Blue Ridge Outdoors March 2015

MARCH 2015

BLUERIDGEOUTDOORS.COM

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DISCOVER MOTHER NATURE’S PLAYGROUND. From underground caves to the shores of lakes and rivers to the highest peaks of the Appalachians, Kentucky is home to one of the largest state park systems in the country.

Which means endless hiking, biking, camping and canoeing outdoor adventures. It also means endless pampering at our lodges and restaurants, rounds of golf on championship courses and beautiful scenery. Explore everything we have to offer at parks.ky.gov.

CELEBRATING

10

YEARS

Thank you to all of our supporters!

Walkabout Outfitter, serving you since 20 05.

RICHMOND | ROANOKE | DOWNTOWN ROANOKE HARRISONBURG | LEXINGTON

PHOTO: WILD SOUTH

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IS A PROUD MEMBER OF

Protecting wild places for habitat and recreation values.

190 OUTDOOR BUSINESSES HAVE HELPED PROTECT OVER 44 MILLION ACRES OF WILDLANDS, 2,945 MILES OF RIVERS, REMOVED OR HALTED 26 DAMS, PURCHASED 10 CLIMBING AREAS, AND DESIGNATED 5 MARINE RESERVES. DS SU PP OR T TH E BR AN TH AT SU PP OR T TH E

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5 / R I C H M O N D VA E D I T I O N

FO R TH E OU TD OO RS ! LO OK LIA NC E CO NS ER VA TIO N AL OP .

LO GO WH EN YO U SH

CONTENTS

Hungry Mother State Park, circa 1936.

March 2015

20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

9 MEMORIES Staffers reflect on their most memorable moments at BRO.

10 IN SEARCH OF A SECRET SPOT For BRO owner Blake DeMaso, it all started with an Airstream.

13 THE STORY OF BRO How a small freebie survived—and thrived—to become the region’s largest outdoor mag.

21 HIGHLIGHTS: A 20-YEAR TIMELINE The peaks and valleys of outdoor adventure in the Blue Ridge since 1995.

27 GEAR THROUGH THE YEARS A gearhead’s glance back at two decades of trail-tested goods.

41 PARADISE SAVED, PARADISE LOST Two decades of environmental tragedies and triumphs.

49 TOP 20s A look back at readers’ favorite stories, most popular destinations, and most heated debates.

Performance apparel circa 1936.

51 THE NEXT 20

Thanks for bringing us into the 21st century.

What’s ahead for adventure?

Outdoor expert predictions include jet stream surfing, personal weather drones, and extra terrestrials.

56 MOUNTAIN MUSIC: LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD The sonic landscape has been digitized, but these hills are still alive with the sound of music.

29 #MYBLUERIDGE What do you love best about the Blue Ridge? Share your stories and photos with us all year long.

31 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Catching up with outdoor athletes, leaders, and luminaries who have graced our pages.

20 Questions— We’re kicking off our anniversary with all things 20! Tune into BlueRidgeOutdoors.com to catch the first installment of our anniversary video series!

BlueRidgeOutdoors.com/MyBlueRidge

Congratulations on 20 years!

800-933-PARK (7275) | www.virginiastateparks.gov M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M BRO_March_2015.indd 2

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2/5/2015 12:25:28 PM

CHATTER

ORDER YOUR A.T. LICENSE PLATE AND SUPPORT THE

APPALACHIAN TRAIL!

READERS’ RESPONSES

PR ESID EN T

BLAKE DEMASO

ED ITOR IN CH IEF

WILL HARLAN

will@blueridgeoutdoors.com PU B LISH ER

LEAH WOODY

leah@blueridgeoutdoors.com ART D IR EC TOR

MEGAN JORDAN

megan@blueridgeoutdoors.com North Carolina Appalachian Trail

Editorial & Production JEDD FERRIS

jedd@blueridgeoutdoors.com TR AVEL ED ITOR

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) now has a specialty license tag in the state of North Carolina.

By getting your tag today, you’ll help the ATC protect and maintain America’s Facts Favorite Long Distance Trail!

The ATC will receive $20 annually for each AT plate purchased or renewed.

How Much Does It Cost?  $30 Regular Appalachian Trail plate*  $60 Personalized Appalachian Trail plate* You are allowed four (4) spaces for a personalized message. __ __ __ __ 2nd Choice __ __ __ __ 3rd Choice __ __ __ __ 1st Choice Name (as shown on certificate of title): FIRST

MIDDLE

CITY

STATE

LAST

ADDRESS ZIP CODE

HOME PHONE

OFFICE PHONE

Current North Carolina Vehicle

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

All proceeds received from each state will help manage and protect the Trail. _______________________ ____________________________________ PLATE NUMBER

VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

TO ORDER, VISIT APPALACHIANTRAIL.ORG/PLATES ______________________ ____________________________________ YEAR

MODEL

MAKE

BODY STYLE

www.appalachiantrail.org

Owner’s Certification of Liability Insurance I certify for the motor vehicle described above that I have financial responsibility as required by law.

______________________________________ _________________________________________ SIGNATURE OF OWNER

DATE OF CERTIFICATION

Mail your check or money order made out to NC DMV and application to: NC Division of Motor Vehicles, Specialty Plate Division 3155 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-3155

UP

JESS DADDIO

jess@blueridgeoutdoors.com SEN IOR D ESIG N ER

LAUREN WALKER

lauren@blueridgeoutdoors.com

C ON TRIBUTORS TRAVIS HALL, CHRIS GRAGTMANS, SKIP BROWN, GRAHAM AVERILL, KY DELANEY, CHARLI KERNS

JULIA GREEN, ROBERT MCGEE

COPY ED ITORS

Advertising & Business

Asheville, N.C. Office (828) 225-0868 SEN IOR AC C OU N T EXEC UTIVE

FULL NAME OF INSURANCE COMPANY AUTHORIZED IN NC – NOT AGENCY OR GROUP POLICY NUMBER – IF POLICY NOT ISSUED, NAME OF AGENCY BINDING COVERAGE

LIGHTEN

I have many fond memories of running the Moses Cone Trails near Blowing Rock, N.C. I hope the trail running restrictions and closures proposed by the National Park Service do not come to pass.

—Bryan Vincent, Farmville, Va.

SEN IOR ED ITOR

License Plate Application

DRIVER’S LICENSE #

SAVED BY MOSES

Thanks for your generous support of the Appalachian Trail! Questions about the NC AT License Tag can be directed to Leanna Joyner 828-254-3708.

MARTHA EVANS

martha@blueridgeoutdoors.com AC C OU N T EXECUTIVE / D IG ITA L PU B LISH ER

DUSTY ALLISON

www.appalachiantrail.org

dusty@blueridgeoutdoors.com

Charlottesville, Va. Office (434) 817-2755 AC C OU N T EXEC UTIVE

KATIE HARTWELL

katie@blueridgeoutdoors.com

PMBAR: THE REAL PISGAH CLASSIC BRO’s Best of the Blue Ridge awards may have overlooked the Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race—the original stage race in Pisgah and by far the biggest and baddest.

—Eric Wever, Asheville, N.C. DON’T FRACK GEORGE Many have heralded the new GWJeff Forest Plan as a successful compromise, but any plan that allows private companies to destroy public lands and rivers is an utter failure.

—Rebecca Anders, Richmond, Va. THE DIRTIEST SECRET Thanks for the inspiration from six tough trail runners, but the author— Adam Hill—is equally inspiring.

To avoid driving, he ran 11 miles roundtrip to work for years. He also founded some of the region’s best running adventures.

—Mike Jones, Asheville, N.C

Klaus Fengler

AC C OU N T EXECUTIVE / MA R KETIN G & PR

NICK NOE

nick@blueridgeoutdoors.com BU SIN ESS MA N AG ER

MELISSA GESSLER

melissa@blueridgeoutdoors.com C IRC U LATION MAN AG ER

AVERY SHOOK

avery@blueridgeoutdoors.com

Digital Media CRAIG SNODGRASS

Thrilled that SELC won Best Environmental Organization in Best of the Blue Ridge contest! Thanks @ GoOutAndPlay! @SELC_org “Campfire, sleeping bag, bourbon, Blue Ridge.” Nice t-shirt from @GoOutAndPlay @JWGartin

ON LIN E D IREC TOR

webdir@blueridgeoutdoors.com PU B L I S H E D BY SUMMIT

PUBLISHING

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ACT TRAIL PRO SERIES

56 College Street, Suite 303 Asheville, North Carolina 28801

Perfect load transfer and superior breathability come together in the new ACT Trail Pro back system

BlueRidgeOutdoors.com

@GoOutAndPlay Thank you to your readers for voting us number one Best Outdoor Town!

@VisitBrysonCity HOW TO REACH US editor@blueridgeoutdoors.com

facebook.com/BlueRidgeOutdoors twitter.com/GoOutAndPlay instagram.com/BlueRidgeOutdoors

©2015 Summit Publishing, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

C OVER A RTWOR K JAMIE GIVENS STU D IOPER IL.C OM

#GoToWV | 800.CALL WVA

Clockwise Top Center: Sunset over New River Gorge, Trekking in Southern West Virginia, Beauty Mountain–Fayette County, Paddleboarding on the New River, Fly Fishing in Northern West Virginia, Horseback Riding–Marshall County, Whitewater Kayaking on the New River, Canoeing on Wheeling Creek

MEMORABLE MOMENTS OUR STAFF RECALLS THEIR FAVORITE MEMORIES WORKING AT BRO BLA K E DEMASO President

The festivals that we have attended as an office.

Over the years, I think we have been to almost every festival in the Southeast.

Some of the most memorable weekends have been at Trail Days, The Festy, Floyd Fest and Bonnaroo.

L AU R E N WA L K E R

Senior Designer Freezing my buns off in a not-quitewarm-enough Virginia swimming hole for the August 2012 cover shoot.

NICK NOE

Account Executive W I LL HARLAN Editor in Chief

Paddling the New with the BRO crew. A slippery photo shoot at Turtleback Falls with Elvis and a water snake. Naked snow angels. A phone call from the FBI. Working with our freelancers— who pour their hearts into every story and photo.

ME LI S S A GESSL ER

There aren’t many offices that end a day of company meetings with a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity.

AV E RY S H O O K

Circulation Manager The Festy was pretty awesome. I could hear all the sets from the BRO tent. The phrase, “working hard or hardly working” crossed my mind more than a couple times.

Business Manager There’s not one shining moment but a collage of memories. When I think of BRO, I think of remarkably talented people who still fuel the fires of their inner children.

ME G A N J O R DA N

Art Director That time we had a successful, glitch-free video conference call with the entire staff.

MA RT HA EVANS

Account Executive Our BRO 24 Hours of Pisgah team. Dancing across the finish line and tye-dyeing t-shirts at the Reggae 5K. Staying up all night and cheering folks on at the Run For Africa Trail Relay.

K AT I E H A RTWEL L

Account Executive I love reading about Jess’s adventures on the road and watching her videos from Live Outside and Play. As a single working mom, it’s a vicarious thrill.

L E A H WOODY Publisher

One of the first Live Outside and Play meet-ups was in Southern WV. We joined a group of about 10 eager hikers of all ages and spent a day on the trail above the New River Gorge. It was so wonderful to meet readers from around the region who were excited to hike somewhere new, and to meet one of our writers.

J E D D F ERRIS Senior Editor

One of my first assignments was a lengthy feature called Ferris’ Week Off. For seven straight days, I traveled to different spots around the region, pursuing a different adventure (including hang gliding!). It was an unforgettable introduction to the amazing outdoor opportunities in the Blue Ridge.

