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Happy June!

The solstice is still 20 days away, but holy moly does it feel like summer already! True to form, we had our typical two-week spring here in the WV highlands: the mountains just turned green up in Canaan Valley, and we're already sweating it out in the mid-80s. Nikki and my close friends (and now all of you) know that I don't handle heat well, and I'm already dreaming of that first snow. But for now, I guess I'll have to settle into summer, grab a cold cerveza, and find the closest swimming hole. Cheers to all you summer lovers—I don't know how you do it!

A magical fern-covered trail at 3,800 feet on Canaan Mountain.

The pink lady slippers (Cypripedium acaule) are one of our favorite finds in the spruce-hardwood forests of the WV highlands.

Blackwater Canyon from the Pase Point overlook, bathed in early spring beauty. We are so fortunate to have this landscape in our backyard.

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Summer mag is on its way!

Nikki and I actually got an issue done, on time, without any stressful last-minute writing, and we couldn't be more proud to share it with you. This issue starts hitting shelves on June 13, so keep an eye out for a fresh copy at one of our 130+ distribution locations around the Mountain State.

With a delightfully nerdy feature on proglacial Lake Tight, the inaugural Highland Outdoors photo contest, the Dolly Sods Wilderness Stewards, photoboating, the race for WV's longest cave system, a personal climbing essay from Nikki, and Hurricane's Meeks Mountain Trails, dare I say (I dare!) that this our best issue yet?

Big thanks to Justin Harris of Mountain River Media for the excellent shot of Nick McGettigan running the legendary Big Splat rapid on the Lower Big Sandy Creek in Preston County!

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Congrats to our Dirty Double Giveaway winners!

I am beyond stoked to have Greg Moore and Bruce Wohleber, two West Virginia mountain bike racing legends, representing Team HO at the PCPaRC Dirty Double this weekend! Big thanks to PCPaRC for partnering up with us for the giveaway. If you're around Rowlesburg this weekend, make sure to stop off at the city park and check out this great event. We look forward to seeing it grow in the coming years.

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Have you seen this yet?

If you haven't been following this recent story, you're in for a treat. On Mother's Day, Putnam County native Kevin Adkins was turkey hunting with his father-in-law when he stumbled across something bizarre in a stream bed—a giant skull unlike anything he had seen before. A history and geology buff, Kevin scoured the internet for a match. He thought it could be the skull of a giant ground sloth, and his suspicion was confirmed after he reached out to a ground sloth expert (yes, they are out there) in Colorado. Enjoy Nikki's great write up about Kevin and his story behind this ancient find!

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Stay tuned for our next installment in mid-June, which will feature an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at how we distribute Highland Outdoors!

Enjoy, and thanks for reading #westvirginiasoutdoormagazine!

Dylan Jones

Editor-in-Chief

Highland-Outdoors.com