This is a list of "everyone invited" public outings in the Monongahela National Forest, sponsored by the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and cooperating groups. Please contact the listed outing leader directly for more information on participating in an outing. Outings can be canceled due to weather, etc., so be sure to do a last-minute check! This list is updated every few weeks. This version of the list is as of June 11, 2000. You can visit < http://www.wvhighlands.org> for the current list. See the end of this list for lots more information on Mon-Athon 2000, including how you can win fabulous outdoor recreation prizes when you recreate in the Mon! 

Saturday, July 15, 2000 -- "The Peak Experience" -- or, "A Simultaneous Summit Celebration!" -- or, "Hob-nobbing Among the Knobs!" Day Hikes, various locations in the Mon. This outing will be several day excursions -- all on the same day -- on several prominent peaks in the Mon, including the highest point in the Mon, Spruce Knob in Pendleton County. At least one outing will be entirely car-friendly, for mountain lovers who can’t quite hack a hike. We will commune with the wind and sky, picnic, release seeds and flowers, wave flags, blow horns, etc. -- from several different peaks -- all at the same time of day. Mountain lovers in Scotland do this every year from their favorite peaks -- they call them "munros" and ascending a special peak is called "munro-bagging!" Yes, it does sound a little like the Harmonic Convergence, doesn’t it? However, we don’t expect the world to end -- we just plan to change it for the better! Leader/Coordinator: Ruth Blackwell Rogers, Moon Run Farm, Kerens WV 26276, 303-636-2662, ruthbr@wvhighlands.org. If you have a particular knob/peak in mind, and would like to have an outing there, contact Ruth soon!

Saturday, August 5, 2000 -- "How Green Was My Valley" Day Tour and Hike, Germany Valley, Pendleton County. Just South of Seneca Rocks, this National Natural Landmark area is home to two endangered bat species, and is one of West Virginia’s scenic treasures. This tour begins about 11:00 AM and will go to mid-afternoon. Hike several miles (easy pace) over paths and country roads with local residents, experience the fantastic vistas (if you’ve never seen the amazing knife-edge stone ridgetop that frames Germany Valley, Valley, you’ve got a treat coming!), and discuss possible threats to the Valley from expanded quarrying. Picnic lunch. Leader: Rafe Pomerance, 2026 Allen Place NW, Washington, DC 20009 (Rafe, a long-time Conservancy member, has a home in Germany Valley); 202-232-6885 or 304-567-2607; rafelenore@aol.com.

Here’s a note from Marc Levine, a Pittsburgh Conservancy member, written after a recent visit to the Northern Mon.

"We stayed 4 nights in a cabin on the side of a mountain, on the eastern edge of Canaan Valley, catty-corner to the Dolly Sods wilderness area. We hiked into Dolly Sods for four hours -- lovely, divine, invigorating. In pouring rain we visited Blackwater Falls, stopping on the way at an art shop in Davis that advertised organic coffee. Inside there was a card table about saving Blackwater Canyon. The owner told me about Lindy Point and how to get there. In the dogs and cats pouring rain we took Chelsea the dog on the back trails that go down to the Falls. Wet! Then into the car and around to Lindy Point, where we parked and hiked in, not knowing if we were on the right trail or not. We were -- and the Canyon was magnificent, breathtaking. I propose a new religion: the "Mon-Athoneists" -- a unitary faith, embracing the the deer as well as the deer ticks, the poplars and the poison ivy, the eagle and the scorpion." _