CLEAR July 2018

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Rail excursion takes guests to High Falls of the Cheat - West Virginia Explorer
by Duane Nichols via CLEAR 23 Jul '18

23 Jul '18

https://wvexplorer.com/2018/07/22/rail-to-high-falls-of-the-cheat/ Rail excursion takes guests to High Falls of the Cheat By Lisa Stansell Galitz, West Virginia Explorer, July 22, 2018 Tannins from the high-elevation spruce forest turn the High Falls of the Cheat golden brown. Photo courtesy Chris Galitz. I’ve done a lot of crazy things to get to a waterfall. Most involved hiking perilously up their rocky flanks. Often they involved falling flat on my kiester or buckling down on my knees, wondering for the millionth time why, oh, why, I didn’t have a rope or a donkey or both. Thankfully in West Virginia there are plenty of trees to grab near waterfalls, or I likely would have certainly plunged into the bottom of one of them. What I hadn’t done was take a train to a waterfall. How wonderful would that be? The High Falls of Cheat is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Monongahela National Forest in eastern West Virginia. The name is misleading as it is actually on the Shaver’s Fork of the Cheat. It is one of the largest and most lofty waterfalls in West Virginia, located in the Allegheny Mounains at an altitude of more 2,800 feet above sea level. It roars fiercely from the mountainside, dropping over a horseshoe bend of rock 150 feet wide and 18 feet high and empties into a crystal pool before tumbling down the mountain to become the serene and leisurely paced (in spring) Cheat River. The ghost town of Bemis makes its appearance from a passenger train. Photo courtesy Chris Galitz. For many years, the High Falls could only be accessed by trail. Maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, the path climbs through old-growth forest and groves of towering hemlock as it winds through the saddle on Shavers Mountain. If hiking is your passion, the trail is ideal. It begins at a pull-out on Beulah Road (Forest Road 44) near Glady in Randolph County. Hikers and backpackers must then climb more than 1,440 feet over 8.2 miles along the stream — a five-hour hike. An eight-mile hike with that kind of an elevation gain is not something this middle-aged lady is going to attempt. But a ride on a train? Yes! Chris (now my husband) and I boarded the train that morning for the five-hour round trip at the Elkins Railroad Depot and chose seats near the back of the car so we could easily reach the “balcony.” Like a kid in a candy store, I couldn’t decide where to look first. It was breathtaking. Spectacular scenery, small communities, like Bemis, and the roar of the Shavers Fork greeted us as we climbed mountain grades through an s-curve tunnel and across the pristine fork. The Shavers Fork of the Cheat River descends out of the high Allegheny Mountains. Photo courtesy Chris Galitz. And then — the jewel of the trip! The train stopped, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and we disembarked. As I like to introduce myself to new waterfalls with some semblance of restraint, we followed the sign to the view of the upper falls, an overlook just a few feet above the drop. A moment later, I was overlooking a gorgeous, golden falls. This is a waterfall that invites visitors to get up close and personal. We visited in the spring, when the water was high, but in summer the top of the falls is easily walkable. I feel certain the pool is swimmable in the summer months. We backtrack to the rocky beach at the base where I feel the spray on my face. I could stay here forever. Finding a perch on a large rock, I let others walk around, chattering, taking photos. I’m communing. I watch the falls from one side and then the next and find a baby falls within the main horseshoe. On the far left, a rock splits the river slightly, and a small step waterfall revels in its independence. Chris tells me the 45-minute stop is almost up, so I grab a few small round rocks to add to my collection and say my good-byes. I am the last one to leave the beach, of course. I turn and make my way back to the train. I am sad to go. Barely an hour — not nearly enough time! I hear someone say hikers may take the train up, camp a few nights, and catch a return train. That sounds like an awesome idea — truly one for the bucket list. The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad offers a rail excursion to the falls May through October on an historic locomotive. Excursions are offered weekends in May and every Saturday and Sunday until Memorial Day Weekend. After that, the schedule broadens into weekday and special-event excursions. Schedules, videos, and online reservations are available on their website. See Also West Virginia Rail Excursions Hotels near Elkins, West Virginia

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Once cheated of its fish by pollution, Cheat Lake now a thriving fishery
by Duane Nichols via CLEAR 22 Jul '18

