The National Park Service knows the benefits of people being conscious of water safety. They perform rescues every year, helping people who weren’t exercising safety on the water. In order to help educate people about the benefits of water safety, the NPS is sponsoring the New River Gorge Water Safety Weekend, May 26-28.

Rafting in the New River Gorge

The Program

In order to accommodate as many people as possible, the Park Service will host the Water Safety Program in two different locations each day. The locations and times are as follows:

Sandstone Visitor Center

This program will be conducted each day from 1:00 – 4:00 pm. It features exhibits and information about water safety and guests can visit for as long as they like.

Sandstone Falls

This program is offered on Saturday and Monday from 2:00 – 4:00 pm at the Boardwalk at Sandstone Falls. It will also feature exhibits and information about water safety.

Canyon Rim Visitor Center

This program is offered Sunday from 1:00 -  4:00 pm at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center in Lansing. It will feature exhibits and information about water safety.

National Park Service rangers will conduct all the programs. Water safety is a very important topic and presentations such as these are a wonderful tool for educating the public on safer ways to have summer fun.

Water Safety Festival

There will also be a water safety festival the same weekend. It will take place at the “The Pitts” boat launch area on Bluestone Lake on Sunday from 1:00 -  4:00 pm. Lessons on watercraft safety and boat rides will be available.

Park Rangers, in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers, will be conducting life jacket fittings and demonstrating many of the different styles of life jackets.  They will also have several different water safety devices on display and will conduct water rescue demonstrations. And you won’t want to miss the throw bag contest.

If you plan on spending a lot of time around the water this summer, try to make it out to one of the programs or the festival. It never hurts to gain a little more knowledge and it might even save a life.

Do you take to the water like a fish here in WV? Tell us about it in the comments.

The Gorge has some great campgrounds with amenities, along with some primitive camping areas as well.  Many campgrounds are located close to adventure activities. But just as important as where you camp will be what you bring with you to camp.

A sleeping pad makes for a more comfortable camping trip

We are going to look at some of the essential items that will help make your camping experience as comfortable (and memorable) as possible.

Essentials

We assume tents and sleeping bags are already on your camping list. Here are some other items that you may not have considered:

• Sleeping Pad – These come in all shapes and sizes and make a huge difference when compared to sleeping on the hard ground. Air mattresses are great for this as well.
• Tarps – These help in case of inclement weather. Hang them over your table, tent, and gathering areas in case it decides to rain. A small one under your tent helps keep ground moisture away and protects the tent floor.
• Lanterns – Battery powered ones are fine, but if you plan on being up long after dark, a propane or Coleman fuel lantern will work better and last longer.
• Flashlight – A couple of lights for the group is the minimum we recommend.  If you can, make sure everyone in your party has their own light. This is even more important if you’re camping in primitive areas with no external lighting.
• Water – A few gallons of water will be necessary to help with cleanup, cooking , and of course for drinking.
• Chairs – Camp chairs make a huge difference in your comfort level. Otherwise it’s rocks, logs, or the ground for you.
• Firestarter Logs – These make getting a campfire started much easier and can be a must if you have wood that isn’t quite dry.

Other Items

Here are some other items you probably don’t want to be without during your stay in the great outdoors:

• Coolers
• Camp table
• Throw rug
• Can opener
• Twine or cord
• Rake and shovel

Good planning and a little research of camping areas around the Gorge can make for a great visit here with us. Have fun and enjoy your stay.

What other camping essentials do you recommend?

The end of April means the New River Birding and Nature Festival is approaching. Bird watchers and nature lovers from far and wide infiltrate this area for a “summer camp” of  sorts with similar-minded folks. With world-class instructors hosting daily field trips as well as evening presentations, this event is a wonderful showcase of the Gorge’s beauty and natural resources.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the New River Birding and Nature Festival.

About the Festival

In its 10^th year, this week-long gathering takes advantage of the wonderful nature that is preserved in and around the Gorge. Festival chairman Dave Pollard said he expects close to 175 participants this year and that most of them sign up for the whole week of activities. The event is from April 30 to May 5 and focuses on the birds and ecology of our area.

There are 4 or 5 field trips offered per day, and many of them are already full. But you can still get into some of the sessions. Here’s an example of a few of the talks and trips the festival offers.

• Nature Photography
• All Things Cerulean
• Birding by Boat
• Fields trips to Buery Mountain, Long Point, Kanawha Falls, Cranberry Glades, Sugar Creek

There are also short presentations after the field trips and dinner presentations, both at Opossum Creek Retreat. Definitely plenty to keep even the most zealous nature lover entertained.

