By Posted on Posted in Appalachian Trail, Closures

The following is directly from a Forest Service News Release. Beth Christensen, District Ranger, Eastern Divide Ranger District 540-552-4641

Catawba, August 21, 2023 – The U.S. Forest Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club announce a new effort to protect water quality, ecological integrity, and a rare species adjacent to the Dragon’s Tooth Trail in Craig County.

Special Biological Areas identified in the Jefferson National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan have specific management prescriptions and protections. This Special Biological Area encompasses the Dragon’s Tooth Trail and the Boy Scout Trail within the Jefferson National Forest, from the Dragon’s Tooth parking lot to the Appalachian Trail.

Visitors are asked to stay on the marked trail and camping is prohibited along these trails. Volunteers have posted signs directing visitors to stay on the marked trail and have roped off areas where vegetation needs to occur. Backpackers looking for a place to camp can continue to the Appalachian Trail where appropriate sites are available.

Beth Christensen, District Ranger on the Eastern Divide Ranger District, stated, “Forest visitors can help us save this unique ecosystem and promote its recovery. At first glance, areas adjacent to the Dragon’s Tooth Trail may look like many other places on the national forest and seem like a convenient place to camp. However, in the past year alone, the area impacted by camping has expanded by 10,000 square feet – trampling pirate bush and other species it needs to survive. By simply staying on the trail or hiking a little farther away from the stream to find a campsite, visitors can help improve this plant population.”

Alternative dispersed camping options include Lost Spectacles Gap, 1.5 miles from the parking area and 0.9 miles from Dragon’s Tooth at the junction of the Dragons Tooth Trail and the Appalachian Trail. Dispersed camping along the Appalachian Trail is permitted on National Forest lands.

“We appreciate the cooperation of all visitors in protecting this beloved area,” stated Tom McAvoy, Conservation Supervisor with the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club. “RATC volunteers are working hard to re-vegetate this sensitive area by clearly marking it, and educating the public about why this place is so special. With everyone’s help, we can ensure the longevity of the Dragon’s Tooth ecosystem for generations to come.”

Only one percent of the Jefferson National Forest is designated as Special Biological Areas, a classification given to the most unique and fragile ecosystems in the Forest. The Dragon’s Tooth Special Biological Area protects pirate bush, a rare native plant that can only be found in a handful of areas in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Pirate bush, a parasitic shrub, can only survive in a specific, delicately balanced habitat. Due to the popularity of the Dragon’s Tooth hike, increasing camping impacts have severely threatened this rare plant and their population is dwindling. The soil compaction and vegetation loss impacting its habitat has also led to sedimentation and pollution of nearby streams. Several other uncommon plants grow here and by protecting the pirate bush these other species will also be protected.

By Posted on Posted in Appalachian Trail History, Appalachian Trail maps, RATC History Tagged with , ,
RATC Trail Supervisor David Dick's 1933 map ~ section around Roanoke

When the RATC was founded in November 1932, one of the first tasks was to finalize an A.T. route around Roanoke. The initial pathway marked in 1931 was not satisfactory to the hikers of RATC, and they convinced ATC leader Myron Avery to drop down from the Blue Ridge at Black Horse (Tavern) Gap, cross U.S. 11 near Daleville, and climb Tinker Mountain for a tough hike and outstanding views. Avery agreed and took the train from Washington, DC several times in 1933 to oversee completion of the new Trail. Avery’s PATC’S 1934 Guide to the Paths in the Blue Ridge touted the new route, sayin that: “Except for the Pinnacles of the Dan, Tinker Mountain is the outstanding feature of the Trail from the Natural Bridge National Forest to New River.”

David Dick, one of RATC’s founders and a certified surveyor, was the RATC’s first Trail Supervisor, and he also drew the first map of the A.T. from the Roanoke Valley to New River in 1933 at Avery’s request. As Dick reported at the end of the year, the map was printed by the PATC and sold as a fund raiser by both the PACT and the RATC.

Here is how Dick reported the work completed in 1933:

[Transcribed by Diana Christopulos, March 20, 2020]

Annual Report of the Trail Committee

Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club

November 12, 1933

The Trail Committee during the past year has been primarily concerned with the location, the measuring, and obtaining the trail data for our section of the Appalachian Trail. The first problem that confronted us was the general location of the trail. The trail was originally located south of Roanoke – from Villamont along the top of the Blue Ridge, past Mason Knob to Adney Gap on Bent Mountain. This trail had been measured but not very definitely marked, and it would in a good many instances require a complete relocation. Considering this and also that there are few points of outstanding interest on the southern route, it was suggested and approved by the club to locate the trail along the more interesting route north of Roanoke. This has been done with the help of many of the members not on the committee.

