Andrew Sporrer

Hey! I'm Andrew, the PR and Marketing contact for the eastern region state parks. 

I grew up in rural western Pennsylvania and spent a lot of time outside eating indigenous birds and learning different ways to make fire. I was fortunate to be introduced to backpacking early on and never really could shake it. I went to Virginia Tech and fell in love with Southwest Virginia, and in a way, it felt like coming home. Years later, when I learned that my momma's family could trace their roots back to the McCoys, my life made a little more sense. 

After Tech, I decided to continue my education and spent another two years at Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA close to where my folks live. I worked for The North Face while completing school. There, I really let my love of gear and the outdoors take the reins, and when I graduated ready to teach high school English, The North Face offered me a job in Seattle, Washington. I decided to take a chance and lived three wonderful years there exploring the Cascades and the Olympics. Eventually, the distance from my family became too much and Appalachia beckoned. 

I was fortunate to get a job as a field guide for a wilderness therapy organization in Midlothian upon relocating and spent a year refining my skills and sharing them with others before landing at the Department of Conservation and Recreation. I come from a long line of story tellers, so I'm very excited to be here sharing Virginia State Parks' with you. Keep up with my extracurricular work covering all things backpacking at Carryology or follow along on Instagram at Ace-Outside.