The Experts

This festival taps the expertise of many scholars and accomplished individuals and lets the participants learn from them in a beautiful environment. Presenters include:

• Dr. Scott Shalaway – Wildlife Biologist with Ph. D. in Wildlife Ecology and M.S. in Biology.
• Bill Thompson III -  Editor of Bird Watchers Digest and author of many birding and nature books.
• Mark Garland – Naturalist with B.S. and M.S. degrees from University of Maryland’s College of Agriculture.
• Jim McCormac – Ohio Division of Wildlife specialist dealing in nongame wildlife diversity, particularly birds.
• Julie Zickefoose – Artist, naturalist and writer, specializing in natural history. Also NPR contributor.

These are just a few of the various professionals that help make the Birding and Nature Festival a great event. This festival also boasts the best guide to guest ratio of any of the birding festivals around.

The event is a great promotion of this area, its beauty, and resources. According to Dave Pollard, “Another great thing about this festival is it has helped bring about other events in the area like the Fall Birding Weekend and the August Hummingbird event.”

Whether you are a nature lover, birdwatcher, or just want to learn a new hobby, think about attending the New River Birding and Nature Festival.

Will we see you there?

Ramps grow everywhere from South Carolina to Canada, and are very thick in and around the New River Gorge. They are considered a delicacy here and many communities have festivals to celebrate their arrival. Spring means folks all over the state are combing the hillsides to pick ramps and use them to flavor everything from potatoes to scrambled eggs.

Ramps in West Virginia

Why All The Fuss?

Economics has taught us when something has a limited supply you will always have great demand. This wild onion only grows for a limited number of weeks a year in the spring. And if you talk to most connoisseurs of the ramp, they will tell you that once they grow too large, the strength of their flavor is almost too potent to enjoy.

The ramp plant has a bright green, smooth leaf with a purple stalk and small bulb. Mountain folk have long celebrated their arrival, believing they have great powers to ward off ailments from winter. Whether or not that’s true, if you eat them they will definitely ward off folks who don’t enjoy their “bounty” (i.e., smell).

How To Eat Ramps

Folks who like ramps are always coming up with new and interesting ways to use them in their cooking. Here are just a few of the places we’ve seen ramps pop up:

• Scrambled Eggs
• Fried Potatoes
• Spaghetti sauce
• Mixed with Greens in a Salad
• Blended in Marinades
• Topping for Pizza
• Cooked in Beans
• Soups
• Pickled

The cities of Richwood and Elkins both host annual festivals to celebrate their arrival and feature dishes that highlight the flavor of ramps. Folks come from all over to partake in these celebrations of the ramp.

Try Your Hand At Cooking Ramps

Here’s a great recipe for ramps that you can try:

Potato and Ramp Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 to 6 slices bacon
• 4 cups chopped ramps (including green)
• 4 to 5 cups diced red potatoes
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

In a large skillet or Dutch oven, fry bacon until crispy; set bacon aside. Add ramps and potatoes to the skillet; fry on medium-low heat until ramps are tender. Sprinkle with flour; stir until flour is absorbed. Stir in chicken broth; simmer until potatoes are tender. Stir in the cream and heat thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4 to 6.

Do you have a favorite ramp recipe?  Share it in the comments below.

Bridge builders had to span the 900 foot deep gorgethat is almost ¾ of a mile across.  It was a massive undertaking.  What the bridge means for commerce and tourism in West Virginia is hard to quantify.

WV State Quarter

The Process and the Stats

The West Virginia quarter was part of the 2005 US Mint releases. West Virginia was the 35th state admitted to the Union, so the WV quarter was the 35th design. The coin selection process involved the states; the governor of each state recommended and submitted a design to the US Mint for review of coin-ability.

In West Virginia, over 1,800 designs were submitted from around the state.  Then, the Governor’s School for the Arts students narrowed it down to five finalists. Suggested designs included the Appalachian Mountains, Bridge Day, Mother’s Day, and River Rafting.

Governor Joe Manchin selected the New River Gorge Bridge design out of the finalists and after approval from the Mint, over 700,000,000 WV quarters were produced. The New River Gorge Bridge quarter had the highest mintage of all the quarters produced in the 2005 series. It was engraved by engraver John Mercanti.

Why The Bridge

There are a few likely reasons why the Bridge became the design for the quarter.

First, when it was built in the mid 1970′s, the Bridge was the longest and second highest of its kind in the world. This led to a lot of folks discovering WV and its beauty for the first time. Second, it’s such a recognizable design that its hard to mistake the image of the Bridge for any other structure.  The New River Gorge Bridge is highly iconic in the state.

