The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve Canyon Rim visitor center recently got a facelift and hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.
The $1.7 million dollar renovation includes an upgraded theater, new exhibits, and info on what to do and where to go in the park and adjacent national scenic river ways.
The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve Canyon Rim visitor center recently got a facelift and hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.
The $1.7 million renovation includes an upgraded theater, new exhibits, and info on what to do and where to go in the park and adjacent national scenic river ways.
New River Gorge Park Ranger Dave Bieri said the park service wanted to have an orientation center for visitors.
“We tried to just kind of hit some of the highlights of the things that make this place special,” Bieri said. “There’s these explore panels throughout the exhibit that direct you to different places in the park.”
Biere said the ribbon cutting marks the end of the five-year project, but that more improvement projects for the park are on the horizon.
The chance of ending up in the water is higher in those rapids, McQueen said. He believes in the river mantra that a boater is always just in between swims.
As summer winds down, tens of thousands of whitewater rafters and kayakers from all over the country begin their migration to West Virginia. They are here for the Gauley River — which normally only has navigable flows during the fall.
The fall recreational flows are part of a planned effort of water releases in the fall to draw down Summersville Lake and support whitewater rafting and kayaking.
Companies offer guided trips down the river for customers without expert whitewater skills. However, most of the boats on the river are private boaters or individuals who own their own equipment and have the professional knowledge and abilities to navigate the river.
The bright red cataraft and kayak increase the visibility of the crafts.
Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The National Park Service said this year they have seen more private boaters than ever.
Matt McQueen is a park ranger. The Gauley has recreational releases two to four days a week during its six week season. On those days he is paddling down the river in his red kayak alongside a red cataraft operated by another park ranger — Kathy Zerkle.
Chromatic Currents
The colors on the hills change from a bright green in the beginning of the season to vibrant yellows, reds and oranges in the late season. The landscape is interrupted by the bright primary-colored boats, tutus, sequined shirts and glittered faces, all headed downstream from where the river begins at Summersville Dam.
“A lot of different colors, a lot of plastic on the water, a lot of smiling faces, a lot of glitter, a lot of lipstick,” McQueen said. “There’s definitely a whole culture involved in the whitewater industry that is kind of unique, for sure.”
Headed East To West Virginia
The colorful and glittery private boaters gather on this river from all over the country.
Melissa Clivio-Wentrup is one of those sparkling travelers. She started guiding on the river this summer in her home state of Montana.
“A lot of our senior guides had spoken a big game about the Gauley. I had heard this name kind of floating around in the parking lot since I had gotten there,” Clivio-Wentrup said.
Melissa Clivio-Wentrup (middle) is wearing glitter makeup at the put-in for the Gauley River. She is with her friends from Montana, Bair Osgood (left) and Charlie Moseley (right).
Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Kevin Fitch agreed. He has been guiding for nine years in Colorado and has come to West Virginia for the past few falls to work and play on the river.
The parking lot for the put-in is like a big family reunion. It’s dotted with hugs, and “hey, how you been?” Every once in a while, someone will run across the lot towards an embrace from someone they haven’t seen in weeks, months or years.
Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The Big Pushy Water Of The Gauley
The rafters said they come here because of how massive the whitewater is. The “White Water Guide Book” said the Gauley is the best river for a single day trip. The river has many of the qualities that create big whitewater: a steep descent, lots of water and lots of obstacles.
During the release, it runs at a minimum of 2,800 cubic feet per second, or CFS. A cubic foot of water is about the size of a basketball. If there was a line going across the river, every second 2,800 basketballs worth of water would cross it during the recreational release.
The Gauley is a pool drop style of river. This means that the rapids are separated by calm pools of water. Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“Because of the style of the Gauley, 2,800 ends up being a large amount of water for a relatively small river,” Fitch said.
Fitch said the combination of those features make the waves reminiscent of a big ocean swell.
“You’re looking ten feet above you, at the crest of the wave. Your only perspective, your only visual at that point, is the water around you and the trees that poke about above them,” Fitch said.
Rating The River
Those waves, rocks and water all factor into a whitewater classification system that rates rapids from 1-6 on level of difficulty. Park Ranger McQueen said that you can think of class one as a choppy day on a lake, and class six as a nearly impossible run.