J E S S DA D D IO D U STY A L L I S O N

Travel Editor

Account Executive

Putting a coyote statue under Blake’s desk and watching his surprise unfold live as we streamed it from a hidden GoPro...ahh, office pranks.

Any BRO party or event I have ever been involved with that has taken place at Mono Loco in Charlottesville.

I always hear that I have a fantastic time.

M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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IN SEARCH OF A SECRET SPOT IT ALL BEGAN WITH AN AIRSTREAM

M

Y LOVE FOR THE BLUE RIDGE Mountains came at an early age.

Like many kids in Charlottesville, Va., I grew up hiking, biking, fishing, skiing and paddling, but it was my grandparents who really taught me about the Blue Ridge Mountains. They had an Airstream trailer—the big silver spaceshiplooking thing that still turns heads today on the highways and in campgrounds.

Every weekend and all summer, I would take off with my grandparents on another adventure in the mountains. We hit every campground from Pennsylvania to Georgia, often driving on the Parkway and exploring back roads. My grandfather taught me about the mountains and mountain people, and I became comfortable in the woods and was always ready for an adventure.

Fishing was an important part of almost all of these weekends and summer adventures.

My grandfather (I called him Dub for reasons unknown to me) fancied himself as a fisherman, and he loved fresh rainbow trout. He didn’t know the term “catch and release” but he knew how to fillet a fresh caught fish and cook it to perfection on his grill outside the Airstream. He started teaching me to fish at trout farms and fish hatcheries where you could put just about anything on the end of a hook and catch a fish.

I quickly graduated to the rivers, streams and lakes of Appalachia. We went deep into the mountains on dirt roads in his old wood-paneled Suburban, passing dozens of fishable spots, and hiked miles of unmarked trails in search of the

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

“secret spot.” These secret spots didn’t come from online research or a paid guide — they came through connecting the old fashioned way, by talking to locals. He had a system. Each time we would go into a new area or return to an area we had previously been, we’d hit up the local gas station and convenience store. Even today, these stores can be the centerpieces of some rural communities. He would get to know folks, ask questions, and when they told my grandfather to go to the place down the road where they sent everyone, he smiled and dug a little deeper.

Eventually “the secret spot” would come out of them. As a kid, the list of directions, turns, and odd landmarks—all delivered by a thick Appalachia accent—was dizzying. And almost every time, my grandfather was able to make the turn at the “pregnant tree” or “where the three legged dog barks” and find that secret spot.

One day I asked, “Dub, I wonder if we stopped at all of those other spots closer to the campground if we would catch as many fish as at the secret spot?” I remember his mouth gaping slightly and his foot coming off the gas of the Suburban slowing the vehicle down the dirt road and he said, “I don’t know. I suppose we could try, but what would be the fun in that?”

I realized that eating a great trout dinner at the end of the day wasn’t the goal—it was the icing on the cake to a great day of adventure and conquering the unknown in pursuit of trout. It required persistence, attention to detail, and patience, and the reward was delicious.

And sometimes at night around the community campground campfire after my grandfather told some strangers about our adventures, if the person asked just the right questions, he would tell them how to get to the secret spot.

I would have never imagined back then that one day I would own a media company that’s main goal is to tell our fans, followers, and readers how to go outside and play. We are oftentimes criticized for giving up “secret spots” and sending readers into places that were previously only known by a small group of people. We don’t give up everything, and we still hold plenty of secrets, but we take our goal of encouraging people to get outside seriously. If someone wants to work hard enough to find some of the spots we uncover, then I hope the people who hold those spots sacred can be impressed enough to share them with others. In this day and age where everyone is looking for a quick “experience,” even Dub could probably get on board with this notion.

As we celebrate our 20th Anniversary and I look back on the past 11 years that I have been with Blue Ridge Outdoors, I can’t express how lucky I am to do this for a living. But none of this would be possible without our dedicated readers.

CELEBRATE WITH US!

Share your experiences or secret spots—we want to hear your version of the Blue Ridge! Share your photos, stories and videos at BlueRidgeOutdoors.com /MyBlueRidge or by using the hashtag #myblueridge

NEW STORE...

NEW STUFF!

Shop.BlueRidgeOutdoors.com

2015 SPEAKERS Lefty Kreh • Bob Clouser • Beau Beasley • Ed Jaworowski Blane Chocklett • Walt Cary • Captain Gary Dubiel • Jon Hooper Pat Cohen • Cory Routh • Tom Gilmore • Don Kirk • Steve Vorkapich

*NEW for 2015

Free Boy Scouts of America Fly Fishing Merit Badge Classes & Family Fly Fishing Classes, Ladies Only Fly Casting Classes

Advance tickets, fly fishing class registrations & program information: vaflyfishingfestival.org

THE STORY OF BRO

HOW A SMALL FREEBIE SURVIVED—AND THRIVED—TO BECOME THE REGION’S LARGEST OUTDOOR MAG

by JESS DADDIO

“W

ho’s Blue Ridge Outdoors?”

A guy in jean cut-off shorts is standing next to me, shirtless, sweating in the late August heat and casually sipping out of a pint glass at Ocoee Fest. He’s barefoot and a little drunk—standard protocol for any kayaking festival.

“It’s a free regional magazine based out of Charlottesville, ” I begin, launching into my elevator speech on Blue Ridge Outdoors. As travel editor, I have answered this question hundreds of times before. Despite having had a few beers myself, I switch into cruise control and let my mouth do the talking while my brain reels in the shocking aftermath of his question.

For shame, I think to myself. How can you not know what Blue Ridge Outdoors is?!

Maybe he lives under a rock, I reason. He is a raft guide, after all. Even so, the river he works on, the Ocoee River, is in the heart of our coverage. His job, his passions, are our bread and butter. There is no excuse for this ignorance.

“Oh!” he says after my spiel is over. The light bulb comes on. His eyes widen and I feel a faint flicker of hope. “I bought my first backpack from you guys!”

Not quite.

Blue Ridge Mountain Sports, a Virginia-based outdoor outfitter, is what most newcomers to the magazine associate with when they hear “Blue Ridge Outdoors.”

I sigh, abandoning my disappointment in the raft guide’s failed realization. It’s not his fault. I hand him a sticker with our motto, “Go Outside and Play,” and a copy of the latest issue.

He thanks me, raising his glass to the sky before taking a drink and rejoining the festivities. Later that night, I would see the same guy thrashing about in front of the stage, moving surprisingly in-rhythm with the band. When the music had stopped, he turned to leave and saw me near the

NOT BLUE RIDGE OUTDOORS MAGAZINE.

LEFT: THE FALL 1995 PREMIER ISSUE OF BRO, PUBLISHED AS AN INSERT IN C-VILLE WEEKLY; RIGHT: OUR FIRST SLOGAN—SPEND YOUR MONEY ON SPORTS, WE’RE FREE!

middle of the pack.

“Hey!” he shouted. “It’s the chick from Blue Ridge Outdoors!”

Well, I thought, at least he remembered the magazine’s name.

He barreled through the crowd to give me a high five. The bumper sticker I’d given him earlier was slapped crookedly across his bare chest. I smiled. Mission accomplished.

S PEN D YO U R MO N EY O N S PO RTS …WE’ R E FR EE.

Just two decades ago, I wouldn’t have been so surprised to learn that this raft guide from Tennessee was unfamiliar with the publication. In fact, 20 years ago, my job, and that of more than half the magazine’s present-day staff, wouldn’t have even existed.

Born in a windowless basement on 220 South Street in Charlottesville, Va., Blue Ridge Outdoors barely resembled the comprehensive regional publication it is today. Created by outdoor enthusiast John Blackburn, a graduate student at the University of Virginia and a contributing journalist for C-Ville Weekly, the early pages of BRO only covered Charlottesvillebased adventures—directions to Blue Hole, best

hikes in the Shenandoah National Park, how Devils Knob got its name. Everything was black and white, and the first three issues in 1995 were tucked neatly into the folds of C-Ville Weekly as a seasonal insert.

“Most business startups fail,” says Rob Jiranek, BRO’s first publisher and, at the time, publisher for C-Ville Weekly. “The chances of having a magazine actually succeed back then were about 1 in 11. It was like getting into Harvard.”

Despite the odds against them, Jiranek and Blackburn made the most of those early days and their five-person team. Just two years later, the magazine became a monthly, though its content remained limited to the mountains of Virginia.

“It was a real petri dish of outdoor creativity,” says Jiranek of the office dynamic.

With no budget for photography, Blackburn used his own pictures to accompany the stories, most of which he wrote himself. The staff at BRO sold ads by day, wrote stories at night, and somehow managed so scrape together an impressive issue each month. Part regional events calendar, part storytelling platform, the early issues of the magazine were characterized by M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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PHOTO BY ROB TRAVIS

FIND YOUR JOURNEY then protect it Join us in safeguarding all that makes the Blue Ridge Parkway an amazing experience, from breathtaking landscapes to our shared cultural heritage.

Together we can make the journey last.

BRPFOUNDATION.ORG

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witty writing and the authentic voices of writers who lived and breathed adventure in the Blue Ridge.

By 2001, the team decided to spread the magazine’s coverage farther south and open a North Carolina office in Asheville. The decision would mark an important turning point in the growth of the magazine, setting the stage for BRO to evolve as the region’s definitive resource for outdoor adventure.

A CHANG I N G LA N D SCA PE

Will Harlan was the first employee hired at the new North Carolina office. A top trail runner and outdoor writer, he became the magazine’s editorin-chief, a position he has held for the past 14 years. As BRO’s most senior staffer, Harlan has helped the magazine expand its content and reach.

“It’s a privilege working with this team. They are like family,” Harlan says. “The magazine has grown and evolved over the years, but we’ve always stayed true to our roots—edgy, original, authentic content.”

Travis Searcy, who was hired a few months after Harlan, knows all-too-well just how far the

A REVAMPED BRO LOGO MAKES ITS DEBUT IN 1999

magazine has grown. Brought on as a graphic designer in the Charlottesville office, Searcy says the layout process, called a “paste-up,” didn’t use PDFs or Adobe design software—all he needed was a printer, some scissors, and a little glue.

“I would literally paste the ads onto the pages, then we’d mail that to the press, they’d photograph it, make plates, then print the magazine,” Searcy says.

The layout process wasn’t the only thing that evolved. Steven McBride, a North Carolinabased photographer who has published the most BRO covers, remembers when he used to FedEx transparency slides to Harlan for cover photo submissions.

“Back in the film days, everything was different,” McBride says. “Cameras were bigger and heavier. Lighting was harder to deal with.

Photoshop back then was barely in existence.”

But what BRO lacked in production resources, it made up for ten-fold in its unquestionable commitment to providing quality content. The magazine flourished. As the years passed, technology improved seemingly overnight, website redesigns came and went, and distribution doubled. By the time the magazine’s future owner, Blake DeMaso, got his hands on BRO, the publication had extended its editorial content to * McBride’s images have been featured on the cover of BRO more times than any other photographer.

THE FACTS

HIGHLIGHTS THAT GRACED OUR PAGES OVER THE LAST TWENTY YEARS

TH E LONGEST: At 400 miles, Mammoth Cave in eastern Kentucky is the longest cave system in the world. In the November 2013 issue, I wrote about one of the pioneers of Mammoth’s discovery, Roger Brucker from Shelby, Ohio.

