Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on February 3, 2022.

Buffalo Mountain Adventures (BMA) is a woman-owned outfitter business that provides fully-facilitated outdoor activities of all types, including stand-up paddle boarding, hiking, climbing, biking and caving. A storefront Grand Opening is planned at the Outpost Building on Route 221 in late March/early April.

With guides, gear (including a fleet of paddle boards), bus transportation and catered meals provided, adventurers “don’t have to worry about anything but to show up and have a good time,” said business owner Brittany Bonner.

Bonner’s Buffalo Mountain Adventures co-founders, Aaron Cowan and Chris Boyer, have been adventuring together and sharing what they love with others for decades. “I’ve been into board sports for 32 years, snowboarding, paddle boarding and skateboarding,” said Cowan, who was recently employed at Streamline Timberframe Construction.

Boyer, a master carpenter, attended the first outdoor leadership college program in the country at Garrett Community College in Maryland. He also thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine, in 1998.

Bonner met Cowan and Boyer at Apple Ridge Farm in 2013 when the pair were high ropes course instructors and Bonner, a social worker, was an intern for a second chance rehabilitation program, leading a group of first-time drug offenders to experience outdoor teambuilding.

Buffalo Mountain Adventures was incorporated in 2018 after the founders acquired a shuttle bus from On the Water’s Daniel Sowers, a friend who they have a close affiliation with. With the bus, they did some wedding shuttles to and from venues and shuttled festival goers to and from Floydfest and town.

The outdoor adventure trips fell into place soon after with the idea of helping others experience the wonders of the natural world, to encourage them to take advantage of the county’s mountain scenery and explore the wineries, breweries, art studios and live music of Floyd.

“Floyd already has a lot of tourists. People are already coming here for the music and art, and there are so many outdoor activities to do here, but you basically have to be a local to know they are,” Bonner said, adding that they also hope to add survival classes and scenic plant walks to their adventure offerings.

She spoke about the natural progression of turning what they loved into a business. Cowan and Boyer were already taking friends and family on outdoor trips when Bonner joined in. “Every weekend we were showing people the ropes, lending them our gear and packing them sandwiches,” she said.

The business was successful in 2019, but when the pandemic hit in 2020 it brought momentum to a halt. “Our business picked up again at the end of last summer,” Cowan said, “and we signed up to rent the Outpost space (4243 Floyd Hwy N Bay G) in late October.”

Whether lazy river floats or something more challenging, the BMA team knows how to match the best river spots for the best experience.  “We tailor adventures to whatever the groups want, from first timers to the experienced,” said Boyer, adding that their tour guides are all certified in Swift Water Rescue and Wilderness First Aid.

Bonner and Cowan have a second business, Driftwood Catering. They work with local small farms to present farm to table meals. They currently work from an outdoor kitchen set up on the back of a roofed trailer, but plans are in the works for a food truck, which will primarily be parked in front of the storefront.

Along with food truck offerings, the Outpost BMA shop will sell gently used gear and camping and hiking provisions. Plans are to incorporate local brews on tap, adventure movies, two climbing walls and a skate ramp out back, making it a welcoming fun place for groups, families and locals to hang out.

Bonner invites supporters to look for a BMA Crowdfunding campaign that will be promoted on social media to raise money to help make it all happen. Anyone interested in more information can check out the BMA website (buffalomtnadv.com) and sign up for an email list for the latest news, she said.

_________Colleen Redman

Photo 1: Tyler Van Keuren, a Buffalo Mountain Adventures intern from Radford University’s Outdoor Recreation and Leadership program, stands with BMA founders Chris Boyer, Brittany Bonner (owner) and Chris Cowan in front of the new storefront.