McQueen kayaks around the bottom of rapids looking upstream in case any rafters or kayakers need his help. Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“Class five is more of an expert level where significant hazards are present,” he said. “Navigation and the route are not always easily apparent. There are some solid navigational skills that need to be required to get through and strengthen, strength for sure.”
The Gauley has five class five rapids: Iron Curtain, Pillow, Lost Paddle, Iron Ring and Sweets Falls.
The Sounds Of White Water
The chance of ending up in the water is higher in those rapids, McQueen said. He believes in the river mantra that a boater is always just in between swims.
“No matter how good, or skilled, or experienced you are as a whitewater paddler, eventually something is going to happen where you’re gonna find yourself in the water, taking a swim,” he said.
That’s why the park service is out there kayaking below rapids, or standing on rocks with throw bags.
Boaters perched on rocks below some of the rapids, boats tied to trees, watching other rafters and kayakers paddle the rapid. When a raft or kayak has made a few mistakes and flipping or swimming look likely, cheers erupt from bystanders.
“Cheers generally mean that you have messed up your line. Cheers generally mean that somebody is going in the water,” Fitch said.
Throw bags are used to assist swimmers in getting to land. They are always thrown from land to a swimmer who then grabs the rope and is swung into the bank of the river. Rope is often a last option in helping a swimmer because of hazards associated with using it.
Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
However, he said that if the swimmers are in a dangerous position then the rock-perched boaters immediately take action.
“What is absolutely epic about those times is everyone will cheer as things are going wrong,” Fitch said. “But if things end up going weird, the cheers immediately stop. And the concern for the individual and getting them out of the scenario that they’re in becomes paramount. And that is one of the aspects of a phenomenal community here.”
The Gauley River usually gets 20,000 to 30,000 visitors each season. Rangers are predicting that the numbers this year could be their highest yet.
The 2023 Gauley season started Sept. 8 and will end on Oct. 22.
The Big Coal River flows 40 miles through Boone and Lincoln Counties. John Slack Memorial Park is one of nine river access points on the Big Coal in Boone County. The UMWA hosts an annual rally at the park each year. It’s a hotspot for politicians but that’s not all you’ll find in Racine.
This story is the fourth of a series called West Virginia Water Trails. Hear stories from people coming together across southern West Virginia, to create new economies and communities- with waterways. It’s made possible in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
John Slack Memorial Park is kind of the place to be in early September. The United Mine Workers of America hosts annual rallies on Labor Day to celebrate the union. Politicians often give fiery speeches during rallies in Racine.
But there are other times that people make their way to the park in Racine. It’s also a place whereMary Ann Browning helps organize events. She’s lived in Boone County for 83 years.
“The southern part of West Virginia has been hard hit because our main jobs are mining,” Browning said. “We do have mines here, they are still working. But we have tried to reinvent ourselves.”
Big Coal River Access Point Steps into Spotlight
About 15 years ago, Browning and other volunteers got together to use the park for other community events. With easy access to the Big Coal River from the park, they started an annual float trip, in true Boone County style.
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Floaters bring kayaks, jon boats and canoes to the river access ramp at John Slack Memorial Park in Racine, W.Va. during Kevin’s Lazy River Adventure Float in 2021.
It’s called Kevin’s Lazy River Adventure, to memorialize the late Kevin Kinder, a well-known Boone County resident who loved the river and passed away in 2002.
Floaters bring kayaks, jon boats and canoes and travel for 10.5 miles on the water.
“We had a ball,” Browning said. “We saw what it was and everybody had a good time and said ‘ya know, we need to start doing this on a regular basis.’”
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Kayakers on the Big Coal River during Kevin’s Lazy River Adventure Float.
So they did. The float originally had 50 boats but has swelled to about 800 a year. Organizers formed the Big Coal River Branch Group and got busy to fundraise with sponsors and Bingo events.
And the People Said, “Let them Eat!”
Organizers can’t let folks leave with an empty stomach. So Browning and other volunteers arrange a meal for participants at the end of the float at Dartmont Park.
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Organizers supply a picnic for floaters after the Kevin’s Lazy River Adventure Float, 2021.
