by Wanda Shirk, President, KTA Board of Directors
The Tuscarora Trail extends about 250 miles from central Pennsylvania south through Maryland and West Virginia and deep into Virginia, connecting with the Appalachian Trail (AT) at both its northern and southern terminus. The trail was developed around 1960, before the AT corridor got National Scenic Trail protection from Congress. At the time, there was fear that private landowners might block the AT route, so the Tuscarora Trail was planned on a western path as an alternate. After the AT got federal protection, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) and KTA took responsibility for keeping the Tuscarora Trail open.
About 37%—93.3 of its 250 miles—of the Tuscarora Trail lies in Pennsylvania. Some of the ridgetop sections are long distances from intersecting roads, and we all know what that means. Maintainers start in from one end, get a few miles done on a 10-mile stretch, and then have to hike out again before dark. Another time, they start in from the other end of that 10-mile stretch and do the same. The 3 miles on each end get maintained, but the middle 4 miles often suffer almost unavoidable neglect because of difficult access.
Over the past 2 years, KTA received multiple requests for trail maintenance in a couple of difficult-to-access sections on the Tuscarora Trail. The September 2015 Trail Care Weekend was scheduled to address the problems. Pete Brown from PATC was invaluable in coordinating the work details, especially in getting gate keys and knowing the best ways to access remote sections of trail. KTA leaders made special preview hikes to check out trail conditions, including KTA Vice President Paul Shaw and KTA Trails Chairman Ed Lawrence backpacking the trail up from the south and KTA Board President Wanda Shirk backpacking the trail down from the northeast. There were 15 volunteers coming to the rescue on a Trail Care Weekend that was extended to include a hard day’s work on Friday.
Conveniently for hikers, the Tuscarora Trail passes through 2 state parks: Colonel Denning in the trail’s northeastern third and Cowans Gap in the southwestern third. The trail guide and maps divide the trail into 9 sections in Pennsylvania, ranging in length from 8 to nearly 15 miles, based on road intersections. The KTA volunteer crew stayed at the group camping area at Cowans Gap State Park, where the showers and picnic areas are primo. (Colonel Denning State Park is slated to get a shower house next year, budget permitting.)
On Friday, a crew of 9 tackled the central part of Tuscarora Trail, section 2, where both the trail corridor and the treadway for a couple of miles had pretty much disappeared. The trail had become a find-the-hidden-blazes maze. Tom Bastian led the way with a chainsaw, locating blazes and opening up some of the corridor, with Ray, Wanda, Jenn, Donna, Ed, and Deb following with loppers and widening the pathway. Now, no hiker needs to fear losing his or her way through section 2. Pete and Bob, meanwhile, did some brushcutting elsewhere and cleared a large blowdown at the intersection of the Tuscarora and Lehman Trails at Colonel Denning State Park.
Joe and Betty, Elena, Ben, Andrew, and Alex joined the crew on Saturday, and everyone climbed the aptly name Hell’s Hill Trail for a mile to get a ridgetop in the center of section 8, south of Cowans Gap State Park, where briars and brush were closing in the trail corridor. From the Hell’s Hill Trail–Tuscarora Trail intersection, half of the crew headed south with brushcutters, loppers, and paint, and the other half headed north. The brushcutter teams cut 3 feet on each side of the trail, and now that section has a corridor at least 6 feet wide for a couple miles in that difficult-to-access middle stretch of section 8. A lot of important blazing was added to the trail as well.
Sunday’s work cleared the ridgetop between Cowans Gap State Park and the Geyer Trail, the northern part of section 7.
One of the interesting finds during Friday’s work in section 2 was a long-abandoned trail register that had fallen from a tree and was lying empty and dejected along the trail, a symbol of desertion, a cry for help! Help arrived—it was KTA to the rescue!
PATC deserves tons of credit for the great job it does maintaining about 300 miles of the AT as its first priority, along with 700 miles of additional trails, including the Tuscarora. PATC also maintains 28 cabins and 33 open shelters for hikers and backpackers. It’s a formidable task and responsibility, and KTA is glad to pitch in when the workforce is stretched beyond its limits. A huge thanks to all the PATC and KTA volunteers!
And as for me, having hiked 66.6 miles of the Tuscarora Trail in August, I can hardly wait to hike the other 26.7 miles sometime this fall, especially that section 8 ridgetop stretch with the new 6-foot-wide, brush-free corridor. It’ll never be better or more beautiful than when the leaves turn this autumn. Happy trails!
View all of the pictures on Facebook (top photo courtesy Jenn Ulmer)