the Shenandoah National Park, where 
much of the route opened by the Potomac 
Appalachian Trail Club of Washington, 
D. C. in 1927 is now followed by the 
course of the Skyline Drive; the National 
Park Service has constructed a new route 
for the Appalachian Trail to replace the 
one obliterated. Farther south it goes 
through the George Washington National 
Forest and still farther south through 
the Jefferson National Forest. Aside from 
these public areas the trail goes over pri- 
vate lands. 
   The trail is marked with white paint 
 blazes (side trails with blue) and with 
 white board signs giving distances. The 
 Potomac Appalachian Trail Club of Wash- 
 ington has prepared a 500-page guide- 
 book giving detailed trail directions so 
 that even though in some sections prolific 
 summer growth tends to obscure the trail, 
 the way can still be followed. Approaches 
 and distances measured on 'the ground by 
 a measuring wheel are all shown. Maps 
 are also available. 
 
 THERE IS NO PRIMEVAL WILDERNESS LEFT 
 in Virginia. Even the wild mountain lands 
 were at one time occupied, though in some 
 cases the occupation was of short dura- 
 tion. The timber was cut, the fish taken 
 from the streams, but the people have 
 moved on and the mountain regions have 
 relapsed to the wild. Through the Appa- 
 lachian Trail and the side trails which 
 inevitably develop from it, these wilder- 
 ness areas are becoming accessible to city, 
 town, and country dwellers alike. Each 
 year an increasing number come from the 
 South through the Smokies and Unakas 
 and follow the Appalachian Trail north- 
 ward through Virginia; or, coming from 
 the North across Maryland, follow it 
 south. 
   The traveler on the trail sees many 
things denied to the motorist. While one 
may drive to the tops of some mountains, 
the finest viewing points can be reached 
only on foot. While White Oak Canyon is 
accessible to those who park their cars on 
the Skyline Drive, there are dozens of 
other hollows of equal beauty which are 
almost unknown to Virginians and will 
remain unknown except to those who fol- 
low the Appalachian Trail. 
   Here and there are found remnants of 
the virgin timber that once covered the 
hillsides. Wild flowers are everywhere. 
One may spend day after day in some 
sections without meeting another person 
or passing a habitation. 
 
FROM THE CROSSING OF THE SHENAN- 
doah River to Rockfish Gap, the trail is 
NOVEMBER, 1938 
 
 
maintained by the Potomac Appalachian 
Trail Club of Washington, D. C. (through 
the Shenandoah National Park in co- 
operation with the National Park Service) ; 
from Rockfish Gap to the Old Fincastle 
Road, by the Natural Bridge Appalachian 
Trail Club of Lynchburg; from the Old 
Fincastle Road to Sweet Anne Hollow, by 
the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club; 
from Sweet Anne Hollow to U. S. Route 
58, by the Mountain Club of Virginia, a 
unique organization whose membership is 
composed of those who have worked on 
the trail; from U. S. Route 58 to Meadows 
of Dan-Bell Spur Church Road, by John 
R. Barnard of Meadows of Dan. The 
United States Forest Service keeps up the 
trail from New River to Damascus and 
the Tennessee line. All these organizations 
and individuals maintaining the trail are 
grouped in the Appalachian Trail Con- 
ference with headquarters in Washington, 
which has jurisdiction over the entire 
trail from Katahdin in Maine to Ogle- 
thorpe in Georgia. 
   The biennial meeting of the Appala- 
chian Trail Conference is held in rotation 
north of the Delaware, south of Virginia, 
or in the central section. These meetings 
are attracting an increasing number of 
those interested in the out-of-doors. More 
than 230 delegates were registered at 
the 1937 conference, representing sixteen 
states and the District of Columbia. 
 
AT THE PRESENT TIME PROBABLY MORE 
people from outside Virginia know and 
use the trail than do Virginians. Not a 
week end passes but thirty to 150, some- 
 
 
times several hundred, from Washington 
alone go to the Virginia mountains. Many 
of these go by private cars-in groups of 
two to twelve. On a Sunday night the eat- 
ing places in the towns on the way home 
are filled with "hikers." Several times a 
month there will be bus loads of thirty to 
sixty people, members of various hiking 
dubs. The smaller groups usually go for 
the week end. Larger groups frequently 
go for week ends and several times a year 
stay in the Valley towns adjacent to the 
trail for two, three, or four days, going 
each day to the mountains. Groups from 
Baltimore, Hagerstown, and other places 
in Maryland are devoting much time to ex- 
ploring Virginia via the Appalachian Trail. 
   Every season increasing numbers seek 
the Virginia Blue Ridge for a vacation, 
staying through the week at some of the 
attractive open leantos found here and 
there along the trail, the cabins maintained 
by the various trail clubs, or in nearby 
towns. 
   In the course of time, trail and hiking 
clubs will no doubt be formed in various 
towns and cities in Virginia, so that with- 
in the next few years we may expect to 
see many Virginians making use of the 
Appalachian Trail. 
 
  Further information on the Appalachian 
Trail can be secured from the Appalachian 
Trail Conference, 901 Union Trust Build- 
ing, Washington, D. C. Lists of available 
publications, guidebooks, and maps of the 
Virginia section can be secured from the 
Potomac Appalachian Trail Club at the 
same address. 
 
 
19 
 
 
A luncheon campfire on the Appalachian Trail