating new space,” says Jamison. “The only thing we’re adding is a paint stripe, and you’re talking about pennies a foot. You’re spending hundreds of dollars, not thousands of dollars, so I don’t track [the expense] because it’s not expensive.” Roanoke is now charged with tackling bigger projects that will require more funds, but Jamison says that cities everywhere should be repaving, repainting, and reallocating space to accommodate all road users, not just motorists, starting now, even if it means making a bike lane that continues for only a mile before dead-ending. “We have to look more to what we want our cities to be like in the future,” he says. “If you don’t add something when you can, you might not ever add it, and even if a bike lane doesn’t connect to something today, years from now, there might be an opportunity to connect it. Be confident in that.” Back in Cullowhee, N.C., Jack Summers is a staunch supporter of bike lanes, and attests the presence of the bike lane he was riding in to surviving the crash. Having ridden on Jackson County’s roads for almost 15 years without incident, Summers says he almost feels safer on winding country roads than the fast-and-straight four-lane highways. “It’s counterintuitive, I know, but that’s how it is. People have to pay attention then.” He’s not bitter or angry toward the young driver who hit him, and who is presently sitting in jail awaiting charges ranging from a felony hit-and-run to making a false statement to a cop and driving without a license. “It doesn’t help anything to be angry,” says Summers. “You’re playing the odds anytime you get in a vehicle, whether it’s a car or a bike or a motorcycle or even walking down the sidewalk.” The unfortunate reality, says Rob Simmons of the Chattanooga Police Department, is that the odds are rarely in favor of the cyclist. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the cyclist’s fault or the motorist’s fault. Whenever a vehicle and a cyclist collide, there is only one loser. The cyclist always loses. If we can show a little humanity, and realize that cyclists are humans too with mothers, fathers, children, spouses, it could go a long way toward preserving life in the end.” PHOTO BY MARC HUNT

NATURAL ASSETS HOW THE OUTDOOR ECONOMY IS TRANSFORMING APPALACHIA BY WALLY SMITH

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THE OUTDOOR ECONOMY

BY THE NUMBERS

$9 billion

in annual consumer spending on outdoor recreation in West Virginia

366

full-time jobs supported by mountain biking in North Carolina’s Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests

7,500 unique

climbers visiting Kentucky’s Red River Gorge annually. Visitors spend an estimated $3.6 million each year.

$13.61

generated for every dollar of tax revenue provided to Virginia state parks in 2016 —Outdoor Industry Association, Outdoor Alliance, Eastern Kentucky University, Virginia Association for Parks

EVA BEAULE WASN'T SURE WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN WHEN she and her husband, Mike, opened an outfitter in the tiny community of Mendota, Va. several years ago. Their property sits in an ideal location along the North Fork of the Holston River not far from the Tennessee line, but it takes a long, winding route on narrow roads to get there. "There's no cell phone service out here," Beaule says, "and we're seventeen miles from a grocery store." But geographic isolation hasn't stopped the Beaules' shop, Adventure Mendota, from booming. While business started slow—no one came out to Adventure Mendota’s opening day— thousands of customers have since come to float the North Fork. The outfitter is now one of the most popular outdoor businesses in the region. The Beaules aren't alone in their success. In fact, the story of Adventure Mendota—an entrepreneur growing a dream into a thriving outdoor business—could apply to almost any corner of Appalachia. Outfitters have sprouted from the pastoral banks of the North Fork to urban stretches of the French Broad. Mountain communities are reinventing themselves to attract hikers, mountain bikers, and climbers. Revamped downtowns across the region are complete with microbreweries and Airbnbs. And the region's national forests and state parks are being reimagined not just as weekend getaways but as economic support systems for small towns and entire states alike. A quick look at the numbers shows just how much of an economic behemoth the outdoor industry has become. In 2017, the Outdoor Industry Association estimated that outdoor recreation accounted for nearly $900 billion in consumer spending and just over 7.5 million direct jobs nationwide—more than the coal and gas industries combined. Those trends hold closer to home in the Blue Ridge. A recent report by the Outdoor Alliance found that the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests— just two of more than ten national forests across the larger Appalachian region—host 4.6 million visitors annually and plug $115 million into local economies each year. As impressive as those figures are, questions remain about what role outdoor recreation has in the region's economic future. Can recreation replace the extractive industries that have dominated the mountains for more than a century? Are outdoor entrepreneurs really building the base of a new economy, or are their small businesses simply feel-good stories without lasting economic impact? Finding the answers to those questions is one of the biggest challenges currently facing Appalachia—one that may shape the region for generations to come.

