SLATYFORK, W.Va. — A hot shower, a warm bed, and dry clothes were an enticing lure for Matt Kearns and Adam Swisher. The two adventurers found those luxuries at the Elk River Inn after completing the first leg of what they are calling their “Elkspedition.” The two friends are on a quest to traverse the entire Elk River from where it springs forth in the high mountains of Pocahontas County to where it empties into the Kanawha River in Charleston.
The two were dropped off at the Tea Creek Campground near the Scenic Highway and began their quest to the highest headwaters last week.
“We spent the night on Gauley Mountain and then hiked down Laurel Run,” said Kearns on Saturday’s Nothside Automotive West Virginia Outdoors. “There was no trail so there was a lot of stinging nettle and it was really slippery with moss covered rocks. I don’t think people go up there very often. We didn’t see any sign of people, but we saw a lot of bear sign.”
Kearns is a Charleston native who’s traveled to all 50 states and came up with the idea as a way to promote one of his passionate causes, the proposed Birthplace of Rivers National Monument. A group is working to win the federal distinction for the headwaters of the Elk and five other West Virginia waterways.
“The interesting thing is we’re not trying to change a thing. Every 15 to 20 years the National Forest has to revise its management plan. We’re actually trying to preserve the current management plan forever,” said Kearns. “Hunting, fishing, recreation and camping all of that would continue but it would be locked down in the face of increasing pressure from industrial development and increasing restrictions to have a place we can always go to and celebrate.”
The duo hiked Laurel Run to where it merged with the Elk at Slatyfork. The planned called for biking the next leg of the journey through the Elk River Dries to Webster Springs.
“We were hoping to boat the whole thing, but those two weeks in April where it was super dry the river levels dropped,” he said. “Even with all this rain we’ve had they haven’t come back to where we need it to be to paddle all the way to Slatyfork.”
Once at Webster Springs, they’ll command a whitewater canoe for the rest of the trip.
“There’s a good bit of white water, class II and class III below Webster Springs then we hit the backwaters of Sutton Lake,” he said. “The lake is 14 miles and then we portage around the dam to Sutton. That’s probably 35 river miles to cover.”
They’ll pick up the journey from there on calmer waters or the last 100 miles from the dam to Charleston. Along the way, they’re throwing a line or two into the water.
“I’ve got a little spinning rod which is collapsible and back packing style and I’ve done a little trout fishing in the head waters,” Kearns said. “When we get below Sutton we’re hoping to tie into a muskie or two.”
The journey will end on Memorial Day if all goes according to plan. A picnic to welcome them to Charleston will be held at Coonskin Park near Mink Shoals put on by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition. After the picnic, the pair will finish the last five miles of the journey to the Kanawha River.
Kearns looks at the trip as a recreational endeavor, but also with a touch of state pride. He says in all aspects, the Elk River is West Virginia’s river.
“It starts high in our beautiful mountains with native brook trout and whitewater,” he explained. “As the state levels out you get into more smallmouth and muskie fishing and passes a lot of farms and pastures and it ends at our state capital. I think it’s interesting how the Elk highlights a little bit about everything in West Virginia.”