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Kiss the clouds

Hundreds go freefalling at the Idyllic New River Gorge in West Virginia

ONCE A YEAR excitement begins to pulse in the US state of West Virginia. Though it may not be famed for its party life, nor is it the home of any great museum, West Virginia is a place of unspoilt beauty, forests, rivers, golf courses and mountains. But the third Saturday of every October is eagerly awaited as the people of the state celebrate "Bridge Day."

This year, on October 18, hundreds of base jumpers will gather on the bridge across the New River Gorge and drop 300 metres by parachute to the ground below.

After a few seconds of free fall, their parachutes open and the base jumpers glide down to earth where most decide to make their way back up the gorge to jump again. Their goal is to make as many jumps as possible between 9am and 3pm.

Miles Daisher is a base jumper from Idaho. “I want to find out where my limits are,” he says.

Heather Loughlin from Vermont in New England is euphoric when she recalls last year's Bridge Day.

"I went up and down. I kissed the clouds. It was a dream come true. Perfect."

But not all base jumpers are preparing to jump up to 20 times. Larry Lemaster from Ohio has another goal: “We're going to dress up and just have fun,” he says.

Lemaster's attire is perhaps not the most aerodynamic, but it will get him noticed as he intends dressing up as a pink pig when he jumps from the bridge.

Last year, 377 men and women took the plunge. Organisers counted 876 jumps which were watched by an audience of over 150,000 people who preceded every jump with a cry of "Three, two, one, see ya!.”

The number of spectators and participants makes Bridge Day one of the world's biggest events for extreme sports enthusiasts.

Another bonus is Bridge Day's idyllic setting. "The state is especially beautiful in October. The leaves are turning colour but the weather is still warm," says Gayle Manchin, wife of West Virginia's governor.

Around 75 per cent of West Virginia is covered by forest heralding a fantastic, natural spectacle from late September to the end of October when the woodland is a sea of yellow, orange and red.

"The forests and the mountains are the two things that everyone who has never been here knows about West Virginia," says the state's First Lady.

That fame is due in part to the song ‘Take me Home, Country Roads’ by John Denver in which he sings the praises of the state's lonely highways, the Blue Ridge mountains and the Shenandoah River that winds its way through the state.

"And all that without ever having been here before he first sang the song."

West Virginia is a place for lovers of outdoor activities such as trekking, golfing or fishing. The New River is also popular with people seeking a little bit more excitement.

The river has a beautiful 23-kilometre-long stretch that rafters use to negotiate a 100-metre fall in altitude.

In one section, they swoosh down a 300-metre-deep sandstone gorge that locals call the Grand Canyon of the East Coast.

It's also a place that has no shortage of history. "West Virginia is the only state that was founded during the American Civil War," says Manchin.

West Virginian town Lewisburg is home to a beautiful and secretive underground store of treasures.

There are at least 1,500 caves to the east of the town and at the "Lost World Caverns," you can visit the "Snowy Chandelier" 40 metres below the earth's surface.

Over the centuries, the 30-tonne, snow-white stalactite formed into a shape resembling a chandelier.

The almost 10-metre-high "War Club" stalagmite came to fame thanks to a man named Bob Addis who spent 16 days sitting on it.

The stalagmite was not damaged in the process but it meant that Addis' name finally entered the Guinness Book of Records.