KENTUCKY’S OUTDOOR PLAYGROUND W h et h er you s e ek t h e s e re nit y of t h e m o u n t a in s or t h e r u s h ing of ra p i d s , you f i n d i t a ll in mcc rear y cou n t y b e ca u s e
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Come explore Patrick County, Virginia. Picnics at a covered bridge or along the Blue Ridge Parkway, canoe rides, traditional mountain music, artisan studios, local wineries, bed and breakfasts, camping, hiking, mountain biking, and fishing are just a few of the attractions awaiting you. From the rugged outdoors to 5-Star luxury, there is so much to discover in Patrick County. www.visitpatrickcounty.org
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October 2017 AUSTIN SCHMITZ
DEPARTMENTS 8 QUICK HITS Stringbean sets new A.T. speed record • Bear roams U.Va. • New N.C. natural area 10 THE DIRT Chasing waterfalls • Appalachia’s newest state park • 652-mile record swim on the Tennessee River • Sunken secrets • Beer runs 27 THE GOODS Jennifer Pharr Davis’s go-to gear for her Mountains to Sea thru-hike 50 TRAIL MIX Farm boy Scott Miller returns with a new record COVER PHOTO BY
20 CLASSIC COLOR Take the scenic route on your next leaf peeping adventure with these 10 iconic drives and roadside hikes. 33 THE PHOTO ISSUE Fourteen top regional outdoor photographers share their unfiltered stories of hard work, stubborn perseverance— and sometimes, damn good luck—that goes into getting the shot (and how you can get it, too). 43 BOONE'S BIG BUY After more than 30 years of climbing access issues in the High Country, Boone finally has its very own boulderfield. 47 SOLE SISTERS Two college roommates from Atlanta started jogging—and launched a global movement to inspire AfricanAmerican women to run with them.
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The heart of the Eastern Panhandle Martinsburg-Berkeley County, WV
LEAH WOODY The Eastern Shore for biking and kayaking. The air has cooled off but the water is still warm, and the salt marsh grasses turn lovely colors. HANNAH COOPER Hiking and leaf peeping in Shenandoah National Park. DANIELLE TAYLOR At my uncle's century farm, we shake apples out of trees and make cider using an old press. GORDON WADSWORTH Hang on, I need to step on that VERY crunchy looking leaf. DUSTY ALLISON Prime time for offtrail scrambling and exploration in the Smokies and Linville Gorge. Fewer bugs, snakes, and thorn-porn.
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ANDREW KORNYLAK Hunt native brook trout in remote streams. RANDY JOHNSON Breakfast hike: get creative with packing a gourmet, piping hot breakfast and find a bright spot to soak in the views and savor great food. TIMO HOLMQUIST Hiking to Mount Sterling Fire Tower to watch the leaves change. Hard hike, but totally worth the effort. EVANS PRATER Hike a section of the Appalachian Trail. It's just perfect during the day, and cold enough to get cozy in your sleeping bag at night. MASON ADAMS Trail running through fallen leaves while trying not to twist an ankle on hidden roots and rocks. JENNIFER PHARR DAVIS Catching the fall foliage as a family on the Mountains to Sea Trail.
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JESS DADDIO Packin' in hot rum and apple cider to watch the Lord of the Fork. JOHNNY MOLLOY The ultimate East Tennessee Weekend—hike the Smokies on Friday, and then see the Tennessee Volunteers play football on Saturday. WILL HARLAN Shut-In. No better way to soak in the scenery than a 17.8-mile run on a classic trail along the Parkway.
QUICK HITS
10 .17
SHORTS BLUE RIDGE BRIEFS BY JEDD FERRIS
'STRINGBEAN' SETS NEW A.T. SPEED RECORD
Joe "Stringbean" McConaughy broke both the self-supported and supported A.T speed records for the Appalachian Trail in early September, completing the 2,190mile trail in 45 days, 12 hours, and 15 minutes. His time was almost 10 hours faster than Karl Meltzer's record set last year. However, unlike Meltzer, Stringbean hiked the trail self-supported, with no crew or outside assistance. He averaged 50 miles per day. Stringbean dedicated his thru-hike to his cousin, who passed away from neuroblastoma in 2012 at the age of two. Stringbean, 26, previously crushed the Pacific Crest Trail record in 2014. He was also a Division I cross country and track runner for Boston College. Stringbean suffered knee and quad injuries along the way but battled through them to reach Katahdin. RUNNER HONORS LATE WIFE WITH MARATHONS
When Tom Guetzloff ’s wife Christine was losing her battle with ovarian cancer, she made her husband promise he would get in shape so he would be able to take care of their children. After Christine passed away in 2003, Guetzloff, a chemistry professor at West Virginia State University, kept his word and started running to get healthy and deal with the grief of losing his wife, who was only 34. The therapeutic benefits of running stayed with him, and in the first two years after Christine’s death, Guetzloff ran 10 marathons. “As I was 8
illustration by WADE MICKLEY
running and it went on, it sorted of shifted from being about Christine, and more about me wanting to run these for myself,” he told Runner’s World in a recent profile. A decade and a half later Guetzloff is still running. In June he completed the goal of running a marathon in all 50 states by finishing the Hawaii Marathon, and he’s not stopping. To date he’s run 65 marathons and he’ll be on the course at the Marshall University Marathon in his home state of West Virginia in November.
Gazette-Mail. Thirty additional sites were affected by the flooding, which also caused significant damage near the Greenbrier’s southern terminus in Caldwell. Now completely reopened, the lengthy trail runs along the river on a former rail bed, starting at its northern terminus in Cass. Operated by the West Virginia State Parks systems, it is a popular long trail for cyclists, hikers, and cross-country skiers, as well as anglers accessing sections of the river.
GREENBRIER TRAIL RE-OPENS AFTER EXTREME FLOOD DAMAGE
Just before students returned to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in late summer, a black bear spent an early August day wandering around the school’s expansive grounds. The university’s police department received multiple calls about bear sightings throughout the afternoon and photos started surfacing on social media. Eventually David Kocka, a wildlife biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, found the male
It took more than a year to repair large portions of the 78-mile Greenbrier River Trail in West Virginia, following large landslides caused by flooding in the summer of 2016. An 11-mile section of the trail in Greenbrier County had some of the most significant damage after being buried “under a 600-foot-high, 300-footlong pile of rocks, mud, trees and brush,” according to the Charleston
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BEAR ROAMS UVA GROUNDS
bear near the U.Va. children’s hospital looking confused and tired. Kocka tranquilized “UVA Bear,” which many started calling the animal, and after a proper amount of time, released him on national forest land west of Harrisonburg, Va. 2,900
Number of acres in North Carolina’s new Bobs Creek State Natural Area, located in Marion. The land was purchased by a generous conservationist, Tim Sweeney of Cary, N.C., and is being transferred to the state with help from the nonprofit Foothills Conservancy. The heavily forested parcel that holds rare plant species was designated as a natural area, instead of a state park, to help preserve the land’s natural resources. North Carolina State Parks spokeswoman Katie Hall told the Asheville Citizen-Times, “We still want the public to enjoy it if possible, but with low impact recreation like hiking that is not expected to have a large impact on the ecosystem.”
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The 23rd Annual
Artisans Studio Tour Charlottesville, Virginia and Surrounding Counties November 11 & 12, 2017 • 10 am – 5 pm Forty-five artisans will showcase their work in 24 studios. Each studio will provide local refreshments.
OCTOBER 5
Experience fine craft • Free, self-guided tour Enjoy Central Virginia in the fall
Visit www.artisanstudiotour.com for information and maps.
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CHASING WATERFALLS
JENNIFER LOOW HAS SEEN 681 WATERFALLS. KEVIN ADAMS HAS MORE THAN 1,000. WHAT ARE WATERFALLERS' FAVORITES? BY DAN DEWITT JENNIFER LOOW SAID IT BARELY MATTERED
that the waterfall she was on her way to see—Lichen Falls, in Nantahala National Forest’s Panthertown Valley—had yet to be added to her lifetime list of 681. Waterfalls are too beautiful and varied for mere tallying, she said. They can cascade or trickle, roar or sing. They flow over smooth boulders or craggy, fern-covered ledges. They create their own weather of mists and breezes. They inspire “almost spiritual” contemplation, she said, and give her such a rush that, on the short bushwhack leading to her first sight of Lichen, she wove through rhododendrons like a running back. “Yeah!” she said, after climbing an outcropping at the base of the falls—“682, baby!” For Loow, 43, seeking out and photographing waterfalls is a “lifestyle,” she said, the goal of tough, bushwhacking hikes she schedules at least once a week and sometimes squeezes in before her evening waitressing shifts at a Hendersonville, NC restaurant. Visiting waterfalls is hardly new, but Loow and other members of what she calls the “waterfall community” have in recent years transformed it into a pursuit like peak-bagging or birding, one that values doggedly collecting and counting new sightings. There is no registry of its enthusiasts, no way to count their numbers, but they can be easily identified. They dislike sunshine, the glare of which ruins waterfall photographs, and have no problem wading hip-deep in cold water. Their 10
HIKERS CAN WALK SAFELY BEHIND 75-FOOT DRY FALLS OUTSIDE OF HIGHLANDS, N.C.
