Spring renewal means spring rebranding 🌻
Apr 01, 2022 9:32 pm
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Happy spring!
The vernal equinox has passed and we couldn't be more excited for green plants and spring paddling season here in West Virginny. Up in the wild world of Canaan Valley, winter went out like a lamb and spring came roaring in like a lion. Maw Nature even pulled a fast one on us today by foolishly ushering in April with heavy snow squalls, 40-mph wind gusts, and blizzard-like white-out conditions!
Speaking of seasonal change, Nikki and I decided that, after over seven years of service, our logo was overdue for a facelift. You may have noticed our new logo above, which we feel imbues the magazine with a more cultured, worldly feel while maintaining that not-so-serious vibe we lovingly inject into every issue of Highland Outdoors.
Our primary font, papyrus, is an upscale typeface used by the finest tea shops, yoga studios, and natural food cafés. Our secondary font, comic sans, supplies the fun-filled yin to papyrus's serious yang. With these two globally recognizable fonts, Highland Outdoors will be better poised to expand to an international outdoor audience in coming years. If you're still reading this and taking it seriously, well, joke's on you, because this is our April Fool's gotcha. Don't fret - Nikki and I wouldn't do anything as lowbrow as incorporating both papyrus and comic sans into a corporate logo. If you're not familiar with papyrus and its status as the ultimate cliché font, this classic Saturday Night Live skit is a mandatory watch. Enjoy! Now, on to the real news...
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Spring skiing at its finest!
This was no joke! Old Man Winter left the WV highlands in a fury and let the door hit us all in the buttinski with 16 inches of glorious snow from March 22 - 25. We took full advantage of by scraping the mud and spruce sap off our skis and hitting the wooded slopes of White Grass for some of that coveted and ephemeral Appalachian spring skiing.
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The new spring issue is out and about...
Speaking of ephemeral, our new spring issue includes a lovely feature on spring ephemeral flowers written by Nikki and photographed by frequent HO contributor David Johnston.
If you're not a subscriber, make sure to grab a fresh copy at one of our 140+ distribution locations around the Mountain State. We recently added some new stops on our route:
- Meeks Mountain Trail Association in Hurricane
- Mountwood Park in Parkersburg
- Riverfront Wood Fired Pizza in Thomas
- Mama Mia Pies and Pasta in Canaan Valley
- Side Tracks Cafe in Elkins
- WVU Outdoor Rec Center in Morgantown
- Swiftwater General Store and Cafe in Charleston
- Wanderlust Creative Foods in Fayetteville
And some new out-of-state stops!
- 3 Rivers Outdoor Co. in Pittsburgh, PA
- Marietta Adventure Co. in Marietta, OH
- REI Stores in Pittsburgh, PA; Columbus, OH; Richmond, VA; and Tysons Corner, VA
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...Or get the mag delivered to your door!
Subscribing is the best way to support Highland Outdoors. If you love the mag and want it to continue, please consider joining our 260 subscribers (thank you!) to get each issue delivered right to your door - and to continue reading it in the future.
Many of you recently went through your first renewal process, and some of those renewals failed due to expired or updated credit cards. If you've received a new credit card in the last year, or if you've moved, please log in to your account on our site and update your information to keep your subscription going and make sure the mag reaches your door!
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Have you seen these yet?
Join Nikki Forrester on another deep dive into Appalachia's soils with a look at spring ephemerals: the little gems that cram their entire aboveground lifespans into just two months before temps rise and forest canopies cover them in shade.
This is the continuation and finale of Once in a Blue Moon, a story that appeared in our winter 2020 issue and chronicles the technical tale of a cosmic photograph accomplished at Seneca Rocks.
Black Walnuts on the Black Fork: Citizen Science Close to Home
I ventured down to the shores of the Black Fork River to gather samples of eastern black walnut trees for the Adventure Scientists Timber Tracking Project.
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Stay tuned for our next installment, hitting your inbox in mid-April. Enjoy the spring bloom!
Enjoy, and thanks for reading #westvirginiasoutdoormagazine!
Dylan Jones
Editor-in-Chief
Highland-Outdoors.com
