PATC - Charlottesville Chapter

On Sunday, the Charlottesville chapter celebrated 40 years of service, hiking and friendship. John Shannon, founding member of the CVille PATC was celebrated for his leadership. We can’t wait to see you on the trails!

Charlottesville PATC hosted the annual Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park that included games, activities with Ranger Katie, a picnic lunch, and hike on the Frazier Discovery Trail. Many thanks to the Shenandoah National Park Trust for paying entry fees in the park for the participants. The annual fall PATC/BBBS hike will take place at Sherando Lake.

Great class today led by Jeff Monroe from Charlottesville PATC teaching the use of the Avenza navigation app. Sixteen folks showed up from both Charlottesville and Southern Shenandoah Valley Chapters - first at at the Crozet Library to learn about the Avenza app (and Gaia app also), next folks went to a Mint Springs Valley Park to use their new tool, and lastly some participants went to Crozet Pizza to enjoy lunch together. Very informative event!

Charlottesville PATC joined the Southern Shenandoah Valley Chapter of PATC on Saturday, October 4 with a day to honor the retirement of the Dave Bowen, the Shenandoah National Park Southern District Manager. Two hikes were held and a picnic lunch in the middle provided time for members to mingle and for all to thank Dave for his years of service. Special thanks to Pam Heinrich for organizing the event!

Charlottesville PATC and Big Brothers Bog Sisters of the Blue Ridge collaborated for their yearly fall hike in Shenandoah National Park
On September 13. We met at Loft Mt. Wayside in the morning for games and educational activities and then a bagel lunch. This was followed by a hike to the top of Black Rock Summit. Many thanks to Ranger Macie for teaching us about Leave No Trace principles, the Ten Essentials, and about the many animals and elements of SNP!

Eleven volunteers came out to do trail work on July 10 on the Appalachian Trail starting from Riprap Parking Lot in the southern section of Shenandoah National Park. Many waterbars were refurbished and overgrown vegetation clipped. Linda Beights and Lisa Swales are the maintainers for this section and we were all happy to lend a hand on this well-traveled section! Great crew-thanks to all.
(On the way to the event the leaders had to chainsaw a fallen tree across Skyline Drive)😊

Hey friends!
If you have any hiking boots laying around—donate them!

Donate your used sneakers and running shoes to benefit the Sierra Club Piedmont Group.

For the month of June, the Ragged Mountain Running & Walking Shop will be collecting used sneakers, hiking boots, and running shoes, shipping them to Sneakers4Good, and paying the Sierra Club Piedmont Group based on the poundage of shoes collected. This program is benefiting different local community organizations each month. Read more about the program:

Sneakers4Good | Your Partner in Sustainability Double your impact by giving your used running shoes a second life. We provide communities a free sneaker reuse and recycling program!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Virginia Black Bear Festival we had a great time, in in the morning showers!

Iva and Jim celebrated National Trails Day on Saturday leading 11 hikers on the Rose River trail about 6 miles. A bit soggy at the beginning but a great hike!

Stop in and say hi at the Virginia Black Bear Festival today!!!

PATC trail maintainers were out on June 1 refurbishing water bars and drainage areas on the Appalachian Trail at Turk Gap in Shenandoah National Park. The thru-hikers, section hikers, and day hikers are out in full force, so happy to make sure the trails are clear with water mitigation devices intact. Happy hiking!