Having a Ball
Adventurers flock to waterfront for competition
Morgantown Dominion Post
10 October 2011
It wasn’t that easy to find the 16 three-member teams competing
when Deckers Creek Adventure Day got under way Sunday.
Were they up the Caperton Trail? Down the Monongahela River?
Somewhere on Deckers Creek?
The 5th annual Adventure Day, successor to the annual CarpFest,
was based at Hazel Ruby McQuain Waterfront Park downtown, but
spread out in three directions during the competition.
Bicycles hugged the Caperton Trail. Foot traffic went east, on the
Deckers Creek Trail.
Each team had to get verification from as many of the 19
checkpoints scattered along the Adventure Day course as they could
in three hours.
Along the way, several physical trailblocks appeared in the form
of mini-games for the teams to complete.
Temperatures in the 80s made it a nice day for outdoor
adventuring, testing abilities in foot travel, biking, canoeing,
climbing, orienteering and mystery challenges. There was even a
costume contest.
The team with the most points at the end are grand prize winners.
They earn a rafting trip for three on the Gauley River.
Prizes also went to the top three teams in each of these team
categories: Male, female, co-ed, youth/family and
business/organization.
For those who didn’t want to compete, Friends of Deckers Creek,
the event’s sponsor, hosted live music, handson educational
activities, acid mine drainage tie dyes and face painting.
This event originated as CarpFest, named after the only fish
living in Deckers Creek in the late ’90s. It was a grassroots
gathering with live music, hands-on environmental education
activities, food and good company.
As the stream has rebounded, the name was changed and the race was
added.