If you look closely at the pic above I grabbed off the Internet, you will see a small climber going up the face. We haven't climbed in over a year, so we will take easy routes, but it's beautiful climbing in West Virginia. The scenery is amazing.
Sunday is the last day of the rafting season in West Virginia's Gauley River, where timed releases from the Summersville Dam ensure strong water flow and serious rafting rapids. I've been to the area rafting probably three other times in the past. However, this time we're doing the entire Gauley River and going during Bridge Day Festival weekend. During the festival in Fayetteville, BASE Jumping off the New River Gorge Bridge is legal. The bridge is nearly 900 feet tall and is billed as the world's second longest single arch bridge. More than 450 jumpers will participate by jumping off the bridge with a parachute on their back and starter/opening chute in their hand. They will jump and fall for about 4 seconds before releasing and deploying their chute. BASE Jumping stands for those that jump off of Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges) and Earth (cliffs, etc.). You have to be experienced and certified to jump during the festival.
We won't be jumping.
We've both already done other similar activities (sky diving, bungee jumping, etc) and the cost for a tandem BASE jump is just too high. However, the festival is the biggest thing to hit the county all year long. It was originally started as a means to provide a sanctioned and legal day for the BASE and bungee jumpers that continually tried to illegally jump from the bridge throughout the year. There are now more than 200 vendors with large sponsors such as AT&T. It will be a fun time to take in the atmosphere after climbing and before rafting on Sunday. We will drive home on Monday.
West Virginia is beautiful and ideally suited for rafting and climbing. It's probably an 8-9 hour drive from Indianapolis.
The weekend will be a great close to this year's adventure activities!
(Incidently, I'm listening to Fleet Foxes as a write this entry.)
1 comment:
Have fun in WV! I am pretty much set on going SkyDiving for my next birthday--I know you've already been, but maybe you'll come with me just as support. I think the older I get I am losing my sense of fear, so I want to embrace that a bit further--maybe I am taking after you...Well maybe not completely! :) Have a great time and hopefully we can catch up soon!
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