Why I Won't Be Coming To Snowshoe

Letter to the Editor
July 31, 2008 Pocahontas Times

Dear Editor:

Why I won't be coming to Snowshoe.

I had been looking forward to returning to Pocahontas County for four years and now that my oldest son is old enough to go skiing, the whole family could return to Snowshoe. My plan was to drive from DC in an SUV I'd bought instead of a minivan for just such trips. I'd even planned on taking my son to do a little fly fishing on the famed Elk River, a place known for its wild trout. Imagine my surprise when I read about my soon to be vacation destination in the pages of Eastern Fly Fishing.

In a two part conservation series titled "West Virginia's Troubled Waters" by Beau Beasley, I was appalled to read about the resort's plant which would pipe raw sewage five miles through Karst topography, without so much as an environmental impact study. If Snowshoe Resort and Pocahontas County are determined to destroy the Elk River with an ill-conceived sewage treatment plant when other, better options are available, I will take my business elsewhere.

Instead, I may travel to Wisp Resort, where resort owners and county officials realize the value of protecting fragile trout streams and where fly angling is a way of drawing business to Garrett County, Maryland, year round. Pennsylvania, is also home to ski resorts which frequently run fly fishing schools in the summer for the same reason.

At any rate, I’m sorry to say, I won't be returning to Snowshoe.

Scott McGuffin
Alexandria VA