hearts pound at the sight of lines on a map—blue streams meeting bunched topographical intervals—that promise a trip to an unnamed waterfall. Their cars rack up huge miles on mountain roads and, post-hike, are littered with trekking poles, camera tripods, and damp clothes and towels. Images of waterfalls dominate their Facebook feeds, which also, sometimes, display updates on other waterfall seekers’ lifetime lists. This can inject an unwelcome strain of competition to a pursuit that should be all about appreciation, said Kevin Adams, author of the North Carolina Waterfalls guidebook. “Chest beating,” he calls it. But mostly lists do for waterfall hunters what they do for birders and climbers—propel people to explore nature. “It’s overwhelmingly a great thing,” said Adams, 56, of Waynesville. “I think it’s wonderful that there are so many passionate people like Jennifer
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out there chasing waterfalls and using them to enrich their lives.” ADAMS IS IN A BETTER POSITION THAN
anyone to talk about the evolution of what he sometimes calls the “sport” of hunting waterfalls. His book is its bible and dog-eared, highlighted copies often make up part of the clutter in waterfall seekers’ cars. After the first edition was published in 1994, he received notes from the pursuit’s lonely pioneers, including an old man who sent him a hand-written list of more than 300 falls he had visited—“quite an accomplishment,” Adams said, “considering his age and the fact there was no information available for many of the waterfalls on his list.” An expanded edition was published in 2004, the same year as the founding of Facebook, and together they have provided what that old man had lacked—instructions
about how to find waterfalls and a connection to other people who love them. The one-time trickle of letters Adam had received became an “explosion” of emails and online postings, he said. He also noticed that as more people knew what the sport was all about, the less explanation was needed in its name. As “bird watchers” became “birders,” “waterfall chasers” became “waterfallers” and their hobby “waterfalling.” It can never quite be like birding or peak-bagging because it defies standardization, said Adams, who released a third edition of his book last year. There is no firm definition of a waterfall, nothing to prevent a lister from counting one, threetiered waterfall as three, one-tiered waterfalls. It is, however, unlimited in another way. Adams—who doesn’t keep a personal list but says he has
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easily visited 1,000 falls just in North Carolina—is the undisputed king of southern Appalachian waterfallers. But even he could never hope to see them all. “Goodness no, no one ever will— never, ever, ever,” he said. “That’s what makes this sport of ours so fascinating and so fun. We know it will never end.” YOU CAN BE A WATERFALLER WITHOUT
seeking just waterfalls, said Brenda Wiley, of Brevard, a veteran hiker who loves mapping out waterfall hikes, who scowls at sunbeams that appear once she is set up behind her viewfinder, who is even a member of an informal group of hikers called Team Waterfall. But she also likes to hike through mountain meadows, she said, and walk “along abandoned logging roads with no particular destination.” When Loow hikes, on the other hand, “my destination is almost always a waterfall,” she said. And though she is warm and sociable, talking fondly of her coworkers and adoringly of her husband, adult son, and a pet lionhead rabbit she named after a Norse goddess, she almost always hikes alone. This adventurous streak grew slowly after she received a copy of Adams’ book in 2009. “It sort of sat on the shelf for a year before a light bulb went off in my head,” she said. She started to realize how close her Henderson County home is to the rain-drenched mountains that are more densely packed with waterfalls than any region in the country. And though she was initially intimidated to take on any waterfall hike that earned more than a 7 on Adams’ one-to-10 scale of difficulty, she quickly gained confidence and now embraces hikes that test her endurance and her ability to manage the danger that comes with scrambling around waterfalls. “The more difficult they are,” she said, “the more I love it.” Loow is fit-looking and shorter than average, but carries a larger-thanaverage backpack, which she needs to hold climbing rope, tripod, and a large, professional-grade Canon camera. The
initial, well-traveled stretch of the hike to Lichen she covered at a pace meant to get it over with. “Trails, to me, are a necessarily evil,” she said. She raced through the bushwhack not just because she was eager to add Lichen to her list, she said, but because she loves finding the best route through such obstacle courses of fallen trees and underbrush. “Bushwhacking and creekwalking—that’s the best part,” she said. In fact, her score-keeping—and smiling, and self-aware—celebration at the base of Lichen was about the only sign that she cared about the list at all. After the stop at Lichen, she would wade up the Tuckasegee River to visit two falls she had already seen, Red Butt and Wardens Falls. “Old buddies,” she called them. And she told about the three-year wait required to capture the perfect picture of what is easily the most visited cascade in Panthertown, Schoolhouse Falls. She drove her Toyota Yaris (350,000 miles) there at dawn one snowy morning before the falls was marred with a single footprint. “I don’t know who I was talking to on the way home, but I just kept saying, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ ” And when she did reach Lichen, she didn’t just add it to her list and move on. She lingered. She photographed it from several different angles. She waded into the pool beneath its main drop, letting the water fall into her upturned palms. She gazed at it to consider whether it deserved Adams' 7 rating for beauty. It did, she decided. It’s on a tributary of the Tuckasegee, meaning it lacks a dramatic torrent. But falls over ledges are her favorite kind and Lichen appears suddenly in a deep notch in a shelf of rock 30 feet above the river. Loow pointed to the moss and plants clinging to more ledges farther below. She admired the way the falls’ curtains of water broke into shining beads. “It’s the setting that makes it,” she said. “It’s not a big waterfall, but it’s dainty and it’s really beautiful.”
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APPALACHIA'S NEWEST STATE PARK CLINCH RIVER PROVIDES NEW ADVENTURES IN COAL COUNTRY BY WALLY SMITH WHEN IT COMES TO ICONIC STATE PARKS,
Appalachia isn’t lacking. Mount Mitchell has sweeping vistas from the highest mountain in the East. Wild ponies roam the Appalachian Trail at Grayson Highlands. So it hardly seems feasible that one of the region’s most intriguing parks might start with a tiny parcel of farmland in Russell County, Va. That parcel sits in the community of Artrip along the Clinch River, a headwater tributary of the Tennessee River cutting through Virginia’s southwesternmost corner. If the Clinch doesn’t ring a bell, that’s for good reason: the stream lacks the
epic whitewater found on other Appalachian rivers and hides in a narrow valley far from major population centers. Anonymity, though, is all part of the allure. Brad Kreps, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Clinch Valley Program, emphasizes that the river supports the nation’s greatest number of rare and endangered aquatic species. “In addition,” Kreps says, “the Clinch has exceptional scenic beauty and is a thread that connects many different towns and communities.” The river’s ability to make
connections hasn’t been lost on the watershed’s people. In 2010, local residents, nonprofits, and others formed the Clinch River Valley Initiative to revitalize towns devastated by downturns in the agricultural and coal economies. The river is floatable along almost its entire length in Virginia, leading residents to wonder how the Clinch could be used
THE CLINCH RIVER ROUNDS A BEND AT SPEERS FERRY, VIRGINIA WALLY SMITH
to connect those communities through the outdoors. Discussions grew into $2.5 million being allocated for a new state park in the commonwealth’s budget. By all accounts, this won’t be your
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$887 MILLION
Outdoor recreation activities support 7.6 million American jobs and contributes $887 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product each year, according to the latest study by the Outdoor Industry Association. Every year, American consumers spend more on outdoor recreation than on food and pharmaceuticals combined or on gasoline and fuels and household utilities combined. “The outdoor industry creates three times the amount of jobs than the fossil fuels industry,” says Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. North Carolina was ranked in the top ten in outdoor spending, with over $28 billion generated by outdoor recreation. In Virginia, outdoor recreation creates almost 200,000 jobs and contributes over $1.2 billion in state and local tax revenue. Surprisingly, Alabama leads Utah in consumer spending for outdoor recreation, and Floridians spend more on outdoor recreation than those in Colorado. The state with the largest outdoor economy is California, with an economy of approximately $92 billion. Montana and Alaska earned the highest rate of outdoor recreation participation at 81 percent. A few western states—Utah, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Montana—have established offices of outdoor recreation at the state executive level. In the east, thus far, only North Carolina has created such a position in the government. This relatively new attention to the size and impact of the outdoor sector should provide increased political influence in protecting public lands and growing the outdoor economy. —Bruce Matson
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typical state park. Rather than being a continuous, linear corridor, the Clinch River State Park will have a “string of pearls” configuration. Several separate, larger properties will be purchased along the river’s length, with smaller public access points positioned in between. The result will be a network of properties spanning the river’s 100plus miles that will protect habitat for rare wildlife, facilitate multi-day float trips, and link visitors to nearby downtowns. “It’s unique, but the time is right to try something new,” says Steve Lindeman, land protection program manager with The Nature Conservancy. Lindeman and partners have begun working with willing landowners to purchase smaller properties that fill gaps in public access along the river. Those properties, including the put-in at Artrip, will be transferred to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) as part of the state park system. Virginia DCR Western Region Operations Manager David Collett stresses that the park won’t be fully completed anytime soon. Purchasing a complete set of properties takes time, and planning will need to occur thereafter. “Once the property is acquired, the master planning process will begin,” Collett says. “Pending future funding for staffing and facilities, the development of the park would then begin after acquisition and planning.” However, communities are already reaping benefits from added public access along the river. Nine outfitters and other outdoor businesses have opened, with tourism-related tax revenues up by 14 percent. Riverside communities have designated themselves “Hometowns of the Clinch,” reflecting the common thread driving the park forward. For one of those towns, Dungannon, Va., a new sense of community rings especially true. Mayor Debra Horne says that after a manufacturing plant shut down, the town “took a downward spiral and a lot of people were out of work.” Then
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came the Clinch River Valley Initiative and the new state park. Dungannon now has a revamped access point along the river and a $700,000 downtown revitalization grant. “More than anything, it brings more communities and families together,” Horne says of the park. “We all work as one.” O C TO B E R 2 017 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M
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TENNESWIM
A PROFESSOR MAKES A RECORD-BREAKING SPLASH BY SWIMMING THE ENTIRE 652-MILE TENNESSEE RIVER. BY ASHLEY KAIRIS ANDREAS FATH SET OUT ON THE MORNING
of July 27 from Ijam’s Nature Center in Knoxville to swim the 652 mile length of the Tennessee River. He completed the swim 34 days later, setting a new world record—and also conducting important scientific research. Fath’s first swim for science was three years ago. He swam and sampled the Rhine River in his home country of Germany, where he swam 776 miles within 25 days, setting a marathon swimming world record. He swam through six countries from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea to set a record—and to study the effectiveness
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of wastewater filtration systems on water quality. Before his swims, Fath struggled to get funding for his water quality research. So he decided to combine science and swimming. “It was a huge success because it reached more people than you would reach with a scientific paper,” says Fath. “It’s important to reach a large amount of people because they have a big impact on water quality.” While the Tennessee River swim is shorter than the Rhine by 112 miles, the current is much slower with an average current speed of 1-2 mph compared to the Rhine with an average of 3-4 mph. Even with this obstacle, Dr. Fath aimed from the beginning to be finished in 31 days, which would break yet another world record. With Fath’s 22nd wedding anniversary approaching on September 1, it provided him with extra motivation to finish by the end of August. Along the way, Fath and his team sampled for common water
quality indicators such as temperature, nitrates and phosphates, as well as pharmaceuticals, hormones, pesticides, bacteria, and heavy metals. His research team used a technique pioneered by Fath himself to detect microplastics on the water’s surface. Less than 5 mm in size, these tiny fragments are either made at such a size or are broken down from larger plastics that enter the waterway. The size of the microplastics enable them to enter the food chain and can end up in our own bodies. “Water is a gift,” says Fath. “We take it from nature, we borrow it, and everything that you borrow from nature you should return the way you borrowed it.” Toward the end of the Tenneswim, Fath was joined by his wife and sons who jumped in the water to swim in solidarity alongside him and saw him to the finish line in Kentucky. He will analyze the results from his water samples to create a comprehensive report card for the overall health of the Tennessee River.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE TENNESSEE RIVER? FATH: The Tennessee River has 4.8 million people living within its watershed. We are looking specifically at the microplastics in the water, especially after Obama’s ban on micro beads from cosmetics. We can establish a baseline of where we are now, and maybe in 2 or 3 years we would do the same testing, only without swimming because by then I will be 50-something years old. But then we can begin to answer a fundamental question: how long does it take for legislation to be transported into nature?
making people aware of what impact they have to improve the water.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST REWARDING PART OF YOUR LONG DISTANCE SWIMMING AND RESEARCH? It’s teamwork, the nature experiments, and the dialogue with people. More and more people were standing at the shore expecting me for hours. Chasing the record is secondary to getting the results and
WHAT RIVER MIGHT BE NEXT? ANY OTHER BIG GOALS WE MIGHT SEE YOU REACH FOR IN THE FUTURE? The last time at the Rhine, I promised my wife that it would be my last river, but then I swam the Tennessee River. I think now that I am 52 years old, I will dedicate more to research in the next years. Maybe next time a boat, but for swimming full rivers, I think this is the last.
WHAT SAFETY CONCERNS WERE ON YOUR RADAR DURING YOUR ONE MONTH SWIM? On the Rhine, I almost had to stop because of an infection on my neck where the wet suit was not closed enough. Infections were always my biggest concern. WHEN PEOPLE THINK OF YOUR RESEARCH AND THESE EXTRAORDINARY SWIMS, WHAT DO YOU HOPE THEY TAKE AWAY OR REMEMBER FROM YOUR EFFORTS? Only one answer for that: No effort is big enough for water quality improvement.
O C TO B E R 2 017 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M
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SUNKEN SECRETS
THE UNDERWATER GHOST TOWNS OF THE BLUE RIDGE BY ASHLEY KAIRIS
THE LAKES OF THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS
are known for their breathtaking views and fun weekends on the water, but there is often a forgotten history that lurks beneath them. Entire towns have been submerged, sparking the interest of scuba divers, historians, and myth busters.