This is a Bridge that people come to photograph, raft under, and enjoy.  Bridge Walk now offers tours of the catwalk under the Bridge. The Bridge Day Festival is the largest single day event in WV. BASE Jumpers from all over the world have it on their list of structures to jump from. Many of them make the journey every year to take part in the event.

The Bridge is such a special structure, in such a special place. No other image would represent  WV quite as well.

As coal mining in the Gorge became less productive and mines closed, the residents that depended on them also disappeared. All, except for one, that is. Melcina Fields was a servant to the Beury family, and she stayed on long after the family had moved out of the Gorge. She was the last resident to inhabit what today is a National Park.

Photo From "New River Gorge" by J. Scott Legg

Who Was Melcina Fields?

Known as “the Fierce Hermit of The New River,” Melcina was a servant to Harry Beury, son of Colonel Joseph Beury, the owner of the first coal mine on the New River. Colonel Beury eventually became one of the largest coal owners in WV and built a 23 room house in the Gorge. Harry lived there from the time of the Colonel’s wife’s death in 1917 until the mines closed.

Melcina, born in 1912, was a servant to the Beury family until they moved out of the Gorge. Not knowing any other life, Melcina decided to stay and lived in the mansion until its collapse. She then lived out the rest of her days in the abandoned company store.

It was a 3.5 mile walk to Thurmond for her to get groceries, and when the walk became too much, train conductors used to leave her food and coal to help her survive. Whitewater rafting guides would bring her supplies.  The residents of Thurmond built her a hut, but she preferred to reside in the crumbling remains of the store.

Melcina passed away in 1982 and the Gorge hasn’t had a resident downstream of Thurmond since then.

Did you ever meet Melcina?

What Is TimberTrek?

Situated on 4 wooded acres at the resort, TimberTrek is a conglomerate of 5 aerial ropes courses that combine a series of 60 different challenging elements. The 5 courses vary in difficulty, from very easy (the yellow course) to extremely challenging (the black course). It uses the elements of wood, rope and cables to form bridges, swings, ladders and zip lines. These obstacles require balance agility, strength, and focus; each level of the course will challenge users more than the last.

The Angry Plank: One of the TimberTrek Elements

The courses increase in height as they increase in difficulty.  At the highest point you’ll be 50 feet off the forest floor. Professional staff will be located throughout the course for help, but TimberTrek is a self guided adventure that allows users to progress at their own pace.

How Does TimberTrek Work?  Who Can TimberTrek?

A short safety orientation on how to use the equipment and the rules of the park is followed by gearing up for your adventure. Guests wear a harness, which has a double lanyard system for safety.

Trips last about 3 hours, and you can do as many courses as you are able to in that time frame.  You must be able to fit in the specially designed harness, and for safety reasons, 265 pounds is the upper weight limit. The yellow course can accommodate kids as young as 7, but adult supervision will be required for anyone under the age of 14.

There are a few rules about loose hair and clothing, phones, shoes, and behavior.  Gear up correctly and you are guaranteed to have a blast.

When Can You TimberTrek?

TimberTrek is set to open in April and will remain open through Thanksgiving. Trips will begin around 8am and go until almost dark. Reservations are encouraged; groups of up to 40 can be handled fairly easily. The park will be open rain or shine, and only high winds, lightning or ice will cause a cancellation of a trip.

TimberTrek is just the third aerial adventure park of it’s kind in the United States, so it will be a unique experience for most folks.

Are you ready to TimberTrek?

Photo Courtesy of Opossum Creek Retreat

In one of the largest youth service projects ever performed in National Park History, over 1,000 scouts provided 30,000 hours of volunteer service to build 14 miles of new, single track mountain biking trails in the New River Gorge.

A grand opening ceremony was held in August 2011 for the Arrowhead Mountain Bike Trails.   And this is just the beginning. There are future plans for Scouts to perform community service projects all over southern West Virginia.

The Team

Adam Stephens at Marathon Bike in Fayetteville first dreamed up the idea of the trails.  He started the discussions that brought a few groups together.  Ultimately, the trail build team included the National Park Service, the Boy Scouts’ ‘Honor Society’ the Order of the Arrow, and some helpful folks from the International Mountain Biking Association.  IMBA is a non-profit group whose mission is to create, enhance, and preserve great mountain biking.

Photo Courtesy of Opossum Creek Retreat

The National Park Service provided the land, IMBA was along for its expertise in building sustainable, low maintenance trails and the Scouts provided the labor to help make these trails possible. It’s estimated that the Scouts’ work accounted for $1.6 million in labor.

