cutline: Brittany Bonner & Aaron Cowan

The founders of Buffalo Mountain Adventures all met in 2013 while working with Appleridge Farm. Aaron Cowan and Chris Boyer were high-ropes course instructors, as well as team leaders there.  Brittany Bonner, who lived in Roanoke at the time, visited the facility for an internship that was part of her degree in social work.

Brittany obtained a Master’s of Social Work in 2015, and has been practicing social work since 2011, working mostly as a mental health clinician, as well as in hospital and healthcare settings.  She’s maintained full-time work in that field throughout creating Buffalo Mountain Adventures, and still works full-time in the field to this day!   Though she grew up in Roanoke, she moved to Floyd in 2015 after completing graduate school at Appalachian State University.

Aaron grew up in the D.C. area and moved to Floyd in 2000.  Over the years, he has worked in many different trades, including the restaurant and catering industry, as well as various wood-working crafts. In addition to working at Streamline Timberframe, Aaron worked seasonally as a high-ropes course instructor at Appleridge Farm for around a decade.

As for Chris, he has a degree in Adventure Education from Garrett College in Maryland.  He also through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in his early twenties.  Chris has primarily worked in carpentry, while pursuing part-time work in adventure education as a high-ropes course instructor at Appleridge.  Chris grew up in Maryland, but moved to Floyd nearly twenty years ago to raise his family.

Chris and Aaron were introduced by mutual friends because they both had an interest in rock climbing.  When Chris was offered the position of Lead High Ropes Instructor at Appleridge, he couldn’t think of anyone better to bring onto the team than Aaron.  Working as a team in this capacity deepened their friendship.
Brittany met Aaron and Chris through the experiences shared during her internship, and shortly afterward, Brittany and Aaron began dating.  The friendship between these three carried on, taking them on many outdoor adventures together.
(left: Brittany Bonner & Aaron Cowan)

While on these adventures, they began dreaming of starting a guided outdoor adventure business of their own in Floyd.  Most weekends, they already found themselves taking friends and family out on trips.  They would often lend out gear, provide guidance, and even pack their lunches.  The more they did this, the more they realized there was an unmet need in the area for facilitation and coordination of outdoor excursions. Through personal experience, they understood that embarking on outdoor experiences can feel very daunting, especially for beginners or those traveling in unfamiliar areas.  Outfitting services eliminate hesitation and stress by providing guides, gear rentals, and coordination.

“All three of us were rooted in Floyd as our home,” says Brittany, “and we did not have any plans of leaving!”  Being part of the community, she, Aaron, and Chris frequently heard visitors comment about not having transportation options to visit local wineries and attractions.  No one wants to drive on unknown, back country roads after visiting wineries!

Brittany and Aaron married in the Summer of 2018.  That same Summer, the three friends revisited the idea of creating a business based around exposing others to the joys of spending time in nature.  Wanting to share their idea, the founders approached their friend, Daniel Sowers, of On the Water.  After hearing what they had in mind, he offered to sell them a shuttle bus he’d been using for river trips.  It was with this first step that the idea for Buffalo Mountain Adventures was solidified.

The LLC was created with Brittany as the owner and the team hit the ground running.  The group participated in the C4 class that Fall and won the first ever prize dedicated to “best business pitch”.  The C4 is a Business Development Series that equips local entrepreneurs with a variety of tools and resources to successfully establish and grow their businesses.

In 2019, after purchasing a fleet of standup paddleboards, rock climbing gear, and a second bus, Buffalo Mountain Adventures began offering customized, guided trips.  Though Floyd may not yet be as well known for its outdoor recreation as other surrounding areas, it does offer some quality experiences in various activities, such as paddling, rock climbing, mountain biking, scenic hikes, historical sites, and more.  The BMA trio knew that Floyd was already attracting overnight visitors for the music and art scenes, and they hoped to provide the missing element of outdoor experiences.  Since establishing BMA, Floyd has seen the development of a zipline, a disc golf course, and a skate park located in Dugspur!