FONTANA LAKE
With 360 degree views of the Great Smoky Mountains, Fontana Lake is the largest lake in Western North Carolina with the tallest dam east of the Rockies. Beneath the lake rests the remains of the once-bustling town of Judson. Judson had a population of around 600 people with a simple array of shops in town, including a sawmill and a post office. Then, in the 1930s, Swain County sold Judson and other lands to the government in order to create both Fontana Lake and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The dam was built to produce hydroelectric power—mainly for the Aluminum Company of America which produced ships, aircraft, and munitions during World War II. The gain for the war effort became the cost for the people of Judson, whose town was submerged. The highest points of structures from the sunken town of Judson are somtimes visible when Fontana Lake is at extremely low levels. There are visible foundations, graves, and other remnants of the town. With permission during drawdowns, people can access the eerie ghost town, and some venture onto the water by pontoon boat to see, if the water is just clear enough, if they can get a glimpse of the submerged ruins. 16
LAKE BURTON
This summer hotspot for family vacations in north Georgia, Lake Burton is one of four lakes created by damming sections of the Tallulah River to produce hydroelectric power for Atlanta and surrounding areas. Up until 1917, Burton was not a lake, but was the largest town in Rabun County. Founded in the early 1800s as one of the first gold rush towns of north Georgia, Burton was a farm town of around 200 people. The town was bought by the Georgia Railway and Electric Company in 1917, and much like the town of Judson, was soon submerged.
Cherokee language and means “Place of the Lost One.” The Cherokee lost their land to settlers, and then the settlers lost the land to the waters of the new lake. Both Lake Jocassee and the neighboring Lake Keowee were formed as a result of the construction by Duke Power for their Keowee Toxaway Project. With the building of the dam in 1973, the waters of Whitewater River began to flow upstream for the first time as Lake Jocassee covered the town. Divers frequent the area. Jocassee Lake Dive Shop owner and technical instructor Bill Routh was the first
A TOMBSTONE FROM MOUNT CARMEL CEMETERY, SUBMERGED BENEATH LAKE JOCASSEE.
LAKE JOCASSEE
Revered for its emerald waters and abundant recreation, South Carolina’s Lake Jocassee area was filled with rich history before the dam was built in 1973. South of where the dam and the hydroelectric station are currently located was once Keowee Village or Keowee Town, the capital of the Lower Cherokee Indians. The lake’s name “Jocassee” is derived from the
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SUMMERSVILLE LAKE
Beneath the largest lake in West Virginia is a village whose name has been all but forgotten: Gad. When flooding towns to create man-made lakes for power production was common, typically the lake and dam were named after the town that was once there. However, in this case, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers chose not to adopt the name “Gad Dam.” Instead they went with Summerville, the second closest town at the time. In the winter, the lake is drained for repairs, and parts of old roadway, foundations, and stone carvings are visible.
SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE
LAKE JOCASSEE DIVE SHOP
During the relocation of Burton’s residents, all graves were supposed to be raised and moved beyond the shoreline, and small cemeteries are a common sight today along the roads surrounding the lake. However, for many locals in the area, countless stories have been told and shared of cemeteries that lie beneath the waters, leaving the question: are those grave tenants still haunting the lake today?
cemetery where the names of the deceased can still be read on the tombstones.
to discover the Whitewater Bridge, Camp Jocassee for Girls, and the Attakulla Lodge which rests below 300 feet of water. The lodge found by Routh was once a popular place for people to gather together on the river. Debbie Fletcher is particularly grateful for the discovery of the lodge, as it was owned and operated by her grandparents. Fletcher accompanies the divers every time they dive to the lodge. She also keeps up the tradition of her grandmother of feeding guests of the lodge. Every time they go out on the boat, Fletcher brings food along for the divers. A friend of Routh’s was the first to discover the Mount Carmel Cemetery, made famous by the 1972 film Deliverance, which was produced the year before the dam was constructed and the valley was lost. Today, there is underwater diving footage of the
Although there is no hard evidence of the rumored town of Monroe beneath Virginia’s beloved Smith Mountain Lake, many still believe that the truth lies beneath the water. When hydroelectric power was of top priority about 50 years ago, the damming process began on the Roanoke and Blackwater Rivers. As the waters rose, the tiny town disappeared under its waters for good. Now, the story has been taken a step further by a brewery in the town of Westlake just minutes from the water’s edge. The name is “Sunken City Brewery,” with the alleged history of this sunken town of Monroe written on its walls.
TELLICO AND CALDERWOOD LAKES
These lakes formed after the damming of several sections of the Little Tennessee River and hide perhaps the deepest history of all. Several historic Cherokee townsites—including Chota, Tanasi, Toqua, Tomotley, Citico, Mialoqua, and Tuskegee—are now submerged. An old fort is also buried beneath the water. A crucial part of the region’s pride and history was erased when these lakes were formed. Not surprisingly, there are rampant myths of unsettled souls that haunt the area to this day.
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THE DIRT
10 . 17
BEER RUNS RUNNING SOON TO A BREWERY NEAR YOU BY MARIEL BUTAN THE BLUE RIDGE REGION IS BLESSED WITH
some of the country's best craft beer, bourbon, and beautiful landscapes. Runs, bike rides, hikes, and even yoga sessions are often followed with beers, and trolley pubs and pedal taverns have long been popular throughout the region. Now, beer is becoming part of big events, like the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon presented by Jim Beam in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 21st. With that race, “you’re not just running a half marathon; you’re experiencing a bourbon-filled fitness weekend,” says Race Director Michael Clemons. Major cities across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic now host a Beer Mile, which involves runners drinking a beer at the start of each quarter mile. People train for this. “It was fun—and more challenging than I expected,” says Dan Pazmino, a DC area resident who ran the recent Naughtical Beer Mile. Over the last few years, organizations such as Bikes and Beers, Race to the Taps, and Tour de Brew have begun partnering with breweries to provide local events that focus on giving back. Tour de Brew hosts cycling events that benefit both local bike-related charities and clean water initiatives in Central Africa. Sam Accardi, owner and founder of Bikes and Beers, believes having a good ride and a beer at a popular, local brewery is a great way to “improve community and bring cyclists together” for a good cause. With every Bikes and Beers event across the country, Accardi is supporting local organizations that strive to “improve policies, laws, and infrastructure” surrounding bike riding both for work and play.
LOCAL
Locally sourced foods are the environmentally friendly trend, and alcohol is no exception. Over 4,500 new craft breweries have opened in the last year, with loyal patrons eager to support businesses in their communities. “Beer Yoga was so popular that we went from hosting it monthly to having a class every Tuesday night…and selling out!” says Emma Quinn, Marketing Assistant at Port City Brewing Company in Alexandria, Va. In nearby Ashburn, Alessia McIntosh, Co-Owner of The Dailey Method Loudoun, organizes a weekly run club in partnership with Lost Rhino Brewing Company. “Being able to support local businesses” is part of the charm, she says. Craft breweries have the distinct advantage of being able to tailor events to the interests of their customers. The results include everything from Lost Rhino’s Barre and Brew to SweetWater’s Mountain Bike and Beer.
ACTIVE
The number of runners in the U.S. is at an all-time high, with 64 million people reporting having gone for at least one run in the last year. Similarly, the number of people riding bikes has skyrocketed to about 67 million.
"Brewery running clubs aren’t drinking clubs. They’re running clubs,” says Elizabeth Madden, Co-Owner of Mad Fox Brewing and creator of their run club. People are “becoming more health conscious,” notes Courtney Beazell, Marketing Manager of Caboose Brewing Company. It’s not just running and cycling, either. Caboose has been visited by the occasional post-Crossfit crowd, and plenty of other breweries, wineries, and distilleries offer yoga, hikes, and even Barre classes. Still, even with millions reporting themselves as runners, riders, or yogis, it can be surprisingly difficult to find a friend who can relate to the wall you hit at mile 10 or the thrill of reaching a new personal best. That’s where the beer comes in.
SOCIAL
outside, enjoy the great outdoors, burn some calories, and then relax with some tasty brews.” Ultimately, people are coming to these events for the sense of community, whether they are beer aficionados, star-powered athletes, or somewhere in between. From 2010 to 2014, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade occasionally joined Miami’s cycling event Critical Mass, which ends its monthly ride at a local bar. These larger events in particular are activities people can look forward to and feel good about—and not just because of the endorphins. Cheers!
UPCOMING EVENTS 9/30 RACE TO THE TAPS
Oskar Blues | Brevard, N.C. 10/7 OKTOBERFEST 5K BIER RUN
Going for a run that ends with a beer isn’t about the drinking as much as it’s about enjoying a cool down in good company. Pairing activities with beer is “about camaraderie,” says Madden. People come together not only to engage in an activity they love, but also to “form friendships with supportive individuals who share the same interests,” she says. Doug Wright, Director of Merchandising at SweetWater Brewing Company, agrees, noting that “people love to get
Nashville, Tenn. 10/7 BICYCLES, BREWS, & BBQ FESTIVAL
Commerce, Ga. 10/13-14 BOURBON CHASE (200-mile relay) Bardstown to Lexington, Ky. 10/21 URBAN BOURBON HALF MARATHON
Louisville, Ky. 10/21 BIKES AND BEERS
Dogfish Head | Milton, DE 10/28 RACE TO THE TAPS
Wedge | Asheville, N.C.
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SALLIE GATOR INSPECTS THE VIEW FROM NORTH CAROLINA'S BLUE RIDGE PINNACLE. HALLEY BURLESON
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FALL FOLIAGE
DRIVES AND HIKES TAKE THE SCENIC ROUTE ON YOUR NEXT LEAF PEEPING ADVENTURE WITH THESE 10 ICONIC DRIVES AND ROADSIDE HIKES. by JESS DADDIO
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BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY
Virginia—North Carolina
THE DRIVE: Weaving for 470 miles from Virginia to North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway has consistently ranked among the top five most popular national park units for its accessibility, historical significance, and of course, those classic Blue Ridge views. The parkway is like a traveling timeline. Visitors can glimpse the life of an 1800s homesteader in the morning and sip on locally made wine from state-of-the-art vineyards all in a day. Consider the changes in elevation when on the hunt for fall colors. Peak foliage hits a lot later at 649 feet along the banks of Virginia’s James River than at 6,047 feet atop North Carolina’s Richland Balsam.
THE LINN COVE VIADUCT SNAKES AROUND THE SLOPES OF GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN, N.C. IT WAS THE LAST SECTION OF THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY TO BE COMPLETED.
THE HIKE: For a moderate hike with outstanding views, head to Flat Top Mountain, the tallest of three peaks that form the Peaks of Otter. The parking area is located at milepost 83.5. Follow the Flat Top Trail into
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TOMMY WHITE
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the forest, where the gradient is mellow and fast. Don’t be fooled—the summit trail climbs 1,900 feet over the course of 2.6 miles, making those tight switchbacks feel punishingly endless. Stick with it for picnicperfect boulders and views from 4,001 feet of the Piedmont Valley.
SKYLINE DRIVE
Virginia
THE DRIVE: This 105-mile paved drive traverses the spine of the Blue Ridge as it passes through Shenandoah National Park. Nearly every bend in the road here is bursting with life. The park and its backbone byway are home to 1,600 species of trees and plants, over 90 streams, and 60 peaks above 3,000 feet in elevation. With 75 overlooks stacked along the drive (that’s almost one overlook for every mile-and-a-half ), you might get so caught up in the sightseeing you never make it to the trailhead.
