Charlottesville/Southern Shenandoah PATC Hikes & Trail Care

The ORIGINAL hiking group in Central Virginia, and still the best! The Charlottesville Chapter and the Southern Shenandoah Valley Chapter of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club are the oldest trail maintenance and hiking organizations in the Charlottesville area and the Valley, helping and hiking trails since 1985-86! (Way before Meetup.) Our members are avid hikers who love the trails so much we recognize the vital need to maintain them for all to enjoy.  Hike leaders include folks who have thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, all of the trails in Shenandoah National Park, and across the planet many foreign countries.  Our Chapter’s leaders have combined over 350 years of hiking and 100 years of hike leader experience. The PATC uses only certified hike leaders.

We have a lot of fun exploring local trails, but trail building and maintenance is the centerpiece of the PATC's mission.  The PATC maintains 240 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Rockfish Gap at the south end of Shenandoah National Park to Pine Grove Furnace in Pennsylvania and over 1000 miles of other trails in the Mid-Atlantic Region.  The effort requires the contributions of hundreds of volunteers, who serve as trail maintainers, trail crew members, land management specialists, and in many other capacities.  PATC volunteers log tens of thousands of service hours every year, in their efforts to keep hiking trails safe, sustainable, and accessible.  The vast majority of the trails you hike are maintained by volunteers, not paid federal employees.

You do not need to be a PATC member to hike with us or do trail maintenance, though we hope that you will consider joining the club.  Your dues contribute to purchasing equipment used to maintain trails, acquiring land for parking areas and buffers along the Appalachian Trail, and building/maintaining trail shelters and cabins. And membership entitles you to rent one of PATC’s 45+ cabins in the region.

So don't just HIKE the trails, HELP the trails!   Come join us for some fun!
Members must have a profile picture of yourself to join the group.