“It’s a regular West Virginia hoedown picnic with hotdogs and hamburgers,” Browning said. “This past year we also had ribs and chicken. This past year we had about 1,500 people for that and we fed them all.”
Big Coal River People Know How to Help Big
The Big Coal River forms from two tributaries; the Clear Fork and Marsh Fork Streams in Whitesville. It flows mostly Northwest until it joins the Coal River around the community of Alum Creek in Lincoln County.
The Big Coal has provided drinking water, a source for baptisms, and social life with a deep connection to coal production in the region. To prepare for Kevin’s Lazy River Adventure, residents come together to pick up trash.
Teresa Perdue says jumping in to help is what people in Boone County do.
“All I gotta do is write it on Facebook and here they come. They’re just good people,” Perdue said. “You can just post it on there, ‘Hey I need some help,’ and before you know it people’s commenting, ‘We’ll be there, what time?’ and people show up and off to the river we go.”
A lot of the help comes from Perdue’s family and friends. Even children are excited about helping clean up the river before the float.
Teresa Perdue
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Children from the local elementary schools join during regular cleanups along the Big Coal River in Boone County.
“All of these small children had their galoshes on. They were ready to work,” Perdue said. “The gloves were too big for their hands but they went and worked hard.”
Next Generation of Floaters
Perdue says the kids leave their galoshes and oversized gloves at home when they return to take part in Kevin’s Lazy River Float. The atmosphere helps bring them back.
“It’s family oriented. Our river is not really deep in a lot of spots, but it’s just deep enough that the kids can also be on their own kayak and come down the river,” Perdue said. “And it’s just beautiful.”
Sherri Sharps has lived in Boone County for more than 30 years. She can see the Big Coal River from her front porch.
Teresa Perdue
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Children in kayaks on the Big Coal River during Kevin’s Lazy River Adventure, 2021.
“When you hear those kids giggling and you will hear music playing,” Sharps said, “because they have these little coolers in the back with the radio on top and they’re singing and they’re going down that river and they look up at me and everyone just waves ‘Hi, here I am.’ And to me that’s just an awesome thing.”
Sharp’s husband is a retired United Mine Workers of America coal miner. His job supported the family pretty well, until it didn’t.
“I worked two jobs when my husband got laid off,” Sharps said. “So when you went from a coal mining paycheck to $160 a week, it was a wake up call.”
Paddlers will find Sharps back on dry land at the John Slack Memorial Park every year on the last Saturday of September. Just two months after the float, Sharps organizes the Big Coal River Heritage Festival. The idea is to host only crafts and art made by West Virginians, to support each other.
“It is income, but it’s also to showcase what they make with pride,” Sharps said. “When I go on vacation, I want something made in that area, and that’s what they come here for.”
The first year in 2011, 20 vendors set up shop at the Big Coal River Heritage Festival. This year, Sharps expects 60 West Virginians will bring their handmade treasures. Lifetime resident, Mary Ann Browning, says the West Virginia vendors are thankful for the opportunity to share their work.
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Big Coal River Heritage Festival at John Slack Park in Racine, W.Va. 2021.
“(The Festival) brings a lot of the Boone County people out who has been doing all of this artwork in their homes and giving it to their children and their grandchildren and we’ve given them an avenue to sell their stuff.”
Making these events happen along the Big Coal River takes a lot of volunteers and time. Sharps says, it’s always something special.
“If you yell, you’ve got people coming out of the woodwork,” Sharps said. “You don’t find that in the city. It is here. So they need to come here and find out what we’re all about.”
The Big Coal River Heritage Festival is on the last Saturday in September. Kevin’s Lazy River Float on the Big Coal River happens on the last Saturday in July.
In Lincoln County, creating the access points along the Guyandotte River turned out to be much more than a way to get on the river, it was also a way to unite the community.
This story is the third of a series called West Virginia Water Trails. Hear stories from people coming together across southern West Virginia, to create new economies and communities- with waterways. It’s made possible in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
Finding a Way Onto the Guyandotte
Just behind the West Hamlin fire station is a path to a river. A quick walk down a grassy hill takes boaters to a concrete pad by the Guyandotte. In this region, accessing the river wasn’t always this simple. In fact, the concrete on this access point was poured in 2019.
