Paddleboats, Whitewater Rafting and Scuba Diving -- in the Mountains? Yep -- Inside Appalachia [View all]

For many people in Appalachia, the lakes, rivers and creeks are the first places we swam, played in the water or caught crawdads. For many adults, our waterways are some of the best places to get outdoors and cool off in the summer. We have whitewater rafting, swimming, boating and even scuba diving to choose from (yes, scuba diving, you read that right.)

Whitewater

Just about any web search for “best white water rafting” or “most dangerous white water rafting” includes West Virginia. Around 150,000 people commercially raft a West Virginia river each year -- most on the New and Gauley rivers, which go through Fayetteville, West Virginia.

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What’s In A Name -- The New River

Some people claim the New River is more than a billion years old. But it turns out, that is not true. According to Steve Kite, geologist with West Virginia University, there are rocks in the New River drainage that are a billion years old, but that does not mean the river is a billion years old. Geologists just do not know exactly how old the river is. Kite says it could be as old as 320 million years old, or it could be 3 million years old.

Read more: https://www.wvpublic.org/post/paddleboats-whitewater-rafting-and-scuba-diving-mountains-yep-inside-appalachia