Woman riding ACP route on horseback
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ELKINS -- A Virginia woman who is riding the 600-mile route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline construction on horseback as a peaceful protest recently passed through Randolph County on her way south.
Sarah Murphy started her ride in Staunton, Virginia, on Sept. 26, heading north into West Virginia.
"I've had organizations assist me but I'm doing this on my own," she told The Inter-Mountain by phone. "I came up through Elkins and got supplies on the way up, and now I'm heading back down on our way back to Virginia."
Murphy is opposed for environmental reasons to Dominion Energy's building the natural gas pipeline, which is planned to run from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina.
She said she has been "actively involved in FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) hearings for about a year and a half," but decided the best way she could make her voice heard was by tracing the route herself.
Murphy isn't traveling by herself. She's riding her 24-year-old horse Rob Roy, who has belonged to her family for 18 years.
"Rob Roy is a really great ice breaker," she said. "People who work on the pipeline or are in favor of it may not like what I'm doing, but they love to see Rob Roy, and they speak with me and we can talk like real people and have a real conversation, a real experience."
Communication is the point of the ride, Murphy said.
"I'm trying to be objective," she noted. "I've talked with Dominion employees, listening to their side. When my horse got stuck in the mud for two hours they helped us."
That incident happened at Kincheloe, near Jane Lew in Harrison County. On her blog, acponhorseback.tumbler.com, Murphy wrote, "Really rough day today. We were told we did not have access to the right of way and Rob Roy slipped onto it and got stuck in hip high mud for almost two hours. It was touch and go, and Dominion employees almost had to backhoe him out when he gave his final push, sliding down the mud and freeing himself. He has minimal scrapes and is recovering with a warm bath and blanket, stall and hay for the night.
"Dominion has issued a trespassing charge as he slid onto the right of way," she wrote. "This is a hard story to share, it was terrifying and I wanted to cry in parts; whispering into his neck 'we are a team and we are doing this together.'"
Murphy said she has been impressed with the West Virginians she's met on her ride.
"The tight-knit community that West Virginia has is really admirable," she said by phone. "I've met a lot of really amazing people and it kind of restores your faith in humanity."
Among those helping her out on her way have been Randolph County resident Jane Birdsong and Upshur County resident April Keating, and Murphy said she's stayed at the homes of many people throughout the state, including former Randolph County sheriff Paul "Slugger" Brady. She and Rob Roy have camped out on nights when they aren't put up by locals.
"Jane Birdsong has been such a big help, she hiked with me for four hours looking for my cellphone," Murphy said, noting that she recently lost her phone on the trip and hasn't found it.
Murphy and Rob Roy are leaving West Virginia and plan to be back home in Afton, Virginia, by Christmas. In the new year, Murphy plans to continue the horseback ride into North Carolina.