Fire Chief Ron Porter remembers the challenges of getting boats on the Guyandotte before the access point.
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Slide at Branchland Park after repair work.
“That was tough,” Porter said. “You were fighting briars and brambles and slipping and sliding over the riverbank. And to get that back out was doubly difficult. So you had to drag it up over a riverbank and through all the brush and mud.”
Porter and the department often pitch in to help maintain the access point. He says it’s important for water rescue emergencies. He’s also noticed more people floating and enjoying the water.
“We have a lot of people enjoying kayaking, especially. In the summertime, it’s not unusual to see a dozen or 15 kayaks in our parking lot out here where they’ve taken out on the river,” Porter said. “They’ll park their cars here, go further upstream and put their kayak or canoe or whatever craft they’re using, and paddle, down the river and take out here. [The river] has been utilized a whole lot more now than it ever was.”
Another access point on the guide is at Branchland Park. It was barely noticeable just a few years ago.
“I lived here for years and did not even know that there was a boat dock [at Branchland] because it was just weeds and trees,” Branchland resident Wanda Cremeans said. “You couldn’t see the boat dock.”
Wanda lives along the Guyandotte River not far from the park and entry point. She remembers when the work on the Branchland access point began.
“We started cleaning it up and burning the brush,” Cremeans said. “[We] wanted to get kayaking, going again. We had a lot of people, friends, family, a lot of Cremeans’s jump in there and help with everything. So some of those people have already passed on, just like Tony has.”
Tony Cremeans was her husband. He passed away in 2020. He ran an auto repair shop and was an advocate for recreation on the river.
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Wanda and Tony Cremeans at Branchland Park in 2014. Tony Cremeans passed away in 2020.
“He was very community oriented and liked to bring things to Branchland for people to have fun,” she said. “He loved to live life and have fun.”
Wanda, her family and many other volunteers did a lot of work to clean up Branchland Park. Ralph Triplet grew up at Branchland and worked closely with Tony and other volunteers to clean up the park and entry point.
“Everybody’s close in the neighborhood but we kind of partnered up and we said we were kind of tired of the ‘Guyan River’ and the Branchland community having a black eye that it had,” Triplett said. “We thought we would try to clean up the riverbank up there at Branchland a little bit.”
Ralph and other volunteers wanted to bring back the Guyandotte River Regatta that he says was big deal in the 1970’s.
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Jerry and Randy Lawson at the finish line at the former bridge at West Hamlin of the River Regatta in the 1970’s.
Guyandotte River Regatta Returns
Work on a river access point is never really done. Triplet says volunteers pitch in annually to pick up litter. The community also put up artwork painted by Wanda Cremeans that celebrates the river. They also worked with the Coal Heritage Area Authority to put up signs that clearly marked the access points.
Word got out and people from the region started showing up. There was even a kayak rental and shuttle business that opened. With the revived access point, residents worked to host the Guyandotte River Regatta in 2014. Wanda Cremeans remembers cookouts and a car show to go with it.
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Guyandotte River Regatta put in at Branchland Park in Lincoln County, W.Va. in 2014.
“It was a fellowship,” she said. “It’s just like a party, like a community party.”
The community party lasted about all weekend. The event was gaining momentum and helping to bring a few smiles back to the Branchland community.
“Branchland didn’t and doesn’t get a lot of events,” she said. “So, it was like, ‘Hey, this is so cool.’ Branchland is doing something.”
Organizations and volunteers who wanted to maintain the Guyandotte Water Trail formed the Guyandotte Water Trail Alliance in 2014. With help from volunteers and the Alliance, the Regatta expanded from Branchland in Lincoln County to four other entry points and counties along the Guyandotte River including Wyoming, Mingo, Logan, and Cabell. With the ongoing clean up efforts and clearly marked access points, the Guyandotte River remains a West Virginia Water Trail.
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Guyandotte River Regatta, 2014
“This section of the river parallels Route 10,” Ralph Triplett. “You can see the river, the entire course. And there’s various pull offs, people can see it and watch or dance and I think we have a lot of potential for growth on what we have here.”
Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, the Regatta has been canceled the past two years. Plans are underway to bring it back this year. Chief Ron Porter hopes another regatta reignites the momentum and community pride he saw in his hometown before the pandemic.