Growing an Industry It's impossible to understand the growth of the East’s outdoor economy without first considering the historical arc of land use trends across Appalachia. From early European settlement through the mid-1900s, the predominant force in the Appalachian economy was resource extraction: timber harvesting along the Blue Ridge, coal to the west along the Appalachian Plateau, and agriculture in the Great Valley in between. In fact, many of the region's national forests and parks were created as a reaction to the ecological devastation caused by those industries decades earlier. President Franklin D. Roosevelt acknowledged as much during his address at the 1940 dedication of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, stating that "we realize now that we committed excesses which we are today seeking to atone for." That atonement paved the way for public lands that became hubs of outdoor activity across the nation. Outdoor businesses began to capitalize on those assets later in the 20th century, with outlets like Western North Carolina’s Nantahala Outdoor Center leading the charge. The center JA N UA R Y 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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opened in 1972 at the intersection of the Appalachian Trail and Nantahala River Gorge and has since grown into one of the nation's leading outfitters, producing Olympic whitewater champions and hundreds of regional jobs. In the decades since its creation, a litany of businesses and communities have followed suit to build a thriving outdoor economy, even as traditional industries have waned. Todd Christensen has watched that transition throughout his career. Christensen, recently retired as executive director of the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Foundation, has helped lead efforts to revitalize distressed communities throughout 19 Virginia counties. In many ways, Christensen’s region serves as a microcosm for how a decline in extractive industries has catalyzed an increased focus on the outdoors. Over the past few decades, manufacturing employment in Southwest Virginia fell by half, agricultural jobs declined, and coal mining jobs dropped by nearly 70 percent. Those impacts, Christensen says, left many communities looking for new economic options. “The big opportunity I think a lot of people saw was outdoor recreation,” he says. Southwest Virginia’s communities began marketing outdoor assets residents had taken advantage of for decades. “It wasn’t that there wasn’t anybody doing any outdoor recreation. It wasn’t that the assets weren’t there,” Christensen says. “It was about connecting them all to a common theme to brand the region.” Since 2001, the region has added nearly 3,000 leisure and hospitality jobs, along with a more than $300 million increase in travel expenditures. While many communities in Southwest Virginia are just starting to capitalize on the outdoors, other areas, such as Western North Carolina, have had a focus on the outdoors for generations. “Outdoor recreation and tourism has been a part of our local economy for over 100 years,” stresses Clark Lovelace, executive director of the Brevard/Transylvania Chamber of Commerce. Lovelace cites the Pisgah National Forest and the region’s history of hosting summer camps—both of which date back as far as the early 1900s—as examples of the region’s outdoor roots. “In more recent years,” Lovelace says, “the addition of DuPont State Recreational Forest and Gorges State Park…has led to tremendous growth in the local tourism industry.”

In 1986, the Transylvania County Tourism Development Authority (TCTDA) was formed to promote the county’s outdoor assets—a factor that became important when the area’s largest manufacturing companies left starting around the year 2000. Since then, Lovelace says that outdoor recreation has “gone from an important industry to a leading industry.” The TCTDA reported close to $90 million generated in tourism revenue in 2015 alone, with accommodations revenue—a key tourism indicator— nearly doubling since 2010.

Not Just a Numbers Game While the revenue figures touted by regional communities paint an encouraging picture, many experts argue that the outdoor economy alone isn’t sufficient to save many areas, especially those suffering from severe economic decline. “Tourism is so important, but we cannot put all of our eggs in one basket,” says Shannon Blevins, associate vice chancellor at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise. Blevins works with rural communities across the Appalachian coalfields that are looking to diversify their economic strategies, and she emphasizes the dangers of putting too much focus on any single industry. For starters, she says, a tourism-based economy isn’t recession-proof. “We don’t want to get back into that same situation where we are single-threaded on one industry,” she says. Blevins also points out that many outdoor jobs pay lower wages than other industries, a discrepancy that is all too real. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers in the recreation industry earn a median income of around $24,000 per year nationwide. Compare that to the median level of $50,000 or so in annual wages taken home by a coal miner, and it becomes easy to see the challenges associated with using outdoor businesses to replace highwage extractive industries. Still, the intangible benefits of the outdoor industry can enhance other dimensions of the economy. As one example, Blevins stresses the impacts that tourism and recreation can have on a community’s quality of life. “If it’s done right,” Blevins says, strengthening an outdoor economy “increases the impression that people have of the area.” That, in turn, can increase a