Short and ever so sweet, the Bearfence Mountain Trail has it all—rock scrambles, tough terrain, and front row seats to the best view in the park. Totaling 1.2 miles round-trip, this is the perfect excuse to get out and stretch your legs. Head to milepost 56.5 to begin your trek. At one point, the rocks atop Bearfence were volcanic lava, but millions of years of exposure have morphed them into greenstone. THE HIKE:
HIGHLAND SCENIC HIGHWAY
West Virginia
Nothing brings out the vibrant reds and oranges of autumn like the stark evergreen of spruce trees. Driving along the treestudded, 43-mile Highland Scenic Highway feels like a northeastern road trip, both in scenery and in temperatures. Meandering along the Allegheny Highlands above 4,000 feet, the drive cuts right through the heart of the Monongahela National Forest and alongside the Cranberry Wilderness for 22 miles. The weather THE DRIVE:
here is notoriously stormy, so don’t be disappointed if the view is socked in—the moody fog just adds to the Mon’s mystique. For a short day hike, explore the Black Mountain Trail, which connects both the Williams River Valley and Big Spruce Overlooks. The 2.4-mile trail weaves in and out through a rhododendron-choked forest of birch, beech, and red spruce before arriving at a boardwalk and interpretive sign about a devastating wildfire that hit here in the 1930s. For an overnight backpacking trip, and a lesson in humility, head into the Cranberry Wilderness via the North/South Trail to Hell For Certain Branch. You might feel like hell once you slog your way to this creek, but the dreamy campsites there are like stepping through Heaven’s gates. THE HIKE:
LAUREL HIGHLANDS SCENIC BYWAY
Pennsylvania
THE DRIVE: Beginning just north of Johnstown, Penn., and traveling for 68 miles southwest to the Pennsylvania–West Virginia border, this backroads cruise will change everything you ever thought about the Keystone State. The byway links together some of southwestern Pennsylvania’s most cherished public lands like Roaring Run Natural Area, Bear Run Nature Reserve, and Ohiopyle State Park. THE HIKE: Photographers, bring the camera for this one. The Meadow Run Trail is only three miles in length, so you won’t be far from the car, but the roaring Cucumber Falls will make you feel miles from the nearest anything. Get up early, or stay out late, to catch the falls in all of its golden hour glory. If the water levels are up, keep a lookout for kayakers paddling the rowdy section of the Meadow to its confluence with the Lower Youghiogheny.
RED RIVER GORGE SCENIC BYWAY
Kentucky
THE DRIVE: Travel through the land of pioneer Daniel Boone on this 46-mile drive. Beginning in Stanton, Ky., drivers will arrive first at the Nada Tunnel, a 900-foot passageway used to transport logs by rail in the early 1900s. Now considered the gateway to the Red River Gorge, this tunnel is only wide enough for one car to pass, so take extra caution when driving through. From here, the byway continues alongside sandstone rock formations and the lazy Red River, a designated wild and scenic river, before ending in Zacharia. THE HIKE: The Red River Gorge itself is estimated to have over 500 miles of hiking trails, not to mention the nearly 2,000 rock climbing routes hidden among its endless sandstone cliffs and limestone rock faces. Hikers can still get a taste for the unique geology here without roping up. The Sand Gap Trail begins and ends in the Natural Bridge State Resort Park near the end of the byway. At 7.5 miles, this challenging loop, which utilizes part of the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail, will take the better part of a day, but is well worth the hard-earned solitude and access to the 78-foot long Natural Bridge.
ROAN MOUNTAIN
Tennessee—North Carolina THE DRIVE: Begin on either side of the state line. In North Carolina, take NC Highway 261. In Tennessee, follow TN State Route 143 to the entrance of Roan Mountain State Park. The drive itself climbs high into the Roan Highlands, crossing Carver’s Gap at 5,500 feet. Even in the dead of summer, visitors to Roan Mountain should definitely bring a jacket, as the higher elevations can be upwards of 20 degrees cooler than your starting destinations. This is one of the few mountain passes that is maintained yearround, so you can still hit the road if the temperature drops below freezing or there’s an unseasonably early snowstorm.
THE HIKE: Roan Mountain is revered for its mountain vistas and treeless balds. Experience both by beginning at the Carvers Gap trailhead near the North Carolina– Tennessee state line and taking the Appalachian Trail north. Veer off of the white blazes onto the spur Grassy Ridge Bald Trail to climb up and over a total of three mountain balds. Soak in the distant mountain views of Grandfather Mountain and Mount Mitchell in all of their autumn majesty before heading back to the car for a 4.7-mile out-and-back hike.
INDIAN LAKES SCENIC BYWAY
North Carolina
THE DRIVE: Through sprawling farms and quaint art districts, unspoiled wilderness and mountain lakes, the Indian Lakes Scenic Byway takes visitors on a 60-mile tour of western North Carolina’s natural splendor. This two-for-one route connects both the Cherohala Skyway and the Nantahala Byway. Though it can easily be driven in a day, with multisport adventure pitstops like the Nantahala Outdoor Center, Fontana Lake, and Santeelah Lake, what’s the hurry? THE HIKE: Hike beneath the ancient boughs of the region’s few remaining old-growth trees at Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. If you’re starting from Almond, N.C., this pristine chunk virgin forest is located around mile 41.5 off of the Indian Lakes Scenic Byway near Santeetlah Lake. An easy two-mile hike gets you into the heart of Joyce Kilmer, with the upper Poplar Cove Loop sporting the most impressive trees. Many trees here are over 400 years old and skyrocket more than 100 feet in the air.
MOUNT MITCHELL SCENIC BYWAY
North Carolina
THE DRIVE: Take exit 9 off of I-26W to begin your journey.
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Short of a few quiet mountain towns, this route is nothing but you and the open road set against a backdrop of soaring ridgelines and dense canopy. For 52 miles, this western North Carolina drive climbs up to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi at 6,683 feet, by way of N.C. 80 and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Start out with a full tank, as the fueling options are few and far between once you start ascending. THE HIKE: A short hike en route to the summit is Roaring Fork Creek Falls. It’s only a half-mile to the base of this 100-foot cascading beauty, so there’s no excuse to pass it by. The dense canopy above the falls is pure magic when the colors are peak, so don’t get distracted solely by the allure of mountain landscapes. While you can and should drive to the summit of Mount Mitchell, you’ll never truly know how rugged the terrain is without walking it yourself. The 5.5mile summit trail begins just past the parkway and climbs a grueling 3,500
feet to the top. A shorter option is the Deep Gap Trail, which is only two miles round-trip and begins and ends at the summit of Mount Mitchell.
CHEROKEE FOOTHILLS NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAY
South Carolina
Once used by the resident Cherokee Indians and early fur traders of centuries past, this 130-mile mostly country roads route is a Sunday driver’s dream. Riding along the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Highway 11 takes drivers past some of the Upstate’s gems like Lake Jocassee, Table Rock, KeoweeToxawa, and Lake Hartwell State Parks. Don’t bypass the Table Rock entrance off of 11 without taking a shot of the granite monolith’s mirror reflection in Carrick Creek. No matter the season, the view here feels like a scene plucked from the Rockies, not the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. THE DRIVE:
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PASS YOU BY One County. Five National Parks. Eight State Parks.
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THE HIKE: The hike to Table Rock’s summit is a classic and extremely popular on the weekends for the wideopen mountainscape at the top. But what’s even more appealing about this hike is the trail itself. Chugging for 2,000 feet over the course of 3.6 miles, the path initially curls through a hardwood forest littered with boulders, eventually morphing into dense stands of pine and hemlock. Avoid the crowds by coming when the weather looks iffy or early on a weekday. Having that formidable rock face to yourself is a powerful experience.
RUSSELL-BRASSTOWN NATIONAL SCENIC HIGHWAY
Georgia
THE DRIVE: Journey into the heart of the Chattahoochee National Forest, past the Bavarian modeled town of Helen, and up to
Georgia’s highest point along this 40.6-mile north Georgia drive. The underrated Southern Appalachians here are magnificent in the height of fall, and driving along the byway you’ll have plenty of views of the mountains and piedmont alike. THE HIKE: Park at the Tesnatee Gap Trailhead off of the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway and head south on the Appalachian Trail. Immediately from the parking lot, the trail begins to ascend, switchbacking and becoming increasingly rocky for the next three-quarters of a mile. Though steep, the hike is short, and in just under a mile, you’ll arrive at the summit of Cowrock Mountain. Compared to Amicalola and Blood Mountain to the south, Cowrock as a destination is often overlooked but the views here are quintessential Appalachian. Continue for another half-mile past the official summit for prime sunset seats.
Explore quirky towns and cities with rich history, colorful murals, and intriguing shops. Visit Lake Shawnee’s Abandoned Amusement Park. It’s one of the most haunted places in WV! Check out the winding Hatfield-McCoy Trails. They’re open year round and boast 700+ miles of mountain trails.. Mercer County is looking for explorers. Discover what is here for you.
(800) 221-3206 | VisitMercerCounty.com
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THAT TIME you fell in love
WITH FALL.
Chesapeake comes alive in the autumn with a bounty of events. Here there is something for everyone. Enjoy the Chesapeake Virginia Wine Festival; this outdoor wine event has unlimited tastings. Celebrate local history and culture at the Waterways Heritage Festival and the Dismal Swamp Art Festival. We have pumpkin patches, farmers’ markets and a long, warm autumn. So join us. And make your weekend an event. VisitChesapeake.com
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THE GOODS
10 . 17
JPD ON THE MST JENNIFER PHARR
DAVIS’S GO-TO GEAR BY GRAHAM AVERILL
J
ennifer Pharr Davis set the speed record for the Appalachian Trail in 2011, becoming the first woman ever to set that mark. Since then, Pharr Davis has founded a guiding company and written five books about hiking. This fall, she’s hiking the Mountains to Sea Trail, which runs for 1,175 miles across North Carolina. And she’s doing it with her family in tow. “Our 10-month-old is pretty easy to tote around, and our four-year-old loves being a cheerleader,” says Pharr Davis. You can follow JPD’s progress along the trail and even join her for a hike; she’s leading day hikes, giving talks and putting on workshops to raise funds for the MST throughout her journey. We asked Pharr Davis to detail the kit she’ll rely on for three months of hiking and family camping. Here are her gear picks, in her own words.
FARM TO FEET BOULDER ($16) Made in America and manufactured in N.C., these are the most comfortable, best wicking hiking socks I've ever owned. Plus, they have a lifetime guarantee.
LEKI CORKLITE DSS ($160) Because I like my knees and want to use them when I'm 65, I almost always use poles. The exception is that when I am carrying one of my kids, I usually leave them behind. I need my hands more with the kiddos and I don't want to trip and poke the baby with a pole.
ASTRAL TR1 ($130) This Asheville based company is known mostly for PFDs, but it is making a splash with its trail shoes. I get about 200 more miles out of their TR1's than most lightweight hikers. They're comfortable, with good traction and great breathability.
SAWYER MINI ($25) I'm lazy when it comes to filtering water, but I don't have time for giardia. This filter fits my style: light, quick, affordable, and I can screw it onto the threads of most plastic bottles. GAIA GPS APP (Starting at $10) This app lets me know I'm in the right place even when I can't find the trail. It also helps me tell my husband where I am at the end of the day when it's time to reconnect.
WESTERN MOUNTAINEERING APACHE MF ($550) These bags are so nice—and expensive! But you can't beat the warmth to weight ratio and I tend to sleep cold so that's important. Plus, the natural materials don't hold in hiker stench like synthetics.
BABY BJORN CARRIER ONE OUTDOORS ($250) This is my go-to baby carrier on the trail. It is lightweight, washable, and allows the babe to look out or snuggle on my chest. I switch my kids to a traditional backpack style kid carrier at 12 months, but they're heavier, lack storage, and anything unisex isn't going to fit well. It's 2017—can't we make a better kid pack? THERMAREST Z-LITE ($35-45) I'm such a fan of these old school foam pads. I sleep really well on them at night, and I strap them to my pack for a cushioned seat or diaper changing pad during the day.