46 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes.

That’s how long it took for Jennifer Pharr Davis of Asheville, N.C., to complete the fastest supported thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2011. Matt Kirk, also an Asheville resident, would add to that record in 2013 by hiking the trail unsupported in just 58 days, 9 hours, and 38 minutes. It should go without saying that Pharr Davis and Kirk are hiking buddies.

TH E FASTEST:

TH E TALLEST: In 2014, Brad McMillan soared off Alabama’s 70-foot Desoto Falls in a canoe, setting the record for the tallest waterfall ever run in an open boat. Asheville-based pro kayaker Chris Gragtmans set the first descent of this waterfall back in 2008, an experience that he wrote about in the January 2012 issue of BRO TH E YOUNGEST: On January 20, 2014, Christian Thomas, aka Buddy Backpacker, became the youngest person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.

He was only five years old.

TH E O LD EST: What few remaining stands of oldgrowth forest are left in the South reside in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest in North Carolina. Our story on Ancient Appalachia from 2005 was one of the most popular stories of the summer.

TH E H IGH EST: At 6,684’, Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina is the highest peak in the East. In 2009, Rebekah Trittipoe, Anne Lundblad, and Jenny Anderson summited Mitchell and 39 other Appalachian peaks above 6000’ (popularly known as the South Beyond 6000 or SB6K) in six days, 13 hours, and 31 minutes, a new speed record.

We’re not talking physical deepness, here. The Crooked Road, founded in 2004, is a 330-mile long route that takes music fans through the deepest roots of Appalachian music. Comprised of over 60 different music venues and festivals as well as 19 counties, four cities, and over 50 towns throughout southwestern Virginia, The Crooked Road seamlessly interweaves the culture, history, mountains, and music of such notable bluegrass icons as the Carter Family and Ralph Stanley.

TH E D EEPEST:

Extending for over 438,000 acres throughout Georgia and Florida, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is not just an impressive swamp ecosystem but also the largest wilderness area in the East.

–Jess Daddio

TH E LA RGEST:

THE CURRENT BRO HEADQUARTERS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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MOVERS AND SHAKERS

MEET THE MAKERS AND KEY PLAYERS BEHIND THE MAGAZINE F I RST PUBL ISH ER, 19 9 5 — R O B J I R A N E K ENJOYS :

Mountain biking, hiking, paddling, and

reading Hiking for four days in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park T H U M B S T H E PAG E S O F B R O : For good events and any of the articles that have to do with individual personal experiences in the outdoors.

WA S R E C E N T LY F O U N D :

T H I N K S E V E R YO N E S H O U L D G O O U T S I D E A N D

It’s one of the things that’ll keep you young and active. The outdoors are the canvas, so you be the artist. How do you want to play in it? How can you make and experience something that can last a lifetime?

P L AY B E C AU S E :

C U R R ENT PRESID ENT, 2 01 5 — B L A K E DEMASO

Mountain biking, stand-up paddle boarding, downhill skiing, fly-fishing WA S R E C E N T LY F O U N D : Shreddin’ the slopes at Snowshoe T H U M B S T H E PAG E S O F B R O : Because I love the mountains and I love the Blue Ridge. I prefer these mountains over any other place in the world.

ENJOYS :

T H I N K S E V E R YO N E S H O U L D G O O U T S I D E A N D

It’s about relieving stress and connecting to nature and not just about adrenaline.

It’s not about taking on some big, dangerous adventure or bagging a peak. It’s about enjoying the surroundings and where you are in the moment where appreciation outweighs challenge.

P L AY B E C AU S E :

T H E IL L USTRATOR — WA D E M I C K L E Y

Hampton Roads, Va. Editorial illustrations WORK S AS : Graphic designer for NASA FIRST PUB LIS H ED IN B RO: July 1999—Poison Oak. It was black and white back then. I can do some illustrations in a few hours, but others can take a few days.

GOES OUTS ID E A ND PLAYS : In the woods hiking and on the water stand-up paddle boarding.

BAS ED IN:

SPEC IA LIZES IN:

A D M A N, D IGITA L PUBL ISH ER — D U S T Y ALLISON WORK HARD, PLAY HARD: IN AND OUT OF THE OFFICE, THE PRANKISH, FUN-LOVING BRO STAFF TAKE THEIR WORK SERIOUSLY—BUT NOT THEMSELVES.

include adventures as far south as Georgia all the way up through West Virginia.

“I love the mountains and I love the Blue Ridge. It’s where I grew up,” DeMaso says. “I identified with the magazine from day one.”

The year was 2003 and DeMaso, having worked for several years in publishing for Condé Nast, was ready for a change in pace. He approached Jiranek near the end of the year about possibly becoming a business partner, and ended

up with more than he bargained for. By March of 2004, DeMaso was the new owner of BRO. “I was only 30 years old, and I was very scared,” DeMaso remembers. “I was now in charge of a monthly magazine, a website that was six months out-of-date, five employees in Charlottesville, three in North Carolina, eight computers, a copier machine, a fax machine that didn’t really work, and a ping pong table.”

But, really, what more do you need?

Asheville, N.C. 2002—As a part-time distributor. I read the magazine religiously and had a full-time job teaching and directing an outdoor leadership program for middle schoolers. I used my weekends and personal Ford Explorer to deliver the goods. My route spanned all of western North Carolina.

SPENDS LUNC H B R EA K S : Trail running a stash of “secret” trails in the forest within running distance of our downtown office.

ENJOYS : Craft cocktails, bow ties, Malaprops coffee, off-trail scrambling in the Linville Gorge, mountain biking, fly-fishing, and all-thingsoutdoors.

BAS ED IN:

STA RTED AT B RO IN:

M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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PL AY HARD, WO RK H A RD

The Charlottesville BRO headquarters fit in one room. Located in a basement, the place had shoddy Internet and a drafty window. In the winter, staff wore fingerless gloves to keep their hands warm while they worked.

“I used a desk made out of cardboard boxes for at least three months,” DeMaso says.

With a ping-pong table in the middle of the room, a dartboard on the wall, and a regular littering of broken rubber bands on the floor from the daily rubber band wars, the first BRO office looked less like a magazine headquarters and more like a frat house.

But when you play hard, you work hard, too.

Thanks to the early efforts of a passionate group of people, the magazine is now distributed from Atlanta to Baltimore and covers adventures from Kentucky to the coast. Not long after DeMaso took over, the staff doubled in size, the magazine

BRO’S MODERN LOGO FIRST APPEARED IN 2008—THE SAME YEAR THE NEWSPRINT MAG FIRST GAINED A GLOSSY COVER.

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

became full-color throughout, it expanded its page counts, added a glossy cover, and revamped its logo. The best part? It remained a free publication.

“The goal from day one was always to provide free information to inspire people to go outside,” DeMaso says. “I think our goal will never change.”

The stories that fill the magazine’s pages now reach over 300,000 readers every month. The advent of social media platforms brought new ways of engaging an ever-expanding audience and sharing news in real time. The magazine’s presence at regional events swelled to over 30 in a season with regular co-hosting of other races, music festivals, and events across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Yet despite the changes, at its core, Blue Ridge Outdoors remains dedicated to the founding principle of the passion project that Jiranek and Blackburn gave life to: the idea that the great outdoors encompasses more than just the places where we play—they represent a way of living, a story worth telling, an environment in need of protecting, and a wildness within that we all are preserving.

We respect cold Then we laugh at it

We make base layers that brings cold weather to its knees.

For ďŹ t and warmth. For men, women and children.

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M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

HIGHLIGHTS

BRO’S 20-YEAR TIMELINE OF OUTDOOR ADVENTURE 1995 The inaugural issue of Blue Ridge Outdoors, a quarterly insert in C-ville Weekly. BRO’s first editor John Blackburn uses the term “ecosports” in his letter from the editor Nearly 100 mostly costumed runners toe the line for the first annual Blue Ridge Burn 10K in Charlottesville’s Walnut Creek Park The first Lord of the Fork Race is held on the class V Russell Fork 1996 BRO’s first motto makes its appearance on the cover: Spend your money on sports—we’re free

sponsored by West Virginia 2000 The region’s first 24 hour mountain bike races launches: 24 Hours of Snowshoe

Allison Hardy, runner Keith Dowling, and ultrarunner Anne Riddle Lundblad.

BRO publishes its first Best of the Blue Ridge Awards

The Priest and Three Ridges are designated as wilderness The Barefoot Sisters, Susan and Lucy Letcher, hike the A.T. barefoot; the next year, they turn around and thru-hike the A.T. southbound North Carolina unanimously votes to invoke eminent domain to acquire Triple Falls, thereby securing the final part of DuPont State Recreation Area 2001 Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine opens its southern edition office in Asheville, N.C.

Will Harlan completes a 72-mile run of Appalachian Trail through the Smokies to raise awareness for air pollution. It plays an important role in North Carolina’s lawsuit against TVA coalfired power plants, forcing 14 power plants to install pollution-control devices. Will Harlan later sets the unsupported record running the A.T. across the Smokies Cave Dog sets the South Beyond 6,000 speed record Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber, is found hiding out in Nantahala National Forest

The first 7,600 acres of DuPont State Recreational Forest are purchased by the state of North Carolina 1997 Canaan Valley’s White Grass Ski Touring Center is featured for the first time in the pages of BRO 1998 BRO becomes a monthly BRO publishes its first swimming hole issue 1999 The region’s first 100-mile bike race launches: the Shenandoah Mountain 100 Professional mountain biker Sue Haywood becomes the first female mountain biker to be

The hemlock woolly adelgid is first observed in the Smokies after already decimating hemlock populations in Shenandoah. The adelgid will go on to wipe out nearly all hemlocks in Appalachia

Congaree National Park becomes South Carolina’s first national park

Bridge Day is cancelled for the first time due to post-9/11 security concerns

2004 Lee Barry, 81, becomes the oldest person to thru-hike the A.T.

Big Sandy River in W.Va. is named one of the country’s most endangered rivers Report after a 250-million gallon chemical spill, 20 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill 2002 Kristen Eddy becomes first woman to win an Iron-distance event overall, besting men and women at Odyssey Off-Road Iron Triathlon BRO highlights naked adventures, including nude 5Ks and naked paddling events 2003 Blue Ridge Outdoors names its first Southeastern Athletes of the Year. Among them are road cyclist George Hincapie, mountain biker Sue Haywood, paddler Chris Hipgrave, triathlete

Earthquakes rock the Blue Ridge near Richmond

Blue Ridge Outdoors publishes its first (and only) April Fool’s edition Bon Jovi sponsors elite West Virginia mountain biking team BRO publishes “Old School,” one of its most popular stories, about grown-up Jay Hardwig returning to fifth grade P.E. class for the Presidential Fitness Test Tour de Georgia attracts the world’s top cyclists to Brasstown Bald, including Lance Armstrong Tennessee’s Buffalo Mountain becomes the South’s first major wind farm M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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Double amputee Scott Rigsby completes Kona Ironman

2011 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially declares the eastern mountain lion extinct

Blake DeMaso becomes the new owner of BRO Rick and Liz Weber purchase their first parcel of land in the Red River Gorge in Kentucky and begin developing Muir Valley, a climbing area that is now home to over 400 different climbs 2004 The 500th mountain is flattened, razed, and destroyed by mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia Leanna Joyner hikes the A.T. in a red skirt; later, she becomes voice for the trail by working for Appalachian Trail Conservancy

2009 BRO profiles The Last American Man—primitive living legend Eustace Conway, who is now featured in the History Channel’s Mountain Men series Asheville’s Andrew Holcombe paddles the infamous class V stretch of the Green River Narrows in 4 minutes and 18 seconds, a Green Race record Pisgah hosts the East’s first mountain bike stage race

2006 BRO adopts “Go Outside and Play” motto U.S. National Whitewater Center opens in Charlotte, N.C., one of only two artificial whitewater courses on the East Coast

Rapid Transit paddling videography crew releases The Eddy Feeling BRO highlights the natural fitness movement, introduced by Erwan LeCorre, the world’s fittest man Matt Kirk sets the unsupported speed records on both the Benton Mackaye Trail and the Bartram Trail BRO owner Blake DeMaso launches a sister publication in Colorado called Elevation Outdoors

2007 BRO gives away a brand new Nissan vehicle loaded down with gear to a lucky reader 2008 BRO publishes “In Search of Bigfoot,” which becomes our most popular story of the year National Park Service makes it legal to carry weapons on trails

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BRO partners up to host the first Festy Experience on Devils Backbone Brewing Company property in Roseland, Va. 2010 BRO features stand-up paddleboarding on the cover for the first time.