community’s exposure and draw in new investment. Lovelace agrees. “Outdoor recreation and quality of life for residents are directly tied together” for the Brevard and Transylvania County area, he says. In addition to retirees who move to the area after leaving the labor market, Lovelace points out that many working families who move to Transylvania County are choosing quality of life over the size of their salaries as a determining factor in selecting a new home. In other cases, recreation can also attract new manufacturing sectors altogether. The broader Western North Carolina region is one example, as it now plays home to a burgeoning outdoor gear manufacturing industry that is capitalizing on the region's outdoor culture. The Outdoor Gear Builders of Western North Carolina, a group of 27 regionally-based companies, estimated in 2014 that manufacturers contributed nearly 500 jobs to the regional economy, with a $6 million impact in local sourcing. Lovelace credits the quality of life provided by the outdoors as helping to bring several manufacturers to his region, citing it as "key" to economic growth. The Transylvania Economic Alliance—the county’s economic development organization—now even lists outdoor gear manufacturing as one of its six target markets, alongside tourism.

Building on Success If a single rule has emerged from the region, it's that the recipe needed to harness the outdoor recreation economy's benefits may look different from one community to the next. Some communities, like Erwin, Tenn., are looking downtown. Erwin is home to the Appalachian Trail and Nolichucky River, but its economy has historically been grounded on the transport of coal via the CSX railroad. Jamie Rice, an Erwin business owner and president of the community group RISE Erwin, says that economic landscape changed when Erwin’s railyard closed in 2015. “We were really in mourning,” Rice says. In response, residents began strategic planning sessions, where Rice says “the thing we kept identifying with was our geography.” One result of those discussions was a Great Outdoors Festival that links Erwin’s downtown businesses to the trail and river. Rice estimates the event attracted

nearly 7,000 people in its inaugural year. “We were thrilled with that number,” she says. “And we know it’s going to continue to grow.” In other areas, taking the outdoor economy to the next level means playing off of existing strengths. Virginia's Appalachian Spring initiative is doing just that: taking eight popular outdoor "anchors"—recreation meccas like the New River, Mount Rogers, and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park—and tying them together in a regional branding strategy where political boundaries are blurred. "The whole region has developed a spirit of collaboration and understanding that what's good for one part of the region is good for the other," Christensen says. Rather than crafting competing economic plans behind closed doors, community leaders are having opportunities to share best practices for engaging visitors with the outdoors. Emerging from the initiative is the recognition that a region's strength often lies in its diversity. If that diversity is found in the sum of a region's parts, small businesses like Adventure Mendota play a key role. The outfitter sits between two of Appalachian Spring's anchor areas, the Clinch River and Mount Rogers, and that sense of community is not lost on its owner. Eva Beaule credits a group of leaders near Mendota—what she refers to as her "posse"—with helping to spur on the outfitter's success. It's a relationship that has to go both ways, Beaule says. "A small business owner cannot wait for people to come to them," she stresses. "You've got to go meet with somebody that you don't know." In fact, supporting a community of outdoor entrepreneurs is a plan for success that holds from a city with a strong outdoor economy like Brevard to a rural coalfield town just beginning to plot out its economic future. Rice, Lovelace, and Blevins all emphasize the role that entrepreneurial support has played in their respective regions. "If you're able to give people who are already rooted in the area the ability to start their own jobs that are in alignment with their aptitudes, then that is a huge win,” Blevins says. In that sense, the principles driving the success of Appalachia's outdoor economy are rooted in the same culture that has supported the region for generations. "The one thing we've learned that is so tremendous," Beaule says, "is that we've got a lot of resources in each other."

