Blue Ridge Outdoors April 2018 by Summit Publishing

WONDER

Twin Falls Resort State Park , WV

Unearth your ‘wow’ moment. Explore everything West Virginia has to offer at GoToWV.com.

GoToWV.com #AlmostHeaven

North Carolina’s Transylvania County is always a rush, whether you’re exploring Brevard, voted one of America’s coolest small towns, or hunting spectacular waterfalls. VISITWATERFALLS.COM

(800) 648-4523

DD BULLWINKEL’S OUTDOORS

BARKWELLS DOG LOVERS RETREAT

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS

The new base camp for outdoor adventure is here! Over 10,000 square feet of apparel, footwear and gear for hiking, camping, climbing and travel. Located on Main Street, downtown Brevard.

Allow your dog to run on acres of fenced meadows that includes a pond, while you enjoy fullyequipped luxury with a private fenced yard, dog door, hot-tub on your porch, cozy fireplace and all the comforts of home.

Suites are available with kitchenettes, microwaves, jacuzzi, refrigerators, coffee makers, hair dryers, irons and ironing boards. Also enjoy a fitness room, free hot breakfast bar, free local calls, free wireless high speed internet and a heated pool.

ddbullwinkels.com 828-862-4700

barkwells.com 828-891-8288

hiexbrevard.com 1-800-HOLIDAY

APRIL 2018

“To me it‘s not about altitude gain or calories. It‘s about spending a great day outside with people I care about. I know I’ll get excellent carrying comfort with the Deuter SL line designed especially for women.” CAROLINE NANTKE, WITH THE FUTURA PRO 34 SL

D E PA R T M E N T S 6

HALLEY BURLESON

BACKTALK

F E AT U R E S

User fees • Women-only hikes • Price of paradise 10

QUICK HITS

Teen survives fall near Pilot Mountain • Who maintains your favorite trails? Probably a volunteer • Name that summit • Hellbender Hundo • Pennsylvania family reunited with missing dog after a decade 14

FLASHPOINT

Wilderness under assault: A GOP bid to allow bikes in wilderness threatens to crack a conservation coalition • Wheels over Wilderness? 47

THE GOODS

Best kids’ gear: BRO parents pick their trail-tested favorites. 72

TRAIL MIX

Prine Time: John Prine returns with his first new record in a decade 74

FINAL WORD

Against trophies: why too many medals are undermining sports

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

RESORT BIKE PARKS

OUTDOOR FAMILY GUIDE

ADVENTURE HIGH

The Blue Ridge is home to rare and spectacular wildlife. Here are the special places where you might catch a glimpse. Downhill resorts throughout the region are making major investments in bike parks—which is good news for skiers, boarders, bikers—and even beer drinkers. Families who play together stay together. Meet toddlers on two wheels, teenagers on 5.14 climbs, and the parents who nurture their adventure ambitions. Schools across the South are fielding mountain biking, paddling, and climbing teams and revolutionizing outdoor ed.

CHEROKEE'S OUTDOOR JACKPOT 64

Cherokee, North Carolina, may be the next best mountain town—and you can thank Harrah’s Casino for that.

North Carolina Appalachian Trail

License Plate Application The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) now has a specialty license tag in the state of North Carolina. By getting your tag today, you’ll help the ATC protect and maintain America’s Facts Favorite Long Distance Trail! The ATC will receive $20 annually for each AT plate purchased or renewed. How Much Does It Cost?  $30 Regular Appalachian Trail plate*  $60 Personalized Appalachian Trail plate* You are allowed four (4) spaces for a personalized message. __ __ __ __ 2nd Choice __ __ __ __ 3rd Choice __ __ __ __ 1st Choice Name (as shown on certificate of title): FIRST

MIDDLE

LAST

ADDRESS CITY

STATE

ZIP CODE

HOME PHONE

OFFICE PHONE

Current North Carolina Vehicle _______________________ ____________________________________

C OVER PHOTO: JA RE D KAY / AMPLIFIED-MEDIA.COM

PLATE NUMBER

VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

______________________ ____________________________________ DRIVER’S LICENSE #

YEAR

MODEL

MAKE

 You must already have the vehicle registered in North Carolina.  You receive a FREE ATC Membership with the purchase of your NC AT Tag.  *The $30 or $60 annual fee is in addition to regular annual license fees you have already paid.  Personalized tags may be relinquished to someone else, but once a numerical tag expires without renewal, that number can never again be reissued.  If you change your mind, you can go back to a regular license plate at any time. There will not be a refund of unused portion of special fees.  Additional applications can be found online at

BODY STYLE

www.appalachiantrail.org

Owner’s Certification of Liability Insurance I certify for the motor vehicle described above that I have financial responsibility as required by law. FULL NAME OF INSURANCE COMPANY AUTHORIZED IN NC – NOT AGENCY OR GROUP

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

POLICY NUMBER – IF POLICY NOT ISSUED, NAME OF AGENCY BINDING COVERAGE

______________________________________ _________________________________________ SIGNATURE OF OWNER

DATE OF CERTIFICATION

BACKTALK PAY TO PLAY?

PRESIDENT

BLAKE DEMASO

E D I TO R I N C H I E F W I L L H A R L A N will@blueridgeoutdoors.com P U B L I S H E R L E A H W O O DY leah@blueridgeoutdoors.com A R T D I R E C TO R M E G A N J O R DA N megan@blueridgeoutdoors.com E D I TO R I A L & P R O D U C T I O N S E N I O R E D I TO R J E D D F E R R I S jedd@blueridgeoutdoors.com T R AV E L E D I TO R J E S S DA D D I O jess@blueridgeoutdoors.com

Welcome to

THE TUCK.

She’s been

waiting on you.

S E N I O R D E S I G N E R L AU R E N W O R T H lauren@blueridgeoutdoors.com C O N T R I B U TO R S L AU R A FA R R E L L M A S O N A DA M S JOSH FORESTER G R A H A M AV E R I L L E M I LY S H E A DA N I E L D E W I T T WA L LY S M I T H KIM DINAN DAV E S TA L L A R D S A M E VA N S C O P Y E D I TO R S JULIA GREEN ROBERT MCGEE A DV E R T I S I N G & B U S I N E S S S E N I O R AC C O U N T E X E C U T I V E

M A R T H A E VA N S

martha@blueridgeoutdoors.com AC C O U N T E X E C U T I V E / D I G I TA L P U B L I S H E R

DUSTY ALLISON

dusty@blueridgeoutdoors.com AC C O U N T E X E C U T I V E K AT I E H A R T W E L L katie@blueridgeoutdoors.com AC C O U N T E X E C U T I V E H A N N A H C O O P E R hcooper@blueridgeoutdoors.com B U S I N E S S M A N AG E R M E L I S S A G E S S L E R melissa@blueridgeoutdoors.com C I R C U L AT I O N M A N AG E R K A I T Y VA N C E kvance@blueridgeoutdoors.com D I G I TA L M E D I A O N L I N E D I R E C TO R C R A I G S N O D G R A S S webdir@blueridgeoutdoors.com D I G I TA L M E D I A S P E C I A L I S T

JUSTIN FORREST

justin@blueridgeoutdoors.com

SUMMIT

PUBLISHING

116 WEST JEFFERSON STREET C H A R LOT T E S V I L L E , V I R G I N I A 2 2 9 0 2 5 6 C O L L E G E S T R E E T, S U I T E 3 0 3 ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA 28801

I'll pay for a pass if it will stop timber and mining on public lands. —Bill Lawrence, Venice, Fla.

A pass or license that allowed you to ride nationwide for a single price would be ideal. Also, it would be nice if trail maintenance got you a discount. —Sean Coombs, Knoxville, Tenn.

If the money goes directly to maintaining the trails I ride, then yes. —Josh Foster

I'd be happy to pay. —Daniel Sapp We spend thousands of dollars on the bike. I think I can cough up a few bucks to be able to ride in the best place in the world. —Joe Nelson, Pisgah Forest, N.C.

REI VS. NRA

Thank you, REI, for taking this stance. I am a longtime member, and I will continue to be a lifetime member because of this. And yes, I own guns. —Kirk Luedtke

REI is evil. They move into town and shut down the smaller outdoor stores that have been around forever. They are the Walmart of outdoor suppliers. —James Lundy I don’t understand why all these Republicans are upset [about REI’s boycott] since they also want the free market economy to bear itself out. The majority of REI's customers told them this was something that rubbed them the wrong way, and they are making a decision based on that. It’s capitalism and free market at its finest. —Josh Brown, Clayton, Ga.

PRICE OF PARADISE

Blacksburg and Roanoke will also soon face these issues as well. Roanoke wants to be like Asheville. Because of the job market, I have to move. —Patrick Frazier

WOMEN-ONLY HIKES?

Why do women always complain about sexism, yet are adamant about starting women’s-only hikes, clubs, and classes? —Vince

CASHIERS | CHEROKEE | DILLSBORO | SYLVA

DiscoverJacksonNC.com

H AV E S O M E T H I N G TO S AY ? F I N D U S H E R E O R AT B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M MARCH 2018

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

A SUMMER ADVENTURE THAT LASTS AN ETERNITY

828.450.3331 | CAMPCEDARCLIFF.ORG |

M O U N TA I N E D I T I O N / A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

EDITOR'S NOTE

THE WILDLIFE GAME WILDLIFE HAS BECOME A LOADED WORD.

THE SOUTHEAST IS HOME TO BLACK BEARS, THE LAST red wolves, endangered sea turtles, elk, eagles, and even a few mountain lions. Although the Eastern cougar has been officially declared extinct, cougars from the West have made their way East. At least nine cougar sightings have been confirmed in Tennessee in the last two years. But the symbol of Southern Appalachia is the salamander. Our mountains shelter more species of salamanders than anywhere else in the world. We have inch-long pygmy salamanders and two-foot hellbenders. Salamanders here are red-cheeked, red-backed, red-legged, black-bellied, long-tailed, slimy, zig-zag, marbled, spotted, shovel-nosed, and four-toed. Some are found on a few Appalachian summits and nowhere else on earth. Unfortunately, managers of Southern Appalachian forests rarely

focus on salamanders—or any other non-game species. When the U.S. Forest Service and state agencies talk about wildlife, they usually focus the conversation on game species like white-tailed deer, turkey, or ruffed grouse. These agencies sometimes have wildlife in their name, but they tend to be primarily focused on serving the interests of hunters. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, for example, is actively campaigning to remove protections for the endangered red wolf. It has also lobbied against land

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

protections—including recreation areas and scenic areas—in Pisgah National Forest. These agencies also believe we need to increase the amount of timber harvested to provide additional habitat for game. The obvious scientific truth is this: we already have an abundance of deer and deer habitat across the region. There are over one million deer in North Carolina, and their numbers are trending upward, according to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s own analysis. Deer are certainly not endangered, nor are they unique to

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

Appalachia. And their habitat needs shouldn’t be the primary focus of management on public lands. Let me be clear: I don't oppose creating patches of additional habitat for deer, turkey, and grouse in appropriate places to accommodate hunters. There is plenty of space on our public lands for both game and non-game wildlife. But the term wildlife has to be an inclusive term that considers the other 99 percent of species that depend on our public lands. Let’s restore the full meaning of the word wildlife to public lands agencies. Let’s make sure they manage our public lands for all wildlife and not just game. Wildlife is not just a few species that we like to hunt. Wildlife is a web of thousands of species that are sheltered by Southern Appalachia: cougars and chorus frogs, bobcats and bog turtles, flying squirrels and saw-whet owls—and especially salamanders.

—Will Harlan, Editor-in-Chief

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

WE RENT VANS 828CAMPERVANRENTAL.COM | (828) 490-7735

W E BU IL D AD VE N TU RE !

BLUERIDGEADVENTUREVEHICLES.COM (828) 338-9405 |

/BLUERIDGEADVENTUREVEHICLES

Ville to Ville Craft Brew Relay

Registration opens April 16, 2018 Limited to the ﬁrst 350 teams 2018 registration sold out in LESS THAN THREE DAYS! Don’t wait!

April 13, 2019

villetovillerelay.com

M O U N TA I N E D I T I O N / A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

QUICK HITS BY JEDD FERRIS + EMILY SHEA

TEEN SURVIVES FALL

In February, 17-year-old Victoria Creed fell 50 feet off a ledge in Pilot Mountain State Park. The Associated Press reported that she was hiking near the Three Bears gully with friends when she slipped and fell. Surry County Emergency Services rescued Creed in 90 minutes using a basket to pull her to safety. Creed suffered a broken collar bone, a fractured foot, and cuts that required stitches. Creed reported that the fall was due to her wearing the wrong type of footwear while hiking.

NAME THAT SUMMIT At 4,051 feet, this is the tallest mountain in Shenandoah—and home to the rare Shenandoah salamander. P H O T O B Y B R I T TA N Y S C A L E S

E M A I L YO U R R E S P O N S E TO

submit@blueridgeoutdoors.com F O R A C H A N C E TO W I N F R E E B R O S WAG !

BIG RACES IN BIG SOUTH FORK

MUST READ

Resistance: Reclaiming an American Tradition BY J E F F B I G G E R S

Biggers is a mountain man from a coal mining family who previously published The United States of Appalachia and Reckoning at Eagle Creek. His latest book may be his best yet. Resistance chronicles the hard-fought social justice movements and rebellions throughout American history. With fresh insights from the American Revolution to Standing Rock, Biggers argues that resistance is a quintessential American tradition and the most patriotic act we can undertake to sustain democracy. 10

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

The Yamacraw 50K has become one of the largest in the Southeast in just a few years. Over 600 runners will toe the starting line on April 7. It runs through Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest along the Sheltowee Trace Trail and finishes in Big South Fork National Recreation Area. For an even bigger challenge, the No Business 100 on October 14 traverses the heart of Big South Fork Recreation Area in Kentucky and Tennessee.

FARM TO FORK FONDO COMES TO THE BLUE RIDGE

The Farm to Fork Fondo spins through Virginia's Shenandoah Valley on May 19-20. Rides from 10 to 100 miles take cyclists on tours of family farms. Afterward, they enjoy chef-prepared meals with food grown on the farms. Pro cyclist Tyler Wren launched the Virginia Farm to Fork Fondo in an effort to connect cyclists to the farmland they often enjoy on lengthy rides.

HELLBENDER HUNDRED

On April 20, the inaugural Hellbender Hundo will take runners across 100 miles of Western North Carolina’s burliest mountain landscapes. It features 62 miles of trail running, 10 miles of paved road, and 28 miles of gravel, with over 50,000 feet of total elevation change. Racers must complete the race in 40 hours.

BRAND-SPANKIN'-NEW BIKE RELAY

On August 11, The Great Balsam Bike Relay in Jackson County, N.C., will combine mountain biking and road biking on a course that will travel over gravel, dirt roads and asphalt. Although the exact route will remain secret until the day before the race, it will take teams approximately three to five hours to complete. The course will be split into eight segments that vary in length and elevation, and each team member will have to complete two segments. Oh, and did we mention that all participants receive a voucher for beer at Innovation Brewing's after-race party? Learn more at darkridgeracing.com. B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

$373 billion

Dollar amount outdoor recreation contributed to the U.S. economy in 2016, according to a report released in February by the Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. Outdoor recreation accounted for two percent of the country’s gross domestic product. "The public will no doubt be surprised at the economic importance of this industry," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

SKIN THE VIEWS

Dan Smith was named the new acting director of the National Park Service. In 2003, Smith was reprimanded for pressuring park employees to allow Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder to cut down over 130 trees on federal park lands for a better view of the Potomac River.

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

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

QUICK HITS I ' V E G OT YO U R B AC K

“If we can do this, what else can we do?”

—North Carolina’s Kevan Chandler, who has spinal muscular atrophy and is usually confined to a wheelchair. But he recently completed a trip across Europe, carried by friends in a special backpack he created for himself. Now he’s plotting a fall trip to China, where he’s planning to visit children in orphanages and give away samples of the backpacks, which he’s trying to produce on a larger scale for other people with disabilities.

MOTHERS WHO LIVE within one kilometer of fracking sites are as much as 25% more likely to give birth to low-weight babies.

Pennsylvania Family Reunited with Missing Dog After a Decade

Never lose hope if your furry friend goes missing. That’s the lesson to take away from an AP story about the Suiervelds, a family from Apollo, Pa., that was recently reunited with their dog, Abby, who ran away back in 2008. Abby, a black Labrador mix, was found in January on the front porch of George Speiring, who lives in Lower Burrell, about 10 miles west of Apollo. When Speiring took Abby to Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley, the dog was found to be in good health, and it was discovered she had a microchip that enabled her to be reconnected with her original family. Debra Suierveld said her daughter, a 22-year-old student at Miami University in Ohio, started crying when she was told that Abby was home. She added, “It feels like a part of my kids’ childhood is back, part of our family is back.”

Paleontologists discovered a rich trove of Triassic-period fossils in an area that Trump removed from the Bears Ears National Monument. The site is now in danger from mining and off-road vehicles. 12

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

COAL'S WAR ON HEALTH AND JOBS

In the past four years, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia have reported the largest cluster of black lung disease ever. 416 cases of the fatal coal miners’ disease have been reported in three clinics. Fifteen coal miners died in 2017, nearly double the number from 2016. And in Trump’s first year in office, the U.S. solar industry lost nearly 10,000 jobs. The coal industry gained 500 jobs.

Alligators in a frozen

North Carolina swamp stick their snouts above water just before it freezes, essentially allowing themselves to be frozen in place, allowing them to breathe until the ice thaws.

OF SOME 450 REMAINING NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALES, 17 are known to have died in 2017, and no new calves were born in 2018. Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that the species must now be considered at risk for extinction.

