Shenandoah River snorkelers seek treasures among trash

Wife-&-husband team, Krystin Manweiler and John Hooper (above), trove Shenandoah River for treasures and trash. Facebook photo.

For this Berryville, Va., couple, snorkeling on the Shenandoah River has largely turned from treasure hunting to waterway cleanup.

Married for 12 years, Krystin Manweiler, 37, a croupier (a.k.a. a table games dealer), and U.S. Navy veteran John Hooper, 44, a contractor, are both Open Water Scuba Certified, with Hooper holding the advanced certification.

The Royal Examiner recently caught up with them after discovering their J&K’s River Adventures Facebook page, which includes photos and videos of their dives and finds along the river.

What this husband-and-wife team are doing has already sparked the interest of almost 600 followers, so asking them some questions seemed in order.

Royal Examiner: Why are you collecting trash in the Shenandoah River?

Krystin: We first started looking in the river with the hopes of finding ‘treasure’ dropped from those who canoe, kayak, and tube — like phones, GoPros, or anything of value — but we soon realized that there is a lot of cans, bottles, and other items in the river that should not be there so we started picking up whatever we found. Our mission changed to treasure and trash.

Whatever we see and can recover, we will.

I get asked by people floating by when I’m in the river, “What are you looking for?” and my answer is always, “Whatever I can find. I just want it out of the river.”

Royal Examiner: How ‘trashy’ is the river?

John: It’s really trashy. It’s not that hard to hold on to your trash and take it out with you instead of dropping it in the river.

Krystin: Recently, I have been finding more trash than treasure, and that’s disheartening. While I would really love to find the good stuff, knowing that I’m helping to clean up the stuff that you can’t necessarily see [in] the Shenandoah is satisfying enough.

The worst part is finding the glass bottles. They are such a hazard. I find a lot of broken bottles. There are the few exceptions where you know it was dropped accidentally. We have found quite a few full unopened bottles of Gatorade, beer, and even a can of Mountain Dew.

We have had numerous people thank us for what we are doing. People floating the river, employees of the companies that rent us the tubes, and a lot of people on Facebook commenting on posts that I have done. That makes me feel good about what we are doing. I just wish would could get it all.

Royal Examiner: What’s the most expensive or valuable treasure you’ve found?

Krystin: Phones…. so far. I have found three smartphones; two that did not work and one that I was able to return to the owner as well as their debit card and $16. They were lucky that the phone still worked and they were able to save the important pictures and videos of their kids.

John: I’m not as lucky as Krystin! The best item I have found was a fishing pole and reel. I did help a tuber who dropped his phone find it right away.
Royal Examiner: What’s the most unusual item you’ve recovered?

Krystin: There are some pretty interesting things down there. Some make you wonder what happened. I recently found a small propeller and fishing rod holder, making me think, ‘Did the person run aground on the rocks and tip, losing their items?’

I have also found a flask still full of its contents. What’s inside, I have no idea, but I know it’s strong based on the smell!

Also, old things are really cool — a horseshoe and large piece of what we think is possibly old farm equipment. We both love history, so those items, while having no real value, have historic value to us.

John: The full skeleton of an animal. Most likely a deer, but it was intact and at first freaked me out a little. I’m glad I found it though because Krystin probably would have been done for the day afterwards!

Royal Examiner: What got you interested in undertaking this project?

Krystin: I happened to stumble upon a YouTuber who finds things in the river and tries to return them to their owners. Then I soon found another person and another. I showed them to John and he started watching.

We both thought, “We can do this too! We live by one of the most beautiful rivers in the country that have a lot of people that travel along it, let’s see what we can find!”

Royal Examiner: How do you choose your sites? Where are you going next? May other local residents join you?

Krystin: Well, we have only snorkeled the river so far. We have a few places that we will be exploring.

John: We never know where we may go. Krystin usually plans a couple of days ahead.

We like to use local companies that rent tubes so that 1.) We are registered somewhere, knowing that we are on the river in case something should happen; 2.) to get some sort of tube that we can collect the things we find; and 3.) to support local businesses.

So far, we have used Down River Canoe Company and Front Royal Outdoors. Each has their own entry and exit points, so it gives us a chance to check out different sections of the river.

Krystin: I have had quite a few people who have inquired about joining us, but we never really know when we’ll go out. It’s based on the river levels, clarity of the water, and weather.

Since we are getting near the end of the prime season, I will probably set up an event for next summer for a meet-up, somewhere along the river to do a little treasure hunting and trash cleanup.

Royal Examiner: What months will you be actively searching in the river?

Krystin: I will go until it starts getting cold or the water is too cold. We would love to travel to other spots around the U.S. to continue doing this year round.

Royal Examiner: Anything else you’d like to add about your adventures?

Krystin: All we want is for people to be accountable for their actions and to live by the rule of what you take into the river you bring out. And if you happen to see something you can pick up and throw away, it will go a long way.

Krystin Manweiler supports Shenandoah River cleanup and asks for everyone’s help. Facebook photo.

The Shenandoah River is beautiful, but when you see cans and bottles it skews that beauty.

And below the water is majestic. Seeing a turtle with so much moss growing on its shell that it flows like hair in the current was an amazing experience.

But then seeing a can close by brings you back to reality.