For their very first guided trip, they dropped the clients off at the river put-in and Aaron was on his way to drop the vehicle off at the river take-out.  This particular shuttle trip involves crossing train tracks and the train blocked them in.  This was taking up too much time and Aaron wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to get his vehicle down to the take-out in a reasonable amount of time.  They had clients waiting with no car at the bottom yet.  Luckily, because they had run this section of river so many times, Aaron immediately ran into someone he knew, and that person was able to offer the needed shuttle services for when the float was completed!  The trip was a success, and the customers had a great time.  A few of them who live locally ended up purchasing paddleboards of their own from BMA and have done other trips with the company since!

Since then, Brittany, Aaron, and Chris have all received feedback that people really enjoy being able to explore more challenging levels of adventure, such as introductions to whitewater paddling or rock climbing, as they feel safe having trained guides present.  This past year, BMA provided guided hikes and visits to historical sites in Floyd to a father and his son visiting from Scotland!  The hikes were nothing they couldn’t have managed on their own, but it was important to them to have local guides who could share more of the history and stories behind the locations.

BMA provides all the gear necessary for the trips.  They also provide highly trained guides with intimate knowledge of the local areas, as well as meals and transportation.  These trips include everything from river floats, to rock climbing, to caving, to guided hikes, and even guided scenic tours by bus.

While the business is based in Floyd, adventures are facilitated in many of the surrounding areas.  They like to say, “if you can see it from the top of Buffalo Mountain, we can take you there”.

Since its inception, BMA has served a lot of the area’s tourists, but has also provided team-building and corporate retreat trips for local groups and businesses.  They have taken folks on several different types of tours, such as tours of local wineries and other themed tours like Floyd’s historic sites or farms.

During the warmer months, BMA offers monthly ‘pop up’ trips, which are open to the community at a lower price.  They also host annual river clean up days, with the goal of promoting responsible recreation.  Brittany, Aaron, and Chris believe that an appreciation of the Earth must first begin with building a relationship with nature.

Having a brick-and-mortar location was always in the five-year plan for BMA.  The founders dreamed of having a store-front space where they could also sell gear, provide more information about the outdoor recreation in the area, and have climbing walls.

After a few years of operating Buffalo Mountain Adventures out of the home, an opportunity finally presented itself.  They had their eyes on the old Outpost building on 221 as a potential location, and had already contacted the owners, Matt Sebas and Eli Gralla, to let them know they’d be interested.  As fate would have it, Matt and Eli contacted them about availability much sooner than they expected!

At first, they were reluctant to make the commitment.  After all, the business had been closed for two years due to the pandemic.  However, the rent was very reasonable, and the landlords were willing to let BMA operate both businesses out of the same building for the same rent.  It was an offer they couldn’t refuse!  Matt and Eli, who also co-own Omnibuild Construction, have been very supportive Buffalo Mountain Adventures throughout the whole process.

In Spring of 2022, BMA opened a small adventure outfitting store.  The store, located at 4243 Floyd Highway North, sells both new and gently used outdoor gear, equipment, and clothing, as well as provisions for camping.

BMA specializes in their knowledge of whitewater paddleboarding, as well as riding OneWheels, and they carry top-of-the-line gear for both those activities.  They are Southwest Virginia’s only OneWheel dealer and Hala paddleboard distributor.

Brittany also owns and operates Driftwood Catering with her husband, Aaron.  For several years, Driftwood has been preparing meals for private parties and farm dinners with their wood-fired cook trailer, equipped with a wood-fired brick oven and an Argentinian-style wood-fired grill.  When they decided to expand the adventure business, they realized it would make sense to expand the food business as well.  So, they purchased a food truck so they could offer mobile vending on a year-round basis.

The Driftwood food truck parks outside of the BMA adventure store during the week, and travels on the weekends to local festivals and breweries.  Driftwood Catering provides meals for both the adventure trips, as well as full-service catering for weddings, special events, and more.  The businesses are unique in their ability to offer package deals for weddings and group retreats by offering catering, shuttle, and group adventure services.

Plans are in the works to get some indoor climbing walls built in the store space this year.  Ultimately, the business would like to offer workshops from the location, as well as outdoor themed movie nights. The dream is to create a space where families can come and get quality food at a nice outdoor dining space, spend quality time with friends and family, play on the climbing walls, and learn more about nature and outdoor exploration.

Brittany Bonner, Aaron Cowan, and Chris Boyer
Buffalo Mountain Adventures • www.BuffaloMtnAdv.com
540-755-0910 • 4243 Floyd Hwy N, Floyd VA
BuffaloMtnAdv@gmail.com