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

Paleontologists discovered a rich trove of

Triassic-period fossils in an area that Trump removed from the Bears Ears National Monument. The site is now in danger from mining and off-road vehicles. 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

QUICK HITS

THE DIRT BENEATH YOUR FEET WHO BUILDS AND MAINTAINS YOUR FAVORITE FOOTPATHS? PROBABLY A VOLUNTEER. BY DARREN DAHL

OVER THREE MILLION PEOPLE HIKE ALONG THE ICONIC Appalachian Trail each year. The 2,191mile footpath is maintained almost entirely by volunteers. While the National Park Service officially oversees the A.T., resources to maintain the trail have long been insufficient. The Park Service counts just 10 full-time employees dedicated to its management. Enter the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), a non-profit organization started in 1925 with the sole intent to help coordinate the volunteer efforts of the 31 hiking clubs dedicated to managing, protecting, clearing, maintaining and, when necessary, rerouting the A.T. “Our volunteers are the prime movers that keep the trail in good shape,” says Morgan Sommerville, Southeast Regional Director of the ATC. “Without them, the A.T. would not exist.” Neither would most other trails across the region. In 2005, the U.S. Forest Service considered closing many of the popular trails at Bent Creek Experimental Forest near Asheville because they didn’t have the money or the labor force to maintain them. That’s when a group of volunteers banded together to form the Pisgah Area Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association (SORBA), which now maintains some 150 miles of trail inside Pisgah National Forest—including 100% of Bent Creek’s trails. “The Forest Service contacts us when anything

from rerouting trails to building bridges needs to get done,” says Jeff Keener, the president of Pisgah SORBA. Keener says that his organization has about 300 members—all of whom are unpaid volunteers—who meet up weekly to clear drainage clogs, hack brush, and remove fallen branches. The organization also applies for grant money to help fund more extensive projects. To date, they have raised more than $420,000. A portion of their first grant for $184,000 was used to reroute Spencer Branch, a 2.5-mile downhill trail in North Mills River, which required hiring a trail building contractor to tackle the heavy construction work over an eight-week period. A dirty secret of trail work, especially building new trails, is just how expensive it can be. Deno Contos, the owner of Benchmark Trails in Greenville, S.C., has been building and rerouting trails in the region for more than 19 years. He says that a general rule of thumb is that trail work can cost anywhere from $3 to $10 per linear foot depending on the complexity and location of the work—or about $16,000 to $52,800 for every mile of trail. A major factor in the cost of a project is whether machinery like a walk-behind mini-excavator or powered rock-drills can be used, says Contos, who employs 12 fulltime workers. “It is cheaper and more efficient to use mechanized equipment,” he says. “We

can then hand-groom things to make everything look as natural as possible.” One of the recent jobs Contos and his crew tackled was building about 250 stone steps on the newly opened Wildcat Rock Trail outside of Lake Lure, which involved using power drills to split boulders on site combined with a tree-mounted cable system to move the 400-pound slabs into place. In total, the new trail—which took four years to complete—required 2,000 hours of volunteer labor, and some $200,000 in construction costs, says Peter Barr, the Trails Coordinator for Conserving Carolina. When a trail like the A.T. crosses through a federally designated wilderness area, however, trail workers are not allowed to use any power tools. That’s usually when Bill Hodge, the Executive Director of the Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards, SAWS, gets a call. Hodge founded SAWS in 2010 as a way to build teams armed with the backcountry skills needed to maintain and rebuild trails in the most remote and gnarly wilderness areas across five national forests in five different states—an area of about 378,000 acres. “It takes an entire community to keep trails on public land open,” says Hodge, whose teams average a total of 15,000 to 20,000 hours of work each year. On a typical assignment, a sixperson SAWS crew packs up their

food and equipment—which includes six-foot-long, 85-year-old crosscut saws they carry on their shoulders—and then hikes up to eight miles into the wilderness, sets up camp, and spends days or weeks working on trails. An example of a SAWS project involved installing erosion control structures along the 6,000-foot-high Black Mountain Crest Trail that also serve as a new set of wooden steps connecting Potato Knob with Deep Gap. In that case, a SAWS crew partnered with volunteers from the North Carolina High Peaks Trail Association and the Forest Service to fell locust trees in the area, strip them of bark, and cut them into four- to six-foot long logs. The project took two weeks to complete. “That was a true collaborative effort between those three entities to get those steps in there,” says Jake Blood, Vice President of the North Carolina High Peaks Trail Association, who volunteers on a weekly basis to maintain trails on and near Mount Mitchell—including the centuries-old, 12-mile-long Mount Mitchell Trail. Blood says he is excited about several new land acquisitions that, when completed, will double the size of Mount Mitchell State Park—and add the potential for new sustainably-built trails on its western slope. When that time comes, he knows it will take the combined efforts of volunteers, nonprofits, and the Forest Service to get the work done.

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

FLASHPOINT

WILDERNESS UNDER ASSAULT A GOP BID TO ALLOW BIKES IN WILDERNESS THREATENS TO CRACK A CONSERVATION COALITION BY MASON ADAMS

IN MID-NOVEMBER, THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON Natural Resources voted 22-18 to add the following lines to the Wilderness Act: “Nothing in this section shall prohibit the use of motorized wheelchairs, non-motorized wheelchairs, non-motorized bicycles, strollers, wheelbarrows, survey wheels, measuring wheels, or game carts within any wilderness area.” It’s only a single sentence, but embedded within those phrases is a concept that is roiling the membership of the International Mountain Bicycling Association and which threatens to splinter the coalition of outdoor recreation user groups who support the country’s bedrock environmental and public lands laws. The Wilderness Act was signed into law in 1964, with a succinct definition: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, 14

is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Congress has recognized 765 wilderness areas, comprising more than 109 million acres of federal public lands. Mechanized activities are prohibited in wilderness areas— hikers and horses are in, bikes and automobiles are out—and therein lies the conflict that HR 1349 seeks to rectify. Those in favor of allowing bikes into wilderness argue that mechanized activities are already allowed in wilderness areas—cross-country skis and certain kinds of snowshoes are allowed, for instance. They say that HR 1349 would simply extend that exception to mountain bikes. Wilderness advocates, however, stridently oppose the bill. They oppose allowing mountain bikes into

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

wilderness areas because mechanized technology allows people to go farther in a short amount of time than they say was ever envisioned for wilderness. “We’ve basically dubbed this the wheels over wilderness bill because it prioritizes bikes over every other use of wilderness. It gives them domain,” said Michael Carroll, senior director for the People Outdoors program for the Wilderness Society. “We think it’s a complete rewrite of the Wilderness Act.” Opponents are also skeptical of the bill’s congressional support. Its sponsor, U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, a California Republican, received a 0 percent score from the League of Conservation Voters in 2016, and his lifetime score is only 4 percent. He regularly votes in favor of extractive industries and against protections for public lands and endangered species. “Right now, wilderness is under B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

siege like never before,” said George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch, which in December sent a statement signed by 133 conservation groups opposing HR 1349. “There are people in charge who have for years wanted to undermine the Wilderness Act. They now have the best opportunity they’ve ever had, so they’re going for it. The fact that you have this very weird political dynamic with extremely right-wing Republicans forming an alliance with the mountain-biking community shows how unprincipled they are and how far they’re willing to go after the Wilderness Act.” The legislation has placed the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) in a tenuous position. The organization often opposes designation of new wilderness areas that affect established bike trails and “revered 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

FLASHPOINT strategy doesn’t seem to be working.” These advocates argue that wilderness advocates trying to keep bikes out are those who are dividing the coalition. “That’s the greatest travesty and sadness I have surrounding the whole issue of mountain bikes in wilderness areas,” said Greg Heil, editor of Singletracks.com. “A lot of these gung-ho wilderness advocates are painting us as people who want to pillage the wilderness and tear things up. That’s not the case at all. Pretty much all the mountain bikers I know are conservationists. We love our wild lands. We don’t want to see our lands developed for resource extraction; I don’t even want to see new trails built in wilderness areas. We just want to enjoy some of the trails already there on our bicycles in a lowimpact way.” In eastern West Virginia, the debate over HR 1349 has ripped the scabs from old wounds that stem from past disagreements over bikes on public wildlands. Take the Dolly Sods Wilderness in Monongahela National Forest, which stands out for its rocky, high-altitude plateau characterized by wind-swept boulders and stunted trees. The wilderness area began as a 650-acre parcel, but has grown to encompass 17,371 acres of Forest Service land. The most recent expansion came in 2009, as part of a broader bill that reclassified 39,000 acres in West Virginia as wilderness. Dolly Sods Wilderness expanded by 7,215 acres. Local mountain bikers, who regularly rode Blackbird Knob and other trails, fought against wilderness expansion and remain bitterly disappointed in the outcome. “In Dolly Sods wilderness, 25 miles of trails were closed to bikes,” said Matt Marcus, an IMBA member, former owner of Blackwater Bikes, and a founding member of the West Virginia Mountain Bike Association (WVMBA). “Now it’s like Disney World up there. It’s overrun with people, with forest fires starting, people getting lost. The rescue squad has to go in all the time. To me, the whole idea of making it wilderness backfired. It was supposed to protect that property, but instead

"Wilderness is under siege like never before... Extremely right-wing Republicans are forming an alliance with part of the mountain-biking community to go after the Wilderness Act." —George Nickas

riding opportunities,” according to its statement to a congressional subcommittee on HR 1349. In the same statement, however, IMBA affirmed that it did not support the legislation, largely because of the power of the larger conservation coalition. “As part of our commitment to trail access and public land stewardship, we have been involved in discussions about Wilderness and other forms of legislatively driven protections for public lands for decades,” IMBA's statement said. “We find that when mountain bikers are given a seat at the table in these discussions, we can protect important trails while finding common ground with those who are looking to create new conservation designations.” Yet some of IMBA’s membership disagrees with the stance. In response to an interview request, IMBA spokeswoman Eleanor Blick wrote, “We've stepped back from speaking much on HR 1349 because (as you have probably noticed) the discourse has gotten pretty nasty in the mountain bike community.” The crack in the coalition that wilderness advocates fear is, to some extent, already happening. Some mountain bikers clearly see HR 1349 as an opportunity to explore, or in some cases re-discover, wilderness trails. The legislation is backed by Sustainable Trails Coalition (STC), a political advocacy group that has taken a different approach than IMBA. “HR 1349 flies in the face of IMBA’s strategy,” said STC Director John Fisch. “They’ve said, ‘We’re trying to play nicely. Anything that rocks the boat we are not going to support.’ Our position is, hey we love your advocacy efforts. But the problem is we’ve lost quality singletrack in the last five years. Their 16

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

opened it up and made it a hugely popular, nutty place. On summer weekends, everyone around here avoids it.” David Saville, who works with the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and was a major player in the decadeplus effort to get that land declared wilderness, has a different perspective. The project was meticulously planned, he said, with contingencies to address forestry, timber, wildlife, state agencies, and concerns of various user groups, including mountain bikers. The wilderness coalition, for example, had looked closely at both Canaan Mountain and Gauley Mountain as potential wildernesses that met many of the group’s metrics. “The first thing we did after we completed our inventory was to approach the mountain biking businesses and communities around those two sites and say, 'We know you all use this mountain, so we’re going to take it out of our proposal. Even though these are two of the biggest and best areas, we’re not going to include it in our proposal because it’s important to the mountain biking community and your businesses,'” explains Saville. The move was intended as an olive branch to mountain bikers. Meanwhile, the coalition was ready to negotiate further. “We had back-up plans in our pocket,” Saville said. “To be honest with you, we were skeptical that Dolly Sods would make it into the bill because it had a mountain biking constituency. We thought the mountain biking community would push back much harder than it did.” Instead, regional mountain bikers like Marcus dug in deeper, refusing to deal at all with the coalition. At the last minute, after the bill had been introduced into the House by then-U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W. Va.), IMBA interceded and won some small concessions, including funding for new bike trail construction. But the opportunity for more was largely lost, Saville said, because of the unwillingness to come to the negotiating table. The Dolly Sods expansion illustrates how mountain bikers can splinter amid tension over wilderness areas. With public lands under assault by elected officials, that’s a large part of why HR 1349 is so alarming to wilderness groups and to the IMBA. B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

“We need to be in lockstep in protecting public lands, whether a wilderness area or a national recreation area that’s open to bikes,” said the Wilderness Society’s Carroll. “The wedges being driven into these communities are a big concern for us. That being said, I hope that folks can take a step back and look at what IMBA is doing. They are an unbelievable partner and advocate for protected public lands in this country. They have worked with the wilderness community, local conservationists, and others to develop proposals that work for wilderness and mountain bikers and others.” Supporters of the bill see it as a chance to build a new coalition and rally more support behind public wildlands. “We have the opportunity here I think to build an entirely new army of supporters of our wild places,” said Fisch. “We’ve got lots of backcountry cyclists who are right-leaning and just generally vote straight Republican tickets, and also like to ride their bikes in the woods. If we’re really interested in strengthening the coalitions of Americans to support our wild places, there’s no better way to do that than to bring more people to our wild places. As long as we arbitrarily restrict bikes from wild places, that is what is keeping a lot of people from getting excited about defending national monuments, wilderness areas, or the like.” Carroll counters that the STC is oversimplifying the issue in an attempt to muddy the waters. “It’s a simple argument to say, ‘For it or against it?’” Carroll said. “STC is manipulating that. People are busy. It’s hard to go through the nuances of all of this. McClintock and the people at STC are taking advantage of the desire for an easy fix to discredit good, positivethinking conservation organizations. Whether mountain biking, hiking, or old-school environmentalist groups, we need to stand together with the understanding that these are bedrock conservation laws we all need to protect.” It appears that HR 1349 has a difficult road to passage. A similar but more nuanced bill was introduced in the Senate last term, but failed to clear committee. Its sponsors didn’t even bother to re-introduce it this term. Even if HR 1349 is passed by the full House, its chances in the Senate appear slim at best. But in 2018, no public wildlands are safe from federal lawmakers. 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

ON THE ROAD, AGAIN Round two? Bring it on. Roxy and Ben are at it again on the Live Outside and Play Road Team tour. This time, they hit the road in new van with 11 wonderful sponsors. Keep an eye out for updates, gear reviews, festival fun and #vanlife tips and sagas over next seven months. They’ll be traveling from east to west and exploring everything the Blue Ridge Outdoors and Elevation Outdoors territories have to offer!

APRIL 2018

2018 ROAD TOUR APRIL 2018 EVENTS

| FIND US HERE!

APR 13-15

TO M TO M F E S T

C H A R LOT T E S V I L L E , VA

APR 19-22

TUCK FEST

C H A R LOT T E , N C

M AY 4 - 5

C H E AT R I V E R F E S T I VA L

A L B R I G H T, W VA

M AY 1 8 - 2 0

A P PA L AC H I A N T R A I L DAY S

DA M A S C U S , VA

G E A R W E ’ R E LO V I N G

WENZEL TENT SHENANIGAN 5 This colorful festival tent is light on the wallet, and it’s a heavy hitter when it comes to durability and space. Pack it for your next long weekend and enjoy resting in style. $120 UCO VAPOR+ HEADLAMP Emitting up to 300 lumens, this headlamp powers up via the rechargeable LI-ION pack or traditional batteries— ideal for a van life. $50 NITE IZE STEELIE DASH MOUNT KIT PLUS Perfect fo long hauls, this car mount keeps your phone in place, and squashes that dangerous desire to text and drive. $40

HYDRAPAK SEEKER 3L This ultra-light water storage solution collapses down to the size of a fist. Freeze it and use it as an ice pack or fill it with hot water to keep warm. Bonus: HydraPak sells a filter attachment so you can fill it up and drink clean water in the backcountry. $22

EST. 71

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

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

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

FLASHPOINT

WHEELS OVER WILDERNESS? MOUNTAIN BIKING FRIENDS, WE NEED TO TALK. I KEEP HEARING GRIPES ABOUT THE “BAN” ON MOUNTAIN BIKES IN WILDERNESS, AND IT’S TIME FOR SOME REAL CONVERSATION B Y S A M E VA N S

I RIDE BIKES, PREFERABLY IN THE BACKCOUNTRY. I’VE been exploring and adventuring by bike for over 22 years and, for reasons you will understand if you’ve ever ridden here, Pisgah is my home. Long rides and the Southeast’s toughest races have given me a shoebox full of belt buckles and countless memories and friends. As a public lands attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, I also have the privilege of working every day to protect public lands for everyone—bikers, hikers, kayakers, hunters, anglers, and the rest. It is a joy and it is a profound responsibility. Part of that responsibility is growing the next generation of the conservation movement, and I’m counting on you recreation enthusiasts to be a part of it. But lately you guys are making it really hard for me to do my job. It’s this whole wilderness thing. I assume, if you’re reading this, that you know the basics: The Wilderness Act of 1964—the most important conservation law in the history of America or anywhere else—created a system for protecting our most special places. It’s a tough political process; you’ve got to convince Congress to go along and designate each area. That’s why only 2 to 3 percent of the lower 48 is wilderness. But once an area is designated, the Act says no to “motorized equipment” (like chainsaws) and “mechanized transport” (like bikes). Lately, a vocal minority of the mountain bike community, led by the Sustainable Trails Coalition (STC), has worked itself into a lather over these rules. They want to change the law to allow bikes in wilderness. STC’s acolytes will tell you that the Forest Service has misinterpreted the law and they just want to restore Congress’ original intent, but (and I wish there were a more diplomatic way to say this) that’s a lie. If Congress had intended to allow bikes, then there would be no need to change the statute; mountain bikers could simply sue and overturn the Forest Service’s mistaken policy in court. But they don’t, because they’d lose. Because the Wilderness Act means what it says. So, instead, STC wants to change the law, and they’re willing to work with the most fervently anti-wilderness, anti-public lands members of Congress to do it. What could go wrong? I get it. Really. The arguments are PHOTO BY SAM SILVEY

compelling, at least on the surface. Mountain bikers are as tough and adventurous as any wilderness hiker, and we don’t necessarily cause any more erosion than other users. Shouldn’t we be able to experience wilderness under our own power? Arguments like these have been distilled, crowd-tested, refined. Everyone on Facebook is newly an expert on the legislative and administrative history of the Wilderness Act. We’ve picked teams, and the only thing left to do is to score points. Pointing out a perceived hypocrisy on the other side? Aha! Reducing your opponent’s position to a strawman like “hikers just don’t like to see bikers”? Bingo. And now we’re eating our own. STC has unleashed the hounds on IMBA— an organization that has helped local chapters keep access to backcountry trails around the country, built support for alternative designations (like National Scenic Areas and National Recreation Areas) that can permanently protect the backcountry trail experience, and has actually succeeded in unlocking wilderness trails for bikes by working with conservation groups. We’ve almost reached a point of no return, where we find a stronger purpose in proving ourselves right than we find on the trail. And that’s why I think this is a good time to point out that getting rid of the “ban” on mountain bikes won’t accomplish anything. STC promises: “One easy trick to protect mountain bike access! Click here!” The fact is, there’s only one way to protect and expand opportunities for backcountry mountain biking: sustained, organized, local advocacy. Wilderness decisions are made by Congress but, for better or worse, the local delegation has the final say. If mountain bikers “lose” an area to wilderness designation, it’s because they don’t have enough local clout or don’t organize effectively to advance an alternative vision. STC’s bill would not change this political reality. In its current form, it would merely change the vocabulary around wilderness and bike access decisions. Instead of “should this area be designated wilderness or something else?” we’d ask, “should this wilderness allow bikes?” Either way, the question for mountain bikers is the same. And, either way, the outcome will depend on how effectively mountain bikers

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

FLASHPOINT work together and with other groups to solve local problems. Changing the law won’t build relationships. It won’t create a history of shared stewardship between cyclists and other trail users. And STC’s bill would not create the organization or provide the support needed to work with land managers and other stakeholders in the multi-year planning processes that decide where we can ride. It would not be at the table when our favorite riding destinations are proposed for development with roads and logging, mining, or oil and gas development. Once STC’s mission is accomplished, it would simply disappear, leaving the rest of us to clean up the mess. To put a point on it, STC’s bill would neither protect nor grant access to a single mile of bike trail anywhere. So what would the bill do? For starters, it would fracture the mountain bike community and isolate us from the rest of the conservation movement. It would make the politics even tougher than they are now, ensuring that we spend our energy fighting battles we’re likely to lose rather than earning other

conservation groups’ support for our top priorities. And, worst of all, it would change what wilderness means. Mountain bikers are new to the public lands management scene. We weren’t around for the 40 years of work that led to the Wilderness Act, in which Americans collectively and nearly unanimously agreed to limit ourselves when it comes to wilderness. Hunters agreed we wouldn’t artificially manage game populations. Anglers agreed we wouldn’t stock trout. We all sacrificed, because that was the only way to keep it. And keeping wilderness was the only way to keep our freedom. We’re a part of our environment, and when we tame it, we tame ourselves. This is the paradox of modern humanity: If we have the power to tame our wild places, freedom can exist only as long as we exercise collective self-restraint. Too abstract? Okay, let’s get specific. Like it or not, the mountain bike is a machine that helps us tame our wild places. We can go farther, faster and make those places more manageable and fun. My latest race

bike is more like a moto than the 26inch hardtail I first rode (and carried) up the Black Mountain trail. It’s never been easier to transform a wild landscape into an afternoon outing. And we’re not just changing the experience for ourselves; we’re changing it for others too. I’ve seen a lot of changes in Pisgah. Rocky ribbons of trail have become deep gullies. The feeling of remoteness and solitude is gone, too, replaced by a social scene. It’s fun, but it’s not wild. In fact, I haven’t spent much time on the Pisgah district lately. Instead, I find myself on trails that aren’t “on the map” yet, looking for an experience I can’t find on Bennett Gap anymore. I know many of you feel the same way, and that’s why riding in wilderness is such a tempting idea. But while we’ve been chasing the wild, the wild has been fleeing from us. It has retreated across the invisible line, where Pisgah’s designated wilderness areas still offer the same rocky ribbons, the same solitude, the same freedom that they always have. Here’s why conservationists

consider the Wilderness Act to be sacred: If wilderness is collective self-restraint, then the law is how we keep each other honest. It’s too easy for a user group to have a blind spot for the ways that its use can change a wild place. Before you know it, those little changes add up. As individuals, mountain bikers love wildness. As a group, we displace it. If we want to ride on the frontier without losing our last wild places, then we need more of it. We need to protect more backcountry, with wilderness and bike-friendly designations alike. And we’ll need to work together to do that. Let’s not alienate our strongest allies by claiming that wilderness, like any other place, is for us, for our appetites, for fun. Let’s stop promoting the voices that benefit from our divisions. Instead, let’s work together to develop a shared vision for how mountain biking fits into the broader conservation movement. And let’s come to the table ready to work. —Sam Evans is a competitive mountain biker and an attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center in Asheville, N.C.