A number of hikes were made by various members of the committee and the club to determine the best location for the trail along the northern route. In locating the trail we considered points of interest, viewpoint, accessibility, grade of the trail, and maintenance necessary to keep the trail  definitely marked. At very few places we were able to satisfy all the requirements. Some of the trail will be more difficult to follow until it is more suitably marked and cleared; some of it is steep, other portions offer nothing of interest and in such cases generally follow automobile roads and serve only as connecting links. As the trail is now located there are about 25 miles of automobile roads. Some may be changed so as to cover a more interesting section whenever the other trails are suitably marked and cleared.

Mr. Myron Avery assisted by various members of the committee and the club measured and obtained the trail data for our section of the trail on April 1st, 2nd, 29th and 30th. We also assisted Mr. Avery in measuring, obtaining trail data and marking 33.7 miles of trail from Bent Mountain Post Office to Tuggle Gap in Patrick County. As there is no organization to the care of this section it was routed along existing automobile roads and so requires no maintenance, other than a remarking once a year.

The success of these trips were greatly due to our President who, aside from his other duties, accompanied us on many of the hikes and used his car on most of these occasions. Others whom I believe are due special recognition are Dr. McGinnis who used his car frequently on trips and the Pownalls who accommodated Mr. Avery the two nights he was in Roanoke.

Two short sections of the trail have been marked. 6.80 miles from Black Horse Tavern Site to the county road and 1.2 mile along the road up Tinker Mountain. This is barely a beginning of the trail marking and making in our section. Mr. Avery has made some good suggestions on what should be done on this line. Our entire section should first be marked so that the blazes can be easily followed from end to end. Care should be taken to see that the trail as marked is exactly as described in the trail data. To do this a copy of the trail data should be used in the field while marking, and a member of the measuring party should be present. Where the trail follows roads passable by automobile the route can be marked by using a car. After the trail is entirely marked it can then be improved, where necessary by clipping the underbrush, etc. It will be clearly seen that the initial marking of the trail must not be delayed long lest we have difficulty following the route described.

As a general summary, our section of the trail is 68.29 miles long all of which has been measured and the trail data obtained. 8.0 miles have been marked leaving a balance of 60.29 miles to mark.

David Dick, Chairman

Report on Map

At the request of Mr. Avery I made a map of the section of the trail from Lee Highway [US 11] near Cloverdale to New River, for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club’s new Guidebook. The Potomac club has had 900 copies printed at a cost of $30.00 from which they sent us about 300 copies. I have incurred an expense of $2.50 in making this map which I feel should be borne by our club. Mr. Avery suggested that these copies sold at 25¢ would bring in considerable revenue for paint, markers, etc.

[Note: the RATC archive includes 3 copies of this map in 2 slightly different versions. The archive also includes a February 1939 article from the Roanoke Times, “Mountain Trails Call Score of Roanokers to Open Each Week End,” that features the same map and a detailed discussion of RATC and its section of the trail. DC]

David Dick

RATC volunteers helped Avery and volunteers from other areas complete the Trail all the way to New River, near Galax, and Dick drew the first official map of the route. It is shown below, along with an excerpt from the upper left portion crediting Dick with creation of the map. The full map and the portion showing Dick’s name are below.

David Dick’s 1933 map of the A.T. from the Roanoke area to the New River, drawn at the request of Myron Avery and published by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club in 1934

For comparison, the map below shows the 1931 (yellow), 1933 (red) and present (blue) route of the A.T. in southwestern Virginia.

Source: “Virginia’s Lost Appalachian Trail,” Mills Kelly, 2023

By Posted on Posted in McAfee Knob/Triple Crown Tagged with ,

Just in time for peak leaf season! Roanoke County is excited to partner with Ride Source to launch the new McAfee Knob Trailhead Shuttle Service. Starting on September 2, 2022 transportation will be provided from the Interstate 81 Exit 140 Park and Ride. The shuttle will take hikers to the National Park Service’s McAfee Knob Trailhead parking lot along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

The shuttle service is available starting September 2, 2022, through November 27, 2022, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Shuttle hours will vary with Daylight Savings Time. The last shuttle will depart from the trailhead 15 minutes prior to service ending.

September: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
October: 7:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
November: 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Tickets are available to purchase online at www.McAfeeShuttle.com.

Download the Waze Navigation App and click on the logo to route your trip!

McAfee Knob Trailhead Shuttle Logo with GPS link to get driving directions

Visit the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club’s description of McAfee Knob to plan your trip.

By Posted on Posted in McAfee Knob/Triple Crown, RATC News
FireRd-Spotters-“Rose&4Thorns”-TerryShipley PeteIrvine DeeLamb BillNeilan MarkFarrell.

(Roanoke, VA). The Catawba Mountain Fire Road has been reopened to hikers following major work to improve the road for both emergency vehicles and the hiking public. The gated Fire Road runs parallel to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (A.T.) on National Park Service (NPS) lands northerly from the A.T. Trailhead Parking Area on VA-311, approximately 10 miles north of Salem, VA. It serves as emergency vehicle access for incidents in the McAfee Knob area, a popular panoramic viewpoint and hiking destination, as well as forming a loop hike opportunity with the A.T. The road has been closed to all public use since January 11 for this project.