BEER We are hiking and traveling across the state for three months with two young kids, so I see this as a necessary piece of gear. Our go-to on this hike is Appalachian Mountain Brewery's White Dot Session IPA. It's hoppy without being heavy and a percentage of the proceeds go to benefit the MST. O C TO B E R 2 017 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M
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S P E C I A L A DV E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N
G E TA W AY L O D GING IN TH E BLUE R IDG E Planning your fall and winter getaways, family get togethers, and holiday retreats? Check out what the Blue Ridge has to offer! Harman’s Log Cabins
The Peaceful Side of the Smokies
Harm an’s Log Ca bins is t he out door e nth usiast’s dre a m , es pec ia lly for f ly fishin g , h ikin g , a nd weekend get aways . Locate d alon g Wes t Vir ginia ’s Nor t h Fo rk River, Harma n’s offer s yea r- r ound luxur y log cabin r ent a ls w it h nea r ly t wo miles of p rivate t r ophy t r out f is hing a t you r door s t ep.
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FILTER NEEDED THE STORY BEHIND THE SHOT by JESS DADDIO
TOMMY WHITE SHOOTS FROM BOULDERS ALONG ROUGH RIDGE, A POPULAR PARKWAY HIKE NEAR BLOWING ROCK, N.C.
Good adventure photography inspires its viewer to explore, dream, discover, but what really goes on behind the lens is less than picture perfect. We sat down with 14 regional outdoor photographers to glean the unfiltered stories of hard work, stubborn perseverance, and sometimes, damn good luck, that goes into getting the shot (and how you can get it, too). W H E N TA L E N T F L I E S
DEREK DILUZIO BASED IN: Asheville, N.C. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2004 SPECIALIZES IN: Adventure sports
and lifestyle SHOOTS ON: Sony Alpha a9 with Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Accidentally erasing
all of the images for an editorial assignment to shoot Vice President Dick Cheney’s speech at the opening of Grand Teton National Park’s new visitor center.
Mountain biking by nature is an accident-prone sport. Derek DiLuzio has seen his friends break bones, bust bikes. It comes with the territory. During one particularly memorable shoot, a friend was sessioning a 25foot jump at Bailey Mountain Bike Park in Marshall, N.C. The two had a rhythm going—DiLuzio got into position, signaled the ready, rider dropped in, shutter snapped. The
going was good. But then his friend cruised down, unannounced, and landed a perfect 360, the only one attempted that day. And DiLuzio missed the shot.
“Nobody had done a 360 off that jump period,” he says. “I wasn’t anticipating it. There was no communication. He just went for it.” DiLuzio convinced his friend to try again, and this time, he would be ready. He situated himself beneath the jump, gave the rider the green light, and started snapping away. This time, his friend didn’t stick the 360. He bailed at the height of the jump, falling more
than 25 feet to the ground. “That picture is moments after he kicked the bike away,” DiLuzio remembers. “He didn’t break anything but he bruised his heels and couldn’t walk for a week. He banged himself up pretty good, all because I missed the picture.” DEREK’S TAKEAWAYS • Clear communication is key. • Don’t delete images in the field. • Shoot on duplicate SD cards. T H E WA I T I N G G A M E
KENTON STERYOUS BASED IN: Roanoke, Va. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2015 SPECIALIZES IN: Adventure sports
and landscapes SHOOTS ON: Sony A7R II with Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Leaving a $3,000 camera and tripod setup on Spy Rock while making camp, only to have both stolen from two hikers. DEREK DILUZIO
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Operating at all hours of the night, rising well before dawn. Kenton Steryous is used to going out while everyone else is fast asleep. His sevenyear-old son Ethan, however, is not. That didn’t stop Ethan from asking his father if he could tag along for his next late night excursion, a night hike to McAfee Knob to shoot the Milky Way. “I wasn’t sure what was even possible to get, but Ethan told me he really wanted to do this,” Steryous says. “The hardest part was getting him awake out of bed.” The forecast called for the clouds to clear around 3 a.m., so Steryous, Ethan, and a couple of friends set out on the 4.4-mile, 1,700-foot ascent at one o’clock in the morning. When they arrived at the rocky expanse some two hours later, the clouds still had not cleared. Even worse, the temperature was down in the 40s and the wind was brutal. Steryous shot for a half-hour, but knew in his heart the
Milky Way image was a bust. Ethan, who until that point had been a total trooper, started to get cold. He asked if they could go back to the car, but Steryous wasn’t about to turn around just yet. He set up a hammock, gave Ethan his spare jacket, and settled in for the long wait till sunrise. Three hours later, just before 7 a.m., the heavens parted “My first thought was, ‘man I’m so glad I stayed.’ So often as a photographer, you go out with a particular objective in mind and if that doesn’t happen, it’s so easy to just turn around and go home,” says Steryous, especially when you’re cold to the bone and have a seven-year-old in tow. KENTON’S TAKEAWAYS Use graduated neutral density filters. • Shoot a place you’re familiar with at different times of the day and during different seasons in the year. • Have patience in spades.
•
KENTON STERYOUS
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ROB GIERSCH
SHOOTIN’ THE MONKE Y
ROB GIERSCH
BASED IN: Atlanta, Ga. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2012 SPECIALIZES IN: whitewater
paddling SHOOTS ON: Canon 5D with a
Sigma 12-35mm f/1.8 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Slipping
on a wet patch of rock while shooting paddlers and sliding into the waist-deep river with a fully loaded camera pack.
Every fall, the annual Green Race on the Narrows draws hundreds of spectators, kayakers, and photographers to the depths of the Green River gorge. It’s a challenging class V paddle in, and for the crowd, an equally stiff hike. Being a whitewater kayaker himself, Rob Giersch loves shooting the action-packed event. For years he’d been scheming up ways to get a shot that captured the essence of the Green Race—the cheering crowd, the caliber of athletes, the power of the river at Gorilla. The only way to do that, he figured, was to set up on river right, the riverbank opposite that of the access trail. Because the Narrows mostly runs on a dam release, Giersch would have to wade the river well before the water reached that part of the gorge in order to stage himself. “I slept in the back of my car at the parking lot and started hiking in the dark at 5:30 in the morning,”
Giersch remembers. “When I finally got down there, I had to wade across the knee-deep river, alone, with all of the camera gear.” One slip could have sent Giersch floating downstream, but he made it safely to the other side. River right isn’t as spectator-friendly as river left, with mostly vertical, slick rock to perch upon. Giersh built an anchor and a basic belay, tied himself in, and lowered into the uncomfortable position he would spend the next six hours hanging out in, all for one shot. “Yeah, it was a lot of work,” Giersch says, “but for me it wasn’t just the picture. Everyone I met that day knew I got the shot, and because of that, my image of the winner ended up in Kayak Session Magazine.” ROB’S TAKEWAYS: • Get low, get high, do whatever it takes to safely get in a unique position or angle. • Experiment with a fast shutter to freeze the action and slow shutter speeds with a tripod to accentuate the movement of the river. • Have the right gear for being on the water.
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UP SH*T CREEK WITHOUT A CAMERA BAG
ANDREW KORNYLAK BASED IN: Chapel Hill, N.C. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 1998 SPECIALIZES IN: anything with a
cool story SHOOTS ON: Nikon D5 with Nikkor
16-80mm f/2.8 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS:
Spending hours rigging a line for a climbing shoot only to find out the gully above turns into a waterfall when it rains.
SO YOU WANNA SHOOT FALL FOLIAGE? Veteran landscape photographer Jeff Greenough of Christiansburg, Va,. offers his tips before heading out on your next leaf peeping adventure. THE BEST CAMERA YOU HAVE IS THE ONE THAT’S ON YOU. “I don’t feel ashamed if I have to take an image with my iPhone because photos make you remember,” says Jeff Greenough. “Take time to create those memories.” USE WEATHER APPS. Like it or not, technology has infiltrated nearly every aspect of our lives. Might as well put it to use before you spend the weekend on the hunt for colors. “The NOAA Weather Radar app is the best to look at,” says Greenough. DON’T BE SCARED OF A LITTLE RAIN.
B E F R I E N D I N G M O T H E R N AT U R E
STEVE YOCOM
BASED IN: Maggie Valley, N.C. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2014 SPECIALIZES IN: outdoor portraits SHOOTS ON: Sony A7R and A7R II
with Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Leaving a tripod on a
mountain after sunrise and having to hike back in to get it.
When Steve Yocom isn’t on assignment or trekking into the backcountry with his two pups, Cain and Sage, he’s helping others learn the art he holds so dear. During a photography workshop this past summer, he and his six students learned firsthand how even the worst conditions can open up surprising creative opportunities. “We were all set up for sunset and I was showing them the elements of a good composition and what to look for, and right before the sun was supposed to set, the clouds blew in,” he says. “It was this foggy, dark mess. We were kinda bummed.” Bummed maybe, but not deterred. The group took a break for dinner, which is when Yocom noticed flashes just over the horizon. Those previously
First off, it’ll keep the drive-by tourists at bay, and secondly, those moody skies can really make those reds and oranges shine. “Clouds are your friends. Even lighting patterns allow the colors to pop.”
STEVE YOCOM
boring gray clouds had taken on a deep purple hue. The thunderclouds mushroomed higher into the sky. He quickly reassembled the group, talked through the exposure, and started shooting. “Lightning had been on my to-do list for quite awhile, and for about 30 minutes it was really firing off,” he says. “The shot was okay just as a landscape, but there wasn’t much of a photo there, so we put a couple in to really make the backdrop pop.” The resulting portrait is a once-in-alifetime moment any couple would be envious of.
STEVE’S TAKEAWAYS • Plan and prepare, but be able to adapt. • Try to achieve balance in your images using the rule of thirds and by establishing something in your foreground, middle ground, and background. • When shooting lightning, expose for the moment when the bolt goes off. This shot was taken at a low ISO of 100 and a shutter speed of six seconds.
MAKE IT HARD. Most leaf peeping
crowds gravitate to areas that are easily accessible. Work for your views, or at least hike a few extra yards away from the masses, and you’ll probably stumble upon an equally stunning scene. “If you see something that looks easy, go to a different spot,” says Greenough. “A lot of times we have that herd mentality, but photographers are true problem solvers. The more they make mistakes and try things and move around, the better their images.”
ANDREW KORNYLAK
“You can’t forget that when you’re doing adventure photography, 90 percent of it is just being out there. It’s all that mess plus a camera.” In between shoots this past summer, Andrew Kornylak was reminded of that very lesson. With a few days to kill before a backpacking assignment in the Smokies, Kornylak threw together a fly fishing shoot on the Hiwassee with Allie, a Chattanooga-area rock climber, angler, and photographer, and her family. Given that the Hiwassee is a dam release river, Kornylak had heard horror stories about anglers
KNOW YOUR ELEVATION. Where you
live could be higher or lower in elevation than where you’re planning to shoot. The general rule of thumb is that higher elevations turn to peak color before the lower elevations. Start high and work your way down. “If you’re seeing pictures on social media of peak colors in Waynesboro, which is at 1,200 feet, that doesn’t mean Charlottesville, which is closer to 600 feet, will be the same.” INVEST IN FILTERS. Neutral Density (ND) filters allow you to play with slowing down the motion of water, for example, while circular polarizing filters help alleviate harsh reflections and glare on wet leaves. MAKE YOUR SUBJECT STAND OUT.
Greenough primarily shoots landscapes, sans human, but if you do put a person in your shot, take into consideration the color of their jacket or gear and make sure it contrasts the warm-colored background.
