Terra Ludis: Play Ground | Meet Kelly McCoy

Access to outdoor recreation is a big issue for many people. Some activities like fly fishing, kayaking, and cycling require a larger investment than others like hiking. Many outdoor outfitters in the high country provide rental so people can enjoy the sports without such a steep price tag. We sat down with Kelly McCoy, owner of River Girl Fishing Co. to talk about how she started her outfitting business.

"Here at River Girl fishing company it started off 11 years ago to teach fly fishing, guide fly fishing, sell fishing licenses and educate about the river. In that 11 years it has turned into a tubing rental company, a kayaking rental company, we do eco-tours where I float with people and we talk about the river the health of the river and how to protect it. We do bicycle rentals for Railroad Grade Road, what else? It has turned into a huge outfitting business, is what it’s turned into because of the need of the community.

And everyone that came in, every two or three people would say, “Can we rent a kayak?” and I was like, “Nope, but I can take you fishing!” Then someone else would say “Hey can we rent some inner tubes?” “Uh, nope but I’ll teach you how to fly fish.” Then somebody comes in, “Hey can we rent bikes for the road?” “No I don’t have any bikes, but I’ve got fishin’ rods.”

So then it was like, OK maybe I should get some kayaks and maybe I should get some tubes. I started the outfitting portion with the Tahoe that’s sitting out front, it’s over in the corner over there, and a five by eight trailer, I bought two tubes, I bought two kayaks, and as I rented those out I bought more, as I rented those out I bought more. So I’ve never taken out any per se loans, to buy the equipment, I’ve bought the equipment as I made money and I just put it back into it, and put it back into it. So slowly over the 11 years we’re now up to having 150 tubes in the back yard, 50 something boats, kayaks, canoes, tandems, kids kayaks. I started the biking program out with used bicycles from friends’ houses but then people would call me from three miles down the road like, “Hey the brakes went out can you come and get me?” So I was like, “OK, maybe I need to get some nice bikes.” I worked with Boone Bike (Initiative), Shaw and Sarah down there and they helped me outfit with a fleet of their bicycles, so now we have brand new bicycles. It really fell into my lap and worked out perfectly. I believe in doing the right thing, doing good karma and everything has come back really nicely.

We try to accommodate anyone that wants to come out and float the river.
The youngest to go down the river is probably six months old, we let babies go down that river, but I make sure the mother is going to hold the baby. The baby is in a life jacket and I make sure that the father, or the other parent is paddling, or steering or in another tube attached, so whoever is holding the baby, that’s your only job is to hold on to the baby. We have a group that comes up from Linville, her names Effy, they’re in their late seventies and eighties and there are six or seven women that come up and go tubing. And I think our oldest came out last year, he was 87 years old and he paddled his own boat. "

#optoutside #outfitters #Highcountry #NewRiver