St. Mary's Backpacking Maintenance Weekend - May 15th to 17th, 2026

# St. Mary's Backpacking Maintenance Weekend - May 15th to 17th, 2026

Online Sign-Up: [https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F45A5AE29A1F5C61-61731522-stmarys](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F45A5AE29A1F5C61-61731522-stmarys&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw2i0Qg4fzsYprhzOBvXXBkO)

Starts and finishes at the St. Mary's Falls Trailhead.
Limited to 10 Participants (if we get more than 10, we may try to find a 2nd leader and send two groups).
Are you wanting to get out on the trail, but are not confident you are ready to tackle the elevation and length of the Three Ridges - Mar-Har Trail loop as a weekend backpacking trip? Or maybe you have been to a beginning backpacking trip and are looking for a trip within your comfort zone? Do you want to get some additional trail maintenance time (use those skills you learned at our maintenance skill training weekend)? Or maybe you are just looking for a good excuse to get out on the trail before the heat of summer hits?
Well, then you might consider joining us while we go into the St. Mary's Wilderness. We'll be meeting Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm at the St. Mary's Falls Trailhead and walking about 3 miles (with one roughly 400 ft of elevation change). There are, however, 3 or 4 stream crossings (so bring a pair of shoes or sandals to wear while crossing!). We will be camping near the St. Mary's River Trail on Friday night. We will have access to river/creek water but not a privy (so plan on cat holes or packing out). This trip is for folks who have done at least one or two backpacking trips and is not appropriate for people with no experience. Also, if you cannot make it to the trailhead by 3:30 pm on Friday and are an experienced backpacker, you could come whenever you wanted on Friday but would need to plan on hiking it solo.
On Saturday, you will have two options -

1. The primary option is doing trail maintenance on the St. Mary's River Trail. We'll provide the tools, but you will need to help carry them in! This section of trail is too far from Sherando for us to get to during the Spring/Fall Maintenance weekends, so we're going to tackle it as the focus of this trip. We'll be covering about 2.5 miles of mostly flat trail between the base of the hill that goes up to Green Pond back to top of the hill we climbed to get to our campsite. If time and the group size allows, we may start working our way up the Mine Bank Trail or working on our way up to Green Pond (but that depends on what we need to do on the St. Mary's Trail and what got done during Spring Maintenance).
2. The other option (which is also somewhat dependent on what has occurred during Spring Maintenance), is doing a loop hike that you won't need to carry your backpack on, as you can leave your tent and gear where we camped on Friday night, and hike the loop that includes the Mine Bank Trail, the Bald Mountain Trail, walk along the Jeep Road until it meets the St. Mary's Falls trail at Green Pond and then complete the loop back to our campsite. This will be primarily just a walk-thru, taking note of where we need to do work during Fall Maintenance weekend, but you should plan on carrying tools to do some minor maintenance if you come across something. This is about a 10.5-mile loop with about 2100 feet of elevation change (it's rated as "hard" in AllTrails). It's a strenuous hike, but it will be with a daypack, not a full backpack.
   When we get up on Sunday morning, we'll head back to our cars with an optional detour to see the St. Mary's Falls (an extra 1.5 miles).