Start Your Own Adventure

Book your getaway today at Georgia’s geographically diverse State Parks and Historic Sites!

FISHING

CANOEING

STAR GAZING

COZY CABINS

FAMILY TIME

HIKING

Find your perfect place to stay at GaStateParks.org 20

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

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

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

Introducing new Turkey Dinner! Enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner anywhere, anytime.

www.MountainHouse.com

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!

LAMILITE INSULATED SOCK

Available in 8â&#x20AC;? and 13â&#x20AC;? sizes!

wiggys.com

866-411-6465 A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

SPARTANBURG? MORE LIKE...

STOP-STARING-ANDVISIT-ALREADYBURG.

We know every destination talks about how great they are, but allow us to walk the walk. Our chefs know delicious farm-to-table food, our brewers know award winning craft beer and our residents know great outdoor fun with miles of blueways and beautiful lakes. What we don’t know is...why haven’t you come to visit yet? There’s only #oneSpartanburg.

The Farmer’s Table, Spartanburg

VisitSpartanburg.com

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

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

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

Where the Wild Things Are BY DAN DEWITT

THE BLUE RIDGE IS HOME TO SOME OF THE MOST S P E C TACU L A R W I L D L I FE I N T H E WO R L D. H E R E A R E A FE W O F T H E R A R E, E N D A N G E R E D, AND ICONIC SPECIES.

Elk

Elk are one of the most massive members of the deer family, with bulls weighing up to half a ton and growing antlers up to four feet long. During the rutting season, which runs from late August to early October, they fill prairies and mountain valleys with high-pitched calls—a behavior known as “bugling”—and ritualistic jousting matches that establish breeding rights. “It’s like National Geographic is unfolding right in front of you,” says Esther Blakely, owner of Cataloochee Valley Tours in Waynesville. Added to that is the novelty of seeing an animal that had mostly vanished from the landscape for decades and even centuries. Hunting wiped out elk by 1880. Naturalists began reintroducing elk to Kentucky in the late 1990s, and the state’s thriving population of 11,000 has strongholds in both the eastern and western regions. Viewing options include driving a short paved loop at the Elk and Bison Prairie at Land Between the Lakes National

Recreation Area, which straddles the Kentucky/Tennessee line northwest of Nashville. The state also offers elkviewing tours at both the Jenny Wiley and Buckhorn state resort parks in eastern Kentucky. Though the herd in the Smokies is much smaller, containing between 150 and 200 elk, they are easy to see with or without paying for a private tour, both near the Oconaluftee Visitors Center and in the more remote Cataloochee Valley. Visitors should keep a distance of at least 50 yards, and as always, refrain from feeding the animals.

Synchronous fireflies

Cataloochee Valley is also one of meccas for this rare species, says Blakely, who has a long waiting list for her tours, which are confined to the insects’ three-week adult lifespan that typically begins in late May. She and her husband, Tim, drive their clients to remote (and secret) locations in the interior of the Smokies to find total darkness. That’s one of the distinctive qualities of the species: they don’t light up at dusk but only when the sky is black. More famously, they do not flicker at random intervals, but in unison, the effect of which is sometimes compared to a flashing

Christmas light display or a sky full of stars switching on and off. “It’s not like when you are a child and you are chasing lightning bugs. It’s like you are in the midst of it; you are surrounded, and then, boom! Just as quickly as it starts, it stops.” Blakely books only small groups for her tours and insists on darkness not only for effect, but because of the harmful effect of light pollution on fireflies. Another popular synchronous viewing area in the Smokies is Elkmont Campground, where the park sells a limited number of passes for parking at the nearby Sugarlands Visitors Center and for the shuttles it runs. A lottery for these openings, available online at recreation.gov, opens in late April, will be posted once park biologists have determined the timing of the season. To limit impact on the species, the park service asks that flashlights be covered with colored cellophane and used only when walking, not when viewing. And of course, catching fireflies is forbidden.

Blue Ghost Fireflies

Another regional lightning bug that inspires rhapsodic descriptions, the tiny blue ghost is distinguished by its steady, blue-tinted glow that can be seen only in late May and early June.

Brevard College biology professor Jennifer Frick-Ruppert has a novel suggestion for mountain residents seeking these tiny-but-spectacular lightning bugs: Don’t go anywhere special. “Blue ghosts are common throughout the southern Appalachians and we really encourage people to get out and look around anywhere they may be,” she says. The bugs’ preferred habitat is low-lying, moist ground with abundant leaf litter, she said. Wildlife viewers who want more guidance can sign up for tours offered at the Cradle of Forestry Heritage Site in Pisgah National Forest. The cost is $15 for adults and $8 for children younger than 9 years old; the tours are capped at 100 and pre-registration at cradleofforestry.com is required. The paved trails at the viewing site limit the danger of trampling, says Adam DeWitte, Cradle of Forestry tour supervisor. And, he adds, the moist conditions are ideal for producing spectacular displays: “It’s like little fairies are coming out of the woods and they are all carrying these little blue torches. It’s really something else.”

Red Wolves

Red wolves are one of the world’s most endangered species. The only wild population lives in and around

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

FUEL FOR EVERY DAY

BEFORE. DURING. AFTER.

HAY NOW. 24

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

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

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 Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina, and, 31 years into a now-stalled reintroduction program, this group has dwindled to fewer than 25 animals. In the summer, the refuge hosts howling tours (Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.) that offer a shortcut to a true wild encounter. These tours, which cost $10 for visitors 13 and older, start with an explanation of the reintroduction program and the species, including a display of pelts and skulls of the wolves and their canid cousin, the coyote. Tour leaders then take visitors into the darkness near the refuge’s small population of captive wolves. The wolves sometimes howl spontaneously when they sense the presence of humans, says Cindy Heffley, Visitor Services Specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Other times tour leaders, and then visitors, howl into the night to provoke spinetingling responses from the wolves.

Black Bears

Little known fact: there are more bears along the coast of North Carolina than in the mountains. That’s why Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge might offer the surest and least intrusive method for viewing bear. The refuge is home to one of the largest concentrations of black bears in the Southeast, supporting as many as three bears per square mile. Along with regular tram tours, the refuge offers guided van tours ($30 for adults, $20 for children 6-12) on Wednesdays and Thursday evenings. Closer to home, Great Smoky Mountains National Park has more bears per square mile than any other national park in the country.

Sea Turtles

The all-volunteer Network for Endangered Sea Turtles (NEST) offers a chance to not just see the five species of endangered or threatened turtles that frequent the North Carolina coast but to help them survive. After a short training session conducted by the state’s Wildlife Resources Commission, one group of volunteers conducts pre-dawn patrols of beaches, looking for new nests or tracks of egg-laying mother turtles. Other NEST members then take over, moving eggs if they are laid below the tide line, marking nests with warning tape, and monitoring them over the 55- to 80-day germination period. Then comes the payoff, a frenzy of hatching known as a “boil.” A small hole appears in the sand as the turtles begin to emerge, and over the next 24 hours, hatchlings make their way

Have a Big Vacation in a Small Town

from the nest to the ocean, volunteers standing by to shoo away predators and careless humans. The young turtles “are about the size of an Oreo cookie,” says veteran NEST volunteer Charlotte Alexander. “They’re stepping all over each other. It’s really exciting… everybody says it’s on their bucket list.” The group also works with the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island to rehab turtles—usually loggerheads, but sometimes rarer leatherbacks and Kemp’s Ridleys—that are stunned by the cold, injured by boat strikes, suffering from disease, or previously caught or injured in fishing nets. For more information, visit nestonline.org.

Hawk Migration

The Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) offers another chance to not only see wild animals, but to support their preservation by helping scientists who study them. It relies on volunteers who gather along the migration routes of hawks, eagles, falcons, and vultures to count the species and individual birds passing overhead during spring and fall migrations. The HMANA website lists dozens of watch sites, which tend to be at high elevation. Hot spots in the southern Appalachians include Caesar’s Head in South Carolina, Grandfather Mountain and the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Mills River Valley Overlook in North Carolina, and Harvey’s Knob in Virginia. Novices are welcome and will likely quickly learn to identify raptors from experienced birders at watch sites, said Jane Ferreyra, HMANA’s Executive Director. This data contributes to population and migration studies. In the Southern Appalachians, broad-winged hawks are the featured attraction. They take advantage of mountain updrafts and ride these “little elevators of warm air” in “kettles,” says Carlton Burke, an interpretive naturalist from Mills River, N.C. “They are called that because it looks like a mass of something boiling.” Watching takes patience, he said. “Come with your food and your water and an easy chair.” And, like anyone who seeks out wild animals in their own habitat, hawk watchers need to be prepared for disappointment. “I’ve been on hawk watches when I didn’t see a thing,” says Susan Goldsworthy, of Brevard, N.C. who has watched hawks in several states. “And I've been on watches where there were so many birds you could hardly see the sky.”

with zip lines, whitewater rafting, kayaking and paddleboarding

on the Tsali and Fire Mountain bike trails

GreatSmokies.com

800-867-9246

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M zipline-bike.indd 1

2/26/18 1:33 PM

A OF

C E L E BRATIO N F E RM E N TATIO N

E N J O Y T H E G R E AT S M O K Y M O U N TA I N S WITH THE AREAS FINEST BREWS

PUB CRAWL 6.22.18 â&#x20AC;¢ HOPS IN THE HILLS 6.23.18

HOPSINTHEHILLS.COM @HOPSINTHEHILLS

YO U R G U I D E TO RE G I O N AL RE S O RT BI KE PARKS

B E E C H M O U N TA I N R E S O R T B E E C H M O U N TA I N , N . C .

Come for the Winter, Stay for the Summer

S E A S O N : E A R LY J U N — M I D O C T TRAILS: 9 — BEGINNER (2) INTERM. ( 2 ) A DVA N C E D ( 2 ) P R O ( 2 ) TOTA L V E R T I C A L : 8 3 0 F E E T C R O S S - C O U N T R Y T R A I L AC C E S S : Y E S — E M E R A L D O U T B AC K T R A I L S C O S T: L I F T T I C K E T DAY PA S S — $ 3 5 A D U LT, $ 2 8 J U N I O R ; R E N TA L P E R DAY— $ 8 0 - 1 2 0

HOW BIKE PARKS ARE CHANGING THE GAME AT SKI RESORTS BY JESS DADDIO P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F B E E C H M O U N TA I N R E S O R T

DOWNHILL RESORTS THROUGHOUT THE REGION ARE MAKING MAJOR I N V E S TM E N T S I N B I K E PA R K S, A N D T H AT'S G O O D N E WS F O R S K I E R S , B I K E R S —A N D B E E RDRINKERS.

WINTER IS STILL IN FULL SWING WHEN I ARRIVE AT Massanutten Resort in McGaheysville, Va. The snowguns blast at full-throttle, showering the parking lot in faint dustings of manmade powder. I find Bike Park & Snow Sports Rental Manager Jonathan Albert and Lead Bike Park Supervisor and Bike/ Ski Patroller Scott Wooten in the rental shop. It’s surprisingly busy for a Tuesday morning, so we make our way to an empty table in the lodge overlooking the slopes. “Last Saturday was our busiest day this season,” says Albert. “Business is good.” Good, but not great. Record cold spells this past winter allowed many resorts in the region to run the guns earlier and build their base quicker, but there’s no denying that the ski season these days just isn’t what it used to be. According to the 2016-2017 National Ski Areas Association End of Season

Report, resorts in every region except the Rocky Mountains are witnessing decreasing or plateauing numbers of skiers and snowboarders. Even the powder Shangri La that is the Pacific West saw erratic resort attendance, which directly coincides with fickle winters. It’s in part due to that unpredictability that, in July of 2016, Massanutten joined the budding ranks of Southeastern ski resorts offering lift-access biking in the summer. Unlike many resorts, which turn to ghost towns in the off-season, Massanutten is different in that it has a timeshare member base. Prior to 2016, summer business wasn’t dead by any means, but it wasn’t thriving either. Members could swim at the water park, play mini golf, or swing around in the Bungee Dome, but all of that seemed a little kitschy in the shadow of a perfectly aesthetic mountain. For decades the resort had already been building its status as a mountain bike destination—their signature downhill YEE-HAW! and cross-country HOOHA! races were started 20 and 30 years ago respectively. The resort also maintains a unique partnership with the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition,

which manages the resort’s 30-mile Western Slope trail system. Still, those trails are notoriously rooty, rocky, and technical. Hardly the type of trail an inexperienced timeshare owner would want to ride. In 2013, Massanutten got the nudge it needed when nearby Bryce Resort, also a timeshare resort, opened up its own bike park. Seeing their neighbor’s success was just the impetus Albert and Wooten needed to push a bike park agenda forward. “We already had the heads and beds,” says Wooten. “The people were already here. We call that low-hanging fruit. A huge majority of our summer clients have been coming for one week every summer for 20 years. If they get exposed to mountain biking one year, we can expect them to come back and bring friends and build that momentum and resort clientele.” That momentum has been fast and furious for Massanutten, which will open later this month for its third season. With the addition of the bike park came 30 new full- and part-time jobs. Summer weekends are always busy with lessons and clinics and races. And though the greater Shenandoah Valley cycling community has the

E V E N T S : D OW N H I L L S O U T H E A S T S E R I E S , T R I P L E C R OW N E N D U R O S E R I E S ( DOWNHILLSOUTHEAST.COM)

MASSANUTTEN RESORT M C G A H E Y S V I L L E , VA .

S E A S O N : M I D A P R — L AT E O C T TRAILS: 6 — BEGINNER (2) INTERM. ( 1 ) A DVA N C E D ( 2 ) P R O ( 1 ) TOTA L V E R T I C A L : 1 ,1 7 5 F E E T C R O S S - C O U N T R Y T R A I L AC C E S S : Y E S — W E S T E R N S LO P E , G E O R G E WA S H I N G TO N N AT I O N A L F O R E S T C O S T: L I F T T I C K E T DAY PA S S — $ 3 8 A D U LT; R E N TA L P E R DAY— $ 8 2 E V E N T S : D OW N H I L L S O U T H E A S T SERIES, YEE-HA!

B R YC E R E S O R T B A S Y E , VA .

S E A S O N : E A R LY M AY — L AT E O C T TRAILS: 8 — BEGINNER (2) INTERM. ( 3 ) A DVA N C E D ( 1 ) P R O ( 2 ) TOTA L V E R T I C A L : 5 0 0 F E E T C R O S S - C O U N T R Y T R A I L AC C E S S : NO C O S T: L I F T T I C K E T DAY PA S S — $ 3 5 ; R E N TA L P E R DAY— $ 6 5 - 9 0 E V E N T S : W I N T E R B I K E JA M , G LOW N - F LOW

reputation of being rock garden evangelists, the Massanutten Bike Park prides itself on offering plenty of beginner trails to complement the quality singletrack both on the

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

WINTERGREEN RESORT W I N T E R G R E E N , VA .

S E A S O N : M E M O R I A L DAY W E E K E N D — C O LU M B U S DAY W E E K E N D TRAILS: 2 — BEGINNER (0) INTERM. ( 1 ) A DVA N C E D ( 1 ) P R O ( 0 ) TOTA L V E R T I C A L : 1 ,0 0 0 F E E T C R O S S - C O U N T R Y T R A I L AC C E S S : NO C O S T: N O N E , R I D E AT YO U R OW N RISK EVENTS: TREAD & TRAIL SERIES

TIMBERLINE FOUR SEASONS RESORT C A N A A N VA L L E Y, W.VA .

S E A S O N : L AT E A P R — O C T TRAILS: 17 — BEGINNER (0) INTERM. ( 1 0 ) A DVA N C E D ( 3 ) P R O ( 4 ) TOTA L V E R T I C A L : 1 ,0 0 0 F E E T C R O S S - C O U N T R Y T R A I L AC C E S S : Y E S — C A N A A N M O U N TA I N B AC KC O U N T R Y C O S T: L I F T T I C K E T DAY PA S S — $ 3 0 ; R E N TA L S P E R DAY— $ 4 0, AVA I L A B L E AT B L AC K WAT E R B I K E S E V E N T S : W E S T V I R G I N I A M O U N TA I N B I K E A S S O C I AT I O N E N D U R O

S N O W S H O E M O U N TA I N RESORT S N O W S H O E , W.VA .