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SWEATER WEATHER IS BETTER WEATHER
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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / O C TO B E R 2 017
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getting caught up unexpectedly in the rising river, since the Army Corps occasionally releases pulses unannounced. Allie’s father had even jokingly warned them to “keep an eye on the locals—when the rednecks disappear, you know something’s up.” But as Allie and Kornylak geared up and waded across the river, that was the furthest thing from their minds. Kornylak stashed his camera bag high on a rock near Allie’s brother Bobby and started shooting. After a while, he noticed something wasn’t quite right. “It felt different. The water was higher. Allie and I both looked up at the same time and realized there was no one else around,” he says. “All of the features we’d been hopping around on were totally underwater,” including the rock where his camera bag had previously been. Kornylak spotted the bag bobbing downstream toward Bobby. What had earlier been a dried up ledge was now a veritable cascade, and Kornylak’s bag filled with expensive camera lenses was heading right toward it. At the last minute, Bobby saw the bag and pulled it from the water but it was too late. “Two of my main zoom lenses were just so full of water I could pour them out like coffee mugs,” says Kornylak. “They were totally toast.” Deflated, Kornylak laid out the other lenses to dry and the group took a break to eat some lunch. When the water levels had dropped again, they went back out, and Kornylak managed to capture some of his favorite portraits of the day. “It was a real pain in the ass for the next shoot, backpacking in the Smokies for three days. I needed those two clutch lenses. But it all worked out.” ANDREW’S TAKEAWAYS • Don’t let a fear of ruining your gear stop you. Cameras put up with a lot more abuse than you think. • Collaborate with your subjects and make them an active part of the shoot. • Hustle as hard as you did the first year you started shooting.
then, the battery on her Profoto B1 light died. “At this point my lenses were fogging up, the light is moving fast, the batteries won’t hold a charge, my fingers are frozen, I’m terrified for [my model] Dylan who is standing on this sketchy ice ledge. I was honestly able to do 15 shots before the light would die,” she says. “I was really saving those clicks.”
YVONNE MCKENNA
ON ROCK AND ICE
YVONNE MCKENNA BASED IN: Asheville N.C. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2014 SPECIALIZES IN: portraiture SHOOTS ON: Nikon D750 with
Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Letting
models look at the images mid-shoot only to have them unknowingly bump up the ISO to 1000—the rest of the day’s images were so noisy!
No matter how much planning goes into a shoot, sometimes, life happens. For Yvonne McKenna, life hit in the wee hours of the morning on the day of a big sunrise shoot. The session had already been rained out the day before, so her gear was packed and loaded, ready to roll. Her 3 a.m. brain, however, was not. She accidentally woke up late. Flustered, McKenna and her model set out for the long and winding drive to Linville Gorge in hopes of making it to the Hawksbill Mountain summit before sunrise. When they got to the trailhead, light was just starting to crest the horizon. Loaded down with tripods, lights, lenses, camera, and softbox, they hit the trail. Inches of ice and snow covered the path. “We were trying to run up the trail but we were slipping all over the place,” McKenna remembers, “and I did not want to be falling with all of this expensive gear.”
They finally arrived at the overlook just as the sun was starting to rise. McKenna quickly set up the lights and tripod, but between the ice-covered rock and the wind, she had to double down on securing her softbox. “It basically turned into a kite and I’m trying to wrestle this thing on a ledge. I thought for sure it was just gonna take off.” Finally, everything was in position, including her model. She took a couple shots, adjusted her settings and angle, took a few more shots, and
CHAD BLOTNER
YVONNE’S TAKEAWAYS • Back up your work in at least three places. You’ll never see someone freak as much as a photographer whose hard drive has just failed. • Bring extra batteries. • Shoot anything and everything and in all types of weather. AT T H E E N D O F T H E L I N E
CHAD BLOTNER
BASED IN: Saluda N.C. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2012 SPECIALIZES IN: kayaking SHOOTS ON: Nikon D750 with
Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Bringing an empty
camera bag to a shoot.
The Green River is Chad Blotner’s literal backyard. Nearly every weekend he’s down in the Narrows
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shooting kayakers. Blotner’s go-to lens is a wide angle—he likes to get as close as he can to the action. Though not a paddler himself, Blotner saw the possible hazards of getting up close and personal to kayakers paddling class V rapids. In what’s arguably the smartest move he’s ever made in his photography career, Blotner finally ponied up the cash for a PFD and throw rope to anchor himself to the rock…just in case. “There was a rock at the base of Gorilla where I could shoot a seal launch and also kayakers coming through the rapid, and I always wanted to get down there but I knew if I fell in I would lose all of my gear and my life if I wasn’t careful,” Blotner says. So after purchasing the gear, Blotner decided to take the chance. He gingerly lowered himself onto
the rope with my other hand, the rope tensioned. It was pretty scary. Nobody else was there. If I had got into that rapid, what would have happened?” CHAD’S TAKEAWAYS • Be aware of your surroundings. • Use elements of the river to establish a sense of place. • Always bring a headlamp. T R Y, T R Y, T R Y A G A I N
GABE DEWITT
captured the essence of squirt boating, let alone been able to see what goes on underwater. After taking the dive and purchasing underwater camera housing, DeWitt decided to give it a go. “It was hard because the camera isn’t something you can hold steady. You’re doing everything you can to brace yourself,” he says. “I literally had a finger jammed in some boulders, trying not to get swept away, and I
IN THE E Y E OF THE STORM
HALLEY BURLESON BASED IN: Spruce Pine, N.C. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2013 SPECIALIZES IN: landscapes SHOOTS ON: Canon 6D with
Canon 24-105 f/4.0 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Meeting up to shoot
and learn from a professional photographer but forgetting to bring a camera.
BASED IN: Morgantown, W.Va. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2005 SPECIALIZES IN: people and places SHOOTS ON: Nikon D800 with a
Nikorr 35mm f/1.4 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Leaving about $900 of
gear on top of the car and getting scammed out of $120 on Craigslist to get it shipped back by the person who had “found it.”
HALLEY BURLESON
GABE DEWITT
the rock, tied his vest to the fixed throw bag, and started shooting. He photographed countless kayakers soaring off the seal launch into the water, turning at the last second to avoid their splash. He was just about to wrap up when the final kayaker of the day slid off the rock face and into the water. Blotner nailed the shot, twisted away from the spray—and then his foot slipped. “When I went to turn I lost my footing and fell on my stomach,” he remembers. “I stuck my hand with the camera in it up above my head and tried to get my footing but that rock was so slick. About the time I grabbed 38
An engineer by trade, Gabe DeWitt is a master tinkerer. When he first started shooting, he took mostly macro photos of plants and animals that demonstrated scientific or mathematical principles. A climber at heart, DeWitt eventually married his passions for the outdoors and photography. Of particular interest to DeWitt was the niche sport of squirt boating. Whereas most whitewater paddlers aim to stay above water, squirt boaters paddle a low-volume craft with the goal of completely submerging both vessel and paddler. DeWitt was intrigued. Few people had ever
B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / O C TO B E R 2 017
couldn’t really see what I was doing. It was a lot of guessing and checking, guessing and checking.” DeWitt tried on multiple occasions to shoot his squirt boating friends at Fascination Alley on the Cheat River Narrows, but with little success. More often than not, the lighting was too dark or the river level too high. But about the fifth time he went out, the stars aligned. His resulting series of images feel almost ethereal and out-of-this-world, capturing never-before-seen glimpses into the sport’s signature “Mystery Move.” GABE’S TAKEWAYS • Don’t forget to shoot for yourself. Do the stuff that keeps you happy. • Have your camera accessible always and shoot when it’s not convenient. • Think, WWTKD, or “What would Tim Kemple do?” Find a photographer you admire, and emulate their style.
Early on in her photography, Burleson admits to knowing very little about how cameras worked. A trip to Peru back in 2012 proved she would need more than just a nice camera to make memorable shots. After a year of trial-and-error shooting and some helpful pointers from professional photographers, Burleson set out on the summit hike to Mount Mitchell, a stout 5.6-mile climb of 3,600 feet to the East’s tallest peak. “This was the first time I was carrying all of my camera gear along and I really didn’t have a great understanding about how heavy it would all end up being,” she says. “About halfway up the trail I was already kinda dying and exhausted and finally realizing that I had brought way too much stuff.” Like some cruel joke from the universe, the sky turned jet black.
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Burleson donned her rain jacket, but it hardly sheltered her from the monsoon. Thunder roared so loudly, she could feel the vibrations beneath her feet. Determined not to quit on her first photo outing, Burleson gritted her teeth and kept slogging up the trail. When she arrived at the summit, it was of course completely socked in on all sides. Totally spent and thoroughly disappointed with the turn of events, Burleson bummed a ride from her ranger friend back to the trailhead. “I hadn’t taken any photos that day at all,” she says. “As we were driving down the road, we came out of the clouds and saw it was going to be pretty. The birds started chirping, the clouds parted, sunrays came streaming through. We could still hear the thunder all around but it was so amazing.” HALLEY’S TAKEAWAYS • Don’t weenie out. If you work hard enough, the reward will come. • Don’t get so wrapped up in the image that you miss the moment. • Carry hand warmers always. E XPECT THE UNE XPECTED
SAM DEAN
BASED IN: Roanoke, Va. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 1996 SPECIALIZES IN: active lifestyle SHOOTS ON: Canon 5D Mark IV
with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS:
Shooting mountain biking at Carvins Cove and leaving a fully loaded camera bag, open, at the top of the trailhead. It was still there the next day.
Waking before dawn and staying up well past sunset is hard on anybody, but try doing that seven days straight with the added demands of hiking, camping, and client expectations. “Sleep deprivation is definitely a factor,” says Sam Dean. “It always
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY CRASH COURSE BY TOMMY WHITE
Tommy White of Boone, N.C., has been a full-time landscape photographer for over a decade. He’s seen the transition from film to digital and DSLR to mirrorless. We caught up with White in between photography workshops to get schooled on nighttime photography and how you, too, can capture the stars. DON’T FORGET YOUR COMPOSITION.
“You want to lead the viewer through your scene, be it with supporting elements for your main subject or differentiating between lights and darks,” says White. “Rather than it being just a pretty picture, use the Rule of Thirds or build a pyramid with shapes and lines to grab the viewer’s attention.” DO YOUR RESEARCH. Fortunately, there
SAM DEAN
seems like whenever you have epic outdoor moments, there’s some sleep deprivation involved.” What separates the pros from the novices is how well you can cope when everything seems to be going wrong. On the fourth day of a week-long tourism shoot last year, Dean thought for sure he was getting skunked on a sunrise. “Summertime in the Appalachian Mountains, you know you’re always gonna get some rain at some point,” he says. “Lo and behold as soon as we got to the top of Grandfather Mountain, here comes this massive crackling terrifying storm. It felt like the mountain had fireworks going off all around.” Dean headed for tree cover and stayed perched on his Therm-a-Rest for hours, “just hoping we weren’t gonna get zapped.” He finally got some shuteye, but when he woke a few hours later, the morning was looking to be just as bad, a veritable fog machine. He wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. He convinced one of the models to hike up the ladders with him to the ridgeline. When they reached the top, Dean knew he’d made the right call. “It was just mind-blowing the way the storm was clearing and wrapping
around the different sections of rock,” he says. “We were just dumbfounded by this once-in-a-lifetime sunrise. I’ve seen a lot of sunrises and sunsets and this was just amazing. It was a good lesson in never giving up.” SAM’S TAKEWAYS • Four things go into a memorable image: location, talent, lighting, and “the moment.” If you start eliminating any one of those things, you can still have an image, but it’s going to be less powerful. • Hide a 64 GB SD card somewhere in your camera bag, in case you have a brain fart. • Don’t give your work away for free. If you don’t value your work, no else is going to and you’re doing a disservice to the community at large. KEEPING UP WITH THE PROS
JUSTIN COSTNER
are a few apps that help photographers and stargazers keep tabs on the celestial skies. Stellarium and PhotoPills are both useful tools for learning, and shooting, the Milky Way. SHOOT ON THE NEW MOON. “The ideal time to shoot the Milky Way is when the sky is very dark,” says White. “You can also shoot with a quarter moon, as long as it’s not dominating the sky.” IF THE MOON IS OUT, PUT IT OVER YOUR SHOULDER. “That can be a
really great way to light up some of the landsape in front of you,” says White, “and I’m a big advocate of having something in the foreground. I don’t shoot just the Milky Way.” USE THE 500 RULE TO AVOID STAR TRAILS. White typically sets his starting ISO around 3200, his aperture at 1.8, and his shutter speed to 20 seconds (all on a 24mm lens). That, he says, is right in line with the 500 Rule, which is a simple formula for calculating your shutter speed. Simply divide 500 by your lens’ focal length to get the longest exposure in seconds before the rotation of the Earth comes into play. SHOOT MARCH THROUGH OCTOBER.