22 Jul '18

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/outdoors/hunting_and_fishing/once-cheated-of-… Once cheated of its fish by pollution, Cheat Lake now a thriving fishery By John McCoy, Charleston Gazette Mail, July 21, 2018 After decades of work, life has returned to West Virginia’s Cheat Lake. Acid mine drainage and acid rain eliminated most of the fish there. In the 1980s, nine-tenths of the fish that managed to hang on were bullhead catfish or white suckers, species that anglers ignored. Today, however, the 1,730-acre impoundment teems with bass, walleye, perch and other popular game fish. Formed in 1926 by construction of the Cheat Lake Dam near Morgantown, the lake had water problems from the very beginning. Pollution from tanneries located along the Cheat River caused major fish kills in both the river and the lake. Coal mining contributed to the problem. “Six to eight of the lake’s major tributaries had serious acid mine drainage problems,” said Dave Wellman, district fisheries biologist for the state Division of Natural Resources. “The acid-rain problems of the 1960s and 1970s made things even worse.” The lake was never considered dead, but it wasn’t far from it. “Frank Jernejcic, who was the district biologist in the 1980s, didn’t deem it worthy to do fish surveys on the lake,” Wellman said. “Most of the fish that existed then were bullheads and white suckers, both of which are very acid-tolerant species. A couple of embayments fed by unpolluted tributaries held a few largemouth bass and a couple of other game fish species, but that was about it.” Dustin Smith, Wellman’s assistant, could be considered an authority on the lake’s fish species; he recently completed a doctoral dissertation on the subject. “In the worst years, there were only 15 species of fish in the lake,” Smith said. “Ninety percent of those fish were bullheads and white suckers. Most of the rest were minnows of one kind or another.” The turnabout began in the early 1970s. Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 and the Clean Water Act in 1972, both of which forced polluting industries to clean up their act. Unfortunately for the Cheat River system, much of the acid draining into the river and its tributaries came from mines long ago abandoned. Finding a solution for such “legacy issues” took years. The river’s water quality began to improve in the early 1990s, partly because the DNR began dumping limestone sand into some of the Cheat’s acidic headwater tributaries. The limestone buffered the acid and added much-needed fertility to the river’s waters. At about the same time, the state Department of Environmental Protection placed a limestone treatment facility on Beaver Creek, one of the watershed’s “hottest” mine-drainage tributaries. Other treatment projects followed. “In 1994, there was a major acid mine drainage blowout on the main Cheat,” Wellman said. “After that, there was an emphasis on getting more treatment facilities. A group called ‘River of Promise’ was formed in 1995. It got private industry, watershed associations and conservation groups involved. Its objective was to treat acid mine drainage and acid precipitation throughout the watershed.” Partners signed on — Friends of the Cheat, the DEP, the DNR and West Virginia University, among others. “Millions of dollars have gone into mine-drainage abatement since then,” Wellman said. “It has made a remarkable difference.” Pollution control isn’t a one-time thing for Cheat Lake and the Cheat River system. Without ongoing treatment, the lake and the river would revert to the sad condition they were in during the 1970s and 1980s. “Without continued funding for these treatment sites, Cheat Lake would be right back to where it was before 1990 — a lake full of bullheads and suckers,” Smith said. Today’s anglers enjoy a lake that is considerably richer and more diverse. Smith said the number of fish species present in the lake has almost tripled, and some of those species are doing remarkably well. “We’ve documented 44 species,” he said. “There are no dominant species anymore. Things are pretty well distributed. We have several species of interest to anglers — smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, walleye, yellow perch, channel catfish and several kinds of sunfish.” The lake, once ignored by anglers, now hosts 20 to 30 bass tournaments a year. “Smallmouth bass numbers, in particular, have shot through the roof,” Wellman said. “Cheat Lake now has one of the state’s highest catch rates for bass.” Smith said the comeback of the lake’s smallmouth is particularly encouraging because the species won’t tolerate acidic water. “We capture 13 times more smallmouth in surveys today than when we started surveying,” he added. “It’s a great sign, because smallmouth were among the first to go when the lake became polluted.” Walleye, once eliminated from the lake altogether, have also made a comeback. In 1999, the DNR began stocking walleye fry and fingerlings. The lake now sports a thriving walleye population and the fastest walleye growth rate of any Mountain State impoundment. “Females stocked as fingerlings get to 27 inches in as little as six years,” Smith said. “Several walleyes in the 34-inch range have been caught in recent years. That’s close to state-record size.” Yellow perch, channel catfish and pumpkinseed sunfish are thriving as well. Smith said Cheat Lake has become one of the best places in West Virginia to catch those species. “There aren’t many lakes that have lots of good-sized yellow perch, but Cheat Lake is one of them,” he said. “We have an absolutely excellent channel cat fishery; lots of fish in the 3- to 4-pound range. And we have lots of really nice pumpkinseeds, close to what I would consider a trophy fishery.” The future for Cheat Lake, Wellman said, will continue to be bright as long as the pollution can be held at bay. “Since 2004, we’ve only had two episodes in which the lake’s pH dropped below 6,” he said. “As long as we can keep that up, everything will be fine.”