S E A S O N : L AT E M AY — O C T TRAILS: 35 — BEGINNER (1) INTERM. ( 1 2 ) A DVA N C E D ( 1 8 ) P R O ( 4 ) TOTA L V E R T I C A L : 1 , 5 0 0 F E E T C R O S S - C O U N T R Y T R A I L AC C E S S : YES—ONSITE, MONONGAHELA N AT I O N A L F O R E S T C O S T: L I F T T I C K E T DAY PA S S — $ 4 0 ; R E N TA L P E R DAY— $ 4 0 - 1 4 9 E V E N T S : U S A C YC L I N G N AT I O N A L S , W E S T V I R G I N I A M O U N TA I N B I K E A S S O C I AT I O N E N D U R O S E R I E S

S E V E N S P R I N G S M O U N TA I N RESORT CHAMPION, PENN.

S E A S O N : L AT E M AY — O C T TRAILS: 16 — BEGINNER (2) INTERM. ( 5 ) A DVA N C E D ( 8 ) P R O ( 1 ) TOTA L V E R T I C A L : 7 5 0 F E E T C R O S S - C O U N T R Y T R A I L AC C E S S : YES—ONSITE C O S T: L I F T T I C K E T DAY PA S S — $ 3 5 , A D U LT, $ 3 0, J U N I O R ; R E N TA L P E R DAY— $ 6 9 E V E N T S : B I K E S , B R AT S , A N D B R E W S

WISP RESORT M C H E N R Y, M D.

SEASON: JUN — OCT TRAILS: 17 — BEGINNER (1) INTERM. ( 5 ) A DVA N C E D ( 5 ) P R O ( 6 ) TOTA L V E R T I C A L : 7 0 0 F E E T C R O S S - C O U N T R Y T R A I L AC C E S S : Y E S — F O R K R U N R E C R E AT I O N A R E A C O S T: L I F T T I C K E T DAY PA S S — $ 3 9 ; R E N TA L P E R DAY— $ 5 4 - 1 2 9 E V E N T S : I N T R O TO F R E E R I D E A N D DOWNHILL CLINIC

Western Slope and in the adjoining George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. “What is special about a bike park is it lowers that barrier of entry into the sport to show that it’s something everybody can do,” says Wooten. “Mountain biking is not a friendly sport to get into. You have to be willing to dedicate your money and energy to getting good. It can be very unapproachable. But a bike park shows it’s not just for doctors and fitness freaks. It’s for anybody.” PAY O F F S O F T H E PA R K

IT’S A SIMILAR TUNE DOWN AT BEECH MOUNTAIN Resort in Beech Mountain, N.C. In the early 2000s, the resort hosted a number of National Off-Road Bicycle Association (or NORBA, the predecessor to USA Cycling) races. Then again, in 2011 and 2012, it served as the venue for the USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships. But when the resort went to open up a proper bike park in 2013, it became clear that those courses were suited more for intermediate and advanced riders, not beginners. “What we were seeing is that existing infrastructure was really hurting Beech’s ability to exist as a public facility because they were so focused on being race tracks,” says Elevated Trail Design co-owner Andrew Mueller. “We made some major design changes to better accommodate a wider range of riders but also to just use more of the terrain so you can fit a maximum amount of trail experiences in a small area.” The resulting eight-trail system is a smorgasbord of technically precise rock gardens and flowy machine-built butter. For Beech Mountain Ski Patrol Director Brad Blackwell, keeping the resort’s trails fresh isn’t just about catering to newcomers in the sport; it’s about staying relevant in an everchanging industry. “People used to want to ride the most technical, gnarly trails, but now people don’t want to buy a $9,000 bike just so they can ride it at the bike park,” he says. “They want to buy one bike and be able to do everything on it.” The booming bike culture here feels organic, not forced—trails designed by riders for riders, the Skybar at the top and brewery at the bottom, the High Country setting and verdant forests. On a busy weekend, with a couple hundred riders threading the mountain and car racks stacked with bikes in the parking lots, the

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

scene could almost be plucked from a little corner of Whistler. Except it’s not British Columbia. It’s uniquely Southeastern, and it’s this, says World Cup rider Neko Mulally that makes Beech what it is. “The cool thing about most of the Southeast bike parks is they’re not just making a 10-foot wide jogging path down the mountain,” he says. “They’re the same technical trail you might ride in Pisgah, but you’re not going to pedal to the top. Beech can be pretty rocky and they do a good job of working with what the mountain has and following the natural way of the terrain. By leaving that stuff intact and not building over it or getting rid of it, you keep the character of the mountain.” Back in 2016, Mulally started the Downhill Southeast race series to showcase some of these venues and to give downhill competitors like himself a chance to get some races in before heading to the international stage. The four-part series takes place both at resort bike parks and shuttle bike parks. This year, Beech Mountain and Massanutten will both be venues as will Windrock Bike Park near Oliver Springs, Tenn., which Mulally and his business partner Sean Leader took over in 2016. As a competitor and event organizer, Mulally says the resort model is the unicorn of downhill race venues due in large part to the amenities that are already in place: ample flat parking, lift access, electricity at the top and bottom of the hill, hotels, restaurants. He believes resorts all throughout the Southeast have a real opportunity to tap into a market that’s not only on the rise— Sports Marketing Surveys, Inc., found that mountain biking rose in popularity by 16% between 2010 and 2015—but also a lifelong sport. “If we do a good job with these races, then people will have a good taste of that venue and will want to come back and check it out another time. It’s not just a flash in the pan. Some resorts put in a zip line or a mountain coaster, but mountain biking is much more sustainable. It’s something people get into and, it’s the same with skiing, it doesn’t get old. You want to keep riding. It’s not just a onceand-done sort of activity.” PAY T O P L AY

SO WHY AREN’T MORE SOUTHEASTERN RESORTS adopting the summertime bike park model? For starters, the initial investment is big. Like, big-big. “I’ll just say it’s in the hundreds,” says Bryce Park's Director of Mountain B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

Operations. “That includes everything from tools to rental bikes to staff to trail building. That’s everything, all in.” But even if the resort has deep pockets, it takes an army to make a bike park great. Philip Duncan out of Slaty Fork, W.Va., was one of the primary instigators for Snowshoe Bike Park in West Virginia. For years, Duncan worked primarily as a graphic designer and marketer for the resort, but when he started getting wind of what Whistler was up to, he knew Snowshoe had to hop on board. Fortunately for Duncan, the General Manager at the time was from Whistler and he embraced the idea with open arms. In 2004, Snowshoe became the first in the Southeast to open up a resort bike park. But even with Intrawest financially backing Duncan’s initiative, the early years were absolutely a labor of love. “Me and Dave Huber and a handful of other people were super stoked and we were the driving force,” he says. “Some summers we weren’t even riding that much because we were building trail. You have to have passion in your employees to convince the powersthat-be that this is a good thing. That’s the only way we were able to do it.” Now that the mountain biking scene is no longer in its infancy, which it arguably still was back in the early 2000s, there are numbers to support the love. In 2017, the Outdoor Industry Association found that cyclists spend over $96 billion in gear and triprelated expenses. All of that revenue contributes to nearly 850,000 jobs and generates over $6 billion in state and local taxes. Interestingly, skiers and snowboarders nationwide only spend $73 billion annually, which creates less than 700,000 jobs and $5 billion in state and local taxes. Currently, bike park visits account for less than 3% of annual resort visits in the country, according to MTBparks.com, but with over 45 million Americans identifying as cyclists, that number has room to grow. Here in the Southeast, where a mild climate dominates two-thirds of the year, it’s not hard to envision bike parks overtaking skiing in the future. But for now, says Derek Clifton at Bryce, winter is king. “We’ve never had a bad year. We’ve doubled our bike park business almost every year since we started. It just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. It won’t ever surpass the winter season, but it is the second highest revenue maker on our mountain, and it is totally 100% worth it.” 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

Outdoor adventures– better in the

bluegrass

Majestic mountains to massive lakes - Rushing streams to gently rolling pastures. Our Kentucky landscapes are beckoning you to experience an outdoor adventure. Let your imagination soar as you plan a great Kentucky outdoor vacation. You’ll soon discover, it’s Better in the Bluegrass.

#TravelKY

kentuckytourism.com · 1-800-225-TRIP

#TravelKY

Family Fun Starts in Kentucky Kentucky is the perfect place to plan your next outdoor family fun vacation with hundreds of hiking trails and sites for camping, thousands of miles of rivers and lakes, nearly 900,000 acres of national forests, and trail towns to ease the way.

All this adventure leaving you hungry for more? In Kentucky, we celebrate all the local flavors, spirits and delicious treats the bluegrass state is best known for like mouthwatering regional meals, out-

door adventure and bluegrass music. While taking in all the fun, your family can enjoy world class cuisine and down home comfort food like no other. Whatever your taste, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s better in the bluegrass!

kentuckytourism.com · 1-800-225-TRIP

Horse Around in the Bluegrass State Visit the Kentucky Horse Park, where you can learn about over 40 breeds of horse or explore the history and pageantry of the greatest two minutes in sports at the Kentucky Derby Museum and Churchill Downs. Tour horse farms to see Thoroughbred champions up close or bring

your own horse and enjoy some of the finest horse riding trails and camping available. After a full day of horse farm tours, travel the Beer Cheese Trail to sample this delicious spread and wash it down with a cold Ale-8-One, a favorite soft drink bottled in central Kentucky.

Explore Kentucky from Above and Below There’s a Kentucky State Park for That! Kentucky state parks offer great home bases to experience Kentucky’s outdoors. Fortynine state parks, including 17 resorts with accommodations and full service restaurants cover the entire state. Marvel at the beauty of Cumberland Falls, home to a 125-foot waterfall where you can see

a moonbow during the full moon. Glide through the air on the skylift at Natural Bridge in the scenic Daniel Boone National Forest. Hike to “chained rock” at Pine Mountain State Resort Park to see an excellent panoramic view of Pineville and the Cumberland Mountain range.

From treetop canopy tours and zip lines to the largest cave system in the world at Mammoth Cave National Park, there are plenty of ways to explore Kentucky from above and below ground. Discover Bowling Green’s Lost River Cave’s Flying Squirrel Zip Line and underground boat tour. Visit the Treetop Adventure at Levi Jackson State Park which

features 60 elements of fun, including zip-lines, rope bridges, suspended tunnels and much more. The Red River Gorge has some of the best climbing routes in the country and is home of Miguel’s Pizza which has made a name all around the world as a friendly and dependable place to find tasty, fresh and reasonably priced food with great atmosphere.

#TravelKY Kentucky Overflows with Fun Water Adventure Kentucky has thousands of miles of navigable water flowing through it, and there are plenty of ways to get out and enjoy a water adventure. Whether you’re looking for a high-adrenaline whitewater rush through the Russell Fork in gorgeous Breaks Interstate Park, or a nice afternoon paddle around one of our excellent lakes, we’ve got more than enough options to

get on the water. Explore the Blue Water Trails, streams and rivers designated as excellent for both floating and fishing, and the perfect way to explore more scenic locations. Kentucky is also an angler’s paradise, from two of the largest man-made lakes in the country, to accessible streams and creeks, there are plenty of great fishing spots.

See Kentucky Off-Road Those looking to pedal their way around have plenty of options in Kentucky as well. Mountain bikers will find great single track, and road cyclists are sure to enjoy one of the dozen popular paved routes. The Trans-America Cycling Route crosses through Kentucky as it stretches from the Pacific to Atlantic Oceans and features scenic, winding roads. Southeastern Kentucky is growing into one of the top destinations for ATV and off road vehicles in the country. Thousands of

miles have been developed on reclaimed mine lands and wooded forests. The views from atop these popular ATV parks are sure to make you come back again and again. There’s no question Kentucky offers some of the best in outdoor recreation and family fun. Pick your adventure, select your Kentucky destination and discover why it’s Better in the Bluegrass. kentuckytourism.com

kentuckytourism.com · 1-800-225-TRIP

ADVENTURE MCCREARY COUNTY On the trail, over the river and through the town Adventure awaits you in one of the country’s most beautiful and natural vacation destinations – the Big South Fork and McCreary County, KY. ke

W TO

A TR

KITSCHY, FUNKY, FUN, FANTASTIC, RETRO, WEIRD, AND WAAAYYY COOL! Where it’s 56 degrees year round (underground), Dinosaurs Roam, Mike’s House is a Mystery, concrete Wigwams have no Indians, and everyone can fly on a zipline. Paddle, hike, bike and ride the two-fer-one park: underground discoveries and above ground fun at Mammoth Cave National Park. Where?

CAVE CITY, KY. Make memories at cavecity.com mccrearytourism.com

606.376.3008 DEFINING THE DIFFERENCE FOR:

M CCREARY COUNTY, KY TOURISM COMMISSION

PROJECT:

LOGO

270.773.3131

#TravelKY

CORBIN – WHERE ADVENTURE, HISTORY AND HOSPITALITY AWAIT Located in the outdoor adventure mecca of Kentucky, Corbin is home to Laurel Lake, Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, Daniel Boone National Forest and other natural jewels! Your next outdoor adventure awaits in the peaceful grandeur of southeastern Kentucky. Our natural sanctuaries offer year-round recreation opportunities, including boating, fishing, horseback riding, hiking, canoeing, camping, scuba diving and so much more!

WINE & WHISKEY TRAIL, 6PM OUTLET & BERNHEIM FOREST! Wine & Whiskey Trail features Jim Beam American Stillhouse, Four Roses Bourbon & four award-winning wineries. Shop 6pm at Amazon Outlet. Explore gardens, lakes, trails & children’s playground at Bernheim Forest.

corbinkytourism.com

JimBeamCountry.com

606.528.8860

502.543.8656

EXPLORE THE KENTUCKY RIVER IN FRANKFORT! Take an outing this spring or summer to Frankfort and experience the Kentucky River and Elkhorn Creek. Rent a canoe or kayak from Canoe Kentucky, take a free tour on the Nancy Wilkinson pontoon boat, or enjoy a meal at the Benson Creek Marina Café or the The Riverboat Grill. Bring your boat and dock free of charge at River View Park or Blanton’s Landing.

visitfrankfort.com

502.875.8687

WINCHESTER’S RECIPE FOR CULINARY & OUTDOOR ADVENTURE Combine our Beer Cheese Trail & June Festival, add a tour of Ale-8-One, visit a winery, canoe the KY River and dine at one of our many unique restaurants. Nature preserve, KY River kayaking & nearby ziplining.

TourWinchester.com

800.298.9105

kentuckytourism.com · 1-800-225-TRIP

KY’S OLDEST TOWN CRAFTS SPIRITED ADVENTURES! Sip spirits at Olde Towne Distillery & Lemons Mill Brewery. Enjoy Shaker Village’s Well-Crafted-Brews + Bands Festival, June 10. Relive KY’s pioneer heritage at Old Fort Harrod. Hiking/biking/horseback riding trails, plus, golf & watersports! Harrodsburgky.com

800.355.9192

HOUSEBOAT, VACATION & FISHING SPECIALIST! Come play on Dale Hollow Lake and the Cumberland River for a great time with your family and friends. Burkesville is the perfect spot to make memories, with unforgettable houseboat vacations, family friendly resorts, lakeview campsites and cozy cabins. Experience incredible fishing from smallmouth bass to trout, scuba dive in the crystal clear water, hike trails to stunning overlooks and play the superb golf course at Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park. cumberlandcounty.com

270.864.5890

TAKE YOUR WEEKEND FROM 0 TO FUN LAKE CUMBERLAND, KY IS ALWAYS IN SEASON! Enjoy a variety of lodging options from cabins or cottages near the water, discover delicious local foods, play a round of golf, go kayaking or experience some of the best fishing in Kentucky. lakecumberlandtourism.com

800.642.6287

Bowling Green may be known for Corvettes, but that’s just the starting line! Cruise to nearby Mammoth Cave National Park then paddle greenways or pedal scenic rural routes. Accelerate down Lost River Cave’s Flying Squirrel Zip Line then brake for its underground boat tour. Hike the trails at Shanty Hollow Lake then top off your adventures with locally distilled spirits, craft beer & buzz worthy live music!

VisitBGKY.com

800.326.7465

#TravelKY

OUTDOOR ADVENTURE IN THE HATFIELD-MCCOY FEUD COUNTRY CITY FUN – COUNTY ADVENTURE! Ashland/Boyd Co. is located on US 23 Country Music Highway – a mecca for arts, family-friendly festivals, great food, entertainment, trails and off-road adventure. Come check us out – you’ll be glad you did!

visitashlandky.com

800.377.6249

ATTEND A FESTIVAL, EVENT OR EXPLORE Barbourville BBQ Cook-off & Festival (June 15-16) 4th of July Fireworks & More (July) Cumberland River Canoe & Kayak Race (September 22nd) Daniel Boone Festival (October 11 – 13)

barbourvilletourism.com

606.545.9674

Experience an outdoor excursion through the land where the Hatfields & McCoys called home, Pikeville-Pike County, KY. Zip-line atop the Pikeville Cut-Through, ride horses through a scenic mountain trail, kayak down a lazy river and enjoy a tasting at Pikeville’s premiere distillery and brewery, Dueling Barrels, opening Spring 2018. Pikeville/Pike County offers the finest hotel accommodations in Southeast Kentucky, so book your adventure today! tourpikecounty.com

606.432.5063

GREAT EXPEDITIONS IN LONDON! Looking for an exciting journey on scenic wooded trails? We have many to choose from. Experience your exciting journey in Kentucky’s Crossroads to Adventure for hiking, biking, motorcycling, fishing, boating and more. Centrally located along I-75 and the Hal Rogers Parkway in the heart of the Daniel Boone National Forest, Laurel County is conveniently situated within a short drive to many of Kentucky’s finest attractions! laurelkytourism.com

800.348.0095

kentuckytourism.com · 1-800-225-TRIP

WIN A WEEKEND GETAWAY IN BOWLING GREEN!

Experience a new adventure around every curve in Kentucky’s third-largest city, just one hour north of Nashville and 30 minutes from Mammoth Cave National Park. You don’t necessarily need gas to rev your engine in Bowling Green! This getaway includes: 2 Nights at The Candle Loft overlooking downtown Fountain Square Park Lost River Cave Adventure Packages including the Flying Squirrel Zipline and Underground Boat Tour (4) Admission to the National Corvette Museum (4) Go-Kart Races at the NCM Kartplex (2) Admission to the Historic Railpark & Train Museum (4) Dinner at Lost River Pizza ($25) Nat's Outdoor Sports Gift Card ($20) and Yeti 36oz Rambler

ENTER TO WIN AT

blueridgeoutdoors.com

BY KIM DINAN

MEET 10 INSPIRING OUTDOOR PARENTS AND YOUNG ADVENTURERS EXPLORING OUR MOUNTAINS.