BASED IN: Boone, N.C. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 2013 SPECIALIZES IN: landscapes and
outdoor lifestyle SHOOTS ON: Canon 6D with Canon 24-105 f/4.0 lens MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Backpacking three
miles in to shoot sunrise in the Linville Gorge but forgetting to bring memory cards.
In this part of the world, these eight months are when the most iconic part of the Milky Way is still visible. “Sagittarius is really the juicy part of the Milky Way with that little pop of color,” says White. “After October that part sinks below the horizon.” RUBBER BANDS AND HAND WARMERS ARE NECESSITIES. It’s the Southeast.
Humidity is your biggest enemy, and hand warmers are your best ally in combatting condensation.
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problems, it was amazing to see our plan come to fruition and it was by far one of the most memorable days out in the mountains I’ve ever experienced.” JUSTIN’S TAKEAWAYS • Be just as fit (if not more so) than the athletes you are shooting. • Find a subject that inspires you and let that determine your path. • Be kind to our wild spaces out there. Take only photos and leave no trace. RACING THE CLOCK
SHANNON MILLSAPS BASED IN: Asheville, N.C. STARTED SHOOTING IN: 1997 SPECIALIZES IN: high-end
furniture professionally, outdoor sports off-the-clock SHOOTS ON: Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 lens
JUSTIN COSTNER
Since picking up a camera, Justin Costner has bushwhacked, crawled, climbed, and forded his way inside and out of the Linville Gorge. It’s this intimate knowledge of Linville that made him the perfect photographer to shoot climbing rock stars Jenny Abegg’s and Sarah Gaskins’ speed record attempt of the Linville Crusher. The Linville Crusher is the linkup of six major formations on the eastern side of the Gorge—Sitting Bear, Hawksbill Mountain, Table Rock, North Carolina Wall, the Amphitheater, and Shortoff Mountain—all in a day, and all without driving. Jenny and Sarah, both accomplished climbers, wanted a sub 12hour Crusher, and they wanted Costner to help document it. “Trying to keep up with these real deal professional athletes was a super physical test for all of us,” says Costner. “We were out there covering over 20 miles with our weighted packs and hanging on ropes right there with them.” The team, which included Jenny, Sarah, Costner, and two other shooters, started out first thing in the morning. From the tortuous afternoon heat, which rose well into the upper 80s, to
the brutal terrain, the entire team was exhausted by the time the ladies finished some 10 hours and 27 minutes later. “We were seriously whooped,” says Costner. “We could barely walk at the end of the day. But even through the logistical
MOST MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FAUX PAS: Getting
a late start up Looking Glass and not bringing any waterproof camera protection.
When Shannon Millsaps is not on commercial shoots for high-end
furniture or architecture clients, he’s usually on some North Carolina rock, jumaring his way up and down a route to get the shot. You’ve probably seen his images of the Triple Crown Bouldering Series, which he’s photographed for nearly a decade. Last summer, Millsaps was part of a large crew climbing out on Looking Glass Rock near Brevard, N.C. Afternoon thunderstorms are common in the summertime, and it’s well known that if you want to beat the rain, you should be off the rock by 2 p.m. Millsaps’ group was right on the cusp of that afternoon cutoff and approaching the last pitch when he saw a major storm system building on the horizon. “You could see the rain and it was thundering and lightning but it was still over the mountains,” he says. “We still had to get a couple of parties to the top, but time was of the essence because you’re just so exposed up on that dome. We were basically racing the clock at that point.” The group hustled, safely rappelling off the dome and not a minute too soon. As soon as the last team member hit the ground, lightning struck nearby. Though the rain never came in droves (luckily, for Millsaps’ camera), the lightning continued to blast. Millsaps later heard that another climbing team on the opposite side of Looking Glass wasn’t so lucky. “They didn’t get off in time and were stuck up on the wall, forced to hang out and deal with these super close lightning strikes.” SHANNON’S TAKEAWAYS Start earlier than you think you need to. • Experiment with new techniques, cameras, and equipment. • Capture the subject’s face and eyes to transport viewers into the scene. •
SHANNON MILLSAPS
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AFTER MORE THAN 30 YEARS OF CLIMBING ACCESS ISSUES IN THE HIGH COUNTRY, BOONE FINALLY HAS ITS VERY OWN BOULDERFIELD. by JESS DADDIO
THE GRANITIC BOULDERS ON BUCKEYE KNOB ARE UNLIKE ANY BOULDERS IN THE SOUTHEAST, MORE CLOSELY RESEMBLING THOSE FOUND IN WESTERN BOULDERING HOTSPOTS LIKE SQUAMISH, B.C., AND BISHOP, CALIF.
It’s a cool morning in late April 2017. A group of climbers and representatives from the Blue Ridge Conservancy and the Carolina Climbers Coalition (CCC) meet about 10 miles west of Boone, N.C., at the entrance of a 55-acre chunk of pristine forest. They spend the day walking beneath the formidable boughs of an ancient canopy, wrestling centuries-old groves of rhododendron in search of rock.
ADAM JOHNSON
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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / O C TO B E R 2 017 / R I C H M O N D - V I R G I N I A B E A C H E D I T I O N
Local Joey Henson is leading the way. An Appalachian State University alumnus, Henson has been climbing in the High Country for over 30 years. The property, known as the Farthing Tract or Buckeye Knob, is Henson’s backyard. His own land has long served as basecamp for visiting climbers and butts up to the Barn Boulders, a boulderfield adjacent to Buckeye Knob where climbers have enjoyed unofficial access since the ‘90s. “I’ve been climbing in Boone since the late ‘80s and I had never been to Buckeye Knob or the Barn Boulders until this year,” says Brian Payst, president of the CCC. “That’s the cool thing about Boone. There are tons of rocks hidden in the woods. The boulders at Buckeye Knob are tucked into the canopy. If you were to drive down the road you would have no idea there were any boulders.” Payst is also along for the reconnaissance mission, which effectively decided the fate of the Farthing Tract in an afternoon. Just this past winter, Highland Forestry, Land & Timber had purchased the property, but put it back on the market soon after. When Henson got wind that the Farthing Tract was for sale, he wasted no time in rallying the troops. “It wasn’t just climbers but hikers, amateur archaeologists, forest lovers in general,” says Henson. “There were a lot of people for a long time prepping for what would happen when it went on the market, which it did suddenly this year, and we were ready for it.” Heavily forested and laced with mountain-fed springs, the Farthing Tract is prime real estate. It’s home to the headwaters of the Bear Creek watershed, which eventually feeds into Cove Creek and the Watauga River. Along the creek, researchers have unveiled Paleolithic-age artifacts and footpaths. Million dollar views of Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain, Mount Rogers, and Mount Mitchell are visible from the mesa-like summit of Buckeye Knob (4,350 feet). Climbers are of course drawn to the boreal forest for its dense concentration of granite boulders, 180
of which are known and have 500 problems established already. Between the legendary ascents of worldrenowned climber Chris Sharma and the continued vertical feats of Triple Crown Bouldering Champions Taylor McNeill and Becca O’Brien, these boulders have been climbed by some of the highest-level athletes in the sport. But most impressive of all are the trees, which have stood the test of time, untouched by man. A pretty penny could be made here from logging or development, but Henson couldn’t bear to see that happen. Fortunately, neither could David Isner, owner of Highland Forestry, Land & Timber. “It could have been done,” says Isner about logging the land. “I had arranged for suitable, serviceable access into the property for timbering purposes. Had I done that, that would have been a fine use for the property, but I could see it would negate the recreational use that Joey and others were very interested in having this property available for. They could see a pathway where this land could be used for conservation and recreation, and I don’t get to see that opportunity very frequently on the mountaintop properties I provide timbering services to.” In fact, Isner has never worked with a non-profit for both conservation and recreation purposes. He admits to being skeptical at first, but by June 28, 2017, two months after that walk in the woods, Isner, the CCC, and The Access Fund had signed a contract. The deal closed last month on September 18, marking the first Boone area acquisition by climbers, for climbers. “We’ve been seeing access open up at Grayson Highlands, Hidden Valley, Breaks Interstate Park, Rumbling Bald, but it’s like we’ve drawn a circle around the High Country,” says Aaron Parlier, founder of Boone’s climbing gym Center 45. “Now it’s happening here, and I can’t say for sure, but I have to foresee that as being an extremely positive move in the right direction.” Boone’s climbing history is fraught with tenuous access, lost at the hands
of bulldozers and petty deeds. Locals still have a sour taste in their mouths about areas like the Mildred Boulders on Grandfather Mountain and Howard’s Knob, a privately owned downtown boulderfield that climbers unsuccessfully attempted to purchase back in 2010. Parlier says those losses wore heavily on the community, and for many years the climbing culture felt unapproachable for out-oftowners and newcomers to the sport. “When those closures were happening, it understandably created this idea that more people visiting meant more impacts and more closures,” he says. “There was a locals-only stigma in place, and some of that remnant clandestine outlook is still around, but I feel like it was very short lived. This Buckeye Knob acquisition is really a turn of events that hopefully opens the doors for folks who want to come to the High Country and climb.” Today, the vast majority of bouldering in Boone, such as Blowing Rock, Highway 221, Grandmother Mountain, and Lost Cove, is all found on either National Park Service land or Forest Service Land. Current relations between these land managers and climbers are better than ever, but access to these major climbing destinations isn’t officially recognized. “It really is a handshake agreement for the time being,” says Payst. “Considering the amount of climbing in Boone, it’s kind of amazing that there is no management. It’s just a matter of time before the Forest Service recognizes climbing as a legitimate recreational activity that needs to be managed that way.” The CCC and the Access Fund have been working on a memorandum of understanding with the National Park Service for several years, but it’s currently tied up in legal limbo. Payst, Henson, and Parlier are hopeful that the success of the Buckeye Knob acquisition will only continue to prove climbers are responsible stewards and land users. The purchase of Buckeye Knob by the Access Fund and the CCC
has since led to a domino effect of land donations and easements on four adjacent properties, including Audubon Society and Blue Ridge Conservancy “forever wild” lands. All told, climbers now have permanent access to 190 acres of boulder-strewn forest. Unlike other climbing areas in Boone, which are predominantly metamorphic sandstone, quartzite, and amphibolite, the Buckeye Knob and Barn Boulders are granitic gneiss and resemble rock found in western bouldering destinations like Leavenworth, Wash., and Bishop, Calif. The freestanding, egg-shaped boulders are literal works of art, colored every shade of bronze and pink and peach with streaks of stark black veins. With naturally flat, clear landings and an unexplainable tendency to be completely dry when other parts of Boone are socked in (Henson calls it Boone’s “rain shadow”), Buckeye Knob and the Barn Boulders could very well prove to be the most significant bouldering area in the High Country. Novice boulderers will find plenty of climbs on the V1 thru V3 40-problem circuit, while climbers looking for a project and a lesson in humility should look no farther than the Woodruff Boulder, a behemoth of a rock with 10 V10s. “Buckeye Knob is the land of adventure and exploration,” says Henson. “You can still get lost up there. We want climbers to recognize how pristine this land is and not love it to death. This area provides a gateway for other western Watauga County features, and our hope is to get the county and private sector involved to see climbing as the economic engine it is.” The CCC is currently raising funds for the Buckeye Knob purchase. Help them meet their $145,000 goal by making a donation at carolinaclimbers.org/buckeyeknob. You can also participate in the Hound Ears portion of the Triple Crown Bouldering Series on October 7th, which will also serve as a fundraiser for the acquisition.
