Fresh Snorkeling

WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA’S RIVERS REVEAL A WORLD OF WONDER, ONE PEEK UNDERWATER AT A TIME

By Lindsey Liles

It may look a touch absurd, donning snorkeling gear to lie on one’s stomach in a shallow mountain stream, face submerged, head swiveling to spy creatures invisible to terrestrial passersby. But the world a river snorkeler becomes privy to makes any absurdity worthwhile: the red flash of saffron shiners, the traffic-cone orange of tangerine darters, the camouflage of mottled sculpins, the pinkish tint of rainbow mussels. Here on the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail—ten unofficial, do-it-yourself sites over ten counties and nine rivers in Western North Carolina—signs detail noteworthy species you might see if you bring a mask or goggles along. “These are places people are coming to swim and float anyway,” points out Luke Etchison, an aquatic biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. He cocreated the trail, which…

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Garden & Gun (Digital) - 1 Issue, June/July 2024

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