PHOTO BY HALLEY BURLESON

IN 1993, CINDY ROSS OF NEW RINGGOLD, PENNSYLVANIA, AN accomplished thru-hiker with the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail already under her belt, set out to hike the Continental Divide Trail with her husband, a pair of goofy llamas, and two toddlers. You read that right. Two toddlers. “I was on a panel at a gathering of the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association, and I was pregnant,” explains Ross. “I asked 600 people in the audience, ‘How do we keep doing what we love most once we have kids? How about some advice?’ Everyone out there either had gray hair and didn’t start backpacking until their kids left or they didn’t have kids because they decided they loved backpacking so much they weren’t having any. I thought, ‘Well, that’s a big loss. That’s not happening here.’” Ross and her husband were determined to continue long distance hiking, even if they had to blaze their own trail. “We realized we were on our own. We had to figure it out.” They began backpacking with their first child, Sierra, when she was three months old. But when their second child, a son named Bryce, was still an infant they tried to day hike up a ridge in the White Mountains. “We spent the whole day climbing with a kid on our backs. We got halfway up and it had been eight hours. We had to turn around. We said, ‘We can’t do this with two kids.’” Later, at a party, they complained about their failed attempt to friends. As fate would have it, a man at the party overheard their complaints. He happened to train llamas and knew about an organization called the Rocky Mountain Llama Association in Colorado. The group was trying to promote llama packing as a means of long-distance hiking. “He said, I bet they would sponsor you and you could come out and do the Colorado Trail,” Cindy recounts. “And that’s what happened.” Two days into their 500-mile hike on the Colorado Trail, Cindy and her family were hooked. When their walk was complete, they bought their own llamas, loaded them into a trailer, and brought them home to Pennsylvania. By then, the plan to hike from Canada to Mexico with toddlers was already taking shape in Cindy’s head.

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

outdoors and their desire for a family into one. They were out there, but I had to find them.

IT’S A SUNNY SATURDAY IN LATE JANUARY AND I AM not attempting a 3,100-mile trek with my toddler. I am simply trying to climb to the top of Looking Glass Rock on the first warm day this part of western North Carolina has seen in some time. An hour ago my two-year-old, an accomplished little hiker in her own right, demanded to be freed from the baby backpack and began clambering up the trail at a glacial pace. My husband hangs back, helping her up as she trips over tree roots and slides around on the ice. I walk ahead, then stop and wait for my family to catch up. Walk ahead, then stop and wait. In this way we inchworm up the mountain. It takes us two hours to walk the three miles to the summit—a pace that would have embarrassed me in my pre-parenthood days. Back then, my husband and I had zipped around some of the best footpaths in the world—the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, the “W” in Chile, and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Even in the midst of our adventures we’d contemplated children, but worried that becoming parents would prevent us from doing the outdoor activities we loved. At the time, I’d searched high and low for examples of parents who had managed to meld their love of the

C I N D Y R O S S A N D FA M I LY I N G L A C I E R N A T I O N A L PA R K DURING THEIR CDT HIKE

ADVENTURE PARENTS

“We realized that when we had a child things were going to change,” says Dan Caston, an Assistant Professor of Recreation Leadership at Ferrum College in Virginia. “And they did change quite a bit in those first couple of years.” Before their daughter Mallory was born, Dan and his wife, Shari, climbed every weekend. “We lived out of the back of the van or out of a tent,” says Shari. “We were destination climbers playing somewhere on a rock or on the water or a trail.” “It was difficult to get out with a baby,” remembers Dan. “But we still made it work.” Before kids, Shari and Dan favored multi-pitch climbs at Seneca Rocks. When Mallory came along they began climbing in the New River Gorge because it was single pitch and they could haul their stuff in. “There were many days that I carried in all the climbing gear and the pack ‘n play so that Mallory had a place to be while we climbed.” Mallory was three when she did her first multi-pitch climb at Seneca Rocks. Today, at age 13, she participates on a

New River Gorge, WV May 31st – June 2ND

2 NIGHTS OF

UMPHREY'S MCGEE

& BIG SOMETHING 25 Bands On 4 Stages Whitewater Rafting & Ziplining 5 Acre Waterpark & More

SAVE $20 OFF

ADVANCE TICKETS!

PROMO CODE: BROLOVE20 Mountainmusicfestwv.com • 1-877-382-5893 40

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

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

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

competitive climbing team in Roanoke. Eric Horst knows a thing or two about raising kids that climb. In addition to his day job as an adjunct professor of meteorology at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, he’s also a world-class climber, training expert, and coach. “Out at the cliffs I run into a lot of people that haven’t started a family yet but are considering it. It’s important to think about how parenting will change the way you climb.” “If you have a kid and you go on climbing trips, it has to be different,” says Horst. “I’ve seen parents who are elite climbers who bring their kids to the cliff and just ignore them. To me, if you’re bringing your kids to the crag, you ought to be getting them involved in some way.” By age 8, Horst’s own sons were lead climbing. By age 11 they were some of the youngest kids in the world to climb 5.14 (a grade reached by only the top 1% of climbers.) “They’ve gotten a lot of notoriety on an international scale and I didn’t set out to do that. They’re just part-time climbers. I’m not trying to get them in the Olympics or anything. I’m trying to expose them to a diverse childhood.” Chris Hull of Richmond, Va., began kayaking in 1981. He took to the sport

L E F T: J O N A T H A N H O R S T L E A D C L I M B I N G AT T H E N E W R I V E R G O R G E , W . V. ; R I G H T: C A M E R O N H O R S T C L I M B I N G T E N S L E E P C A N Y O N , W Y.

burly car-camp mansion the new TITAN 4 mtnGLO® with VESTIBULE 3 SEASONS · 2 DOORS · 90 SQ. FT. OF BLISS

Kate Rutherford cheffing up breakfast for a hungry group in Indian Creek, UT – Andrew Burr

The Mother of Comfort bigagnes.com

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

13 stages of " traditional plus" music

KRIS K

RISTO

STEEP CANYON RANGERS & FRIENDS

FFERS

JAME

with special guest STEVE MARTIN

Y JOH

BELA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN

THE MAVERICKS

ROBERT EARL KEEN

NSON

Plus many more performers! APRIL 26-29, 2018

RHIANNON GIDDENS

JERRY DOUGLAS & TOMMY EMMANUEL

MerleFest.org 800-343-7857 SAM BUSH BAND

COMMIT TO CONNECTION C O U PLE S WEE K E ND RE TRE ATS

N E X T R E T R E AT S E PT 2 8 - 3 0 | C H E C K S I T E FO R M O R E I N FO

On the campus of Wilkes Community College Wilkesboro, NC

Join us for an intimate weekend retreat designed to enhance essential skills for a lifetime connection. Commit time to your relationship. Create opportunities for growth and closeness. Participate in hands-on activities that enrich your relationship.

W H AT P E O P L E A R E S AY I N G

This is the retreat you’re looking for. It is so much fun. It’s a weekend getaway with your partner, but with purpose! You’ll leave connected and so excited to be in your relationship! We’ll make this an annual event! —Feb 2018 Participant

LEAD BY

ADINA GILLIAM

LMFT

C O M M I T TO C O N N E CT I O N.C O M | A D I N AG I L L I A M.C O M | ( 8 2 8 ) 2 7 5 - 1 4 24 42

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

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

This is a retreat every couple needs. This offers an opportunity to really focus on your relationship and how to be more intentional in caring for one another and more productive in working through the hard stuff. Best thing we’ve done for our marriage by far. —Feb 2018 Participant

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

summer, she took her sons hiking in Glacier National Park. “I didn’t get to go backpacking or do some 15-mile trek, but we had a blast on a little 5-mile trail that was full of glacial pools,” she says. “Adventuring with kids is just fulfilling in an entirely different way.” ADVENTURES GONE WRONG

ISAAC HULL ON THE NORTH FORK O F T H E B L A C K WA T E R R I V E R , W V. PHOTO BY ART BARKET

immediately and before long he was whitewater racing. Chris got married and eventually had four kids. When they were small, he would go out on flat water and paddle around while his kids napped in his lap. As they grew, Chris learned to let his kids explore the outdoors at their own pace. “They want to wander around and find some frogs in the creek, that’s okay. Exploring is what’s important.” Chris taught all of his kids to paddle but his youngest son, Isaac, adopted the sport as his own. “Isaac has the disease,” says Chris with a laugh. “He really enjoys it.” Pre-kids, Leslie Grotenhuis, owner of Kick It Events in Asheville, North Carolina, and her husband, Tim, the Executive Director of the Mountain Sports Festival, were an active outdoor couple—running, hiking, skiing and camping. Their first child, Wyatt, didn’t slow them down. “One kid was not a big deal for us,” says Leslie. “We felt like, if you can wear a kid, you can do anything.” But as their family grew to four kids, including a set of twins, it got “exponentially harder,” says Leslie. “When you have four little ones, you can’t carry everybody. We had to hike kid-friendly trails so that the little ones could walk.” Yet even with four kids under the age of five, the Grotenhuis clan found ways to get outside. “I remember standing in the bike store before the

twins were born and discussing with the salesman how to get four children on a bike,” says Leslie. “The twins went in infant slings. They were 6.5 pounds and on the back of a bike.” As I talked to adventurous parents for this story, two recurring themes kept emerging. The first is that, yes, adventuring with kids can be hard, especially when they’re very young. The focus of the adventure must morph from one that revolves around the parent to one that is centered on the child. As Horst explains, “those days of climbing were built around the kids. We did what was appropriate for them.” From my limited experience, that’s just the name of the game when it comes to parenting. But the stronger and more prevalent theme was the joy that comes from sharing outdoor experiences with your kids and watching them fall in love with the wilderness. It’s a special blend of love and pride to watch your child forge their own path forward while encompassing the same values of stewardship and adventure that you hold dear. Even if your own adventures have been dialed back a notch in order to get there. Bettina Freese explains this concept well. Freese is a fixture of the mountain biking community in western North Carolina where she lives. In addition to biking, she’s also a runner and general outdoor enthusiast. Last

That’s not to say that the challenge of outdoor pursuits with kids doesn’t sometimes take a turn for the worse. As most parents know, kids are hard, even in a controlled environment. When we add in the unpredictable element of nature, things can sometimes go haywire. One summer, while climbing at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, Eric Horst and his family got caught in a thunderstorm. “We were just short of the top when the storm came in. That made us a lightning threat,” says Horst. “We were able to scramble across the ledge and get into a protected position where we could wait out the storm and let it blow over. But for me it was very stressful. The last thing I want to do is get my kids hurt.” For all of the time that Cindy Ross spent hiking with her kids, she can only recall one instance where she sensed trouble. “We got stuck in a windstorm on a mountain ridge. It was so windy the saddles blew off the llamas,” she remembers. “We had to crawl on our hands and knees. It was scary because we didn’t know what to do, but we figured it out.” Ross then adds, almost as an afterthought, “We’ve also walked up to grizzly bears when we were picking blueberries.” The moment when your child comes face-to-face with a free-range carnivore would be seared into most parents’ minds forever. But for Ross, it’s just one moment in a long string of moments raising her kids outdoors. It makes me think that maybe the true lesson in all of this is to follow our hearts into the outdoors, confident that sharing what we love with our kids is the right thing to do, even if it does come with a little risk. ADVENTURE KIDS

The thing about kids is that they grow up—fast. Today, most of the children whose parents I spoke to for this story are now teenagers or young adults. “A lot of kids drift totally away from their parents at this age,” says Eric Horst. “But the kids still love climbing and traveling, so I can hang out with my teenagers and stay close and connected to them. It’s something I imagine that a lot of parents don’t have

TODDLER BIKE RACE COMES TO CHARLOTTE

COURTESY STRIDER BIKES

Toddlers and their parents from across the country will gather in Charlotte this summer for a bike race like no other. The 2018 Strider Cup will make Charlotte, N.C. one of its four stops of the series. Children ages 2-6 years old are invited to embark on this fun-filled race course that contains obstacles such as tires, wooden ramps, and water features. Kemeny Pacheco, mother to 2-year old Strider Cup racer, Legend Pacheco, said her son began riding a balance bike when he was 18 months old and has since fallen in love with the activity. “Legend doesn’t know much about competition, so we are just doing [the race] for fun,” said Pacheco. “I think it is an awesome activity for young kids to do.” At the finish line each participant is invited to be a part of the podium ceremony where they will receive either a medal or trophy. Other locations of the race are Fort Worth, Texas, Cleveland, Ohio and the two-day World Championship event in Boulder, Colo.

with their 17-year-old son.” The kids, it seems, also understand the advantages of their adventurous childhood. “My parents taught me how to rock climb and mountain bike and hike,” says Mallory Caston, Dan and Shari’s daughter. “They taught me how to be brave.” Isaac Hull, Chris Hull’s son, told me that kids who grow up in the outdoors will be more comfortable there. Later in life, he said, they’ll gravitate toward the natural world. And Chilton Curwen, a fifteen-yearold in Asheville, North Carolina and an impressive cross-country runner, said, “I love being in nature. Other sports are so fast, but with running you have time to think and look around and enjoy

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

Asheville, Asheville, North North Carolina Carolina h t 8 1

MOUNTAIN SPORTS FESTIVAL

Celebrating Asheville’s Unique Art & Culture

All the favorite events plus three new running races!

ANY HOW M U YO CAN DO?!?

FRIDAY MAY 25th

Mountain Disc Golf Experience Doubles AVL Cyclocross Friday Night Kross Kickoff

SATURDAY MAY 26th

Down River Dash SUP Race  NCOBS Collier Lilly Ride Festival Frenzy 5K & 1K Fun Run  BMX Street Jam Dirty Asphalt Urban Assault MTB Ride Asheville Beer Mile  Bellyak Race for a Cause

SUNDAY MAY 27th

Beer City 20K Relay (1, 2 or 4 runners) Rumble on the River (track/criterium bike race)

Entries are limited! Sign up now at:

MountainSportsFestival.com

YOUR NEW ADVENTURE AWAITS June 9, 2018

Asheville, NC

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

(276) 865-4413 | breakspark.com

introducing

ZIP LINE BIKE RENTALS KAYAK TRIPS hiking fishing horseback riding cabins campground lodge rooms elk tours restaurant interpretive programs waterpark B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

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

being outside.” For Chilton, the benefits of crosscountry running are vast. When I ask him what kids learn by participating in sports, his answer is surprisingly mature for a 15-year-old. When you’re running in the woods, he says, “you get a chance to see what the world was like before humans. It helps you connect with the world and appreciate it.” He went on to say that kids who spend time outdoors “won’t want to ruin nature. They’ll want to protect it because they’ll have an appreciation for it.” Eric Horst’s 15-year-old son, Jonathan, expresses a similar sentiment when he speaks of climbing. “With other sports you’re on a developed field and you’re around a bunch of other developed things. In climbing, you’re outside; you’re in the environment. You’re kind of doing your own thing and can take in everything around you. It makes each climb you do more elegant.” It’s been over twenty years since Cindy Ross finished hiking the Continental Divide Trail with her kids. The llamas are long gone, buried in a pet cemetery behind her log cabin. Her kids are grown and on their own. Sierra is a Fulbright Scholar in the Indian Himalayas. Bryce is an illustrator in Philadelphia. In her new book, The World is Our Classroom: How One Family Used Nature and Travel to Shape an Extraordinary Education, Ross’ kids reflect on their childhood outdoors. Sierra writes that, “What I learned from my childhood was how to actively care for my communities. I see myself as part of something bigger.” But Bryce’s reflection on growing up outdoors is particularly moving. “When you’re on a mountain ridge trying to outrun a lightning storm, the world becomes a lot bigger than you,” he writes. “You realize what you can control and what you can’t.” Speaking of his time on the Continental Divide Trail, Bryce says, “Every so often people ask me, “Do you remember anything from it?” I reflexively answer yes, but in my mind the word memory is loosely defined. I like to think I remember seeing the world from my dad’s backpack. But for the most part I don’t recall distinct moments so much as sensory impressions, like the thrill of walking a ridgeline or the immense silence of waking up in a river valley.” As for my own attempts at adventuring with a kid, last summer my husband and I took our then one-year-old on a canoe-packing trip

in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters. I worried that we were finally pushing it too far, that the wobbly canoe and the unpredictable weather might be too much for our daughter. “Maybe we should save these kinds of trips for when she’s older,” I told a friend. But my friend encouraged me to go. “It’s not about what kids remember,” she told me, “but who they become.” From the sound of it, these kids raised outdoors are becoming adults their parents can be proud of.

Favorite Kid-Friendly Destinations

Get your family outdoors! We asked our adventure families about their favorite spots to hit the rock, trail and water. B E S T T R A I L S F O R TO D D L E R S

PISGAH NATIONAL FOREST, N.C.

Pisgah National Forest has plenty of trails for toddlers including the short hike to Looking Glass Falls and the many interpretive trails at the Cradle of Forestry Center. The center also has a café that will keep hungry toddlers happy. B E S T FA M I LY W E E K E N D A D V E N T U R E

NEW RIVER GORGE, W.VA.

If there’s one place that rose to the top of the favorites list over and over again, it’s the outdoor mecca of the New River Gorge. “I like the New River Gorge for the whole experience. We camp, hike, and climb there,” says Jonathan Horst. B E S T C A M P I N G F O R PA R E N T S W H O WA N T TO P L AY

DAVIDSON RIVER, N.C.

The campground at Davidson River near Brevard, North Carolina, is a playground for everyone in the family. With access to hiking, mountain biking trails, and swimming holes, “one parent can hang with the kids by the river while the other parent rides,” says Freese. “That way, everyone gets their time in the woods.” B E S T U R B A N S A N C T UA R Y

JAMES RIVER, VA.

“We spend a lot of time at the James River in Richmond,” says Chris Hull. “You can hike, bike, and fish, and the swimming in the summer is fantastic. It’s wilderness in the middle of the city.” BEST RUNNING TRAILS

BENT CREEK, N.C.

Carolina’s go-to trail system. Though the forest sees a lot of visitors, Bent Creek has over 30 miles of trails, enough to allow you feel alone in the woods. “Running and biking out there is amazing,” says Chilton Curwen.

COM E CELEBRATE WOM IN THE OUTDOORS! EN

B E S T E A S Y FA M I LY B AC K PAC K I N G T R I P

SAM’S KNOB, N.C.

Clocking in at only 3.2 miles round-trip, the hike to Sam’s Knob is easy enough for kids. Pitch your tent at the summit for amazing views of sunset and sunrise. “I camp at Sam’s Knob every year. That’s a tradition I have with my dad,” says Chilton Curwen. B E S T FA M I LY M O U N TA I N B I K I N G T R A I L S

JACKRABBIT TRAILS, N.C.

Located on the peninsula of Lake Chatuge near the North Carolina and Georgia border, this trail system has 15 miles of singletrack that’s great for all skill levels, beginner to advanced. “These are awesome trails for kids,” says Freese. B E S T AC T I O N - PAC K E D N AT I O N A L FOREST

A HIKING + BACKPACKING CONFERENCE FOR WOMEN

JULY 13-15, 2018

WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

CULLOWHEE, N.C.