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RIDING THE IDITAROD

APPALACHIA'S JOHN LOGAR WON THE 1,000-MILE IDITAROD FOOTRACE IN 2014. HE'S HEADED BACK TO THE ALASKAN RACE IN 2018—THIS TIME, ON HIS BIKE. BY JESS DADDIO FIVE-TIME IDITAROD TRAIL INVITATIONAL FINISHER and Davis, W.Va., resident John Logar is heading back to Alaska to compete in the 1,000-mile race to Nome by bike. Back in 2014, Logar won the 1,000-mile Iditarod footrace, finishing in 23 days, 23 hours, and 10 minutes. He’s since ridden the 350-mile Iditarod route three years in a row, with times ranging from two days to five days. BRO sat down with Logar to talk about all things Iditarod, from training on fat bikes in West Virginia to sleepless nights in the Interior. YOUR FINISHING TIMES IN 2015 AND 2016 WERE WILDLY FASTER THAN LAST YEAR’S. WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT YOUR 2017 RIDE? JL: 2015 was fast and too quick. We had ice pack conditions so it was like riding on a sidewalk. We rode over 170 miles a day. I placed fourth that year and I think we all broke course records. 2016 was about the same, fast and warm. But 2017 was truly the first real winter race they’d had in three years. There was a 50% DNF rate. WHEN YOU SAY COLD, HOW COLD ARE WE TALKING? JL: It was 30 and 40 below freezing, with the wind chill, definitely colder, like 50 below. It was cold enough that it was hard to pedal. People had frostbite. It was bad. There was a ground blizzard one night entering Hell’s Gate and I waited a little longer to set out, but Jay Petervary and the leaders went ahead. The next day I saw this huge hole in the snow where they must have hunkered down and you just know they got their asses kicked. WHAT WERE THE COURSE CONDITIONS LIKE? JL: We had lots of snow. Sometimes it’s hard-packed; sometimes it isn’t.

The route is pretty obvious for the most part, but new snow can make it disappear until the next snowmobile goes through it. I had a moose come through and post-hole and tear up the trail for about 10 miles, which sucked. Then there’s overflow, which happens when the river level rises above the ice. It can create a 10-foot wide slush field or there can be miles of it. You never know and you don’t always know where it’s coming from, but when you’re in it, you know you’re in it. Usually you’re going along and ‘clunk,’ you drop six inches through the ice. It’s the dreaded nightmare and one of the more stressful things up there because it’s the one element most of us don’t deal with normally. WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING MOMENT OF THE 2017 RACE? JL: It wasn’t the cold. It wasn’t the wind. It was coming into the village of Nikolai. The checkpoint is this family’s home, the Petruska family. Nick Petruska is one of the village elders, and I’ve known him now for five years. He was like a father figure for Bill Merchant who started this race. Nick was sick with cancer, but he didn’t want to change the checkpoint. He kept his house open. His daughter woke me up in the middle of the night and said, “John, get up, Nick’s sick.” They know I’m a doctor, but we were in the middle of nowhere, and at that point you’re 400 miles from any sort of hospital care. He was confused, he had a fever. There just so happened to be a travel nurse in the village. I was able to get an IV and antibiotics in him, which resuscitated him. They flew him to Anchorage and I went and visited him after the race, but he died soon after.

JOHN LOGAR EARLY ON IN THE 2017 IDITAROD TRAIL INVITATIONAL.

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HOW DID THE RACE CHANGE FOR YOU AFTER YOU LEFT THE PETRUSKA HOUSEHOLD? JL: It was the worst part of the trip for me, because here I am riding my bike through the freaking winter, and this dude is dying. It just came back to the feeling that this is a selfish ass sport. I wasn’t doing anybody any good except for myself and meanwhile, here’s this selfless guy saying, “Come into my house, but I’m dying.” It was a different type of race for me after that. I hammered the race for years, but this time I just chilled out. THIS WILL BE YOUR SIXTH YEAR AT THE IDITAROD TRAIL INVITATIONAL. WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK? JL: I’m drawn to people who have stepped outside their comfort zone. They get it. WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY GOING INTO THIS 1,000-MILE BIKE RACE? JL: The physical part is a big deal, it really is, but it’s not the biggest deal. It’s a mind game. I do not have a training regimen. I do not have a weekly mileage. It’s a lifestyle sport. I try to do something everyday, whether that’s a three-mile run or a five-hour ride. At the end of the day, every time I go [to the Iditarod], I’m ready to push my bike 350

