A sunny day spent paddling Carvin’s Cove. In case you all haven’t noticed, the water is low. REALLY low. It changes the geography of the cove dramatically, but it also provides opportunity for new exploration.

A jumbled pile of vines transformed into works of art! Working with Maya Ittah from TerraVie Wellness, LLC, our girls created beautiful handmade baskets using ONLY kudzu vines.

Intro to SUPing and Macroinvertebrate Exploration. Did you know that you can measure how clean the water is by checking out the little water bugs that live in there?

We finished our West End Center For Youth Summer Camp week at Roaring Run, and it’s always a crowd pleaser. We hike out to some waterfalls that make fantastic natural waterslides.

Summer SUPing with our West End Center For Youth girls. Some of these girls have been paddling with us for the past FOUR YEARS, and they have become very comfortable on their boards and in the water.

We took the first day on the water with the West End Center for Youth slow and easy with tubing on the James River.

First day of Wild Way Summer Camp for our West End Center For Youth girls! It was calling for rainy, chilly weather so we kicked it off with yoga taught by our Adventure Coordinator Laura at Uttara Yoga Studio.

Intro to SUP with the girls from The Community Youth Program (CYP)! “This is scary!” We hear that a lot. And we like to hear it…not because we want to scare little girls, but because it means they are being BRAVE and pushing themselves.

The Wild Way and Roanoke Star Cycling took a group of girls out to Carvin's Cove for an Introduction to Mountain Biking day. RSC is our local youth mountain biking team, and their coaches know exactly how to get girls up and feeling comfortable on the trails.

Earlier this week, we took a group of Afghan girls from Commonwealth Catholic Charities out for an Introduction to Paddleboarding. These girls were absolutely thrilled that they had the opportunity to swim in the river and paddle a SUP.

Yesterday, we took our West End Center For Youth, Inc. girls to Spring Valley Farm for a horseback trail ride.

If you hang with The Wild Way this summer, you will meet our Field Intern Emily Cook. Emily is AWESOME. She is an outdoor enthusiast who loves to climb, paddle, and explore.

We had the incredibly good fortune to run into The Roanoke Times reporter Jeff Reid at Smith Mountain Lake on the first day of Paddleboard Camp last week.

Last day of Paddleboard Camp, and it’s always bittersweet. These girls learned SO much this week.

Springwood to Buchanan on the James River. Blue skies, clear water, and good vibes with our SUP crew, who has really gotten the hang of navigating the river.

A beautiful day to be outside. This was the girls’ first day on the river and going through rapids. Yes, there were nerves in the morning, but we all took some deep breaths and worked through it.

Today was day one of our first week-long Paddleboard Camp of the season, and we have some very exciting news. We are honored to be an HDR Foundation grant recipient!

Is there anyone who isn’t in love with alpacas? We visited Teaberry Alpaca Farms and learned all about what’s involved in caring for these cuddly creatures.

Yesterday, we visited Lark and Sky Farms, a women-owned and operated 💐 FLOWER 🌺 farm! Owner Laura Stump talked to the girls about day-to-day life as a farmer, which involves everything from manual labor to biology to business skills.

Summer is here, and it’s PADDLEBOARD SEASON! We hit up Smith Mountain Lake for a relaxed “Intro to SUP” day.