MONONGAHELA NATIONAL FOREST, W.VA.

From the top-tier climbing at Seneca Rocks to the beautiful vistas at Spruce Knob, West Virginia’s highest peak, Monongahela National Forest will keep your family entertained and awed.

tr ai ld am es su m m it. co

B E S T DAY H I K E F O R O L D E R K I D S

DRAGON’S TOOTH, VA.

“I’m a big advocate for the Appalachian Trail,” says Dan Caston. “It’s a New Year’s Day tradition of ours to hike Dragon’s Tooth.” With it’s manageable distance (4.3 miles) and fun rock scramble to the peak, Dragon’s Tooth will keep your teen challenged and entertained. B E S T F O R N E W PA D D L E R S

BIG SOUTH FORK NATIONAL FOREST, TENN.

While some parts of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River may not be suitable for newbies, other areas are perfect for beginners. For older kids ready to test the water, the Cumberland Plateau is a great place to try your hand at whitewater paddling. BEST CLIMBING FOR KIDS

RED RIVER GORGE, KY.

“The Red River Gorge is a great area in its own right as far as world-class rock climbing,” says Eric Horst. But, because all of the approaches in the Red River Gorge are from the base, “it’s a good choice for people with kids,” he says.

PRESENTED BY

traildames.com

Bent Creek is Asheville, North A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

2018

AVLBREWERS.COM AVLBEERWEEK.COM | BEERCITYFESTIVAL.COM

THE GOODS

BEST KIDS' GEAR BRO PARENTS SHARE THEIR TRAIL-TESTED FAVORITES B Y G R A H A M AV E R I L L

f you add them all together, the Blue Ridge Outdoors staff has approximately 158 children, ranging in age from new newborns with that new baby smell to college kids who won’t talk to us anymore. So, we know a thing or two about outdoor gear for kids.

Most of us have spent countless hours in the backcountry, micro-adjusting baby backpacks or applying Band-Aids to blistered feet because of ill-fitting boots. Here, some of the parents at the magazine talk about the best pieces of kid’s gear in their quiver.

BOB REVOLUTION STROLLER $460

DEUTER KID COMFORT 3 $300

When we had our third little one I decided it was finally time to invest in a decent kid carrier. Previously I was using a cheap model found on Craigslist and my back was screaming at the end of every hike. While bulkier than other kid packs, the Kid Comfort 3 has a burly hip belt that actually keeps my chunky toddler in place while I'm trying to sidestep roots and rocks. It also has a padded backrest, which seems to keep my daughter happier for longer stretches. In this case, minimalism be damned. —Jedd Ferris, Senior Editor

The BOB enabled my kids to experience the wild woods at an early age. The rugged tread and wheels handled even the rockiest adventures. The pouch beneath the seat carried water bottles and snacks—along with rocks, pine cones, and other kid souvenirs from our adventures. The BOB was equally useful in town, enabling me to run while pushing the stroller on pot-holed roads strewn with broken glass. The ride was so butter-smooth that my kids usually fell asleep. Hand-activated drum brakes always provided safe, reliable control. The BOB Revolution is a durable, dependable stroller that has withstood a decade of heavy outdoor use. —Will Harlan, Editor in Chief

MINISHADES POLARIZED SUNGLASSES $20

Nothing can ruin a fun family outing like grumpy kids complaining about the sun in their eyes. These kids’ sunglasses are cute, colorful, safe, and are polarized with 100% UV protection. These are the only pair of sunglasses that my friend's son Porter will wear. They are so strong and flexible that he can’t break them, and they are so lightweight that he doesn’t mind wearing them. I feel good about protecting his eyes, especially at the beach and lake where the sun is powerful and reflecting off the water. —Martha Evans, Senior Account Executive

ENO INDIO DAYPACK $50

My son (8) loves his ENO Indio daypack. He carries it with him just about everywhere. It’s great for hikes and kid essentials when out in the woods (such as elaborate LEGO contraptions and NERF guns). The outer bungee straps make stashing a jacket easy and accessible. He also uses it as a school backpack, because internal dividers provide enough organization, so it can pull double duty, which is important for any piece of kid’s gear. —Dusty Allison, Digital Publisher

KEEN CHANDLER CNX $65

We’ve outfitted our kids with nothing but Keens since they were old enough to walk. We buy a pair new for the oldest kid and they last forever, so we can hand them down to the younger siblings. My oldest (4) is wearing the Chandler CNX right now. They look burly, but they’re actually light and comfy enough for everyday use. They have a great sole, so they handle trails just fine too. I also like the drawstring system instead of laces, which saves a lot of time. Bonus: they're also machine-washable. —Nick Noe, Sales Executive

BLACK DIAMOND WIZ KID HARNESS $35

Given half the chance, most kids will get into rock climbing. Luckily, there’s great kid’s climbing gear out there. Black Diamond takes the best features from their adult harnesses and shrinks them for kids. This thing is feather-light and incredibly comfortable…my kids will spend hours in it and never complain, which is a bit of a miracle. It’s also super adjustable so you can hang onto it as your kid grows. For shoes, we go with LA SPORTIVA STICKIT ($48), which offers great purchase on the rock, but are adjustable so they can grow with the kid as he/ she moves from one size to the next. So you’ll get two years out of each pair, instead of just one. –Graham Averill, Gear Editor

W IT H L I V E M U S I C B Y : Shakey Graves The Wood Brothers lettuce Deer Tick The Infamous Stringdusters Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Susto The Ghost of Paul Revere John Moreland Nicki Bluhm Walden Driftwood Elonzo Wesley

T U CKF E S T.OR G

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S P R E S E N T S T H E :

FAMILY ADVENTURE Vacation Guide

The

ELLIJAYS of North Georgia

SMALL TOWN. BIG ADVENTURES.

www.exploretheellijays.com | 706.635.7400 S P ECIAL ADVERTIS ING S ECTION

Release your inner daredevil at the Adventure Lodges of Georgia! Book your adventure today! Experience the parks from a birds eye view w ith high and low elements activi ties, zip lines an d super zip lines ov er 1,700 ft.

(770) 834-9149

www.historicb

anningmills.co

Begin your adventure today! Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge

(800) 573-9656

www.amicalolafallslodge.com

Unicoi State Park & Lodge

(800) 573-9659

www.unicoilodge.com

Unicoi State Park & Lodge

Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge

• 100 rooms

• 57 rooms

• 30 cabins

• 14 cabins

• 82 campsites

• 24 campsites

• Unicoi Restaurant (full service)

• Maple Restaurant (full service)

• Smith Creek Tavern

discover

the Peaceful and Adventurous side of the Smokies

800-525-6834

WE LL TAKE YOU THERE Experiencing the natural world with your children is the best way to build their confidence and create family memories. At Adventures on the Gorge, our passion is leading the world outdoors. It drives everything we do. Adventures on the Gorge is the ultimate adventure destination for your family. Whitewater rafting, zip-lines, climbing, rappelling and more. All perched on the rim of the spectacular New River Gorge.

NewRiverGorgeGetaway.com | 888.383.9933

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

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

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

MONTICELLO HIGH SCHOOL'S CYCLING TEAM

SCHOOLS ACROSS THE SOUTH ARE FIELDING MOUNTAIN BIKING, PADDLING, AND CLIMBING TEAMS AND REVOLUTIONIZING OUTDOOR ED. BY JESS DADDIO

In recent years, the experiential education movement has surged in popularity. We looked to our literal backyards of Charlottesville, Va., and Asheville, N.C., to see how the movement is providing more outdoor opportunities for middle and high schoolers and what that’s doing for the next generation of leaders. Pulling into the Miller School of Albemarle (MSA) campus outside of Charlottesville, Va., I get the distinct sense that I’ve entered the real-life equivalent of Hogwarts, except this is a school for cyclists, not wizards. Palatial brick buildings sprout from manicured lawns. A bell chimes overhead in a stately clock tower. Purpose-built trails beckon from the forest’s edge. And there, just beyond the swimming pool and the baseball diamond, rise the

Blue Ridge Mountains. “It would have been like having a school on the North Shore of Oahu and someone saying, maybe we should start a surf team,” says MSA Dean and Endurance Team founder Peter Hufnagel. “We’re sitting here with 1,600 acres of beautiful land perfect for trails, we have endless country roads surrounding campus. The setting really lent itself to this program.” Nearly 10 years ago, Hufnagel started the cycling program with the assistance of his wife Andrea Dvorak, who was racing bikes professionally at the time. That first year, Hufnagel was able to coax just a few offseason cross-country kids into riding some gravel roads, but from those humble beginnings has grown an internationally recognized program that now supervises 28 student-athletes from around the world. The clock chimes. It’s 3 p.m., and the bike rack outside of the Endurance Team building starts to stack up with Specialized bikes. Dvorak and Andy Guptill, the Endurance Team Director, confer with students as they don pink kits and top off tires. Lucas Mariutti, a

junior from São Paulo, Brazil, is ready to roll. He tells me he tried lots of sports—soccer, swimming, even BMX— but none resonated so much as road and mountain biking. “It’s a lot of suffering, but it’s fun,” he says. “It’s taught me to never give up, cliché as that sounds. That’s what cycling’s all about. Just keep going, even if it hurts.” Mariutti doesn’t have ambitions to go pro with his riding, but his teammate Katie Clouse is already riding professionally. Originally from Park City, Utah, the 16-year-old is one of the most decorated junior cyclists in the country. She has 21 National Championships under her belt and is consistently a top 10 contender in all three cycling disciplines—cyclocross, mountain, and road. She’s not heading out with the rest of the team today. Just days ago, she returned from the cyclocross World Championships in Valkenburg-Limburg, the Netherlands, where she finished in the top 25. She is the youngest rider in history to make a U-23 World Championship team. Of course, she mentions none

STEVE TRUMBULL/ CVILLE IMAGES

of that when I ask about some of her proudest cycling achievements. Overstatedly modest, charming, and bubbly, Clouse seems like any other teenage girl when she’s off the bike, but instead of going shopping on the weekends, she’s taking the cycling world by storm. “I had always done public schools before, but racing at a national level and traveling so much, teachers sometimes didn’t get it and they would be hard on me,” she says. “School is definitely still my top priority and the teachers here work really well with me.” Later this spring, Clouse will head to Europe with the National Team to race for two weeks against some of the world’s most elite road riders. Her journey embodies the pinnacle of achievement for a student-athlete on the MSA Endurance Team. And while the school’s cycling program is truly one of a kind, both nationally and internationally, Hufnagel was not the first to envision a high school adventure program. Back in the early 1960s, James G. "Pop" Hollandsworth developed a

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

The Outdoor Academy A Semester School for 10th Graders

Dear Mom and Dad, I can’t believe I get to go to school here for a whole semester! My classes are fun AND I’m learning more than I ever thought possible. Everyone seems so happy to be here. It’s hard to imagine that just two months ago I didn’t even know these amazing people. Now, I know them better than I’ve ever known anyone! I’m not sure which activities I enjoy most - backpacking, climbing, or paddling - but I’ve learned so much in all three. Oh, and I discovered I’m a leader! Thank you for letting me come to The Outdoor Academy! Love, Logan

The Outdoor Academy · (828) 877-4349 · admissions@enf.org

www.enf.org/outdooracademy

Located 30 mins. south of Asheville — Call to schedule a tour!

Outdoor Adventures for teens, college & adults

High School Students

Summer Adventure Program Backpacking  Climbing  Whitewater  3 week-long sessions in June 

College Students

Outdoor Program & Outdoor Adventure Team 

Learn & Expand Outdoor Leadership Skills   Earn Emory & Henry Scholarships   Semester A.T.rail Program 

Adults

Summer Hiking Workshop & Trail Days Celebration  Gain foundational knowledge to complete an overnight hike on Appalachain Trail: May 15-18 

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

Start Your Adventure Request Info. Visit Us. Apply. Jim Harrison | 276.698.7121

www.ehc.edu/BRO B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

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

mountaineering program at Asheville School, a private high school in Asheville, N.C. The program is still thriving under the leadership of Matt Christie, who says every student at the school is exposed to the outdoors from day one, whether they want it or not. “We take all of our freshman into the woods for three days for an orientation backpacking trip,” he says. “We live in an incredibly beautiful place and for a lot of these students, just to be in the woods and revel in that beauty is something they wouldn’t necessarily get if they just stayed here on campus.” Alumni of the Asheville School’s mountaineering program have the potential to walk into college with a breadth of hard skills, from combat rolls to anchor building. But at its core, says Christie, the mission of the program is to help students rise to their potential, and outdoor adventure sports by their very nature provide ample opportunities to gain that conviction. “We rely on our older students to help teach new students, and it’s a whole lot harder to teach something than just to do it,” he says. “I really think it allows them that leadership role within our program that they might not necessarily get in the classroom.” C LO S I N G T H E G A P : G O I N G P U B L I C

Though private schools like Miller and Asheville have been at the frontlines of providing adventure alternatives to traditional team sports, it’s clear the tide is changing. Within the past decade, charter and public schools nationwide have been adopting their own programs, from clubs and competitive teams to experiential academic offerings. For an industry criticized as being accessible only to the white, middle and upper-middle class, the explosion of outdoor opportunities for public school youth couldn’t be more welcome. The widespread success of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) in particular has skyrocketed the movement—just last year, every public high school in Virginia’s Albemarle County started NICA teams. That’s something Monticello High School’s head coach Sam Lindblom never could have anticipated just three years ago, when he launched Albemarle County’s first public high school NICA team. “We were charting new ground. We walked into it—I wouldn’t say blind—but I would compare us to the Bad News Bears,” he says. “We

were underfunded, understaffed, underskilled, and underequipped, but we did it.” With support from parents, local businesses, and Monticello’s athletic director, Lindblom was able to string together a 14-person team that first year. Now, they’re up to 17 riders, including 16-year-old Jay Beck. Like so many kids, Beck had tried traditional team sports like baseball, lacrosse, and soccer, but only because it was required by the private school he attended. When he got a mountain bike in middle school and started racing for Blue Ridge Cyclery’s youth development team, Beck says he finally felt like he belonged. “It’s something that has definitely changed my life,” Beck says. “There is really good sportsmanship toward other people. With other sports, competing against other people was a little harsh. There would be rivalries on the court or in the field. But in mountain biking, even if you’re on the opposite team, yeah you’re competing against them but they’re encouraging you at the same time.” Beck’s mother, Beth, has been able to witness that good-natured competition first-hand from the sidelines. She says that mountain biking, more than any other sport, has done so much for Jay in the way of building confidence, maintaining fitness, socializing, and striving for goals. “His coaches range in age quite a bit and they’re all out there mountain biking all the time,” she says. “That’s a great example to the kids that you can do this for a long time. Jay’s even talked about trying to ride in college, and that’s been a big motivating factor. He wasn’t too jazzed on thinking about college before.” Despite the success of the team and the overwhelming support from Monticello, working within the context of the public school system has its own set of challenges, namely, finding funding. Lindblom’s team is limited in size not due to a lack of interest but to the financial barrier that prevents many students from getting into the sport. “Here’s the only thing I don’t like about this program—it’s resource and equipment intensive,” he says. “You have kids who are winning these races on 20lb carbon fiber mountain bikes that are $3,000 to $5,000 each. That’s not attainable for a lot of people. And then these kids are growing so you buy this expensive bike and then they grow out of it so you have to buy another one. We gotta be able to

STEVE TRUMBULL/CVILLE IMAGES

bridge that financial gap and we’re not doing it yet.” It is this that Dr. Gordon Grant, Director of Education for the North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS), has yet to reconcile. Grant has decades of experience working both as an outdoor educator but also as a teacher and principal in North Carolina’s public schools. Grant is a staunch advocate for experiential education, and says that every child should be able to have the opportunity to get outdoors, regardless of socioeconomic background. “My outdoor experiences began like so many people in western North Carolina at Camp Mondamin and that was one of if not the most fundamental educational experiences of my life,” he says. “One of the reasons I really wanted to serve public education is, let’s face it, I led a privileged life. I wanted to be in public schools so I could share that and open up those opportunities to kids who might not immediately have that. What’s good for the privileged is good for all.” In the mid-1990s, Grant—then a public school teacher considered by many to be ahead of his time—applied for and received a meager $2,000 grant to establish a French Broad River curriculum. Throughout the year, he took his seventh grade class to the river’s headwaters and followed it downstream, incorporating academic

lessons in science, math, history, and language arts along the way. According to Grant, that course was the essence of low hanging fruit: teachers taking students on more field trips and sooner in the year. He considers it counterproductive to wait until the end of the year to take field trips; the earlier kids get out in the world and establish hands-on experiences that they can reference later, the better their retention and level of understanding will be. Fortunately for Grant, the administrations he worked for were supportive of his ambitious albeit unconventional goals. Yet even today, with countless studies proving the direct correlation between physical fitness and academic performance, public school teachers have their work cut out for them when it comes to convincing the powers-that-be that getting outside of the classroom is a positive thing. “Public schools generally have it harder because they serve many masters, and state legislators are passing laws that mandate a tremendous amount of attention to test results,” says Grant. “What it comes down to is how willing is the institution that you are in to commit resources to these experiences that will pay off as far as character attribute development?”

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

E VENT S April 14

• Fonta Flora Half Marathon - Nebo

• Fonta Flora 50K - Nebo

• Hellbender 100 Miler - Old Fort

21 • 3rd Annual Carolina Donut Festival - Marion 28 May 26

• Old Fort Pioneer Day - Old Fort • Memorial Day Car Show - Marion

June 2 • Livermush Festival - Marion 2-3

Details and other events are online. 888-233-6111 www.blueridgetravelers.com

• Pisgah Enduro Race - Old Fort

Responsibility. Sense of place. Leadership. Resolve. Discipline. These are just a few of the character attributes the next generation can be building through outdoor adventures of any kind, be they competitive or recreational.

THE OUTDOOR A C A D E M Y TA K E S LEARNING TO T H E M O U N TA I N S , L I T E R A L L Y.