Pat Keller notches the first descent of Linville Falls Toby MacDermott, Will Lyons, Pat Keller, Dustin Marquart, Nate Elliott, Andrew Holcombe, and John Grace make a first descent of Upper Creek

Jennifer Pharr Davis sets the fastest speed record for a supported thru-hike of the A.T. in 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes Roadside Crag closes in the Red River Gorge due to climber misuse 2012 The Appalachian Trail celebrates its 75th anniversary BRO contributing editor and gonzo paddler Chris Gragtmans notches first descents of 75-foot Desoto Falls and 90-foot Noccalula Falls. His exclusive feature for Blue Ridge Outdoors becomes the year’s second most popular story The year’s most popular story is “The Greenest Man in the Mountains,” a tribute to an old-time Appalachian mountain man who lives more organically and close to the land than even the most dedicated eco-village hippies The Red River Gorge Climbing Coalition successfully purchases the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve YAMA Mountain Gear owner Gen Shimizu unicycles the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, covering 2,754 miles in 89 days with only one wheel 2013 Jess Daddio’s “Mountain Lion Mystery” becomes one of BRO’s most popular stories of all-time Columbus Georgia opens its Columbus Whitewater Park on the Chattahoochee River

TAKE A HIKE! Find Someing Remarkae

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

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The Southeast experiences the wettest summer season to date with some states receiving over 45 inches of rainfall.

Kayakers are stoked.

Matt Kirk sets record for unsupported thru-hike of the A.T. in 58 days, 9 hours, and 38 minutes

WE’RE READY FOR CAMPING SEASON

Chris Gragtmans’s and Ashley Woodring’s story “How to Date a Kayaker” becomes our most shared story ever Joanna Swanson and Bart Houck become the first thru-hikers of the Great Eastern Trail 2,600 acres burn in the Linville Gorge Richmond-based runner Zoë Romano becomes the first person to run the entire Tour de France route 2014 Travel editor Jess Daddio launches her Live Outside and Play adventure Over 130 acres burn at the Endless Wall climbing area in the New River Gorge Canaan Valley resident John Logar wins the revered Iditarod Trail Invitational in Alaska

FIND THE MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR LAMINA 35 AND MORE BACKCOUNTRY FAVORITES AT:

Bill Irwin, the first blind man to solo hike the A.T. (with his guide dog, Orient) in 1990, dies at age 73 Editor in chief Will Harlan publishes Untamed: The Wildest Woman in America, which highlights Southeastern conservation hero Carol Ruckdeschel and her fight to save Cumberland Island Wilderness celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Jess Daddio highlights wilderness in the September feature story, and BRO launches its Wilderness Hike Challenge, which has already attracted over 300 participants.

Asheville’s Natalie DeRatt earns a spot on the 2014-2015 USA Bobsled and Skeleton Team Kentucky hosts its first ever 100 mile race, the Cloudsplitter Ultra, on the Pine Mountain Trail The Holtwood Play Park opens in Pennsylvania, a win for Mid-Atlantic playboaters 2015 BRO launches a college ambassador program and an athlete team

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

GEAR THROUGH THE YEARS A GEARHEAD’S GLANCE BACK AT TWO DECADES OF TRAIL-TESTED GOODS.

by AARON H. BIBLE IT FEELS LIKE IT WAS JUST YESTERDAY that I was packing up my little Jansport backpack with my Army surplus gear, harnessing my dog to my sled for adventures through my neighborhood backyards and creeks.

How time truly flies when you’re having fun. I got my start in the outdoors going on family camping trips, fishing with my dad, and eventually joining the Boy Scouts. Later, I went on ski trips and canoe trips in high school, along with summer camps and an Outward Bound course. I soon became immersed in the outdoor scene and began writing about it as far back as 1990.

Many of us back in those days did stints as raft guides, probably lived out of a Toyota truck or Volkswagon van for at least one summer (or three in my case), ski bummed a bit, maybe managed to tick off a Bachelor’s degree in something outdoorsy. And of that group, in my humble opinion, the lucky ones among us found and kept jobs in the outdoor industry.

A lot has changed in 20 years. Gear has always been evolving: from fur to wool, from lug

soles to Vibram soles, from metal and leather to plastic, from cotton to nylon, from steel to carbon.

Folks in their 20s today probably never had to use the floorless canvas pup tents that I did, and they probably have never owned an external frame pack, but rock climbing shoes have really barely changed since the 90s. So what’s different now?

Maybe the simple answer is that technology has changed our gear. Smart phone apps have largely replaced USGS folding maps; tiny digital devices have replaced heavy SLRs; UV light sticks have replaced iodine tablets; recycled synthetic fibers have replaced down; and waterproof breathables just keep getting better.

Yet many of our favorite innovations are simply incremental. Sleeping bags are still human-shaped and use bird feathers for insulation; climbing rubber is just a little stickier; wool has made a massive comeback; and tents are still polyester sheets supported by aluminum frames.

Perhaps the real test of a good piece of gear is how long it lasts. Of course, some gear just gets loved to death, and that’s what you’re supposed

to do with it. It does no good sitting in the closet.

Maybe you’ve got a Patagonia jacket you’ve been using for a decade, sending it back in for repair when a zipper breaks. Or some threadbare fleece longjohns you’re going to toss out…next season.

Or your first pair of Vasque boots resoled three times. Fishing lures, repaired tents, carabiners, gators, Gore-tex jackets…some of these things last a long time.

Steven Regenold is another double-decade gear abuser like myself, and the founder of The Gear Junkie, which began in 2002 as a newspaper column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Today, it’s syndicated in newspapers around the U.S. What are some of Renegold’s favorite gear game changers?

“Merino wool base layers have been a revolutionary performance product for me,” he says. “I wear them almost every day, through all weather and activities. It truly is like a second skin and adapts to hot, cold, wet, dry. And minimal running shoes changed the way I ran, made me faster, made me stronger, and cut back on the knee trouble I was having when I ran in more-padded shoes.”

A few of the Gear Junkie’s other top picks over the last 20 years: Fat bikes; Buff headwear (“Use them 100 days a year”); iPhones and Strava (and myriad other apps); and the massive strides in alpine touring gear that is currently driving the ski industry at large.

A few of my own personal favorite innovations of the last 20 years include the foldable, lighter, BPA-free water bottles now available (and the insulated stainless steel bottles too); LED lights for headlamps and bikes; waterproof down insulation for sleeping bags and jackets; awesome new water purifiers that allow you stay hydrated more easily; improved waterproof-breathable membranes for shells; and the more packable, warmer sleeping pads using combinations of air and high-tech insulation that take up way less space in a pack or a boat.

But there’s no single gear trend or technology more important than your own skill and experience. And ultimately, gear must work well with each individual’s particular needs. It comes down to this. The best gear innovation in the last 20 years? It’s the one that gets you outside more.

M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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m Detroit There is a woman fro Who went in search of herself 2200 miles of legwork along the AT

Š 2015 Vasque. All rights reserved.

She found her exquisite soul And a kindred family tree Roots nourishing youth How many lives will she touch?

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#MYBLUERIDGE HELP US CELEBRATE 20 YEARS

WHAT DO YOU LOVE BEST ABOUT THE BLUE RIDGE?

BlueRidgeOutdoors.com/MyBlueRidge Share your stories with us—quiet moments of solitude, lungbusting scream of triumph, talks around the campfire, epic failures, and memorable summits. Join us in celebrating two decades of adventure by finishing the sentence “My Blue Ridge is…” and submitting a photo, video, or story that embodies what the Blue Ridge means to you.

VISIT OUR SITE FOR MORE EXCLUSIVE ANNIVERSARY COVERAGE

Join us on the trail. gdaltonphoto

steve_yocom

localpaddler

#myblueridge is an endless adventure. @moonmancamm #myblueridge is traveling in the mountains light, fast, and free and exploring every ridge, cove, and valley in between. @bttrailrunner #myblueridge is a lifestyle that reminds me to strive for happiness, curiosity, and to seek new adventures and challenges. @wisco_wanderer

Follow the thru-hike syndicate team of 10 at hikers while they share their journeys through words and images.

Check in with both at and PCt ths participants at vasque.com

sbrookbank8

earthcaptured

bttrailrunner

justincostner

c_healix

brianrvincent

#myblueridge is simple: it means a life well lived. @bradleynashburgess #myblueridge is a way of life, an appreciation and passion for life that comes with living in the moment and sharing experiences with my friends in the mountains. My Blue Ridge is responsibility to protect and preserve these wild places for others to enjoy and experience. @justincostner

#ThruHikeSyndicate #WhatsWithin @VasqueFootwear @ThruHikeSyndicate

#myblueridge is wild and wonderful. @sammy_silver83 #myblueridge is everything to me. It’s the place that changed my life for the better. It’s a place that feels more like home than the place I’ve spent my whole life. I can travel all over, and when I come back, I always missed it here. My Blue Ridge inspires me, challenges me, and always keeps me coming back for more! @steve_yocom

vonfang

littleladysads

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WHERE WERE YOU IN 1995?

Send a throwback photo or tell us about a twentieth century adventure.

Email us: editor@blueridgeoutdoors.com

vasque.com

M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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2015 VELO SWAP MARCH 7 TH AND 8 TH | 9AM-5PM

BUY, SELL, SWAP, UPGRADE! NEED A NEW-TO-YOU BIKE? Looking to upgrade your current ride?

The BRC Velo Swap is March 7th and 8th. Drop off of items for sale starts March 4th. Check us out on Facebook for more details!

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

CATCHING UP WITH TOP BRO WRITERS AND ATHLETES FROM THE PAST TWO DECADES

by TRAVIS HALL

F

ROM BRO’S VERY FIRST WRITERS and editors to record-setting, trail running legends and thru-hiking gurus, we’ve compiled the latest and greatest info on some of the region’s biggest outdoor personalities.

Jeb Tilly was one of BRO’s first editors, and the work he put in during the magazine’s earliest years formed a foundation for what it would become twenty years later.

FAVOR ITE MEMORIES?

I’ll never forget sleeping on the rim of Ambassador Buttress in the New in the early 90s, and meeting the tiny group of people who’d discovered climbing there when the place was still pretty much terra incognita to the rest of the world.