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Maryland man drowns in Cheat River on Saturday
by Duane Nichols via CLEAR 17 Jul '18

17 Jul '18

Maryland man drowns in Cheat River on Saturday | News | wvnews.com From an Article by Theresa Marthey, Preston County News & Journal, July 16, 2018 MASONTOWN — An Oakland, Md., man drowned in the Cheat River near the Jenkinsburg Bridge on Saturday. According to Masontown Volunteer Fire Department Chief Matt Montgomery, witnesses said Derek Noah Bennett, 26, was swimming in the Cheat River when he went under and did not resurface. “We received the call at approximately 5:40 p.m. on Saturday, the victim was located through a heat signature in the water around 7:15 p.m. by the Maryland State Police helicopter Troop 5,” Montgomery said. “The body was recovered at 7:30 p.m.” Bennett was the second drowning in the Cheat River at the Jenkinsburg Bridge this year, according to Montgomery. Michael Lewis, 23, of Petersburg, Ohio, was swept away in the river early May 20 following a heavy rainfall. Rescue personnel were able to use ropes to save a second man stranded in the water, Shane Forame, 23, also of Petersburg. Lewis' body was recovered a day later several miles away near the shore at Cheat Lake. In addition to the Masontown Volunteer Fire Department and Maryland State Police helicopter Troop 5, units from the Bruceton-Brandonville Volunteer Fire Department, Reedsville Volunteer Fire Department, Preston County Sheriff’s Department, Department of Natural Resources, Preston County Dive Team, KAMP Ambulance, Masontown Swift Water Rescue, assisted at the scene. https://www.wvnews.com/prestoncountynews/news/maryland-man-drowns-in-cheat-…

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Swimmer beware: Pennsylvania drownings highlight river risks
by Duane Nichols via CLEAR 17 Jul '18

17 Jul '18

Swimmer beware: Pennsylvania drownings highlight river risks By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press, July 16, 2018 Susquehanna River near Marietta, PA JIM THORPE (AP) — Katelyn Carlisle nervously eyed the murky waters lapping at her feet. "It's quick. You gotta swim. You can swim, right?" her friend, Chris Manzi, 23, quipped from the opposite riverbank. With that, Carlisle, 25, jumped into the Lehigh River and began stroking her way to the other side. Neither of them knew that section of the river had recently claimed two lives in 10 days. Nor had they spotted the warning signs that officials at Lehigh Gorge State Park installed in response: "Notice, dangerous currents, not a designated swimming area." As temperatures rise, people are inexorably drawn to water. But several recent drownings highlight anew the hot-weather danger posed by Pennsylvania's tens of thousands of miles of rivers and creeks, where deceptively strong currents, underwater obstacles and steep drop-offs can make for a deadly combination. Five people have drowned in state park waterways alone so far this year, matching the total for all of 2017. Tragedy hasn't been confined to the state parks. A 7-year-old boy waded into central Pennsylvania's Pine Creek on Tuesday, got out of his depth and drowned. His mother died trying to save him. "Even people who know rivers and streams can step into a hole and all the sudden you are over your head," said Terry Brady, spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Manzi and Carlisle — who live in Denver and Milwaukee and were in Pennsylvania for work — entered the water with a group of co-workers on a cloudless afternoon last week. The current, at least on the surface, seemed relatively tame. But the river still posed a slight challenge for Carlisle, who had never swam across one before. She paddled in place for several seconds before breaking free of the current and making it to calmer waters. "I'm swimming hard and I'm not going anywhere," she explained after getting out. "I kept telling myself, 'Swim harder, swim harder.'" A few weeks earlier, two other swimmers weren't as fortunate. On June 19, 24-year-old Angel Rivas, of Hazleton, drowned as he and his friends swam across rapids. Then, on June 29, the Lehigh took Jersson Lajara of New York. His body was recovered a day later. Jim Thorpe Fire Chief Vince Yaich is frustrated by the situation at Lehigh Gorge, a popular state park in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Philadelphia. He said his department is called to Lehigh Gorge an average of 10 times a year, mostly to rescue people injured near the park's Glen Onoko Falls, but also to recover the bodies of drowning victims. Yaich said the state should do more to keep swimmers out of the river by issuing tickets to violators. "If there's no swimming, like the park is saying, then enforce it. Don't just put up a sign," he said. "You catch somebody in there swimming, you fine them. End of conversation." Park manager Rex Bradish said it's not that easy. There are jurisdictional complications, and the state prefers education over enforcement. "These types of tragic events are never something we want to see, and if we can prevent them through increased patrols and signage, and engaging visitors and educating them, that is the way we want to go," he said. The temporary signs near the river do not explicitly state that swimming is banned, only that it's "not a designated swimming area" — which has the same meaning under state law but could sow confusion among park visitors. State officials say they plan to re-evaluate the wording. Signs or not, at least two groups of visitors — teenagers from the Philadelphia suburbs and the out-of-state colleagues that included Manzi and Carlisle — swam across the Lehigh in the span of a couple hours last week. Most said they didn't think twice about going in. Had he spotted the warning sign, Ben Mills would have taken it as a challenge. "It's the cookie jar syndrome," said Mills, 35, of Atlanta. "You want what you're not supposed to have."

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CLEAR July 2018