Activities and Hikes
Green River Preserve encourages you to learn. The Green River Valley is not just home to legends, to stories, to music, and to joy, but also to copious opportunities to learn and change yourself for the better. It is during mentor hikes and activities that campers can learn new things, explore new avenues of the world, take risks or challenges by choice, and discover things you love that, if you had never been introduced to them, you would never have known you would love them.
It is on mentor hikes and activities that you will learn the difference between the three-needled red pine and the five-needle white pine. You will discover the delicious dimension of sourwood, wild blackberries, wild blueberries, wild cucumber, and so much more. You will learn about mycelium, that fantastic fungal universe that powers the forest with a complex network of communication. You will learn about the snakes on the preserve, the salamanders on the preserve, the fish on the preserve. You will learn about Hemlocks and Chestnuts, Pine and Locusts, Tulip Popplers and Frasier Magnolias. You will learn how to make cordage or small nets in the pioneer cabin, you will learn how to safely and accurately fire arrows in archery, you will learn how to back cast and fight a fish in fly fishing, you will learn what a t-grip is in canoeing, you will learn how to use nature to make art in nature art. There is always so much to learn, so dive in.
It is on mentor hikes and activities that you will explore brand new parts of the world, or explore the world in brand new ways. You will explore caves peppered with cave crickets, with history almost as deep as the caves themselves, and pure darkness. At the climbing tower, you can climb to the very top triumphantly, and then journey to Bear Rock to climb real rock and stone with mighty fingers and toes. During activities you can learn how to mountain bike, and then journey across the preserve while cycling. You can walk slowly at your own pace during an archaeology hike, or at the farm as you go to feed the pigs. You can hike gloriously with difficulty at Lower Bald and the Spire, where your effort is rewarded with amazing views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
It is on mentor hikes and activities that you will take risks and challenges. You will create one-match fires or friction fires, or brace the uncertainty of Uncles Falls to finally become a polar bear. You will challenge yourself when marching through bogs and marshes of Resenovir. You will challenge yourself when climbing Lower Bald, Upper Bald, the Spire, Long Rock, or to get to Bear Rock. You will challenge yourself when finding Grand Slaminals. You will challenge yourself at GRP, and that makes everything so much more rewarding.
You will love new things. You will find out that hiking clears your head, or that mountain biking and climbing give you a sensational thrill. You will learn that pottery is soothing, that drawing and painting is your calling, that orienteering guides you more than north, south, east and west.
At Green River Preserve, hikes and activities help you become your best me at GRP. At Green River Preserve, hikes and activities remind you to seek the joy of being alive.
Story by Noah Gerhardt with photos by Samantha Keebler & Brandon S. Marshall