miles. You should not approach this race like you’re going to ride it. You should be willing to get off your bike and push the whole thing if you have to. That being said, I sure as shit do not practice pushing my bike. LET’S TALK GEAR—WHAT SYSTEM DID YOU HAVE LAST YEAR AND ARE YOU MAKING ANY CHANGES? JL: Last year I was on a Salsa Mukluk Ti, which I’ll be riding again. I had huge paniers on the sides. I wear a thin, old school Patagonia zip tee, my CamelBak, then a Patagonia R1 layer on top of that, then a vest, puffy, shell, and all of that is usually too hot. I usually lose the puffy. I wear a BUFF religiously around my neck. That’s a big heat sink for me. I also carry a light Ibex hat and a Mountain Hardware Windstopper heavy-duty hat, you know, that elf-looking thing, and goggles. You have to have goggles cause your eyes will get all messed up. On my legs, I wear three-quarter length wool riding tights, Mountain Hardware fleece windproof pants with full-length zips (it’s all about the ventilation), 45NRTH Wölvhammer studded boots with an expedition neoprene boot cover that comes up mid-shin, sock liners, and vapor barriers.

ONLY SOCK LINERS? IN 30 BELOW? THAT SEEMS PRETTY MINIMAL. JL: It’s such a pain figuring out the feet. I just try to manage the moisture as best I can. Everybody tries to go GORE-TEX and I’d rather have as much moisture get away from my body as possible. I always have hand warmers and jam one into each toe box and it’s a dream come true. WHAT IS ONE PIECE OF GEAR THAT YOU’LL NEVER DO THE IDITAROD WITHOUT? JL: I started carrying a thermos for hot stuff. That was a game changer for me. At each checkpoint, if there’s hot water, I’ll put boiling water in it with two packs of ramen. That way if I’m 10 hours out and I’m like, “I want a warm meal,” bam. I have it. WHAT ARE YOU EATING WHILE YOU’RE OUT ON THE COURSE? JL: I don’t cook meals out there. Zero. I’ll get real food in the villages and hold out for a couple of days if I have to. Snickers are my get-out-of-jail-freecard. I’ll stick those in my mouth like a cigar and just eat it as it melts. Paydays. Jerky. Last year I made eight bologna and American cheese on white bread sandwiches. I loved it. It’d be frozen, but you put a little mustard, a little mayo

on there, put in your shirt for awhile and it’ll warm up. Reese’s Cups don’t freeze, so that’s a big deal. I had a lot of those individually wrapped packages of fruit and nut mixes that are 300-400 calories a pop. Variety is key. IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, WHICH IS MORE CHALLENGING, THE FOOTRACE OR THE BIKE RACE? JL: The footrace is way harder. I’ve done both so I feel like I can say that. HOW DOES LIVING IN DAVIS, W.VA., HELP PREPARE YOU FOR THE IDITAROD, OR DOES IT? JL: The past two days I’ve ridden here it’s been 35 degrees and dumping rain. That’s about as uncomfortable as it gets. It sucks. You can’t stop, or you can, but it gets uncomfortable really quick. You’re not dry, so you have all kinds of weird chafing going on, you can’t see anything because it’s socked in. It works well for me because we have some seriously crappy weather so I can get out and continue to train myself to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. I also have a good wife and family and a supportive bike shop, so that helps.

Hibernate in Style IN THE NEW RIVER GORGE

Welcome, folks! I’m New River George, your guide to the New River Gorge. Take it from me: nothing beats a cozy cabin in the forest. And Winter is one of the best times to visit! You can ski, ride sleighs, and hike in gorgeous state parks. Gosh, maybe I better head outside. See you there!

