Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and Charlottesville Chapter
A momentous event occurred in 1927, when six men met in the nation’s capital and agreed to form an organization dedicated to support two objectives: The Appalachian Trail and Shenandoah National Park. In 1927, neither the Trail nor the Park existed.Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the organization these men founded - the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) - manages over 1,200 miles of public hiking trails in four states and the District of Columbia. PATC supports Shenandoah National Park today and also works with the Appalachian Trail Park Office of the National Park Service, the Jefferson & George Washington National Forests, and state and local park authorities.
All of this is due to the extraordinary efforts of some very extraordinary people - 6,700 of such people, to date. If you hike or go backpacking in this region, the chances are good that the tread upon which you trod was prepared and is maintained by PATC. Our members volunteer thousands of hours of their own time each year to do what needs to be done. We clear brush and blown-down trees from the trails. We paint the blazes and set the signs you use to follow the trails. We acquire land for parking areas near trailhead junctions. We build and maintain the shelters thousands use each year to rest overnight while on their journeys.
PATC is a founding member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy - one of 30 trail clubs that work along the length and breadth of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail under a unique agreement with the National Park Service to maintain and manage the entire 2,180 mile Trail.
The Charlottesville Chapter of the PATC, founded in 1986, hosts hikes in Shenandoah National Park, George Washington National Forest, along Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway, or in other regional areas. We also conduct trail maintenance along the club's section of the Appalachian Trail, Blue Blazed side trails in Shenandoah National Park and on land owned by the PATC.