The Trails

The system was named Arrowhead Trails in honor of the Order of the Arrow.  The trails are a stacked loop, which means there are loops inside of other loops. You can ride them in any combination, and with close to 14 miles of trails, it’s a good addition to the many other trails in the area.

With names like Adena, Clovis, Dalton, and LeCroy, the trails vary in length from just over 1 mile to 6.4 miles. They are designed to accommodate riders of varying levels of expertise, novice beginner and seasoned veteran alike. The system is located off Gatewood Road in Fayetteville,  just a few hundred yards past the parking area for the Kaymoor Mines trail. Trail maps are online at the National Park Service website and are available at the trail head parking lot.

Have you ridden the Arrowhead Trails?

The Summit Bechtel Reserve is going to carry the Boy Scouts into the next century by focusing on state of the art equipment and embracing change to better engage the youth of today.

Boy Scouts of America

The What

The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve is going to be the Boy Scouts of America’s greatest facility. Not only will it be the newest and most state of the art High Adventure Base Camp, but it will also become a future home of the National Scout Jamboree, starting in 2013. It will also be the home of the National Center for Scouting Excellence.

It will be the seventh High Adventure Base Camp in the history of the BSA; it will be the fourth currently operational camp. The programs offered at the Summit will be specifically tailored to take advantage of the New River Gorge and its resources. It will offer rafting, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, rappelling orienteering, and geocaching. There are many other activities being proposed as well.

The Where

With close to 13 miles of its property bordering the New River Gorge National Park, this camp is situated in the heart of southern WV.  8,000 acres are in Fayette County and the remaining 2600 are in Raleigh County.  This 10,600 acre reserve allows the scouts to access more than 70,000 acres of park property just outside its boundaries.

Located between Fayetteville and Beckley, and only about 25 miles from the Gauley River National Recreation Area, its not hard to see why this site was chosen ahead of 80 others in 28 states.  This site also has a close proximity to a large percentage of the U.S. population, with nearly 2/3 of people in the United States living within a 10 hour drive of the Summit.

The How

After it was selected as the site, the next step to making it a reality was to get funding. Stephen Bechtel, a past eagle scout himself, donated $50 million  to the project and the Summit was named in his honor.  Millions more have been donated from a wide pool of sources, making this one of the largest BSA projects ever. In fact, when all is said and done, the Scouts will most likely have close to $250 million in the project.

The Why

The Summit was developed out of necessity. There is typically a wait list to attend the other High Adventure Camps. Also, the permanent home of the National Jamboree, Fort A.P Hill in Virginia, is part of the Fort A.P. Hill Army instillation.  At the Summit, BSA now has it’s very own, dedicated spot for the Jamboree.

It’s estimated that 50,000 scouts and 300,000 visitors will visit the Gorge during the Jamboree.  The local area is busy getting ready for these new visitors.

Are you coming to the Jamboree in 2013?

There are so many different options for lodging; cabins, hotels, campgrounds, B&Bs.  By understanding the choices that are here, you can figure out what’s going to work best for you and your group.

Let’s take a look at what you’ll find in the Gorge:

Cabin at Opossum Creek Retreat

Camping

Have a big group or concerned about cost? Or do you just like the communing with nature and sleeping under the stars? There are plenty of opportunities to camp around the Gorge, from organized campgrounds with many amenities (think showers and laundry areas), to rustic camping in remote areas with little more than a portable toilet.

Hotels

Hotels offer the convenient option of a place to lay your head at the end of a busy day. Their staff makes sure your room is tidied every day and many hotels are national chains, so you know what you’re getting.

If your idea of a perfect vacation is a getaway where you don’t have to cook, clean, or lift a finger, a hotel might be your best bet.

Bed and Breakfast

The Bed & Breakfast is quaint in nature and communal in style.  This option is great for folks who have outgoing personalities and like being around other people. This style of lodging is more apt to appeal to couples or a small family.

B&B’s around here are typically small, popular lodging choices.  Try to book your stay as far in advance as possible, especially if you have a particular B&B in mind.

Cabins

Cabins are the new home away from home for vacationers, allowing groups to cook their own meals and relax in a beautiful, comfortable setting. Cabin types vary from small rustic models with few amenities to extravagant digs that make you feel like royalty. In the Gorge, you’ll find cabins that are privately owned or those that are part of adventure resorts.

Cabins appeal to everyone from couples to large groups.  In fact, some cabin businesses have models that can sleep up to 20 people. One of the best things about staying in cabins is that most of them are close to the outdoor action, like biking, hiking, climbing, and rafting.

Where do you like to stay when you visit the Gorge?