800.927.0263 NewRiverGorgeCVB.com #NewRiverGeorge

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TRAIL MIX Drew Holcomb’s Handpicked Vinyl

CAROLINA SOUNDS BLUEGRASS ACES STEEP CANYON RANGERS FLEX SONGWRITING CHOPS ON NEW ALBUM BY JEDD FERRIS

MICHAEL WILSON

THE SIX MEMBERS OF FLEET-FINGERED STRING band Steep Canyon Rangers keep expanding their acoustic boundaries. In its early years, the band, which formed back in 2000 and won a Grammy in 2013 for Best Bluegrass Album, seemed intent on being aggressively traditional. But as time has passed, the group has started to incorporate a growing palette of roots music styles. The recent addition of drummer Mike Ashworth has given the western North Carolina-based band’s live shows some dance-ready drive, and in the studio, the sextet has been embracing outside help from notable producers. Dobro master Jerry Douglas worked with the band on 2015’s Radio, and this month, the sextet will release Out in the Open, a new effort produced by prolific singersongwriter and studio craftsman Joe Henry. The album, the group’s tenth overall, out January 26 on Ramseur Records, spotlights thoughtful lyrics and powerful harmonies more than blazing solos. Henry, who’s notched Grammy Awards for his work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Solomon Burke, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, had the Steep Canyon

members record together in one room with no overdubs, and as a result, the record has the raw, spontaneous energy of a front-porch sing-along. The title track is a joyous confessional about embracing truth that mingles the dusty bootstomping swagger of honky-tonk piano and campfire harmonica with a gospel chorus. “Let Me Out of This Town” is equally enlightening, a soaring folk-rock song about needing to make changes, emphasized with a dramatic, collective string crescendo. Less serious is the playful doo-wop tune “Shenandoah Valley,” which sounds like a good fit for one of the band’s regular shows backing comedian and accomplished banjo player Steve Martin. The album’s most transcendent moment, though, just happens to be one of the quietest. “Going Midwest” is a lonesome vintage country stunner featuring a spare guitar melody and hearty, earnest narration from lead singer Woody Platt. Penned by banjo player Graham Sharp, the song was inspired by the end of The Great Gatsby, and through succinct phrasing

with wistful imagery, it becomes a universal heartbreak anthem. For a band of deftly skilled bluegrass pickers, it’s a powerfully simple change of pace. Performing at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena in Asheville, N.C. (January 27), the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tenn. (February 1), the Walker Theatre in Chattanooga, Tenn. (February 9), and the Peace Center in Greenville, S.C., with Steve Martin and Martin Short (February 23 and 24)

Tennessee tunesmith Drew Holcomb has been open about his musical influences, often mentioning his appreciation for predecessors like Steve Earle and Ryan Adams. Now Holcomb, whose latest album Souvenir came out last year, is sharing some of his favorite tunes with fans via his Magnolia Record Club. Through the vinyl subscription service, Holcomb sends members one record of his choice every month. Since starting the club in 2015, he’s included a variety of impressive acts, including Chris Stapleton, Patty Griffin, The Lumineers, Jason Isbell, Wilco, and Lee Ann Womack. Holcomb includes personalized notes with each record, explaining why he chose the music, and many of the releases have exclusive additions, including autographs, original art, and limitededition colored vinyl. Last fall’s inclusion of Lee Ann Womack's latest album The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone, for instance, was pressed on grey. At the end of last year, Holcomb also curated a special compilation, Magnolia Mixtape: Volume 2, featuring his favorite songs of 2017. "I wanted to create a community within our fan base," he explained in a statement released about the club. "Hopefully, this community will trust my taste in music. Some months, it will be a classic record, others it will be a signed copy of a friend’s new album, and hopefully as we grow, we can even reissue albums we love that haven’t seen the light of day in a while." An avid vinyl collector, Holcomb says records help him slow down and appreciate the music on specific albums, which was becoming difficult for him among the digital overload of streaming service playlists. "Good music should be enjoyed and appreciated," he said. Vinyl has been surging in popularity in recent years. Although records account for less than 10 percent of total music sales, audiophiles looking for a tangible product to connect with their sounds were projected to boost vinyl sales to close to a billion dollars last year. In addition to sending fans records, Holcomb will hit the road in February, leaving behind his band the Neighbors and instead performing intimate duo shows with his wife and vocal foil Ellie. Dates in the South include shows at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. (February 13), the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tenn. (February 15), and the Academy Center of the Arts Warehouse Theatre in Lynchburg, Va. (February 16).