“We really need jobs and we need the businesses and the opportunity to have more services available,” Porter said. “If tourism, if it can in some way play a role in that, that will be fun. That would be great.”
There’s a lot of work ahead of the community, lots of organizing, fundraising, and even more cleanup along the river. Ralph Triplet says finding a new generation to help will be critical to the success.
“We’re definitely looking for new blood,” Triplet said “A lot of us are, further down the highway, any kind of support that we could get. I hope this works out well for the whole river. So yeah it’s a good undertaking.”
Triplet says work is underway to register the Guyandotte Water Trail Alliance as a 501 c3. There’s another access point on the Guyandotte just outside of West Hamlin called Salt Rock. This site has been closed for a few years.
Other organizers met in 2020 with state officials with plans to create a new access point in Ranger.
On a recent sunny weekday, Bill Currey proudly walks among 30 neatly stacked, brightly colored plastic kayaks. Birds chirp merrily, and the soothing sounds of the meandering Coal River permeate the background — nature’s version of a white noise machine.
For the tanned Currey, who also owns an industrial real estate company, being here, on the river, is as good as it gets. His goal is to share this slice of paradise with as many people as will listen.
“Outdoor adventure is where the new world is as far as new tourism opportunities,” Currey said. “And rivers are cheap. We own them. They’re available once they’re cleaned up, you know, they’re an ideal platform to bring people from all over the United States to come.”
But the idea of spending the day kayaking down the 88-mile long Coal River in southern West Virginia was not always so appealing.
Coal was first found on the banks of the Coal River in the mid-1800s, and it’s been mined in these rugged mountains ever since. In 2012, the Coal River was labeled one of the most endangered in the country by conservation group American Rivers, largely due to pollution from the industry from which the river takes its name.
Currey helped found the nonprofit Coal River Group, which has been dedicated to cleaning up the watershed for 16 years.
Credit Brittany Patterson / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Bill Currey, chairman of the nonprofit Coal River Group, stands outside their headquarters in Tornado, West Virginia.
“These beaches are going from black, they used to be covered with coal, to white, and they’re beautiful,” he said. “That’s been a big improvement.”
And now that the river is clean, Currey and others in southern West Virginia are hoping the region’s natural beauty can help revitalize an area long dependent on coal. They’re betting on a different natural resource — outdoor recreation and tourism.
It’s an idea gaining traction across the Ohio Valley, where many coal communities were diversifying their local business base. The coronavirus pandemic added to the challenge, with staggering economic fallout from closures associated with stemming the virus. But several coal-reliant communities and experts the Ohio Valley ReSource spoke to said the pandemic may unlock new opportunities to grow interest in the region and what it has to offer.
The Good
First, the good. People are eager for a safe break from quarantine life and health experts agree, while not devoid of risk, recreating outside where the virus can disperse more easily is safer than many other activities.
Credit Brittany Patterson / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
The Coal River in southern West Virginia.
Case in point, kayaking.
“You know, on a kayak you got a six-foot paddle,” Currey said. “Well, that limits who can get very close to each other.”
Boat launches on the Coal River have been swamped with visitors eager to get into the water on the weekends, he said.
In Norton, Virginia, a small, traditionally coal-reliant community of about 4,000 people that borders eastern Kentucky, traffic counters show people are flocking to the nearby Flag Rock Recreation Area. The city has invested in campgrounds and hiking and mountain biking trails on the mountain as part of its strategy to diversify its economy toward outdoor recreation.
“We’ve constantly been getting contacted by people asking, ‘When are you starting some of your classes or your outdoor activities such as outdoor yoga, or mountain bike rides, group rides and things like that,’” said Fred Ramey, Norton’s city manager. “So, I think there’s a pent-up demand.”
Credit Brittany Patterson / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Hiking trails in the Flag Rock Recreation Area in Norton, Virginia.
According to a survey from the National Recreation and Park Association released in late May, two in three park and recreation leaders report increased usage of their agency’s parks compared to this time last year, while more than 80 percent report increased usage of their trails.
Increased demand also comes with challenges, especially for group outdoor recreation activities such as whitewater rafting.