FRENCH BROAD RIVER ACADEMY

GRIT AND GOOD GRADES

Over at Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville, N.C., Adventure Coordinator Doug White has the unconditional support of his peers. Though his main duties involve getting kids outdoors by riding bikes, swinging from the ropes course, or scaling the school’s climbing wall, he’s been known to (safely) put power tools in the hands of 11-year-olds and give them free rein to create. “Kids are capable of far more than adults and society give them credit for, and if you give them the opportunity to do it, nine times out of 10, they do it and they do it really well.” Like Grant, White worked in the public school system in Haywood County after teaching at-risk youth through Outward Bound. Unlike the traditional approach to education, Evergreen’s model of pursuing “a holistic education of mind, body, and spirit,” gives kids the chance to ask questions, make mistakes, and ultimately, take a small slice of autonomy over an education that for so long has been dictated to them. “Just the other day we had kids using flint and magnesium to make primitive fires. You can absolutely see that boost in confidence and self worth when a kid makes a fire. That kid is walking taller, smiling bigger, and moving through life in a different way.” White’s also found that kids who might not previously have expressed interest in learning eventually come around

THE OUTDOOR ACADEMY

when they’re given the freedom to ask questions and pursue what piques their curiosity. It’s that Socratic-like method of teaching that is at the core of Outdoor Academy. Based in Pisgah Forest, N.C., this unique live-in semester school for tenth graders encourages students to re-engage with their education and learn alongside their instructors. “Our class sizes have a one-to-four ratio, and what that means is there’s no place to hide, there’s no back of the classroom in an Outdoor Academy class,” says Outdoor Academy Director Roger Herbert. “All of our classes are delivered experientially to the largest extent possible with an interdisciplinary approach. What that does is it asks our students to reimagine that relationship between a student and a teacher. Especially when you go backpacking with them or rock climbing or paddling, you can have conversations on the trail that you’d never have in the classroom. It’s a real mentorship.” Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the outdoors knows the benefits of it are far and wide. In a group setting, adventures can establish social networks, develop teamwork and trust, and create an overall sense of belonging. Individually, outdoor activities can relieve stress, improve confidence, boost attention rates, and instill grit. But now, there are numbers to back up the claims that exercise in general improves academic performance, too.

Researchers at the University of Illinois studied eight- and nine-year-olds involved in an after-school exercise program. After a full school year, the results showed that the children in the after-school program were more physically fit and performed better at cognitive tasks than the control group of students. French Broad River Academy (FBRA) Executive Director and Founder Will Yeiser sees that very study playing out on his Asheville campuses each year. Initially started in 2009 as a school for boys, the private middle school now offers a girls’ program. Between the two campuses, the academy serves over 140 students. At least one day a week, the students are out of the classroom and in the field. To be clear, these field “lessons,” as opposed to “trips,” are not free days off from school. In every experience, whether it’s skiing the local mountain or paddling down the French Broad River, there is an academic tie-in. While other schools cite testing pressures as obstacles to getting kids out of the classroom, FBRA has the test scores to support Yeiser’s faith in the experience-based model. In the 2016/2017 school year, the percentage of sixth and seventh grade FBRA students who scored at or above the average grade level exceeded more than twice that of students statewide. Additionally, over 85% of FBRA graduates test out of freshman-level math and biology.

“The overwhelming feedback we get from our students about ninth grade is that it’s a breeze,” says Yeiser. “If anything, they are over prepared.” FBRA often gets a reputation as being a “hardcore outdoor bootcamp,” says Yeiser, but the reality is that many students go on to pursue completely different paths—alumni of the school include a Navy SEAL trainer and a musician, for example. “We encourage them to explore their passions and understand that failure is the ultimate teacher,” says Yeiser. “Finding out what you don’t like is equally as valuable as finding out what you do like.” TO O L S F O R L I F E

Blue Ridge School’s Director of Outdoor Programs Tony Brown is considered by many to be the grandfather of youth cycling in central Virginia. He was an instrumental voice in establishing the Virginia High School Cycling League, and for the past two decades, he has been building trails and introducing young guys to the outdoors at the Blue Ridge School in St. George, Va. More than the studies and the statistics, getting into the mountains is a spiritual matter for Brown. That’s why he requires all of his students to participate in a 12-hour, overnight solo on the school’s 800-acre property. “They’re a pretty teched-out generation,” he says. “If you can teach students the importance of a walk in

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

the woods, that’s something they can carry on for life.” The Blue Ridge School also has a NICA team, which competes in the spring and the fall against schools like Monticello and Miller. Some of his most successful students have been the stereotypical jocks who took his mountain biking course on a whim and found something on the bike that spoke to them in a way that, say basketball, never had before. “That win-or-lose pressure is not present in the outdoors,” says Brown. “The performance takes a backseat to the experience and the experience is so real that all kinds of other things come out—teamwork and leadership and taking a risk and facing a challenge or being afraid of something or doing it and falling down and getting back up. That’s what life is all about. It’s an up and down battle. You have to roll with the punches. Sports can teach you that as well, but in the outdoors, there’s not the pressure to win. Students need that.” Less than 100 miles east of Blue Ridge School’s campus, Richmond Cycling Corps (RCC) founder and former professional cyclist Craig Dodson is using the bike as a tool for building confidence and tenacity, sure,

but his main goal is of a much taller order: getting Richmond’s inner-city kids out of public housing. It’s a seemingly impossible task—Fairfield Court where Dodson does most of his outreach is one of Richmond’s poorest neighborhoods. Crime, violence, poverty, and drugs are daily realities for the kids who live here. Less than a mile from downtown Richmond, the neighborhood feels worlds away. After retiring from the pro circuit in 2010, Dodson started RCC, the nation’s only competitive cycling program designed specifically for youth living in public housing. He hustled for financial support from big corporations and private donors, secured bikes from Kona, spare parts from Shimano. That first year, undoubtedly at the hands of serendipity, Dodson was able to connect with a particularly troubled 15-year-old whose brothers ruled the streets. By the end of RCC’s first season, the boy was able to ride 100 miles in a day. The momentum has only continued to build. By 2012, Dodson’s team had three kids as young as 14 riding 100 miles in a day. Four years later, RCC was consistently ranking third in the state of Virginia, with two riders

Get

swiping state championship titles. Last fall, Dodson opened the doors to his very own private school, Legacy Academy. The school is situated just 10 blocks from where the students live, offers only mountain biking for sports, and for the six kids on roll call, serves as the last chance for them to graduate high school on time. “These kids are going through literally the worst schools in the state of Virginia and are living in the most marginalized communities,” he says. “We have two kids in lock up right now. A kid who raced all last year has a house bracelet on. Two kids were shot in the leg last year. It’s rough. It’s not all the hallmark stuff people see at the races where they show up and it looks good and wholesome. About 90% of the work we do has nothing to do with bicycles.” It’s tireless work. Most days, Dodson is more of a father figure than a high school mountain bike coach. He’s answered calls at 2 o’clock in the morning, rushed to the emergency room, bailed kids out of jail. But he can’t give up, and he won’t, because everybody else has. That’s why the RCC motto is, “Can’t stop. Won’t stop.” His all-in energy and tough love approach is contagious and, arguably,

exactly what these kids need. After working with some of them for eight years and watching the oldest in his program successfully graduate and move out of public housing, Dodson says there’s no doubt the bike is doing good, but it’s certainly not solving all of their problems. At the very least, the bike serves as an outlet and a unifying thread that brings together these otherwise fractured lives. “I could be on the airplane and if I sit next to a marathon runner, that runner and I are going to have something in common because we know what it’s like to suffer, to do this thing that is self-driven. It creates a common bond. These kids pick up on that. They each know what it’s like to suffer on that mountain bike and to train and to do it even if they don’t really like it. It’s counter-culture to every part of their environment, their school, their family, but that brings them together.” Dodson is not in the business of giving hand-outs to his students, which is why the bike is the textbook complement to his grassroots outreach: coaches can push you to ride, teachers can urge you to learn, but the only person who can pedal that bike or put in the work to graduate on

Upper James River

OUTSIDE and rejoice in the outdoors with your family. Scenic mountain towns built on southern hospitality, history and culture.

LexingtonVirginia.com RockbridgeOutdoors.com

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

EVER HEARD OF A SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL PROJECT INVOLVING LEADING THE GLASS MENAGERIE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF LOOKING GLASS? WE HADN'T EITHER. H E AT H A L E X A N D E R

time is the rider, the student. Down in Candler, N.C., social studies teacher Heath Alexander is teaching that very lesson through rock climbing. In the spring of 2015, Alexander started a climbing club, dubbed the Guild of Mountaineers-Enka (GOME), at Enka High School. The school sits just outside of Asheville, N.C., and at the base of Pisgah National Forest, but prior to Alexander’s club, his students had no idea what world-class recreational resources lay beyond their back doors. Creating a gear-intensive club on a shoestring budget hasn’t been easy. For starters, Alexander volunteers his time after school hours and sometimes even on the weekends. He is constantly applying for grants and hunting for opportunities to raise money. He even got his own commercial driver’s license so he could take a school bus without going through the rigmarole of reserving a driver. But for all of the extra work, the payoff has been tremendous. He’s had students at risk of failing out of school altogether find their home in the climbing club, graduate, and continue climbing in college. One student in particular progressed his climbing so much so that his senior project involved swapping leads with Alexander up The Glass

SC SATURDAY WALHALLA, _ _ _ _ APRIL 22, 2018 62

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

100 80 60 50 30 MILES

Menagerie (5.13a) at Looking Glass. “Throughout school, someone’s been holding your hand the whole time,” he says. “That’s why I like working with this age group. They’re close enough to being mature adults that they understand the seriousness of what they’re doing and they take ownership in that. Here’s this rock. It’s up to you to get to the top. You have to place your own gear and make your own anchors. Nobody’s going to take care of you if you can’t handle it, and that’s a good lesson to have in high school as you’re about to go into the world.” Responsibility. Sense of place. Leadership. Resolve. Discipline. These are just a few of the character attributes the next generation can be building through outdoor adventures of any kind, be they competitive or recreational. And whether the programming comes with a fat budget or is scraped together as a labor of love, the important point according to Dodson is to get kids out there. No excuses. “If you’re expecting the public school system to pick up the tab for a mountain bike team, I think you’re delusional. Funding should never be a reason to not do something. You don’t have to be on the best equipment. Just get kids started.”

ILRSC.COM REGISTER AT:

LOCALRACES.COM/ISSAQUEENA/ISSAQUEENAS-LAST-RIDE

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

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

L I F E ’ S BE T T E R U P H E R E.

GET TUCKER’D TUCK E R COUNTY WE S T VI R GI N IA

G E T T UC K E R E D.C OM | 8 0 0.782.2 7 75

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

CHEROKEE'S OUTDOOR

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

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

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

JACKPOT

CHEROKEE, NORTH CAROLINA, MAY VERY WELL BE THE NEXT BEST MOUNTAIN TOWN, AND YOU CAN THANK HARRAH’S CHEROKEE CASINO FOR THAT. BY JESS DADDIO I M A G E S C O U R T E S Y O F E A S T E R N B A N D O F C H E R O K E E I N D I A N S D E S T I N AT I O N M A R K E T I N G

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino never sleeps.

The 150,000-square-foot gaming venue is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When I wander in on an early Tuesday evening, there are already hundreds of people crowded around blackjack tables and posted up at the slots. I can’t decide if I’m overwhelmed or impressed. More than 1,000 machines are spread neatly beneath lighted glass structures that stretch from floor to ceiling. A two-story curtain of water falls from somewhere up above. Carpet cleaner and cigarette smoke hang heavy in the air. Waiters move through the crowds with trays full of drinks. As I weave in and out of the rows of machines beneath shifting shades of purple light, it becomes apparent that, at 27, I’m the youngest guest at the casino this evening. I’ve only been to a casino once before, so with little idea of where, or how, to start, I grab dinner instead. The Noodle Bar is packed. I find a lone seat at the bar between two couples, one of which promptly leaves. I order a glass of wine and an overpriced plate of lo mein drenched in soy sauce, feeling every bit a fish out of water, when an older gentleman takes a seat beside me. “I’ll have what she’s having,” he

tells the waitress. “That looks light. I’m trying to watch my sodium.” He tells me his name is John Smith—“now you can say you’ve met a real-life one”—and he's been driving from Knoxville, Tenn., to Harrah’s nearly every month since the casino opened back in 1995. There’s a youthful charm about him, despite the silver shock of hair that hangs low over his brow. He says his game of choice is blackjack, but the slot machines are fun, too. John doesn’t know much about Cherokee outside the walls of the casino. He never stays the night, even though the casino would comp his room (if that’s any indication of how often he frequents Harrah’s), and he only comes to town for the gaming. When I ask about his winningest trip to the casino, he gives me a blank stare. “Oh, I’ve never won anything. If I walk outta here only having lost $100, $150 bucks, that’s a pretty good night.” I down the rest of my drink to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. If I’ve done my shell-shocked math correctly, Mr. Smith has lost the equivalent of a year’s entry-level salary here. “Come on, I’ll show you around.” He leads me to a row of Game of Thrones-themed slot machines. After watching my $5 bet whittle away to nothing, it’s clear I don’t have the stomach for the gaming life. No matter. The casino is doing just fine without me. Last year, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino brought in over $300 million. The Harrah’s Cherokee location in particular has been the chain’s most profitable casino for over a decade, even before the 2009 referendum that allowed the casino to serve alcohol. That’s largely due to the fact that there are no Vegas-style casinos like Harrah’s Cherokee in the neighboring

C A N O U T D O O R R E C R E AT I O N H E L P D I V E R S I F Y T H E C H E R O K E E ' S C A S I N O - D E P E N D E N T E C O N O M Y ?

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

FIRE MOUNTAIN INFERNO

SAT JUN 16 ENDURO | SUN JUN 17 CROSS COUNTRY

EXPERT, SPORT, BEGINNER + JUNIOR CATEGORIES | RACE SHIRT + SPECIAL GIFT FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS | CASH AWARDS | BEER TENT | VENDORS +

CHEROKEE, NORTH CAROLINA

POST-RACE FOOD

We’re Back!

REGISTRATION FOR BOTH EVENTS NOW OPEN AT

GLORYHOUNDEVENTS.COM

ALL RUNNERS WILL RECEIVE OUR FAMOUS SWAG PACKAGE | RACE SHIRT | HOODIE | FINISHER MEDAL | POST-RACE MEAL

2018

FROM HARRAH’S CHEROKEE RESORT

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 CHEROKEE, NORTH CAROLINA

L E F T: T H E O U T D O O R D R A M A " U N T O T H E S E HILLS" HAS BROUGHT TOURISTS TO THE QUALLA B O U N D A R Y S I N C E 1 9 5 0 . R I G H T: O P E N E D I N J U N E 2 0 1 7 , T H E F I R E M O U N TA I N T R A I L S Y S T E M WA S C O N S T R U C T E D W I T H C A S I N O F U N D S .

states of South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. Initially, some of the 13,000-plus enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee who live on or near the Qualla Boundary were skeptical if not downright opposed to introducing gaming to the community. At the time, unemployment was at an all-time high. Drugs and crime were already rampant in the neighborhood, and tribal members worried that the presence of a casino would bring more organized crime to town. Then there was the issue of how to handle such a large influx of money. Many feared political corruption would sweep through the ranks of tribal leadership. Indeed, an independent investigation conducted last year by RGL Forensics found that former Principal Chief Michell Hicks and former Vice Chief Larry Blythe used Tribal credit cards for thousands of dollars’ worth of personal expenses. About the same time that report was released, Tribal Council impeached former Principal Chief Patrick Lambert for abusing his office for personal gain. Of the eight guilty articles, one specifically spelled out a contract between Harrah’s and the Chief in which the casino agreed to rent rooms from a hotel Lambert owned. And yet, for all of the scandal that has come as a direct or indirect result of the casino, it’s hard to ignore the benefits. Per the compact agreement decided by the state of North Carolina and Tribal Council, Harrah’s takes only three percent of its annual earnings. Half of the remaining amount is used for funding tribal programs, providing healthcare for every enrolled member,

and covering the cost of college for each of its youth. The other half goes right back to Cherokee members in the form of twice-yearly per capita checks. When the casino first opened, those checks didn’t amount to much. Still, for a seasonal tourist town with a high percentage of families living below the poverty line, it was something. Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources Joey Owle remembers the first “per cap” check his family received back in 1996. “It was $595. I remember it was the first time I ever remember seeing a one hundred dollar bill,” says Owle. “That improved a lot of lives around here.” Now, 20 years later, Cherokee families are making as much as $12,000 a year from those per cap distributions. It’s not enough to rely on solely—16.2% of Swain County residents still live below the poverty line, which is 3.5% higher than the national average—but according to a longitudinal study conducted by Duke University, the added income is having extraordinary effects on the overall mental and physical wellbeing of Cherokee’s youth. “The boost to the economy has such a ripple effect throughout the entire community,” says Cherokee Indian Hospital CEO Casey Cooper. “The tribe as a municipality not only has so many more resources now but the lives of individuals in my opinion are much improved because people have money, and because people have money, they have the ability to take care of those basic level needs at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy.” The hospital over which Cooper presides is one of the many examples

of gaming money being channeled back into the Cherokee community in a big way. Casino funds helped build the $82 million facility, paid for a new $26 million wastewater treatment plant, covered the multimillion dollar cost of building a LEAD-certified k-12 school, and last year, paid for the boundary’s first open-to-the-public trail system at Fire Mountain.

Cherokee’s Outdoor Recreation Economy

The trailhead to the 10.5-mile Fire Mountain trail system is tucked up on the hillside overlooking the Oconaluftee Indian Village. Opened just last summer in June of 2017, the trails look like they could have been cut in last week—even the trail kiosk still smells of fresh-cut wood and paint. The project, spearheaded by Tonya “Tinker” Jenks with the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, and Jeremy Hyatt, Secretary of Administration, took six years to bring from idea to fruition. Historically, the Cherokee have always catered to tourists—the outdoor drama “Unto These Hills,” which has been around since 1950, has long brought visitors to the Qualla Boundary—but the idea of focusing on something like mountain biking as an economic driver is altogether new to Cherokee. “When you’re not a gaming tribe, you have to be a resource tribe, but we have the best of both worlds,” says Joey Owle. “We could be doing a better job of managing our forests, and that’s where we’re getting to is looking at that vision of what we have, conserving it, preserving it, and making money off of it as well.”

Owle is tall and slender with quarter-size gauges in both of his ears. He’s sharp, a quick talker who sometimes spills out so much information in one sentence that it’s hard to keep up. At 29 years old, Owle is one of the many Cherokee millennials who took that opportunity to receive a free college education, lived off of the boundary for a few years, but then came home to serve his tribe. As a kid, Owle used the footpaths and game trails here to get to his friends’ houses on other parts of the boundary. Cherokee still maintains those six communities—Big Cove, Birdtown, Paintown, Wolftown, Yellowhill, and Snowbird, which is located nearby in Graham County—but things are different now. The trails are largely overgrown, parents are less apt to let their children roam free, and once-large tracts of property have become fractionalized. “When you look at making a trail system now, you may be cutting across 30 or 40 different possessory holders’ lands, and that’s somebody’s private property. That’s trespassing,” That’s also one of the challenges of expanding any trail opportunities for the public, says Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Natural Resources Manager Mike LaVoie. If the tribe doesn’t have a large enough tract of land within the boundary, it would have to arrange for land easements from possessory holders or purchase the property outright. It’s not impossible, he says, but there’s a long way to go. Energy has already been building around the Fire Mountain trails. Later this month, the trail system will play

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

Trying to reach active outdoor enthusiasts, adventure seekers, and gear junkies?