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THE GOODS

IDITAROD ESSENTIALS PETER RIPMASTER PICKS HIS

LEKI MAKALU TREKKING POLES $85

MUST-HAVE GEAR FOR THE ALASKAN FOOTRACE BY GRAHAM AVERILL

Peter Ripmaster almost died in Alaska. That’s not hyperbole. Ripmaster was running the Iditarod Trail Invitational, a 1,000-mile ultra through the Alaska Range in the dead of winter, when a section of ice collapsed beneath his feet and he was submerged in open water. When he tried to crawl out of the water, the ice broke again. And again. When he finally climbed to solid ground, he was soaking wet, freezing, and alone in the middle of Alaska’s arctic wilderness, miles from the nearest check point. “I knew I had to keep moving to stay alive, so I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could,” says Ripmaster, an ultra runner who lives in Asheville, N.C. He made it to the next checkpoint—and then continued to race for another 300 miles after the accident. Ripmaster has competed in the Iditarod Trail Invitational, which can be tackled by foot, ski or fatbike, for five years in a row. He finished dead last on his first attempt, but moved up to third place of the 350-mile race his second year. For the past three years, he’s focused on completing the full 1,000-mile version of the race, which runs from Knik to Nome. As a runner, he tows all of his gear behind him on a sled as he moves across ice, snow and mountains. He’ll head back to Alaska this February determined to finish the 1,000-mile race, which if all goes well, will take him 24 days to complete. And he’ll do the majority of his training for this arctic race right here in the Southern Appalachians. “I don’t need to train in frigid temperatures; I just need to be in shape and ready to move,” Ripmaster says. “Movement is your friend in that environment.” Here are Ripmaster’s five picks for running in winter conditions, whether you’re in Alaska or the Appalachians. 50

FENIX HL60R HEADLAMPS $75

I’ve found these headlamps to be really reliable. Fenix Headlamps might be a touch heavier than some other brands, but they last and can survive a fall. These Headlamps are built to light the way for those pushing through the night. Oh, and bring a backup!

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Although these days it’s sexy to have super light, three section foldable trekking poles, those tend to break very easily. I used the Leki Makalu trekking poles and they were beyond bomber. I got tired of having foldable poles break on me (for no good reason). Once again, I’ll take a touch more weight knowing they will work, period.

ICESPIKES $20

These tough screws offer great traction for icy trails. You just screw them into the bottom of your running shoes or hiking shoes. I’ve found they perform much better than a lot of other more popular brands of ice traction devices. Maybe best of all, you can take these out when you’re done and your shoes can turn back into road shoes.

BUFF $32

A lightweight buff can be a very handy piece of gear. If the temperature drops, you can use it to cover your face. You can also use it as a neck warmer or a headband. This is a very versatile piece that weighs in at a whopping 1.3 ounces. What use will you find for your buff?

MORE GEAR

SIERRA DESIGNS WHITNEY HOODIE $169

The Whitney Hoodie offers style and warmth with 800 Fill DriDown insulation and 40D Shadow Rip polyester shell, along with an insulated yoke and zippered chest pocket. Like the Tuolumne, the Whitney Hoodie features two zippered hand pockets and an inside kangaroo pocket, and the hoodie stows into the zippered pocket.

CRESCENT MOON EVA FOAM SNOWSHOES $149

The Evas are like running shoes for the snow. Forget the clunkiness of traditional snowshoes; the Evas are super lightweight, cushioned, and comfortable, making snowshoeing easy and efficient. They’re durable, too. The bottom layer is firm and rugged, with lugs like a hiking boot, providing excellent grip even on ice.

PERFETTO LONG SLEEVE CYCLING JERSEY $199 The best winter cycling jersey just got better. Its new water-repellent finish and lasercut drain holes in the pockets will keep you dry without affecting breathability, and Perfetto improved the fit and added reflective logos to keeps you visible on the road.

WIGGY’S LAMALITE INSULATED SOCKS $35

These bad boys put any traditional sock to shame. All the other sock companies (and I’ve tried them all) use materials that won’t dry fast enough after they get wet, which leads to some very cold feet. I will never trust “normal” socks ever again. I wore the same pair of Wiggy’s for 350 miles in Alaska and didn’t have a single foot issue. B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

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