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SOLE SISTERS TWO ATLANTA WOMEN LAUNCH A GLOBAL MOVEMENT—BLACK GIRLS RUN—THAT IS REVOLUTIONIZING OUTDOOR RECREATION. by NANCY SORRELLS
I
t started with a friendship between two sorority sisters. Today, they've created an international movement that includes more than 235,000 women and 73 running groups focused on encouraging all women, but especially women of color, to make fitness and healthy living a priority. The story begins a decade and a half ago when Toni Carey and Ashley Hicks-Rocha, now both 34 years old, met as sorority pledges at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Ashley, who came to the university on a soccer scholarship, was a mass communications major. Carey, a year behind Hicks-Rocha in school, majored in public relations and marketing. Both shared an entrepreneurial spirit and a life-long bond was formed. Fast forward a few years, and the two friends found themselves in different cities, trying to meet the fast-paced challenges of work and relationships in the real world. Both women also knew the reality that faced them: four out of five AfricanAmerican women are overweight and at risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Hicks-Rocha, the college athlete, started running first. She
just laced up her shoes and began hitting the pavement. And she shared her experiences with Carey, who remembers watching from the sidelines for about a year. “She shared her journey with me, which was great, but my initial reaction was ‘I don’t get it,'" says Carey. "Long distance running is always what you see white people doing.” Stresses in her personal and professional life eventually moved Carey off the sidelines and into the running world. She changed her diet and bought a pair of running shoes. Then she called her mother to tell her the plan. “My mom said, ‘Toni, running is something white girls do. Be careful—your uterus will fall out.’” Once both women were running, they started comparing notes on their experiences. Not only did their conversations involve discussions of diet, exercise regimes, and workout clothing; there was also talk about the realities, barriers, and stigmas that had to be overcome both from the white running community that was unused to their presence and from the black community that didn’t feel empowered and secure enough to join the running ranks. So the two decided to blog about their experiences. “It was just the two of us running and we were black so we called our blog ‘Black Girls Run!’” explains Hicks-Rocha. “Then in 2011,
there was a marathon in Atlanta and we invited black women runners from around the country to show up. We had no idea that there were other black women running, but there were and they came. It literally went viral and we watched it grow from there.” Those ripples in the pond have touched lives around the world. “There are so many stories,” says Carey. “I think the one that impacted me the most was the woman whose daughter was fighting breast cancer. She told us that she didn’t think that she would have made it through her daughter’s illness and passing without Black Girls Run. Running helped her navigate her journey.” Running is often secondary to the wider efforts of Black Girls Run. “We are a tight knit group supporting each other on the pavement and in everyday life,” says Carey. Philadelphia high school Principal Keisha Wilkins would agree. The 39-year-old ultra marathoner zooms around her school with sneakers on her feet and a pearl necklace around her neck. At her school there is a healthy kids running series and the calendar includes “medal Mondays,” where she and her kids show off their running medals that they have earned together in races. But it was not always so. In 2013, Wilkins was searching for a way to get a handle on her life. She had
ASHLEY HICKS-ROCHA AND TONI CAREY COURTESY BGR!
three children, a stressful job, and weighed 285 pounds. That summer, she bought sweatpants and sneakers and vowed to run five miles by the end of the summer. She found a group of Black Girls Run ladies who became her “sole sistas” and opened up a whole new world of fitness and mental health. In 2014, she ran a marathon. In 2015 she completed a grueling ultramarathon trail run in New York. “It is a sisterhood of growth, love, knowledge, self-esteem, and wellness practice,” says Wilkins. “We walk and run in fellowship. We accept challenges together, we hold each other accountable, and we know that there will be somebody there for you.” A few years ago in her first race, Wilkins remembers that she was one of four black women entered. “I got to the race and I saw how many people were NOT African-American. At that first race, the four of us have a picture of us waving, and we were surrounded by white people.” But times are changing. She has now participated in long distance events where 500 women of color showed up to compete. “It was so empowering,” Wilkins says. These days, Wilkins, who has lost
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A GROUP OF BLACK GIRLS RUN! MEMBERS READY FOR ACTION AT THE INDIAN HEAD RAIL TRAIL IN MARYLAND. COURTESY BGR!
100 pounds, is a run coordinator who organizes her local Black Girls Run group. “Black families are dying because of high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol and it is all because of the stigma surrounding diet and exercise,” she lamented. “But Black Girls Run changes that.” Further south in Milledgeville, Georgia, Jean Fraley is a 62-year-old grandmother, retired from the mental health and juvenile justice system. “In my family we have diabetes and high blood pressure. I retired and 48
decided that I did not want to spend my retirement in the doctor’s office,” she explained. In April of 2015, she started focusing on running and soon connected with women from BGR! “Black Girls Run is about encouraging other women of color to get out there. It is almost like you are a winner before you start and are best friends with the other women even if you don’t know them.” She basks in being a role model for her children and grandchildren. Her two sons like to brag that their mother is the number one ranked woman of the area in her age group. Now, she says, it is almost a pleasure to go to the doctor and get her “happy report.”
B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / O C TO B E R 2 017
The movement has spread beyond the pavement to being outdoors in general, including trail running, hiking, and camping. “There was a lack of representation [for black women] in the outdoors and in the industry. Then we came on the scene and showed people that it is acceptable,” says Carey, who is the full-time head of BGR! “I know that I am outdoors more now. I noticed early on when I would go hiking with my husband that there weren’t a lot of minority people out hiking. And there were not a lot of women in executive positions in the outdoor industry as a whole. The culture of the outdoor industry has been a boys club. We are pushing to change that,
but real change happens from the grassroots level, from the bottom up. The outdoors industry needs to understand that we are not waiting for them to change. We are going to make sure that the outdoors looks like the rest of the world." Carey's mom has long since accepted the fact that her daughter’s uterus is not going to fall out. In fact, her mother looks in amazement at what the two college friends have done and the lives that they have changed. “Our job is to love on these ladies," says Carey. "They have never been told they are beautiful, capable, and smart. It is neat to see these women transform.”
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Come join us in Historic Philadelphia
Registration opens on April 1, 2017 Race Weekend: November 17 to 19, 2017 Participate in one or more of our great events! Rothman 8K – Saturday, November 18th Half-Marathon – Saturday, November 18th Marathon – Sunday, November 19th To receive a 10% registration discount, use the code: B ALTIMO RE2017 (Good until October 31, 2017)
For more information visit: www.philadelphiamarathon.com O C TO B E R 2 017 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M
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TRAIL MIX
Down on the Farm
SCOTT MILLER RETURNS WITH A NEW RECORD BY JEDD FERRIS SCOTT MILLER EMERGED IN THE EARLY
crop of alt-country songwriters with the V-Roys—the popular roots-rock group that broke out of Knoxville, Tenn., in the mid-90s and recorded three albums for Steve Earle’s E-Squared Records before disbanding at the end of the decade. A prolific tunesmith, Miller has since kept cranking out albums, either solo or with his band the Commonwealth. But these days the music business is a tough nut to crack, so in 2011 Miller made a big life change. He left Tennessee and moved back to his native Virginia to take over responsibilities on his family’s cattle farm, located in the small town of Swoope, near Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley. Now Miller, a self-described “workaholic,” finds time to write songs between long days fixing fences and baling hay. His latest album, Ladies Auxiliary, will be released on November 3 via Miller’s own F.A.Y. Records. The title comes from Miller being backed solely by women on the new effort. Personnel includes skilled fiddle Rayna Gellert, formerly of Uncle Earl, and bassist Bryn Davies, whose resume includes work with Guy Clark, Jack White, and Peter Rowan. Recorded in Tennessee during separate sessions in Knoxville and Nashville, the acoustic-driven album was produced by singersongwriter Ann McCue, who also provided guitar accents. Lyrically, Miller is at the top of his game, blending humor and wit to deliver social commentary and tell characterdriven tales of struggle. He recently took a break from farming for a quick chat with BRO. WHAT’S A TYPICAL DAY LIKE ON THE FARM? I’m up early and out here everyday; 50
there’s always work to do. The farm cuts back my ability to tour, because I have to be here during specific times of the year. In January, February, and the first part of March, I’m feeding, so I try not to leave. From the middle of May to the middle of June it takes me about a month to get the hay baled. I’m not down in Nashville, shucking and jiving like I used to be. When it’s time to get a record out I start scrounging hard. SO WHEN DO YOU INCORPORATE SONGWRITING? I’m still figuring it out. I always keep notebooks and a small recorder ready in case a melody comes to me. Then it’s just a matter of making time. Back when I lived in Tennessee and music was my job, I would write everyday. I’ve also been co-writing. [Folk duo and husband and wife] Robin and Linda Williams live down the road in Middlebrook, and we get together every Wednesday to work on some songs. HOW DID LADIES AUXILIARY COME TOGETHER? At first I went down to Knoxville and just did the basic tracks with Bryn
B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / O C TO B E R 2 017
Davies on bass. Then I went down to Nashville and asked Ann McCue if she would produce it, and it all came together. I have been steering towards sparse arrangements, and sonically I love what these players did with the songs. With this one I was trying to give myself plenty of time to live with these songs and get the lyrics right, because I always want to go back and rewrite everything. Lyrics are my thing. I’ve never really been a musician. I play enough to get by.
Back then it was before the music industry went to shit. It was four or five major labels, and they dictated what was played on the radio. If you were water they drilled the hole and poured you in it. That’s just what people got. Now I compare it to being like water on pavement. There’s so much music, and it’s spread out, so you just have to see where it sinks in and follow it. That’s the only way guys like me can make a living. At the same time, it’s been very freeing that I can now reach my fans directly.
“LO SIENTO, SPANISHBURG, WVA” IS A COMICAL TALE ABOUT GENTRIFICATION. DO YOU HAVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE TOWN? It started as an idea about Swoope, which is getting built up. When they built the bypass through Augusta County, that’s when I started getting pissed. There are areas all over this region where money came in and hillbillies were taxed out. That’s my Scotch-Irish knee-jerk reaction to rich people.
WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED FROM ANOTHER MUSICIAN? When I was first living in Knoxville and just starting to play, I opened up for Mike Cross and asked him for advice. He told me to take an aspirin and run my hands under warm water before playing to loosen up my fingers. Then, he told me to get a car with air conditioning, so you’re always ready to play when you show up to a gig. I just played a show down in Balsam Mountain, N.C., and my air conditioner went out. When I got there, I felt like I’d been put in a sack and beat up. Mike Cross was right.
HOW DOES BEING A MUSICIAN NOW COMPARE TO THE OLD DAYS WITH THE V-ROYS?
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