What I remember most about BRO is the pleasure of creating something totally new. In 1995 the vibe and energy in outdoor sport was mostly a Western thing. In the East, there were little pockets of people who had passion for climbing, bouldering, ultrarunning, hang gliding, mountain biking, cross-country and telemark skiing and all that. My job was to seek those people out. It was the best job ever: go interview John Markwell about the origins of the Gendarme at Seneca Rocks. Go spend a weekend with Gene and Maura Kistler and see what’s new at the New. Check in on Thomas Jenkins and the Hugh Jass guys. We were pulling the little tribes together, bringing their stories to life.

Back then Rob Jiranek and I sold the ads, wrote the stories, took the photos, and delivered the mag in an old white Ford van to all the little markets in the Shenandoah Valley. We’d literally take a copy to people’s door and say, “Here’s the piece we wrote about you.” It was great.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY?

I live in the mountains above Boulder, Colo. and run my own brand strategy company. Brand positioning, innovation, advertising —that kind of stuff. I have a seven-week-old kid named Woods and a wife named Ashley, who was head of sales at Blue Ridge Outdoors in the late 90s, so maybe my most memorable BRO moment was meeting my wife.

JEB TILLY

B I G G E ST C H A N G E S O R D I S C OV E R I E S ?

I don’t wander as much as I used to, which is a shame because I think there’s a lot of value in wandering. The pace of life and social media make it harder these days. I still firmly believe in the power of understanding and bringing to life people’s stories. My business is based on it.

It’s a lot more important and meaningful to be present in the experiences I have than it is to be prepared for them. I’ve spent tons of time training for stuff and of course I see value in that, too. But in the end it’s really about being there, whether it’s a long route in the mountains or a diaper change. Even if you totally f*ck it up.

Lecky Haller, one of Western North Carolina’s most heralded and accomplished canoeists, is known for an impressive whitewater career that lasted from the early 80s to the early 2000s and included four medals—one gold, two silver, and one bronze—at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Championships.

FAVO R IT E ME MO R I E S ?

In canoe slalom, I got to race in two Olympic Games, narrowly missing a medal with Jamie

LECKY HALLER

McEwan in 1992 in Barcelona. Other memorable moments were closer to home: night mountain bike rides in Bent Creek; paddling up to the castle and back on the French Broad; a snowy winter day on top of Black Balsams; canoe camping on the Chattooga.

W H AT ARE YOU DOIN G TODAY?

I have been a football, cross country, wrestling, skiing, lacrosse, and weightlifting coach, and I am introducing my two wonderful 9- and 13-yearold daughters to as many of the great things that nature can teach them as possible.

B I G G E ST CH AN G ES OR D ISCOVERIES?

I’m mostly the same. I marvel daily over all the incredible things in nature and the outdoors. I maybe used to be a little more nationalistic as in the US will kick your butt. Now I think we really need to all pitch in to save this earth of ours. It’s not who wins; it’s how we win.

The biggest lesson in life is maybe to just be nice. Nice to yourself and nice to others and try to understand where we all come from and what others are going through. Don’t be selfish— except maybe every once in a while if the ice cream is really good.

M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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David Horton was the East’s ultrarunning pioneer. He set several speed records and won multiple 100-mile ultra marathons, including two victories at the Hardrock 100.

FAVO R IT E ME MO R I E S ?

Setting the speed record on the A.T., being the first American finisher of the Barkley 100 Miler, directing 80 ultras, and most recently, finishing the 2,700-mile Tour Divide Mountain Bike race.

W H AT A R E YOU DO I N G TO DAY ?

CHRIS HIPGRAVE

Chris Hipgrave, hailing from Purely, England, is a whitewater legend. A former USA Wildwater Team athlete with 38 years of whitewater experience, Hipgrave now plays an important role in the kayak instruction programs at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in Western North Carolina.

These days I have switched my focus from ultra running to mountain biking, and I plan on doing the Tour Divide in this summer. I had a sevenway open heart bypass surgery two years ago, and a total knee replacement just 7 months ago. I am in my 35th year of teaching at Liberty University and still directing three ultramarathons.

B I G G E ST C H A N G E S O R D I S C OV E R I E S ?

One thing I’ve learned is that once you make a commitment, you have to fulfill

that commitment. Another is that life goes on. I am now a mountain biker and not running at all.

Chris Eatough came to the United States from England in the early 90s. After attending Clemson University, he went on to pilot an impressive professional mountain biking career that includes six 24-hour Solo World Championships and five 24-hour Solo National Championships. In addition, he is the 2007 24 Hour of Moab Champion and the winner of ten 100-mile mountain bike races.

FAVO RIT E MEMORIES?

Traveling, riding, racing, and hanging out in amazing locations all over the world and sharing it with teammates.

W H AT ARE YOU DOIN G TODAY?

I live in Howard County, Md., with my wife, Allison, and two kids. I work for the county as the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. It’s a great place to live and I DAVID HORTON

FAVOR ITE MEMORIES?

Representing the USA at my first Wildwater World Championships and World Cups was incredibly heavy and a moment I am very proud of. I ended up representing the USA Wildwater Team for 11 consecutive years and raced all over the globe on some amazing whitewater and with some great people.

W HAT A RE YOU DOING TO DAY?

I’m the Paddlesports and Outdoor Schools General Manager at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. The NOC was one of the major draws to this area when I moved from England back in 1991, so it’s fitting that I would end up here. The NOC team is so passionate about introducing people to the outdoors and over the years I’ve seen that passion positively change so many lives.

BI GG E ST CHANGES OR DI SCOVERI ES?

My love for all things paddling is unwavering, but I appreciate other disciplines and aspects of the sport more now rather than my narrow whitewater focus of the past. The lure of surfski paddling has been a particularly fun journey that I never would have imagined I’d embark on. I hope I can keep charging ahead to create new amazing adventures. If I leave this world with $1 to my name but a mind full of great memories, that’s just fine with me.

M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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CHRIS EATOUGH

enjoy adding to the quality of life by making our area more bike- and walk-friendly. Of course, I still ride bikes just about every day.

DAN “WINGFOOT” BRUCE

Maine which was being threatened by a gravel quarry at the time.

I am less extreme now. I used to push the limits of endurance with training and racing to see how far I could go and to get the very best out of myself. I still consider honesty to be very important. I always raced hard but fair. Now I value honesty more than ever, especially with my family. Balance is important and winning isn’t everything. I had some great success with racing, but I was always able to walk away with my health and my reputation intact.

I left Hot Springs, North Carolina and the Appalachian Trail community and stopped maintaining my guidebooks in 2007. I left because I didn’t like the way that interactive technologies like cell phones were changing the nature of the trail, and I just preferred to remember it as it was before all of that. Now I am the primary caregiver for my 99-year-old mother.

I am also working on a book about my many Appalachian Trail adventures called Walking with Wingfoot.

Dan ‘Wingfoot’ Bruce completed

B I G G E ST C H A N G E S O R D I S C OV E R I E S ?

seven A.T. thru-hikes and published an authoritative series of A.T. guidebooks. He also worked tirelessly to preserve the trail he loved.

FAVOR ITE MEMORIES?

Of all the A.T. thru-hikes I did, I would have to say the very first one was the most memorable.

It was like falling in love for the first time. You never forget that.

I hiked over 25,000 miles of hikes in my day, but the highlight of it all was the service and the environmental activism. I helped conserve 25 miles of land bordering the A.T., a large swath of land on Max Patch near the northern end of the Smoky Mountains, and Saddleback Mountain in 34

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River Gorge for the first time.

W H AT ARE YOU DOIN G TODAY?

W H AT A R E YOU DO I N G TO DAY ?

BI GG E ST CHANGES OR DI SCOVERI ES?

JESSICA TOMASIN

Sadly, I have lost my urge to fight for the environment. It pains me to say it, but I believe that, worldwide, the fight for the environment is lost. What I’ve learned is this: If hiking the A.T. is not the most important thing to you at that very moment, then go do what is. If it is, then immerse yourself in it completely with passion and fervor.

Jessica Tomasin was BRO’s first climbing columnist. These days, she works in the music business and was recently named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Asheville Chamber of Commerce.

FAVO R IT E ME MO R I E S ?

Climbing in the New River Gorge and the Red

I have been managing the Echo Mountain Recording Studio for the last eight years, and I have my own production company that produces events and festivals.

B I G G E ST CH AN G ES OR D ISCOVERIES?

An injury sidelined me for several years. I’m finally just getting back to running and climbing.

But instead of spending every minute outdoors, I am also a mentor to a family, growing my business, more involved in projects that benefit my community as a whole. I’ve learned that you don’t have to go full speed to have a great adventure, and to trust where your path leads you.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Laird Knight Twenty-four hour mountain bike racing began with Laird Knight. Knight created the first race in Canaan Valley, W.Va., back in 1992, which eventually led to his induction into the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame.

FAVORIT E MEMORIES?

My first ride on a mountain bike in 1983. I had seen mountain bikes in stores, but there was no way as a college kid that I could afford one. It wasn’t until I moved to Davis, W.Va., and started Blackwater Bikes that I finally got to ride one. I was not disappointed. What a ride. What a day.

I N M E MOR I A M

Bill Irwin

In 1990 Bill Irwin became the first and only blind adventurer to ever complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail without human assistance. He did have assistance from his seeing eye dog, a German shepherd appropriately named Orient, but had no GPS, no map, and no compass.

After his historic hike, Irwin retired to Maine with his wife Bebra where they lived on 72 acres with a view of Katahdin. He also published a book, now in its eleventh printing and still selling copies, called Blind Courage, in which he chronicled the events that brought him to the culmination of his nine-month journey.

Sadly, Irwin lost his battle with prostate cancer in March 2014.

LAIRD KNIGHT

I’ll never forget it.

In 2002, I learned that I was going to be inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. I remember thinking, “Wait, I’m not done yet!”

BETTINA FREESE

other publications. She’s also a celebrated massage therapist and teacher and a mom to two young mountain bikers.

FAVO R IT E ME MO R I E S ?

W HAT A RE YOU DOING TO DAY?

I married and moved to Morgantown, W.Va., and my wife and I adopted three siblings from Ethiopia.

Being a dad to these three kids has been the most meaningful and joyful experience of my life. My new sport-love is soccer. I play in two adult leagues, coach a team, and all my kids play soccer at a very high level.

BI GG E ST CHANGES OR DI SCOVERI ES?

There is a certain wisdom that comes with age and it’s delicious. I take more responsibility for my life. I don’t blame others or my past. I’m more grateful than I’ve ever been. I’m enjoying life at a whole new level.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that I can’t do it all myself, that I need other people. I’ve learned so much from my mistakes, and I’ve made some big ones. I didn’t capitalize on the success of 24-hour racing right off the bat, and I let copycat competitors move in. The most inspirational thing that I’ve learned and experienced in all my endeavors is this: When you know where you want to go, people will help you get there. It’s just amazing to me how, all along the way, people put a shoulder into my vision.

Bettina Freese was BRO’s very first mountain biking correspondent. She still writes for BRO and

When I was doing a monthly column for BRO, biking was a creative space. Every time I was on my bike, I saw the world differently. To me it was slightly amusing that I could get paid to do something I loved so much.

W H AT A R E YOU DO I N G TO DAY ?

Now that my kids are in school and I can occasionally get 15 minutes to myself, I’m cultivating my writing career again—but not just outdoor writing. I’m just trying to send things out and see where it will take me next, and I’m actively working on a book.

B I G G E ST C H A N G E S O R D I S C OV E R I E S ?

