Allegheny Trail?

[kushtakaa]

Wife & I flip-flop thru'd in '15 (Those Flippin' Milanders).

We passed the "start?" of the Allegheny Trail in Central/Southern VA.

I remember looking up that poorly-kept trail and thinking...possibility?

Has anyone here hiked it? Just wondering. It's only about 300 miles...might be a nice 1-2 month trip. Like I stated earlier...looks like it is definitely not maintained like the AT. That doesn't really matter.

Feedback?

[Cookerhiker]

I've hiked about half of it - 145 miles in 3 section hikes. Originally I had planned a thruhike but a mishap occurred on the first day causing cancellation.

My info is dated but your observation is correct in that the ALT is certainly not as well-maintained or supported as the AT. I have said for years that planning and hiking a trek on the ALT is like hiking the AT in the 50s or 60s - there's just not a lot of infrastructure although in this day and age, the internet makes research easier. I actually enjoyed the challenge of finding resupply sources and places to stay. Two of my hikes occurred in spring, the other one - the longest - occurred in October. If you read my journal below, you'll see that we experienced gorgeous fall colors in October.

One striking observation is that while the ALT is parallel to the Blue Ridge Mountains (upon which the AT traverses), the ALT's climate is colder - something about lake effects from the Great Lakes. Hence the appearance of sugar maples (WV's state tree) and birches. The ALT's highest point - Shavers Mountain at 4,430' - is roughly the same latitude as Hawksbill, the highest point in Shenandoah NP @ 4,100'. Yet, Shavers Mountain is covered with red spruce trees for much of its length, indicative of a more northerly climate.

I will also say that some of the road walking that I faced in 2010-12 has been replaced with trail in the woods but there's still road walking, particularly in the northern part where most of the corridor is on private land.

There are several ALT thruhikers that I can think of. Blissful and Handlebar - both WBers - hiked it more recently than I did. Handlebar used a spreadsheet that I furnished him from my 2010 planning. Skeeter also hiked it, but a long time ago.

My suggestion is to start with my link and then navigate to other trail journals on trailjournals.com to read more recent accounts. Good luck!

https://www.trailjournals.com/journal/10571

[Cookerhiker]

Here's the official website. I noticed that the guidebook has been updated as of 2019 - that's good news! By joining the WVSTA, you'll have full access to the website resources and e-mail contacts to answer your questions.

https://www.wvscenictrails.org/allegheny-trail-info

[kushtakaa]

Here's the official website. I noticed that the guidebook has been updated as of 2019 - that's good news! By joining the WVSTA, you'll have full access to the website resources and e-mail contacts to answer your questions.

https://www.wvscenictrails.org/allegheny-trail-info

Thanks so much for the info...Cooker! :-) I've stewed (sorry ;-)) about this trail since our AT hike...and have been thinking about something to do in the spring for a few months...something away from the masses. Not sure if this is going to be it...but I need to do something in the spring. I like the fact that the Allegheny Trail is "seldom hiked". Not worried about it not being well maintained. Just looking for something that I can go and lose myself in for a few months.

Thank you for pointing me toward good info. Peace, and may your '22 be (for you) the best evah!.

Maurice

[NJH]

I have walked pieces of it but it has been awhile. I felt it was fairly easy to lose the trail in some parts. I noticed it was recently added to FarOut (Guthooks) so that should make it easier to keep on track. Would love to read a trail report if you hike it.

[somers515]

Seems like it could be a good trail to use to explore the Monongahela National Forest . . any advice on the best trail map for this forest/section of the Allegheny trail?

[Cookerhiker]

Seems like it could be a good trail to use to explore the Monongahela National Forest . . any advice on the best trail map for this forest/section of the Allegheny trail?

The Monongahela National Forest has some decent maps for specific areas of the Forest like Otter Creek Wilderness, Dolly Sods, Senecca Rocks, and Cranberry Glades. I don't know if there's a comprehensive map of the entire forest. Checking the Nat. Geographic Trails Illustrated website, i didn't see one covering the entire Mon.

USFS website is a start

[Alligator]

Seems like it could be a good trail to use to explore the Monongahela National Forest . . any advice on the best trail map for this forest/section of the Allegheny trail?

Monongahela National Forest Hiking Guide and a WV Gazetteer might both be useful but I haven't seen the specific Allegheny Trail guidebook mentioned above. I have an older version (7th edition) of the NF hiking guide and the maps are printed in the book, which I think they still do. I never liked that personally, the book itself takes some getting used to.

You can access the quad maps too. Go to the Maps and Publications page, than scroll down to USGS and click on Topoview. I zoomed in and then clicked on the 24k circle which I think is the correct map scale for quads. Lots of other maps there too, with a date slider. They can be downloaded in multiple formats, pretty cool!

[somers515]

Thank you Cookerhiker and Alligator! I think I need to get better at either using caltopo, gaia or the USGS quads. I really like my one White Mountains National Forest map that covers the whole forest for trip planning and I was hoping the Monongahela National Forest had something similar.

I eventually found this after digging around but I don't know how it looks inside: Product | USGS Store

I did find the more specific maps that Cookerhiker pointed out. The ones on the USFS site, purple lizard maps and WV Highlands Conservancy all looked pretty good. Again thank you both.

For those looking to do the Allegheny Trail specifically I did notice that it was on guthooks/far out.

[Alligator]

Thank you Cookerhiker and Alligator! I think I need to get better at either using caltopo, gaia or the USGS quads. I really like my one White Mountains National Forest map that covers the whole forest for trip planning and I was hoping the Monongahela National Forest had something similar.

I eventually found this after digging around but I don't know how it looks inside: Product | USGS Store

I did find the more specific maps that Cookerhiker pointed out. The ones on the USFS site, purple lizard maps and WV Highlands Conservancy all looked pretty good. Again thank you both.

For those looking to do the Allegheny Trail specifically I did notice that it was on guthooks/far out.

Ah shoot I forgot I had one of those haven't seen it in ages! It's two-sided and enormous haha. The scale is 1:126,720, (1inch=2 miles) which makes it more of a "small scale" map, (shows a wider amount of terrain). It would get you around the forest but may not be quite the scale you'd like for hiking. It's probably around the same scale as the Gazetteer. I'm thinking the folding map is a little larger scale--blown up more--than the Gazetteer. Note also the map was published in 2007. Always a good idea to check map data sources. I'm not familiar with timelines for routing of the Allegheny Trail. I wouldn't worry so much though about movement of base trails on a national forest however. They might be overgrown but usually still there.

[Cookerhiker]

I'm surprised that National Geographic hasn't published a Trails Illustrated map of the entire Monangahela NF. They seem to have every other mountain area around the country covered.

[somers515]

Thank you for that additional information Alligator. The White Mountains map that I like for trip planning is 1:95040 or 1 inch equals 1.5 miles. I contacted the Monongahela NF to ask if they had a map that they recommended and a nice Natural Resource Specialist emailed me back basically suggesting the same options outlined in this thread. She agreed that the scale of the USGS map is not great for hiking. I still might get it for trip planning and then print out specific areas as needed.

And agreed Cookerhiker - hopefully National Geographic or Purple Lizard come out with one that covers the whole forest.