Joe Brouse, executive director of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, which serves Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas and Summers counties in southern West Virginia, said rafting companies missed out on the first part of the season due to coronavirus shutdowns. To comply with social distancing guidelines, they are required to limit things like raft occupancy.
“The logistics of opening, because it’s not just reopening, are very, very challenging,” he said.
But the world’s new COVID reality — where air travel remains an unpopular way to travel — could boost interest in regional tourism, Jack Morgan with the National Association of Counties. Appalachia is located within 500 miles of about 70 percent of the country’s population.
Credit Brittany Patterson / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
“Appalachian communities are well positioned to capitalize on travelers who may be seeking recreation or that nature escape relatively nearby as opposed to a larger cross country trip or international trip,” he said.
However, Morgan cautioned that diversification is a long, tough process. Many communities are in the beginning stages of mapping their next chapters. The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic comes on top of years of declining tax revenues from the coal industry.
“This could be a significant bump in the road to many communities who, excitingly, are really starting to blossom and gain some momentum,” he said.
That’s especially true for the restaurants, hotels and small businesses that tourists frequent after they come down from the trails.
The Challenges
Ramey, the city manager of Norton, Virginia, said one of his primary concerns during this pandemic has been ensuring small businesses along the town’s brick-lined downtown survive.
“One of the reasons why we really looked towards tourism as part of our economic plan is that we did have some of those resources such as hotels and restaurants and things like that,” he said. “We’ve been very concerned about the economic impact to those businesses and tried to do some things to support them through all of this and so we hopefully will all be ready to move forward at the appropriate time.”
That includes providing small “bridge loans” to businesses. Norton has given out about 50 loans, totaling nearly $250,000. The 60-month loans require no payments or interest for the first six months, Ramey said.
Providing a financial boost for businesses is something the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority is also doing with the help of a $750,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant that will allow the group to recapitalize an existing revolving loan fund.
“So we’re trying to pump some capital back into the tourism community that way,” said Brouse, the group’s executive director.
In southeastern Ohio, nonprofit Rural Action has so far helped distribute about $35,000 in small grants. The program was started via a Facebook fundraiser to help support local businesses.
Dan Vorisek, program coordinator for the resilient communities program at Rural Action, the communities he works with in Ohio are in the early stages of reorienting their economies toward outdoor recreation and tourism. He said there is a contingent of businesses that are struggling, but others are using the pandemic as a chance to reevaluate their own models.
“So, from what I’ve seen, it’s a combination of businesses just trying to make it to the next week, and then other businesses that actually have the opportunity to plan for the future,” he said.
Credit Brittany Patterson / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
The Coal River Group has about 30 kayaks to rent to tourists.
The Optimism
In southeastern Ohio, Vorisek investors are still moving forward in developing the local bike trail network and surrounding communities.
“They see the potential,” he said.
That potential could be shaped by a broader urban reckoning. Many rural places haven’t seen the high coronavirus case numbers that cities have, although that may be changing as states continue to reopen. Telework, once a barrier for many companies, has become increasingly acceptable.
That’s how Ramey sees it.
“There could be a flight to places like ours now, and the Appalachian area,” he said. “If you can work from home, you can work from anywhere, and so that anywhere could be Norton, Virginia.”
Back on the Coal River, Bill Currey agrees.
“We’re like a national park that’s not designated,” he said. “Big city people are saying, through the pandemic, ‘I don’t want to live in this downtown where I can’t grow a garden like those people in West Virginia. I don’t want to live downtown and not go to the grocery store when those West Virginians are going out and they’ve got deer meat, they’ve got fish.’ It’s like, we’ve got so much of what the other part of the country doesn’t have.”
But he adds if you aren’t ready to move just yet, you could always start by visiting and spending a day on the river.
Officials have released the identity of a kayaker who went missing along the banks of the Middle Fork River in West Virginia last Sunday. Officials with the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety say Jamie L. Gray, 41, of Hacker Valley is presumed drowned after going missing on Feb. 9. The agency is closing access to the Middle Fork River between Audra State Park in Barbour County and Tygart Valley River to bring in equipment to assist with the recovery of Gray. Officials say Gray was kayaking with a group of nine fellow paddlers in river last week. Her kayak capsized and she was swept downstream. She then capsized again and swept under a large rock, where she never resurfaced.