I still feel like I am 10 years old, and sometimes I’m amazed at the level of responsibility I’m allowed.

Inside I’m just the same adventurous person I was when I first started writing for BRO. These days I ride motorcycles, teach an adult gymnastics class, and do a running relay with a leopard print clad group called the Pussy Foots. I guess I just like to keep it fresh. One of the biggest things I try to focus on is living in the moment and not building too much on the past. Be present and it will open the new doors for you. There are new doors opening every day.

Shannon Christy

Elite kayaker Shannon Christy was only 23 years old when she embarked on her final paddle down the Potomac River.

Just like any other whitewater expert, she knew her chosen craft was fraught with peril, but she didn’t live in fear of the consequences.

Chirsty, who set off from Greenville, S.C. to compete in the Potomac River Festival’s Great Falls Race in July 2013, became pinned underwater and drowned in one of the race’s most treacherous sections.

“I really believe that her faith in her future diminished any fear that she had in any area of her life,” said her mother, Kim Christy in an interview with The Washington Post. “She didn’t fear the future; she didn’t fear the river.”

“Cookie Lady” Jane Curry During the 1976 Bike-centennial, when thousands of bikers embarked on a cross-country journey from Virginia to Oregon along the now infamous TransAmerica trail, Afton, Virginia resident Jane Curry emerged as a steadfast friend to trail-weary bikers. Her hospitality often included a hot shower and always came with fresh-baked cookies. Over the span of some three decades, she attained legendary status in guidebooks and through word of mouth within road cycling circles. By the time she passed away in June 2012 at the age of 91, she had baked cookies for more 13,000 cyclists from around the world.

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PARADISE SAVED, PARADISE LOST ENVIRONMENTAL TRIUMPHS AND TRAGEDIES MARK THE PAST TWO DECADES

A

s we mark the 20th anniversary of Blue Ridge Outdoors, it’s time to celebrate some major successes in protecting human health and the environment in our region, resulting from the tireless efforts of public interest groups and thousands of concerned citizens.

At the same time, we’d be remiss to ignore the substantial work yet to be done. Here, then, is a rundown of several significant environmental milestones in Appalachia—both successes and setbacks—over the past two decades.

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN NATIONAL FORESTS SAVED.

by JEFF KINNEY

Almost five million acres of national forest from Virginia to Alabama offer some of the best recreational opportunities in the East, protect drinking water, shelter a wide variety of fish and wildlife, and pump millions of dollars into local economies. We are happy to report that a sizable chunk of this precious resource has been protected. Expanded wilderness areas, improvements to long-term forest management plans, and halts to clear cutting have helped. So has inclusion of 725,000 acres of roadless areas in the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the rule to stand in 2012.

“The roadless areas in our national forests represent an essential part of America’s natural heritage,” said Southern Environmental Law Center General Counsel David Carr.

“Permanently protecting them ensures that they will remain healthy and whole to be enjoyed by current and future generations.” Amid the onslaught of misguided road-building proposals, excessive use of off-road vehicles, and, of course, continuous pressure from industry to drill, baby, drill, victories like this will help preserve increasingly rare hardwood forests and myriad other natural resources.

POINTLESS, DESTRUCTIVE ROAD THROUGH SMOKIES STOPPED. Powerful forces in Swain County, N.C., lobbied hard for decades to build a road straight through

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PROPOSED NEW COAL PLANTS DEFEATED; EXISTING PLANTS RETIRED. Although King Coal might appear to be invincible, he most assuredly is not. Consider, for example, the significant number of new coal plants that were stopped or scrapped throughout the region in the past 20 years. The proposed 1500-megawatt coal plant for Surry County, Virginia, is one. This smog-belching monstrosity, which the Old Dominion Electric Company was persuaded not to build after a massive public outcry, would have torched about 9,000 tons of southern Appalachian coal—much of it from devastating mountaintop removal mines—every single day. Instead, tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants will be kept out of the atmosphere and peoples’ lungs. Victories like these have prevented untold air and water pollution in the Southeast, which, as a region, remains one of world’s largest contributors to climate change. That’s why environmental groups are still working to convince utilities that it’s time to retire aging coal plants and invest in cleaner technologies. It’s an uphill slog, to be sure, but there’s arguably no greater environmental priority in Appalachia.

MAJOR GAINS MADE IN RENEWABLES, ESPECIALLY SOLAR. photo by TOM DALY

the wildest area of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. But in the end, reason and respect for the earth prevailed.

It all started when another county road was flooded in the 1940s to create Fontana Lake. In the 1960s, the National Park Service started to build a replacement. The project was abandoned on economic and environmental grounds, but apparently that didn’t matter to some county residents, who wanted a road no matter what.

Thankfully, in February 2010, a settlement was reached to halt construction permanently.

Swain County got $52 million out of the deal, and environmentalists were thrilled because the proposed road would have lacerated the largest unbroken, federally owned forest in the East.

Vital habitat for rare birds, bears, and fish—not to mention the wilderness character of that section of the park—would have evaporated.

“Stopping this ‘road to nowhere’ was a significant victory for all who treasure the beauty of this region, and it protected one of the most breathtaking areas in the Smokies,” said D.J. Gerken, managing attorney in SELC’s Asheville Office.

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WILDERNESS BILL SAVES JEFFERSON NATIONAL FOREST. In March 2009, U.S. legislators approved the largest piece of wilderness legislation the Southern Appalachians have seen in a decade.

The Virginia Ridge and Valley Act ensures that more than 53,000 acres of the Jefferson National Forest will remain forever wild by establishing six new wilderness areas and expanding several others. It also designated a wilderness study area and two new national scenic areas. It helped that the bill had a lot of fans, including religious, tourism, and recreation groups, state and local governments, businesses, and, of course, conservationists.

Bills like this are sorely needed. For example, according to the SELC, in Virginia just 177,214 acres—less than one percent of the state—are congressionally designated wilderness. By contrast, a 1999 U.S. Forest Service study found that in 2050, demand for wilderness recreation opportunities will have soared by 171 percent.

Numbers like these eviscerate the claim that there’s too much useless wilderness out there. One percent is too much? Really?

To hear industry apologists tell it, renewable energy is, and always will be, a pipe dream.

You’ve heard the refrain: Renewables are too expensive, plus the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, so let’s just cut our losses and keep choking on coal dust.

But the challenges that come with renewables aren’t the show-stoppers they once were. Solar alone could easily supply a good portion of Appalachia’s energy needs if we would stop subsidizing Big Oil and build a solid renewable energy infrastructure.

Not only has the cost of solar panels plummeted some 400 percent in just the past few years, but the intermittent nature of many renewables is no longer a big deal thanks to a host of new energy storage technologies, including higher-capacity, longer-lasting batteries, compressed air systems, and hydroelectric pumps.

We’ve come so far that a Delaware-sized area would be enough to power the entire country using solar-concentrated power plants.

So it’s now a question of public policy, not technology, and that’s why we need politicians who aren’t beholden to the petrochemical industrial complex. “If you look at Europe, especially Germany, they create policies that

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create good energy systems,” says Jeff Deal, senior project manager at the Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy. “There’s no question that it’s a policy issue, not a feasibility issue.”

TENNESSEE WILDERNESS STILL IN JEOPARDY. The vast area known as the Cherokee National Forest in east Tennessee exemplifies our continuing struggle against those who would destroy our last wild places for dubious short-term gain. According to SELC, this national treasure comprises some 640,000 mountainous acres sheltering a huge variety of wildlife in diverse forest habitats, including 43 species of mammals, 55 species of reptiles and amphibians, dozens of bird species, and some of the region’s largest quantities of native brook trout. The Appalachian Trail and Benton MacKaye Trail wind through here, too, which makes the area a bucket-list destination for legions of hikers every year.

Unfortunately, only about 10 percent of the Cherokee National Forest is officially designated as wilderness. That leaves it vulnerable to logging, mining, fracking, road building, and other indignities. A coalition called Tennessee Wild is trying to stem the tide of exploitation

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by promoting a bill that would designate almost 20,000 additional acres of the forest as wilderness. It needs all the support it can get— meaning yours.

MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL MINING REMAINS A SCOURGE. Blowing up mountains to extract the coal from within may be relatively cheap and easy, but it’s been an unmitigated disaster for those unfortunates who happen to live near the resulting scars in the earth. Toxic chemicals and sediment leaching from open-pit mines flow directly into once-pristine waterways that provide vital drinking water and animal habitats. People and animals are poisoned, sometimes severely. Fish die in droves.

The so-called mitigation efforts trumpeted by industry aren’t working very well, either. For example, one recent study found there are more streams damaged or destroyed from mining than “restored,” and even the restored streams don’t function like they used to and wouldn’t pass a reasonable environmental assessment.

The bottom line: mountaintop removal mining has decimated more than 500 of the oldest, most biologically rich mountains in America, along with more than 2,000 miles of headwater streams.

It has also destoryed countless communities and degraded human health across Appalachia.

For the time being, market forces are beginning to stem the tide as Appalachian coal gets more expensive compared to Western coal and natural gas. “Those two things are sort of out-competing mountaintop removal coal from Appalachia,” says Eric Chance, spokesperson for Appalachian Voices. The bad news is that markets are, of course, cyclical, and coal could be cheap again before we know it.

GW NATIONAL FOREST PARTLY OPENED TO DRILLING. Last November, the Forest Service released a new long-term management plan opening 177,000 acres of the George Washington National Forest to fracking. It’s not an unmitigated disaster, considering the GW contains some 1.1 million acres, the vast majority of which remain protected. Indeed, two new wilderness areas are proposed, others will be will be expanded, and a new recreation area will be added. And the draft management plan released three years ago would have opened most of the forest to vertical drilling.

But the final plan sets an unwelcome precedent and helps perpetuate this country’s seemingly unending addiction to fossil fuels. “We think our

public lands should be preserved for the public good,” Chance says. “There are still a lot of unknowns regarding the long-term consequences of fracking.”

And more than just those 177,000 acres are at stake; fracking requires an extensive infrastructure that will diminish the wilderness character of the rest of the forest, and fishing, paddling, and other recreational activities—not to mention drinking water supplies—could be threatened. The GW is the largest national forest in the East with more than one million visitors annually. Millions more living downstream depend on its protected drinking water supplies. The government should have said no to fracking, period.

So there you have it: some significant achievements, to be sure, but storm clouds loom. That’s where you come in. Apathy will guarantee that our environmental successes are swallowed by a host of atrocities perpetrated by those who view the natural world as their personal ATM. So get off the couch and do something.

Volunteer, donate, write your congressional representative—whatever you can. Together, let’s make the next 20 years even better than the last and leave a legacy for our children that we can be proud of and they will cherish.

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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

FIND YOUR BLUE RIDGE. TRAVEL DIRECTORY

Since 1995, our goal has been to inspire readers to go outside and play by featuring the top local hot spots and secret off-the-beaten path hideaways across the region. Here are a few of our favorites to help you find your Blue Ridge.

CLARKSVILLE, VA Discover the promise of relaxation and exhilaration on beautiful Kerr Lake! Whether you visit us, vacation here, or make it your home, the breathtaking sunrises, sunsets and scenic lake will awe you. It’s where the fish are big and plenty, time slows down and life at the lake becomes heavenly. You’ll find things to do and see that will delight every member of the family, no matter their age or interests.

