Hike Schedule
Upcoming Events
An additional email blast will be sent out as a reminder the week of each event.
Sunday, October 11: Appalachian Trail. This will be an out-and-back hike along the AT south from Rockfish Gap. We will hike 5 miles to the Paul Wolfe Shelter on Mill Creek, have lunch on the shelter's porch or down by the creek then head back (10 miles total). There is a 400-foot descent down to the shelter and another 200-foot dip near the Gap, so just about 1,000 feet of elevation change. Contact hike leader John Kolp (JLKolp@yahoo.com or 540-887-1235) to register and final details.
Wednesday, October 14: Love Gap Fire Road Access trail. This hike is easy and 3 1/2 miles total. Attendance is limited to 6 hikers. Call or email for the details: Karen and Mike Waterman, home: 540-337-1273, email: karenswaterman@gmail.com.
Saturday, October 17: Dowell’s Draft Trail. 7.5 miles. Elevation change - 1,200'. From Rt. 715 (Braley Pond Rd.), we will take Dowells Draft Rd. about 0.3 mi., passing through the corridor for the now cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Trees were cut and left to lay on the 125'-wide corridor nearly three years ago when pipeline construction seemed almost a certainty, but dense vegetation including berries and a wide variety of native trees have already started to grow back. It's on its way to recovery. After we pass through the clearing, we will take Dowells Draft Trail up a steady gradual incline for 3.1 miles to Wild Oak Trail and will continue northeast on WOT to a scenic overlook using a section of trail reconstructed by the mountain bikers about 7 years ago. The scenic overlook offers a view of Crawford Mountain, Elliott Knob, Shenandoah Mountain south, and the Deerfield Valley. If you look closely, you can see the cleared ACP corridor passing over Chestnut Oak Knob on the flank of Hankey Mountain. We will return by the same route. Contact hike leader: Jean Stephens (jtstephens12@yahoo.com or 443-986-5649) to register and final details.
Sunday, October 25: Whetstone Ridge Trail. This will be an approximately eight mile out-and-back moderate ridge hike. We will turn around before the roller coaster section of the trail begins. Contact hike leader: Jean Fraser (540-490-0195 or by email at jeancfraser2@yahoo.com) to regiser and final details.
Saturday, October 31: Work Trip on Confederate Breastworks Interpretive Site Trails. Charlie Huppuch was the Forest Service official who conceived of the Confederate Breastworks interpretive trail on Shenandoah Mountain where Fort Edward Johnson was located in 1862. The FS built the scenic overlook and rock wall. in 1968, but ran out of funding to build the interpretive trail. After Charlie retired, he obtained funding and recruited volunteers to build the trail in 2001, and he still maintains it today.
This work trip is an opportunity to hear a little about the history of Fort Edward Johnson from Charlie, enjoy the stunning scenery of Highland County, and pitch in to help Charlie clean waterbars, remove blowdowns, dig out some short sections of trail that are creeping down the mountain, and set a new fence post. We will provide tools, hard hats, and safety glasses. Bring your own work gloves, food and water. We will meet at Confederate Breastworks at 10:00 a.m. and end at 2:00 p.m.
Due to Covid, we will limit the group size to 8, and we will break into small work groups. Please bring a mask to wear while we are gathering and getting organized. Contact: Lynn Cameron at slynncameron@gmail.com, (540) 234-6273 if you can help.
Saturday, November 7: Work trip on Club's section of the AT. Contact leader: Jeff Bolander (jblndr@hotmail.com) for details including meeting time and place.
Tuesday, November 18: PATC Annual meeting to be held virtually starting at 7:00 p.m. Be sure to watch your emails for updates from them.
An additional email blast will be sent out as a reminder the week of each event.
Sunday, October 11: Appalachian Trail. This will be an out-and-back hike along the AT south from Rockfish Gap. We will hike 5 miles to the Paul Wolfe Shelter on Mill Creek, have lunch on the shelter's porch or down by the creek then head back (10 miles total). There is a 400-foot descent down to the shelter and another 200-foot dip near the Gap, so just about 1,000 feet of elevation change. Contact hike leader John Kolp (JLKolp@yahoo.com or 540-887-1235) to register and final details.
Wednesday, October 14: Love Gap Fire Road Access trail. This hike is easy and 3 1/2 miles total. Attendance is limited to 6 hikers. Call or email for the details: Karen and Mike Waterman, home: 540-337-1273, email: karenswaterman@gmail.com.
Saturday, October 17: Dowell’s Draft Trail. 7.5 miles. Elevation change - 1,200'. From Rt. 715 (Braley Pond Rd.), we will take Dowells Draft Rd. about 0.3 mi., passing through the corridor for the now cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Trees were cut and left to lay on the 125'-wide corridor nearly three years ago when pipeline construction seemed almost a certainty, but dense vegetation including berries and a wide variety of native trees have already started to grow back. It's on its way to recovery. After we pass through the clearing, we will take Dowells Draft Trail up a steady gradual incline for 3.1 miles to Wild Oak Trail and will continue northeast on WOT to a scenic overlook using a section of trail reconstructed by the mountain bikers about 7 years ago. The scenic overlook offers a view of Crawford Mountain, Elliott Knob, Shenandoah Mountain south, and the Deerfield Valley. If you look closely, you can see the cleared ACP corridor passing over Chestnut Oak Knob on the flank of Hankey Mountain. We will return by the same route. Contact hike leader: Jean Stephens (jtstephens12@yahoo.com or 443-986-5649) to register and final details.
Sunday, October 25: Whetstone Ridge Trail. This will be an approximately eight mile out-and-back moderate ridge hike. We will turn around before the roller coaster section of the trail begins. Contact hike leader: Jean Fraser (540-490-0195 or by email at jeancfraser2@yahoo.com) to regiser and final details.
Saturday, October 31: Work Trip on Confederate Breastworks Interpretive Site Trails. Charlie Huppuch was the Forest Service official who conceived of the Confederate Breastworks interpretive trail on Shenandoah Mountain where Fort Edward Johnson was located in 1862. The FS built the scenic overlook and rock wall. in 1968, but ran out of funding to build the interpretive trail. After Charlie retired, he obtained funding and recruited volunteers to build the trail in 2001, and he still maintains it today.
This work trip is an opportunity to hear a little about the history of Fort Edward Johnson from Charlie, enjoy the stunning scenery of Highland County, and pitch in to help Charlie clean waterbars, remove blowdowns, dig out some short sections of trail that are creeping down the mountain, and set a new fence post. We will provide tools, hard hats, and safety glasses. Bring your own work gloves, food and water. We will meet at Confederate Breastworks at 10:00 a.m. and end at 2:00 p.m.
Due to Covid, we will limit the group size to 8, and we will break into small work groups. Please bring a mask to wear while we are gathering and getting organized. Contact: Lynn Cameron at slynncameron@gmail.com, (540) 234-6273 if you can help.
Saturday, November 7: Work trip on Club's section of the AT. Contact leader: Jeff Bolander (jblndr@hotmail.com) for details including meeting time and place.
Tuesday, November 18: PATC Annual meeting to be held virtually starting at 7:00 p.m. Be sure to watch your emails for updates from them.
