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This newsletter is brought to you by the Pocahontas County CVB

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Late summer sun lights up the forest

Lately I've been obsessed with komorebi, the Japanese word for sunlight filtering through leaves. Although we've all seen and enjoyed komorebi, this beautiful word—and its literal meaning—does not have a direct English translation. But not all words need to be directly translated to be understood. As such, I went out on a delightful evening mission to our backyard wonderland of Blackwater Falls State Park to search for komorebi and immerse myself among the trees for some abstract experimentations with light.

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Thanks for your photo contest entries!

I'd like to send out a massive THANK YOU to all who submitted entries in the Second Annual Highland Outdoors Photo Contest.

We had north of 150 total entries from over 80 individual photographers, eclipsing last year's total of 111 entries from 52 contestants. I'm just now beginning to comb through the images and am loving what I've seen so far. Regardless of the results, everyone who took the time and effort to enter an image should be proud of themselves.

Keep an eye out for our Winter 2023 issue in December, where we'll publish the eight winning photographs!

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Remember back when...

...the Quaternary glaciations of the Pleistocene epoch began an icy cycle of advancement and retreat that played a massive role in shaping the Appalachian landscapes we adore today? Or maybe you recall when, about 1 million years ago, the Earth-pulverizing ebb and flow of these glaciers—some up to three miles thick—resulted in the damming of the region’s ancestral rivers and the subsequent creation of Lake Tight. No? You don't? Hmm, I guess that makes sense—unless you were frozen homies with Otzi the iceman and were recently thawed out like Brendan Fraser in the classic 1992 film Encino Man.

I have to be frank here and say that I didn't remember those glacial glory days either because I wasn't born until 1984, but I did sincerely enjoy learning—and writing about—one of West Virginia's most fascinating-yet-unknown bits of geologic history last year in our Summer 2022 issue.

In the name of science, I thought it would be fun to revisit Lake Tight. If you already read it, well, read it again, because repetition is the mother of memorization. And if you missed it, here's your chance to learn yet another amazing fact about our Mountain State. Click here to read The Lake Before Time, expand your mind, and add a fun factoid with which to impress your friends!

A GIS model showing Lake Tight in blue. Islands that would have existed above the lake’s estimated water level are shown in brown, and yellow areas denote exposures of paleomagnetically reversed sediments. The red line shows the Teays River’s path prior to glacial damming. The green line shows the limit of glaciation, marking the southernmost glacial advancement and where the natural impoundment of the Teays River occurred. Image reprinted from “A New Map of Pleistocene Proglacial Lake Tight Based on GIS Modeling and Analysis,” by James Erjavec, 2018, Ohio Journal of Science, Vol. 118, pg. 61.

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Help us reach 400 subscribers!

We've been on the precipice of 400 print magazine subscribers for quite some time, and we need YOU to help us crack the 400 benchmark! People often ask us how they can support the mag, and the answer is simple: become a subscriber! You'll get each beautiful issue delivered right to your doorstep (or P.O. box—shoutout to all our small town residents!). If you love Highland Outdoors and want it to continue, please consider joining our 396 subscribers (that's right—we're that close) to get each issue delivered right to your door—and to continue reading it in the future. And if you're already a subscriber, thank you! We truly appreciate your moral and financial support.

Subscribe Here

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Have you seen these yet?

Ebbs and Flows: Seasonal Outdoor Recreation Businesses in West Virginia

Ever wondered what it takes to own and operate a seasonal outdoor biz? Read on, because we've got a deep dive into the ebbs and flows of such an endeavor.

Highland Profiles: Melanie Seiler

From her days as a raft guide to her river descents on SUP boards, Melanie Seiler is an aquatic legend in the New River Gorge region. But her talents don't end there. She's also the director of Active SWV, an organization that helps people get outside.

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Stay tuned for our next installment in early September, featuring a sneak-peak at our upcoming Fall 2023 issue!

Enjoy, and thanks for reading #westvirginiasoutdoormagazine!

Dylan Jones

Editor-in-Chief

Highland-Outdoors.com