CLARKSVILLEONTHELAKE.COM (434) 374-2436

ALLEGHANY HIGHLANDS, VA The Alleghany Highlands offers beautiful mountain views and endless outdoor recreation – hiking, paddling, camping, fishing, and some of the best mountain biking in Virginia. Visit Humpback Bridge, Falling Spring Falls, the Jackson River Scenic Trail, Lake Moomaw and Douthat State Park - they are Uniquely Alleghany!

VISITALLEGHANYHIGHLANDS.COM (540)962-2178 • (888)430-5786

S P E C I A L A DV E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N

MECKLENBURG, VA Rediscover a Southern Virginia that you’d forgotten – hike and bike the 15-mile Panhandle Trail in Occoneechee State park (pictured), one of several sections along the Tobacco Heritage Trail, the challenging 7-mile Munford Trail near Boydton, or explore over 5 miles of trails in Beaver Pond Creek WMA near Clarksville.

VISITMECKVA.COM (434) 738-6191

HELEN, GA

CANAAN VALLEY, WV

The hills are alive with vibrant colors in the Northeast Georgia Mountains this spring. Hike or bike trails to cascading waterfalls, zip through wooded canopies or just sit back, relax, and enjoy award winning wines at one of our five wineries. Bavarian culinary treats for everyone - bakeries, candy shops and beverages await your visit.

Get Tucker’d in Tucker County, WV a high-mountain paradise with more miles of trail than road, more designated wilderness areas than traffic lights, more room to roam, and more adventure than you can shake a hiking stick at. From the rugged beauty of the Blackwater Canyon to the pristine back country of the Dolly Sods wilderness, it’s a world untouched.

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READER FAVORITES

TOP LISTS OF OUR MOST POPULAR STORIES AND DESTINATIONS

20 MOST MENTIONED TRAILS 1. Appalachian Trail 2. Mountains to Sea Trail 3. Bartram Trail 4. Virginia Creeper Trail 5. Benton Mackaye Trail 6. Tuscarora Trail 7. Allegheny Highlands Trail 8. Kitsuma Trail 9. Buttermilk Trail 10. Plantation Trail 11. Greenbrier River Trail 12. C&O Rail Trail 13. Foothills Trail 14. Greens Lick Trail 15. Art Loeb Trail 16. Triple Falls Trail - Dupont 17. Cumberland Trail 18. Gauntet - Carvins Cove 19. Deep Gap/Black Mountain Crest Trail 20. Jacks Fork River Trail

20 MOST MENTIONED DESTINATIONS 1. Blue Ridge Parkway 2. Appalachian Trail 3. Gauley River 4. New River Gorge 5. Great Smoky Mountains National Park 6. Shenandoah National Park 7. Green River 8. Linville Gorge 9. Canaan Valley 10. Mountains to Sea Trail 11. Old Rag 12. Max Patch 13. Cold Mountain/Shining Rock Wilderness 14. Dolly Sods 15. Great Falls 16. Mount Mitchell 17. Mount Rogers 18. Nantahala River 19. Red River Gorge 20. Chattooga River

MOST POPULAR STORIES 1. Mountain Lion Mystery 2. How to Date a Kayaker 3. In Search of Bigfoot 4. First Descents: Chris Gragtmans’ Waterfall Paddling Plunges 5. Homeless for the Holidays 6. Brown Mountain Lights 7. The Greenest Man in the Mountains 8. Moonshine in the Mountains 9. Best Outdoor Jobs 10. The Skinny on Naked Running

MOST MENTIONED MOUNTAINS 1. Old Rag 2. Mount Mitchell 3. Clingmans Dome 4. Max Patch 5. Black Balsam 6. Mount Rogers 7. Snowshoe Mountain 8. Mill Mountain 9. Beech Mountain 10. Roan Mountain

FUNNIEST STORIES 1. Graham Averill’s “Adult Camp” and “OTS: Outdoor Town Syndrome” 2. Jay Hardwig’s “Old School: My Attempt to Pass the Fifth Grade Presidential Fitness Test” 3. Dinah Swinehart’s “Piss on this thing!” — a story of unfreezing a frozen cassette during an adventure race 4. Timothy Sherman Richardson’s “The Varied Uses of Duct Tape” 5. Jedd Ferris’s “A Brief History of Plaid Shirts”

MOST POPULAR DESTINATION STORIES 1. Swimming Holes 2. Movies Made in the Mountains 3. Celebrity Hikes 4. Best Mountain Towns 5. The Ski Resort that Never Happened 6. In the Shadows of Giants: Hiking Old Growth in Appalachia 7. Southern Ski Cheat Sheet 8. Head of the Class: Top 50 Rivers 9. Drive-In Camping: Best Spots to Pitch a Tent 10. Fly Guide to Southern Trout

MOST POPULAR PERSONALITY-DRIVEN STORIES 1. Jennifer Pharr Davis sets A.T. speed record 2. The Greenest Man in the Mountains 3. Thom “Flash” Stanton sets world record for upriver swimming 7.5 miles up the Falls section of the James River in 6.5 hours 4. Griz – Dave Landreth 5. Cookie Lady 6. The Last American Man Eustace Conway 7. Untamed: Carol Ruckdeschel 8. World’s Fittest Man Erwan Le Corre 9. Matt Kirk and his unsupported speed records 10. Guardians of the White Blaze

MOST CONTROVERSIAL STORIES 1. Mountaintop removal mining 2. Fracking 3. Logging in national forests?

4. Uranium mining 5. Rough waters: Paddler deaths of Tim Gavin, Brian Reuff 6. Dam removal 7. Who owns the Hazel River?

8. Should wildfires burn in Linville?

9. Should hikers and hunters share the same trails?

10. Coalfields Expressway: Road to recovery or highway to hell?

MOST HEATED DEBATES 1. Should performance-enhancing drugs be legalized?

2. Should you kayak while pregnant?

3. Does shaving your body hair improve your athletic performance?

4. Should dogs be allowed off-leash?

5. Are you an athlete if you don’t compete?

6. Should locals keep their favorite outdoor spots a secret?

7. Is it cool to run bandit (without paying) in a race?

8. Chris McCandless: hero or fool?

9. Public nudity: bare me or spare me?

10. John Denver’s Country Roads: West Virginia or Western Virginia?

TEN PUBLIC LANDS ACQUISITIONS 1. DuPont State Recreation Area, N.C. 2. The Priest and Three Ridges Wilderness, Va. 3. Grandfather Mountain State Park, N.C. 4. Congaree National Park, S.C. 5. Chimney Rock State Park, N.C. 6. Pine Mountain Trail, Ky. 7. Rocky Fork, Tenn.

8. Laurel Knob, N.C. 9. Hidden Valley, Ky. 10. Headwaters State Forest, N.C.

TOP FIVE BRO TAGLINES 1. Go Outside and Play 2. Get Dirty 3. Spend your money on sports—We’re free 4. Altitude with Attitude 5. Discover what’s boundless about the Blue Ridge

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Do you have a favorite story or destination that made the list? Share with us at BlueRidgeOutdoors.com/MyBlueRidge or by using the hashtag #myblueridge

M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

@LMSnowflex

THE NEXT 20 WHAT’S AHEAD FOR ADVENTURE? OUTDOOR EXPERT PREDICTIONS INCLUDE JET STREAM SURFING, PERSONAL WEATHER DRONES, AND EXTRA TERRESTRIALS

by STEPHANIE PEARSON

T

wenty years ago when I started working at Outside magazine, I transcribed faxed story drafts into the computer because our office didn’t have external email. I read story edits on paper, which made the Number Two pencil the number one office tool. Jon Krakauer hadn’t yet climbed Mount Everest, “An Inconvenient Truth” was still 11 years away, and it was still possible to get lost in the wilderness without selfie documentation. My favorite piece of gear was a hot-pink, hard-tail Specialized Stumpjumper that cost approximately $8,800 less than the $9,300 S-Works Stumpjumper 29er advertised on Specialized’s website today. Instead of two short decades, it seems that eons have passed.

What will the next 20 years bring?

Considering that some people wonder if we’ll

still have an inhabitable planet by the year 2047, it feels a little dubious to make any predictions beyond tomorrow. On the other hand, the future, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

I polled a few of the smartest people I know in the outdoor industry to find out what they think the future of travel, gear, and recreation holds. Then I added a few of my own predictions, ranging from fact-based reporting to pure fantasy, to create a list of 20. Some predictions may sound far-fetched, but the beauty of the future is that anything is possible—and nothing can be factchecked.

OUTD OOR REC R EATION

“It is predicted that by 2050, 86 percent of the developed world will be urbanized with people

living in dense communities. This shift will transform how we enjoy the outdoors. Close-tohome outdoor recreation will dominate. State and local governments will integrate parks, open space and trail systems into their city planning.”

–Steve Barker, Interim Executive Director, Outdoor Industry Association “Outdoor recreation is going to continue its arc away from being just about big trips in remote wilderness and towards accessible experiences we can all have, even within cities. It has to go that way if we’re going to continue to engage new communities, from urban youth to urban professionals. Call it the democratization of adventure.” –Michael Roberts, Executive Editor, Digital Development, Outside Magazine M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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“There will be a large resurgence back to nature similar to the Muir and Teddy Roosevelt era.

Living in crowded environments with lives driven by electronics will create a strong desire for people across the country to go outside as a spiritual and health experience.”

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GE A R

TR AV EL

“Light and fast will define the next 20 years of outdoor adventure and exploration. It will be the single biggest advancement to empower professional mountain athletes and dedicated global adventurers. With the ongoing evolution of outdoor products each season —from hard goods to performance apparel—that are weighing in lighter than ever before and creating more efficient systems, people are able to go greater distances in far less time, pushing the limits of what’s possible.

Gear weight reduction alone in the past 20 years has allowed athletes to crash through their own (previous) training ceilings. Weight reduction and product innovation have opened the adventure door for the masses—not just a select few.”

–Jordan Campbell, writer, mountaineer, filmmaker, and Marmot ambassador athlete

“Well, I did try to acquire the URL www. timetravel.com, but the issuing organization would not sell it to me. No doubt because they know time travel is almost here and I would go back and create the Internet first! On a more serious note—the number of travelers, especially from Asia, is set to explode in volume. Destinations that do not take this seriously, starting now, will likely have significant problems with loss of both cultural authenticity and environment. In other words, those who plan for this volume now to spread it out, mitigate it, and control it will be the long-term winners. To do nothing is an active decision to have massive problems in 20 years.” –Shannon Stowell, President, The Adventure Travel Trade Association

“No matter if it is skiing, climbing, trail running or biking, gear will morph into a place where speed, lightness, technology, and performance will become one. The new GORE Surround technology (waterproof, breathable footwear with open construction on the bottom of the sole) is the perfect example of making something out of nothing.” –Eric Henderson, former backcountry ski guide for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and communications manager for Salewa mountaineering products

TEC H NO LOGY

“Technology has already changed the ethos. Pure adventure will always be possible, especially with the absence of technology. But the combination of wireless communication and social media will continue to alter what the adventure finish line should look like. Some of it will be fantastic with real-time and enormous participation, but you can also count on some of it becoming utterly contrived and truly abhorrent. We will have to decide on what is real, genuine, and valued in our tribe—and what is not.” –Jordan Campbell GLOB A L STEWA R D S H IP

“Living in denser environments with less space will change how we buy products. Consumers will shift from a more, more, more mentality to buying less of higher quality items with more crossover lifestyle usages. There’s more opportunity to buy recycled and refurbished goods. This will be more important to future generations.” –Steve Barker “Sports like Nordic skiing that require snow have morphed into much less of a natural environment and more into a manufactured environment meant to look like what that natural environment used to be. You’re going to see reflections of that in the equipment: Ski bases will be more dirt repellent, poles will have reinforced tips to withstand the impact of shorter races, and ski waxes will be more concentrated around the freezing range because there’s more man-made snow and the temperature of man-made snow is right around freezing.” –Andrew Gardner, former Nordic skiing coach at Middlebury College and Nordic skiing PR professional

“The marriage of adventure with altruism will continue to play a more significant role in the 21st century. Giving back to underserved populations across the globe is part of a new moral imperative in the outdoor adventure space. It is no longer a sidebar activity for a dedicated few; rather it has become an end unto itself and part of the adventure space.” –Jordan Campbell, writer, filmmaker, and Marmot ambassador athlete S PIRITUA LITY

“I envision there will be a large resurgence back to nature similar to the Muir and Teddy Roosevelt era.

