25th Anniversary of my website

 Twenty-five years ago (January of 1996) I began a website called Chuck's Backpacking Bonanza which documented with photos and information my 60+ backpacking adventures across the country. There were very few Internet gateways to such information back then (no Google yet either!) and my site became one of two go-to tools/websites for such information. I regularly got emailed questions about where and how to backpack and I answered every question. For those who recall, uploading photos and webpages back then was slow and arduous and done by slow telephone modem. What takes mere seconds now took minutes back then and the resolution of the photos was poor.

As the years progressed and technology improved, I added my biking, rafting, kayaking, canoeing, trail projects, and Road Scholar/Elderhostel adventures to the site and changed the name to Bike, Hike, and Paddle which now serves as the index for my Chuck's Adventures site. Together the two sites have had over 700,000 visits and contain over fifteen thousand photos. Then a decade ago, I began making videos of my adventures, and my YouTube channel has over 150 movies and over 525,000 views and 537 subscribers. It's rewarding to share my outdoor adventures with so many people! Enjoy!

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

 

    

New River Gorge Park and Preserve was established in 1978 as a national river and elevated to national park status in 2020. It stretches 53 miles from Hinton to Ansted, West Virginia, and preserves the longest and deepest river gorge in the Appalachian Mountains "for the purpose of conserving and interpreting outstanding natural, scenic, and historic values and objects in and around the New River Gorge and preserving as a free-flowing stream an important segment of the New River in West Virginia for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations."  

Hiking, white water rafting, and climbing are the primary activities it offers, though several trails following old railroad grades are open to bikes. Also offered are fishing, hunting, bird watching, picnicking, and just enjoying the natural world. Four primitive camping areas within the park are  located along the river. Ten percent of the land is designated national park and the remaining 90% is national preserve.  

The Lower Gorge is a premier whitewater rafting venue with rapids ranging from Class III to Class V, many obstructed by large boulders which create powerful currents, crosscurrents, and hydraulics. Commercial outfitters offer trips from April through October. The upper section of the river has Class I to III rapids and allows whitewater canoeing.

    

The New River continues into Virginia, and despite its name, it is claimed to geologically be one of the five oldest rivers (or according to some, the second oldest river) in the world. I have biked the Virginia New River Trail State Park which traverses 57 miles through four counties and three towns in Virginia, following the right-of-way of the Norfolk Southern Railroad which donated the land to Virginia.  I've also rafted this section in West Virginia.