Tuscarora Trail offers Tri-State social distancing option to Appalachian Trail

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Hikers who believe that the Appalachian Trail is too crowded for social distancing have a 250-mile alternative in the Tri-State area that is considerably less traveled.

The Tuscarora Trail, which goes through part of Washington County, Fulton and Franklin counties in Pennsylvania and Morgan, Berkeley and Hampshire counties in eastern West Virginia, is hiked — end to end — by perhaps up to a dozen people per year, said John Stacy, supervisor of trails for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC).

By comparison, the 2,100-plus-mile Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia was completed by more than 1,100 through-hikers in 2018 alone, according to Appalachian Trail Conversancy figures.

Though more people hike at least a portion of both trails on a daily basis, the Tuscarora Trail has remained significantly less visible than what is affectionately known as the A.T., according to Stacy, who also serves as a Tuscarora Trail district manager.

Formed in 1927, the PATC was the first of now more than 30 clubs that work to preserve the Appalachian Trail and its side trails, including the Tuscarora Trail. The latter was established in the 1960s as an alternative route for the Appalachian Trail in response to development pressure in Northern Virginia.

The Tuscarora Trail, which connects with the Appalachian Trail near Harrisburg, Pa., and near Mathews Arm Campground in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, is good for more experienced hikers, Stacy said.

With the exception of some segments, the Tuscarora Trail is more remote and rugged than the Appalachian Trail, Stacy said, and the surface of the side trail is less smooth and flat.

One of the exceptions is nearly 8 miles in Washington County that follow the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath between Hancock and Licking Creek. The trail then turns north through the small community of Pecktonville, past Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area and into Franklin County, Pa.

Going south from Hancock, the Potomac River bridge for U.S. 522 provides an important connection for the trail, Stacy said.

After crossing the bridge, the trail follows River Road in Morgan County and primarily borders and crosses private land before entering the Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area, West Virginia’s largest WMA. There, the trail takes hikers to Devil’s Nose overlook and Sleepy Creek Lake before reaching High Rock and Shockey’s Knob near the West Virginia/Virginia state line.

In Pennsylvania, the trail passes through Cowans Gap State Park and Buchanan and Tuscarora state forests. Stacy said hikers get “tremendous” views east and west at Big Mountain, the high point of the Tuscarora Mountain ridge along the Fulton/Franklin county line.

While maps are available for purchase, the last of more than 200 new directional signs to help guide hikers along the entire route of the trail was installed last fall, according to Stacy and the PATC.

Funding for the signs and the launch of a website — hikethetuscarora.org — to help raise awareness of the trail were made possible through a grant from Kent, Wash.-based Recreational Equipment Inc.

The PATC also offers a free patch and “rockers” — add-on patches — to recognize those who successfully complete the sections of the trail in each state, if not all 250 miles, in cooperation with the outdoor recreation retailer, Stacy said.

For more information about PATC activities and volunteering opportunities, go to www.patc.net.

The trail’s blue painted markers, also known as blazes, reflect the trail’s history and connection to the Appalachian Trail, which is marked with white blazes. Side trails of the world’s longest hiking-only trail typically have been marked with blue blazes.

The portions of the trail in West Virginia and Virginia initially were known as the Big Blue Trail, and the sections in Maryland and Pennsylvania already were known as the Tuscarora Trail when the name was adopted for the entire route more than 20 years ago, according to the PATC.

Headquartered in Vienna, Va., the PATC maintains a 240-mile section of the Appalachian Trail from Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park to Pine Grove Furnace, Pa., and more than 800 miles of other trails, but also has an ongoing need for volunteers to help maintain the pathways, including sections in the Tuscarora Trail in the Tri-State area.

“We can always use more volunteers,” Stacy said.