Living in crowded environments with lives driven by electronics will create a strong desire for people across the country to go outside as a spiritual and health experience.” –Steve Barker STATE OF M IND

“I still see adventure as a state of mind that constantly tugs at us to step into the unknown. That won’t change in the next 20 years. You either follow a script or you blaze your own trail.”

–Jordan Campbell

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www.riverfestwaynesboro.org M A R C H 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

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A Week of Music, Art, and Innovation • www.tomtomfest.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA • APRIL 13-19

FOUNDERS SUMMIT

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MY PREDICTIONS will normalize fivehour flights across the Atlantic. In January, a British Airways Boeing 777-200 made the New York to London route in five hours, 16 minutes, reaching ground speeds of up to 745 miles per hour by riding a powerful jet stream of up to 200 mile-per-hour tailwinds.

S URFING TH E JET STR EA M

With the recent unveiling of its “luxury hotels collection,” National Geographic is the latest publishing company that has taken branding to extreme heights: Fans can now view the world entirely through the National Geographic lens of magazines, books, websites, vacations, guides, and hotels. Hopefully Fox News will not be following suit.

ÜBER B R A ND S :

TWO-WH EELED TR A NS PORTATION: Whether you prefer a 45-day, seven-country cycling trip from Paris to Moscow or sharing one of 66,500 public bicycles in Hangzhou, China, which has the largest bike-sharing system in the world, self-powered pedaling will change the way we get to work and see the world.

TH E BED -TO-B IK E-TO-WOR K -TO-C OC K TA ILS -TOD INNE R -TO-B ED OUTFIT: Natural and synthetic fabrics will be so sophisticated that they won’t wrinkle, smell from sweat, sag, or get dirty. And the blurred line between workout and work apparel will completely disappear.

Lab-concocted, plant-protein-based PER FOR M A NC E MEA LS will replace our favorite junk food.

“FIRSTS ” will become increasingly outrageous.

Soon I’m expecting to see the first human summit of Mount Everest while simultaneously becoming the World Champion of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter video game.

Need a tan in January? A bigger wave to surf? Not to worry. Perhaps only in my mind, PERS ONA L WEATH ER -PROV ID ING D RONES , programmable from snowstorm to 75-degree bluebird sky day, will be as ubiquitous as smart phones.

Life on a planet we never knew existed: NASA predicts that we are within 20 years of finding evidence of EX TR ATER R ESTR IA L LIFE . Let’s hope they are friendly.

TH E L A NGUAGE OF A DV ENTUR E: If politicians, corporations, and private citizens don’t all do their part in shoring up climate change, the term “adventure” will soon become synonymous with “survival.”

–S.P.

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MUSIC IN THE MOUNTAINS LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD

growing coverage of mountain culture back in 2004. Appalachia’s musical roots are steeped in the tradition of sharing songs through spontaneous performance and front-porch authenticity. That continues to happen today at old standbys like the Carter Family Fold and new rooms such as Chattanooga’s Track 29, and from the living legends to the indie upstarts, we’ll continue to highlight the musical faces filling these places with sound.

MUSIC NOTES REFLECTING ON SONIC TRENDS RA LPH R A M B LES ON

Ralph Stanley just turned 88, but retirement doesn’t seem to be in his plans. The bluegrass icon, who first made an impact with his late brother Carter in the Stanley Brothers back in the mid 1940s, still tours with his grandson Nathan and his longstanding Clinch Mountain Boys.

He’s also getting set to host the 45th running of his Memorial Day Weekend Bluegrass Festival at his old home place in southwest Virginia. It’s impressive longevity from a man who can still make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when his haunting tenor sings signatures like “O Death.”

FESTIVA L EX PLOS ION

by JEDD FERRIS BRO MUSICIAL FAVORITE RALPH STANLEY

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND of music—now more than ever. As we look back on our past two decades, let us acknowledge the seismic shift in an industry that has left fans of live music with more options than ever. For musicians, the dream of getting a record deal is no longer relevant, as sales, sadly for the art form, of recorded music have steadily dwindled.

In 1995, the year BRO was first published, the best-selling album of the year was Hootie and the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View, which moved more than 10 million units. In 2013 the top seller was Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience at just under 2.5 million.

It’s no secret that the change in the sonic landscape is due to a digital revolution. From streaming services to 99-cent singles, people don’t pay as much, if anything, for recorded tunes. That leaves artists with one main option— 56

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / M A R C H 2 01 5

hit the road. While they can use the same Internet accessibility to spread their sounds, a living ultimately has to come from ticket sales— ironically, music in its most analog form. As a result, we’re never short on shows in the South.

Just look at the continuously increasing number of festivals or the full schedules of the Orange Peel in Asheville, the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, or the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville—all old facilities that, in this century, were renovated and repurposed as rock clubs. That goes too for smaller spots, like venerable singer-songwriter haunt Eddie’s Attic in Atlanta or the Purple Fiddle, a tiny general store that hosts bluegrass shows in West Virginia. Scrappy musicians are hitting venues like this on a nightly basis, working harder than ever to impress new fans.

The independent spirit of this ethic encapsulates why BRO added music to our

In 2002, the first Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival took place in Manchester, Tenn., drawing 60,000 music fans to a dusty 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn., for what was then primarily a jam-band gala. The event has proven to be a game changer in the music business. While historically not the first of its kind, the festival sparked a revival, taking a risk and proving that music fans were willing to spend big bucks on one-stop multi-band galas. In the years since, festivals across the country have been multiplying like Gremlins. Counterpoint, Shaky Knees, and Lockn’ are just a few that have popped up in the South in the last few years and attendance has swelled exponentially at some of our old favorites like FloydFest and the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion.

Bands aren’t complaining. These festivals typically mean a big showcase to make new fans and a bigger payday than club gigs. But many are starting to speculate that the crowded festival landscape is an expanding bubble that’s ready to

burst. For now, we’ll just enjoy all of the options.

T HE AS C E N T O F ST E E P C ANYON

“The first time (late guitarist) Mike (Houser) and I were playing together, we realized something special and different was going on. That has to be the pinnacle moment, because it led to everything that has come since. Playing venues like Red Rocks and the streets of Athens were really big things, but they happened because of bigger things like knowing we were a band that needed to stay together.” –Widespread Panic

The Steep Canyon Rangers are one of the region’s hardestworking bands, bustling around the region for the past decade and a half with a ripping bluegrass sound that respects traditions yet incorporates a progressive edge. In 2008 the Rangers were joined by a surprise guest at their own frontman John Bell, reflecting on his Mountain Song Festival in band’s 25th anniversary, September Brevard, N.C.—actor, comedian, 2011 and skilled banjo picker Steve Martin. Soon after, the comedy “I like the quietness of being legend started devoting more BRO’S ANNUAL FESTIVAL GUIDE ISSUE IS A READER FAVORITE EACH MAY, AS ARE THE AVETT out in the country. It’s peaceful BROTHERS—WHO GRACED THE MARQUEE ISSUE IN 2008. time to his music. He’s released and the air is cleaner. The only four albums (three studio, one shame is the spray they use at the Christmas tree ROOTS TH AT SPLINTER ED live) since 2009 and toured extensively using the farms. It seeps down into the earth and gets in Musicians often say being in a band is like being Rangers as his steadfast backing band for shows the water table. You need to have a well that goes in a forced marriage, which inevitably makes it that integrate fast picking and plenty of humor. below the water table.” –the late Doc Watson talking tough to stay together. Many favorite bands from The exposure has helped Steep Canyon move into about his long-time Deep Gap home in the North Carolina the past decade-plus have parted ways with key bigger venues—a well-deserved break for one of High Country, April 2009 or founding members. Gone for good? Powerful the Blue Ridge’s best bands. vocal duo the Civil Wars. But fortunately, in “I’m lucky that so far certain songs resonate with many cases band splits have resulted in even people. All we have to go by is what pleases us, AVETT MA N I A more good music being made. Jason Isbell left what we feel, and what rings true to us. In some The Avett Brothers first caught our attention the Drive-By Truckers back in 2007, and while ways our lives might be different than those that back in 2005, during an at-first unassuming set his old band still rolls on, the solo tunesmith has listen to our music; we probably spend more time at Merlefest on the tiny Cabin Stage. It wasn’t found even greater success. Old Crow Medicine away from our families than most people, but difficult to realize the band was on the cusp Show split with founding member Willie Watson, everyone knows what it means to be homesick. of bigger things—even if the formula seemed but last year both the band and now-solo folk People aren’t all that different. It isn’t like we relatively simple. Then touring as the original trio, singer released exceptional albums. It’s also hard are the Rolling Stones, living some extravagant the group looked like a typical young three-piece not to miss the original line-up of the Carolina lifestyle. We all come from working class roots.” bluegrass outfit, armed with banjo, upright bass, Chocolate Drops, now down to one original –Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, May 2008 and acoustic guitar. The sound was immediately member. The latest to leave, Dom Flemons, intriguing—a unique meeting of Doc Watson’s released a broad reaching folk album last year “My mandolin has become a new body part for front-porch sincerity, Beatles-esque attention that is also definitely worth a listen. me. I cannot live without it.” to melody, and the accelerated grit of Faith No –Chris Thile, December 2006 More. But the visceral connection came from the STRAIGHT TALK powerful singing, as brothers Scott and Seth Avett MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH “I really enjoy country and rock ‘n’ roll and delivered honest lyrics through ragged harmonies, ROOTS MUSIC ICONS everything in between. I would attempt hip-hop, fully entwined by familial bonds.

“We didn’t grow up with bluegrass or any one but it wouldn’t be any good. I’ve never thought The secret didn’t last long; venue size grew particular rootsy kind of music. We found about my own identity. I’m just out here trying to rapidly and the North Carolina band now plays that throughout our journey. As long as we’re write songs that don’t suck.” arenas in its native Southeast. From Mumford progressing and changing, we’ll stay alive and –Jason Isbell, August 2011 and Sons to the seemingly endless number of breathe well.

The word acoustic has a huge small indie-folk bands, more and more banjos are power with a new movement that includes us I love challenge, and I love the banjo. And I love falling into the hands of young rockers. While this and a number of other bands. We want to respect the musicians I get to play with. It’s a lot of work may be just a trend, the Avett Brothers—touring that and cherish that without being stuck with to play so much different music, but it’s very as an evolved seven-piece band to fit the bigger limitations.”

–Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers, May 2008 satisfying.I know how lucky I am to get to spend stages—have become a regional institution. They my life doing this, and I never take it for granted.” bring a piece of Appalachia to the rest of the –Bela Fleck, January 2014 world and always come home to play Merlefest, where they will headline this April.

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