Potomac Appalachian Trail Club

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Potomac Appalachian Trail Club

• 6,500 member club Founded in 1927
• Builds and maintains 1.000 of trails
• Missions are conservation and recreation

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Headquarters

• Located in downtown Vienna, Virginia
• Purchased in 1990
• Office space, meeting rooms, storage, sales and
  cabin rental desks

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Pine Grove Furnace
Our territory
Rock Fish Gap
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Trail work

• Overseer system
• One overseer per 2-4 miles of trail
• Trail crews
• District crews
• Geographic rovers Cadillac, Acme Treadway
• Seasonal crews
• Massarock 4 per year in GWNF
• Shenandoah 6 per year in SNP
• Mid-Atlantic Requested annually through ATC

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Trail crew construction
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Training in trailwork

• General training conducted by PATC
• Waterbars and check dams
• Rock cribbing
• General trail maintenance
• Specialized training
• Much of it is conducted by our partners
• Chainsaws
• Cross cut saws
• Grip hoist

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PATC trails

• Virginia 62.6
• Pennsylvania 16.5
• Maryland 11.4
• West Virginia 6.8
• DC 2.7

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Cabins

• Begun in 1930 as a place to for trail crews to
  get out of the rain
• Rentals
• Major revenue stream
• 33 cabins today
• Public and private cabins

Gypsy Spring Cabin
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(No Transcript)
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Cabins
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Construction
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Blackburn

• Purchased in 1982
• Expanded and modernized from 1995-2002
• PATCs largest cabin
• Primarily for Club events

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Bears Den

• A new PATC project
• Located on the AT in northern Virginia
• The lodge was acquired by ATC 20 years ago
• PATC assumed management of a major ATC lodge in
  January 2006

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Bears Den
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Shelters

• Three-sided lean-to
• Intended for overnight use for backpackers
• Shelter committee
• PATC has 30 shelters
• Eight on the Tuscarora
• 22 on the AT

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Shelters
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Land

• 42 Tracts
• Acquisition system
• Tract manager system
• Tuscarora trail protection plan

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Land

• Acquired to
• Protect trails
• Cabin lands
• Own 2,200 acres
• Easements 3,000 acres
• Environmental preservation program

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Corridor monitoring

• ATC program
• Volunteers check boundary of Appalachian Trail
  lands for accuracy and encroachments

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Education mission

• One club purpose is
• to educate the public on matters including the
  protection of the Appalachian National Scenic
  Trail, other trails, and related lands and
  resources, proper skills related to the
  construction and maintenance of trails and
  trai-related structures, and camping methods.

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Trail patrol

• Education is its principal mission
• Patrols trails to educate the public and help out
  when needed
• Conducts hike leading, backpacking and
  leave-no-trace training

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Backpacking 101

• Designed for the beginning backpacker
• Classroom and practical application
• Capable of dealing with handicapped hikers

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Hiking

• Large and active committee
• Day hikes
• Weekend and mid-week
• Naturalist hikes
• Canine hikes
• Chapter hikes

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Hiking scenes
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backpacking
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Potomac Heritage Trail

• Urban trail
• South bank of the Potomac River
• 10.5 miles
• Accessible by public transportation
• East trail head is Roosevelt Island

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Scotts Run
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Sugarloaf Trail

• Close to DC
• Premier Maryland trail
• Accessible only by car
• Great views

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Harpers Ferry hiking
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Maryland Heights
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Family program

• Family weekend
• Weekly hikes in the local area
• Dynamic leader, Lauren Lang
• Email at94L_at_netzero.net

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Family weekend
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Annual meeting
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Maps

• A PATC signature
• 19 maps
• Includes maps for AT clubs both north and south
  of the PATC area

Dave Pierce with his measuring wheel
Dave Pierce
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Publications

• Hiking guides 14
• Guide and map sets
• Miscellaneous publications 14
• Sales of non-PATC publications

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Partnerships

• Appalachian Trail Conservancy
• Appalachian Trail Park Office (NPS)
• Shenandoah National Park
• Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority
• Catoctin National Park
• CO Canal National Park
• Many state and local parks and forests

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Appalachian Trail Conservancy
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Shenandoah National Park

• PATC has been working with the Park since the
  1930s
• Over 300 miles of trails in the Park, including
  103 AT miles
• PATC operates six rental cabins for SNP

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Mountaineering

• Founded in the 1930s
• One of the pioneering eastern climbing groups
• Currently over 90 members

Ice climbing
Pioneering rock climber Paul Bradt
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Club structure

• Excom - executive arm Meets monthly
• Council legislative arm Meets monthly
  Committee structure
• Chapters
• Sections

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Excom

• Ten elected officers
• president, 2 vice presidents, treasurer,
  secretary, trails, membership, land, facilities,
  outreach
• Appointed general counsel
• Director of administration

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Council

• All officers (excom members)
• Standing committees 21
• Chapters 5
• Sections 3
• PATC rep to Regional Partnership Committee

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Chapters

• Five geographic chapters
• Established in the 1980s
• North Chapter
• West Chapter
• Northern Shenandoah Valley Chapter
• Southern Shenandoah Valley Chapter
• Charlottesville Chapter

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Southern Shenandoah Valley Chapter

• Based in Harrisonburg
• Active maintainers chapter maintains miles on
  the AT
• Chapter hikes several times a month

Chapter hike on Shenandoah Mountain
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Tuscarora Trail

• 250-mile trail, PATCs longest
• Loops west from Shenandoah NP to Great North
  Mountain and north back to the AT in Pennsylvania
• Planned as an alternate route to the AT
• PATC working to protect the corridor

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History

• Founded in 1927
• Built 240 miles of the AT
• Assumed leadership of ATC for 20 years
• The Avery-MacKaye divide

Avery
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MacKaye and Avery
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On to Maine
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Club founders
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Club founders
Frank Schairer
Ed Garvey