Full Day & Half Day Guided Fly Fishing 101 Classes / 201 Classes Pickens, SC | 864.507.2195 southernao.com

For more information on advertising in BRO or on blueridgeoutdoors.com: DUSTY ALLISON | DUSTY@BLUERIDGEOUTDOORS.COM MARTHA EVANS | MARTHA@BLUERIDGEOUTDOORS.COM

A Stunning Asheville Bed & Breakfast

Full Service Fly Shops in Asheville &Weaverville

Sourwood Inn sits on one hundred acres of hilly terrain at an elevation of 3,200 feet. Each of Sourwood Inn’s guest rooms has a private balcony overlooking the Reems Creek Valley, a wood- burning fireplace and a tub with a view. It was created to provide a retreat where our guests can experience the delights of the Blue Ridge Mountains and still easily access the arts and sophistication of downtown Asheville.

Curtis Wright Outfitters has some of the region’s best guides, available for full- and half-day trips fishing for trout and smallmouth bass. The two shops offer anglers essential fly fishing gear and outdoor apparel from the best brands. They also offer a falconry experience if you’d like to work with birds of prey! Customers will also find a friendly shop atmosphere where folks enjoy sharing their fishing stories. So, stop in and say hello.

S OURWOO D I N N .CO M • 828.25 5 .0 6 9 0

CU RT I S W RI G HTO U T F I TTER S. C OM • 8 2 8 . 64 5. 8 7 0 0

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / M O U N TA I N E D I T I O N

ER OKE

It’s relevant businesses like Bradley’s fly fishing outfitter that Owle hopes to see more of in the years to come. Cherokee is arguably already ahead of the game compared to many parts of rural Appalachia looking to adopt an outdoor economy—the tribe retains its younger population, has a few key employers, offers ample lodging and restaurants (albeit fast food chains) and cultural activities, and sits right at the gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. What the tribe really needs, says Owle, is to allow the sale of alcohol on the boundary. “As a young person, I want the opportunity to go to a local brewery or to go to a good restaurant and get a good beer,” he says. “What we have is this older generation which, I understand, believes alcohol has had a tremendously negative impact on native communities. Well, that’s true for a lot of places, not just native communities.” “We don’t charge anything to use our trails, so people all over the Southeast are hearing about our amazing trail system, they’re coming here, they’re riding it, and then they’re going to Bryson City to have a beer,” says Principal Chief

Beer and Bike Shops

spent by folks who come here to fish.” With pristine headwaters protected by the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Cherokee may very well have one of the best trout fisheries in the region. Over 30 miles of tribal waters are stocked on the boundary, with over 60 miles of headwater streams available to enrolled members only. The tribe also hosts annual casting tournaments like the Rumble in the Rhododendron, Casting for Hope, and the Talking Trees Children’s Trout Derby. “I grew up fishing here in the Big Cove community,” says Fly Fish Cherokee owner and guide Michael Bradley. “I’ve been fishing forever. It’s great because you can fish all year here. I’ve caught a few fish that are 28 inches.” Bradley is only 27 years old, an enrolled member, and a man of very few words, but he’s making a big name not only for himself but for the entire Cherokee community. Bradley’s held a top 10 spot on Fly Fishing Team USA for the past year and a half and has traveled all over the country to compete in national events. When he’s not competing or organizing local fishing tournaments, he’s commercially guiding clients on Cherokee waters 300 days out of the year.

host to the inaugural women’s only Dirty Maiden Enduro Series. It’ll be another few years before the full economic impact of the trail system can be realized, but if the tribe’s fishing tourism is any indication of the potential success, the future is looking good. Launched back in the 1960s by what was then the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (now U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Cherokee’s trout program brings almost 50,000 anglers annually to the boundary. The program stocks more than 230,000 pounds of fish every year, which anglers can get a taste of for as little as $10 per day. Four years ago, the Natural Resources Department conducted an economic impact study on the fishing program and found that anglers brought in an average of $26 million annually, which makes trout fishing the second largest revenue generator for the Eastern Band of Cherokee after Harrah’s casino. Fishing tourism additionally supported upwards of 300 part-time and full-time jobs. “The fishing program has been a really great boon to tourism,” says LaVoie. “Fish and trout in general have been very important to Cherokee history and culture for centuries, but also economically to the tribe today. There’s a multiplier effect of eight for every dollar

E NUMB

AV E R AG E A N N UA L CASINO REVENUE $300-500 MILLION

AV E R AG E T R I B A L B U D G E T $120 MILLION

ENROLLED MEMBERS A P P R OX I M AT E LY 1 4 ,0 0 0

2 0 1 6 TOTA L P E R C A P EARNINGS PER MEMBER $ 1 1 ,7 0 0

ENROLLED MEMBERS E M P LOY E D BY C A S I N O ~600

THIRD TIME IS

A CHARM. Three Locations to serve you visit our new store in Cherokee!

motionmakers.com

Asheville 878 Brevard Road Cherokee 17 Big Cove Road Sylva 36 Allen Road

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

018 May 11-13, 2 This on the road. w o h s s it g full takin irginia for a V ass Boogie is , P n a h D ig f H o e s g As dow ual Blue Rid nd off-road. ground, Mea a p n m o a C th o le The 5th Ann b il s lv il for route gather at W l-sport route a t motorcycle u s d e b e n â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s o ia year we will d in n g tes a on. Southern Vir on-road rou o tw g ay Foundati n w weekend of ri e rk ff a o P e e b g l id il lue R t we w 14766 enefit the B b kets-429594 in years pas s ic d -t e ie e g c o o ro p -b g. All igh-pass your choosin -blue-ridge-h 18 om. te.com/e/20 ri tb n e v e passboogie.c : h it ig is h v @ , fo ts e in pport! k t contact us a To order tic ou for your su tes. Thank y ation, please upda ore inform e for regular g a p k To request m o o b ce isit our Fa Or you can v

bard

sy of Perry He

Photo courte

G THE

BENEFITTIN PRESENTED

TOP: ENROLLED TRIBAL MEMBER M I C H A E L B R A D L E Y TA K I N G A D VA N TA G E O F T H E C H E R O K E E ' S P R I S T I N E WAT E R WAY S . B O T T O M : MUSEUM OF THE CHEROKEE INDIAN.

Richard Sneed. “We’re going to have to have alcohol sales. We’ve got to keep them here to spend their money.” This year, the tribe will vote on an alcohol referendum. Both Owle and Chief Sneed agree that there seems to be a growing acceptance of alcohol among tribal members, even those who are personally opposed to drinking. Given the community’s proximity to Beer City, U.S.A., aka Asheville, N.C., the tribe’s adoption of alcohol is only a matter of time. Until then, Cherokee has plenty to celebrate. Next month, Motion Makers Bicycle Shop and Outdoor 76 will open the first outdoor outfitter on the boundary. The joint establishment, which will be located in a yellow house at the edge of town, will feature an open design with Motion Makers on the first floor and Outdoor 76 on the second floor. For Motion Makers owner Kent Crandall, the partnership is the perfect fit. Crandall says he had always wanted to open up a location in Cherokee, but hadn’t been actively pursuing it until the daughter of a landlord reached out to him specifically because her father wanted an outdoor business in his retail space. “We knew this would be a real opportunity,” says Cranford. “Our shop is right at the beginning, literally, of the Oconaluftee River Trail. There’s already a community of people here who we know are getting more active and already utilizing our Sylva store

as their access point for bikes. To have the opportunity to come into a community that is clearly opening its arms to the outdoors but doesn’t have all of the resources, it’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.” The Cherokee location of Motion Makers will be the store’s third site and will offer the company’s largest rental fleet yet, including cruisers, mountain bikes, and even e-bikes, which are allowed on Fire Mountain’s trails. It certainly feels like fortuitous timing, for Cherokee, for Cranford, and for Outdoor 76 co-owners Cory McCall and Rob Gasbarro. “It’s an untapped market,” says McCall. “There are 12 million people a year visiting the Smokies. As a whole, we want to service those people visiting, but also the community of Cherokee. We love our town of Franklin to death, but we’re excited to open another location and gain the trust of this new community. Community involvement is ingrained in our business, and we want to be able to translate that here.” Finally, it seems Cherokee is opening its eyes to the golden egg it’s been sitting on for hundreds of years. While the casino has certainly helped put Cherokee on the map, El Camino Motel owner Lambert Wilson is grateful to see the tribe’s priorities shifting. “Gambling is so lucrative and they make so much money, but the tribe has realized that you can’t put your eggs in one basket. You’ve got to diversify.”

A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

TRAIL MIX BLUEGRASS IN BALTIMORE

PRINE TIME

Baltimore might not seem like an obvious bluegrass hotbed, but the city has a long history with the high lonesome sound. Back in the mid- 20th century, Appalachian migrants moved to the Maryland city looking for industrial work with instruments in tow. It wasn’t long before a thriving scene formed and included some of the genre’s pioneers, including Del McCoury. It was in Baltimore that McCoury met Bill Monroe and eventually was offered the opportunity to become one of his Blue Grass Boys. For more on this history and how the city influenced the evolution of string band sounds read Tim Newby’s book Bluegrass in Baltimore: The Hard Drivin’ Sound and Its Legacy, released back in 2015. At the end of the month Baltimore’s legacy of slick solos and sweet harmonies will be revived at the annual Charm City Bluegrass Festival (charmcitybluegrass.com). Approaching its sixth year, the two-day event (April 27-28) at Druid Hill Park features acts that respect tradition but also favor a progressive edge. The Travelin’ McCourys, a band formed by Del’s sons, top the bill on the festival’s first night, while popular jug-punk outfit the Devil Makes Three headlines the second. Additional acts include the Steeldrivers, Billy Strings, Jeff Austin Band, Larry Keel, and Front Country.

SINGER-SONGWRITER RETURNS WITH FIRST RECORD OF NEW MATERIAL IN 13 YEARS BY JEDD FERRIS

JOHN KURC

LEGENDARY SINGER-SONGWRITER JOHN PRINE IS set to release his first album of new material in 13 years on April 13. He made the new record, The Tree of Forgiveness, at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A with current goldentouch producer Dave Cobb, who’s helmed the most recent work of Americana heroes Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell. Through a career that has spanned the better part of five decades, Prine has remained a beloved tunesmith for his heartfelt and witty blue-collar story songs, but he’s enjoyed a particular resurgence lately, due to being celebrated by younger artists. Prine helped Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys write songs for his last solo record, and during his set at last summer’s Newport Folk Festival, Prine was joined by an all-star cast that included Margo Price, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. It’s no surprise, then, that special guests were willing to help Prine with his new record. Auerbach returned 72

the favor and helped write two songs, and there are appearances by Isbell and his wife, singer-songwriter and fiddler Amanda Shires. The first unveiled single, “Summer’s End,” is a wistful ballad that features gentle harmony backing vocals from Brandi Carlile. In total the album features 10 new tracks, half of which were co-written with Nashville song scribe Pat McLaughlin, who’s frequently joined Prine on the road. Now 71, Prine will support the new album with one of his longest tours in years. As he covers most of the country through December, he’ll make multiple stops in the Blue Ridge region: May 11 at Beaver Dam Amphitheater in Beaver Dam, Ky. (with Tyler Childers), June 1 at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va. (with Price), July 14 at the Master Musicians Festival in Somerset, Ky., and October 3 at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville, Tenn. (with Kelsey Waldon).

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

NEW ARTIST ALERT

Abe Partridge

Fans of Prine will appreciate the sharp storytelling of Abe Partridge—an emerging Alabama folk singer with a knack for spinning gritty gothic tales and a rich gravelly voice akin to Tom Waits. At 37, Partridge has already lived quite an interesting life. He moved to Kentucky in his 20s and studied to be an evangelical minister. When the calling faded he joined the Air Force and served in Qatar. After returning home to Alabama, he started indulging the urge to share some

B AC KG R O U N D :

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

of his experiences in song, blending a mix of influences that range from grunge to blues masters like Son House. A performance at the Gulf Coast Songwriter Shootout led to Nashville connections and the recording of his first record, White Trash Lipstick, which came out in 2016. Partridge’s second record, Cotton Fields and Blood for Days, was released in January. K E Y T R AC K S : “Ride Willie Ride” is a mellow twangy rumination about past mistakes that pays tribute to another one of Partridge’s influences, Willie Nelson. The distorted “I Wish I was a Punk Rocker” comes more from the Jack White side of the roots spectrum, as Partridge delivers a hillbilly-garage stomper about feeling like a misfit.

Partridge mainly plays around home in Mobile, Ala., but he’s starting to venture out to folk-friendly rooms around the South. He’ll play Tybee City Limits in Tybee Island, Ga. (June 9) and Barley’s Taproom in Knoxville, Tenn. (July 3).

SEE HIM:

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

May 3-6

RIDE BIKES. DRINK BOURBON.

Steve Earle & The Dukes • Rising Appalachia Chicano Batman • Ibibio Sound Machine Donna the Buffalo • Driftwood • AJ Ghent Ryan Montbleau • Big Mean Sound Machine Kinobe & Dance of Hope • Uma Galera Caique Vidal & Batuque • Preston Frank The Fritz • Dom Flemons • & so many more...

BOURBON COUNTRY

BURN

THREE DAYS OF World-Famous Bourbon Distilleries

World-Class Back Roads World-Renowned Horse Farms

Fun for Everyone!

rs’ Camping • Yoga • Kids Area DAYS Music Love Food trucks • Craft vendors • Healing Arts STAGES Paradise Sustainability Dance & Music Workshops

SEPT 28TH – SEPT 30TH, 2018 LEXINGTON, KY BourbonCountryBurn.com

WWW.

SHAKORI HILLSGRASSROOTS.ORG 72 Rolling Acres in Chatham County, NC

The area’s largest selection of furniture & mattresses.

BRISTOL 3325 Lee Highway

KINGSPORT JOHNSON CITY 1535 East Stone Drive 3026 East Oakland Ave www.grandhomefurnishings.com

M O U N TA I N E D I T I O N / A P R I L 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

LAST WORD

AGAINST TROPHIES WHY PARTICIPATION MEDALS ARE UNDERMINING WHAT MATTERS MOST ABOUT SPORTS BY JOSH FORESTER

WHEN IT COMES TO YOUNG CHILDREN, TROPHIES can be a valuable tool. Alarmingly, however, participation trophies are no longer limited to kindergartners' field day events and kids’ fun runs. Today, adults circle around Monday-morning water coolers across America, proudly wearing their medals bestowed upon them via pre-race schwag bag from the registration tent of the new fad obstacle course race. Others wear shirts from the latest distance running event, during which they never even toed the starting line because the race offered a “Ghost Runner” registration option (they simply paid the entrance fee from their couches and were shipped an event shirt as if they actually ran the race). Awarding adults with trophies for participation in an event sends a mixed message. Given the pervasiveness of this phenomena across all realms of competition, it is not surprising when even adults are disappointed when success does not come immediately in other areas of life. We are blurring lines. We are stealing valor. We are losing our real life folk heroes. True champions are now underground bands, while we treat weekend warriors like major venue headliners. We award any semblance of effort or worse—the mere state of existing in spirited costume—as if it were accomplishment. In this new world, impostery becomes synonymous with mastery. When I was younger, I earned three state champion titles in what is considered the triple crown of high school distance running: the mile and 2-mile Track & Field races and the 5K Cross Country race (the latter of which I won by running on a broken ankle). As an adult, I won a National Championship title in the niche, ultraendurance sport of Adventure Racing, but only after topping off five years of heavy involvement and competition with two more of intensive training specifically for the event. During the ten months before the event, I logged over 700 hours of training. 74

KEVIN HOWDESHELL

Today, everybody gets a trophy, and nobody learns resilience in the face of adversity. There is something depressing about accepting the same award as the guy who rolled off the couch the morning of to accept his. Or consider accepting the same award after a year of training for a competition that you received the year prior sans twelve months of blood, sweat, and tears. The sweat, setbacks, and sacrifices associated with chasing the podium are all part of the eventual success that participants and those stopping after having once or twice “given it their best” will never know. I want to be clear that there are several laudable accomplishments shy of winning, and jubilation may very well be justified based on the individual, his or her goals, and where these milestones lie on his or her path to attaining them. But, let’s not continue down this path of blurring the lines— participation and earning a spot on the podium are often NOT the same thing. We adults replaced our sense of intrinsic value in challenging ourselves with the extrinsic rewards we once received to encourage endeavoring in the first place. We put away our hearts’

B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / A P R I L 2 0 1 8

true ambitions and replaced them with what now has become cheap plastic. Misty Copeland, at the age of thirteen, began ballet late in life as a teenager. Her lack of genetics for it, ever-present throughout her career, was immortalized by a viral Under Armour commercial, which retold her rejection by a dance academy because she lacked “the right feet, achilles tendons, turnout, torso length, and bust." Twenty years after she began, she was promoted to principal ballerina at American Ballet Theatre, becoming the first African-American woman to hold that role in ABT’s 75-year history. Naturally talented athletes who have easily secured the podium early in life more often than not give it up because they lack the necessary work ethic to retain it of ambitious up-and-coming challengers. With time as a factor, it is not only possible but probable that someone born without innate aptitude but earnestly working toward it climbs the podium--happily, I might add. Being wise in implementation, passionate in execution, and giving it “your actual best” with consistency and perseverance over time are the hallmarks of a champion. B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S

Champions present and future disdain participation trophies because people who put in a champion's effort do not want that effort bucketed with the laziness of someone who simply gets off the couch on a Saturday morning. I get it, though. When it comes to competition, we have a genuine and good-natured desire for equality of opportunity. Nonetheless, we cannot allow it to overshadow the inequality of outcome inherent in the very nature of competition. We cannot lump all effort into the same category. We cannot continue to normalize accomplishment to the least common denominator among us. We have allowed participation trophies to become the norm and accept them as representative of effort worthy of the podium. John Wooden, arguably the most successful coach to have ever lived, won ten NCAA Championships during his 12-year stay as UCLA’s head basketball coach. When asked about his “secrets” to success, he famously advised, “Don’t mistake activity with achievement.” Remarkably, we consciously decide to do precisely that: we litter competitors’ mantles with participation trophies and in doing so award the achievement of mere activity. We need to retract this everyone's-a-winner-mentality ritual, replace it with individual pride in personal accomplishment, and restore a collective sense of scale on what it takes to stand atop a podium and receive a trophy. We need to acknowledge what those on the podium already know-that there is a progression to mastery. Every champion of his or her arena begins by being a participant, but what differentiates a champion from the other participants is that venturing into something new is a foothill, not the summit. Glorifying false summits, as we currently do with participation trophies, has diluted not only the value of the trophy, but the definition of the word. That a trophy, which by definition is “awarded as a prize for victory or success” in competition, should be granted simply for participation has misled us in what is required to truly reach the pinnacle of accomplishment. In our attempt to build confidence and stave off failure, we have set ourselves up for it should we ever need to truly apply ourselves, inside or outside of the sports arena. And so, going forward, let us congratulate those yet in the foothills with a pat on the back, not a trophy. 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