In the summer of 1851, a western Virginia innkeeper told five of his gentlemen guests that, "if you can only reach the falls of the Blackwater, you can take more trout in an hour than you ever took before in all your lives." The travelers answered the challenge, and hiked into the rugged and remote valley. This first-person account of their adventure brims with joy, humor, and the majesty of the unspoiled American wilderness.