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By Posted on Posted in Closures, RATC News Tagged with ,

Roadwork to Temporarily Close Catawba Mountain Fire Road to Hikers

Update: Due to weather delays, work did not begin on January 17 as planned. Work began February 7, and will continue until March 4.

(Roanoke, VA). Roadwork to improve the Catawba Mountain Fire Road for emergency vehicle use will require the road to be temporarily closed to hikers and all public use beginning Monday, January 17 through February 11. During this road closure, hikers will continue to be able to use the Appalachian National Scenic Trail to access McAfee Knob and beyond. This roadwork is weather-dependent and is being performed during the winter season to minimize disruption to hikers.

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By Posted on Posted in Appalachian Trail, Catawba Greenway, McAfee Knob/Triple Crown, RATC History Tagged with ,

On September 30, 2021, officials from Roanoke County, the Virginia Tech Catawba Sustainability Center (CSC), the Roanoke Valley Greenway Commission and other organizations cut the ribbon to open the new Catawba Greenway. Hikers now have two additional parking locations for a McAfee Knob hike and a four-mile loop hike that connects two portions of the Catawba Greenway via the Appalachian Trail.  AT thru hikers can now resupply at the Catawba Post Office without walking down busy State Highway 311 as well.

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By Posted on Posted in RATC History Tagged with ,

Diana Christopulos, RATC Archivist

From the RATC archives ~ 1950s

You will notice that I am referring to the Appalachian Trail as a Project. That is what it is in its present stage. Some of us look upon the Appalachian Trail as a completed trail. In fact it has been measured and blazed over its entire length and guide books printed to cover the entire trail. Such a situation may give the impression that the trail is completed, but it is far from completion.

It is safe to say that the section southwest from Roanoke to Iron Mountain near Damascus is the worst to be found in the whole length of the trail. . . I defy anyone to find anything of interest to the hiker except short stretches such as in Rocky Knob Park and The Pinnacles of Dan, and the Fisher’s Peak Area. These spots stand on their own merits, but they are connected by roads, mostly dirt but some graveled and paved. All wilderness aspect is lost. The very nature of this section detracts from the use of the trail.

In view of this situation, I have attempted to revive interest in a relocation project to get the trail moved to the West. This trail would, as presently planned, leave the present route at Lambert’s Meadow and cross the Catawba Creek Valley to North Mountain. From the Juncture with the North Mountain Trail the proposed route would follow in a general manner a line drawn to Hungry Mother State Park, and there cross over to Iron Mountain and rejoin the present trail.

Report of the President, James W. Denton
1949 Annual Banquet of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club
January, 5, 1949

RATC’s founders worked closely with Myron Avery to lay out, mark and build the original Appalachian Trail around and south of Roanoke in the 1930s. Their responsibilities grew in the 1950s, as volunteers led by two extraordinary couples worked with federal agencies and others on a monumental undertaking – relocating about 250 miles of the AT all the way to the West Virginia border. It took almost 40 years to complete the project, but RATC made a great start in the 1950s.

Most of the original route was on private land east of the Blue Ridge, with little more than hand-shake agreements protecting the pathway. Much of it also involved road-walking. As early as 1940, RATC club leaders and US Forest Service officials were advocating a complete relocation of the Appalachian Trail between Roanoke and the Tennessee border.i

World War II put an end to trail building and most trail maintenance. When people like Earl Shaffer, the first documented thru hiker, headed for the AT after the war, it was poorly maintained and poorly marked.

Enter Jim and Mollie Denton as well as Tom and Charlene Campbell. They all joined RATC after the war and revived its leadership role in the southern half of Virginia. Three of the four (Tom Campbell and both Dentons) served as RATC presidents, and they were at the center of both a major trail relocation and the lively social scene of the club.

By Posted on Posted in Appalachian Trail Tagged with

The Appalachian Trail is again open between Pine Swamp Shelter to Clendenin Road effective 4/15/2021.

The power line tower structure has been repaired, but MANY trees remain down in the area. Work continues to remove and clear debris.

Map showing affected area of the Trail
Affected area between Pine Swamp Shelter (North) and Clendenin Rd (South)

By Posted on Posted in RATC History

by Diana Christopulos, RATC Archivist

 RATC has been around since 1932, and we are finally pulling together all the records. Acting as the RATC Archivist, I am working to digitize it and write about it. This is the first story. 

The Founding

1932 graffiti from Nomad hiking club, whose members helped found the RATC. Photo by Jim Beeson

How do you make a trail building club out of three hiking clubs? Let them build trail where they like to hike. In 1932, Roanoke College had an outings club. So did Hollins College. And hikers from Roanoke and Salem, mostly women, had their own hiking club called The Nomads. On November 13, 1932, members of all three groups went for a walk in Carvins Cove, followed by supper at the home of Donald Gates, an economics professor at Roanoke College. Then they founded the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club. Their own favorite hiking spots like Tinker Cliffs, McAfee Knob, Carvins Cove, Poor Mountain and Bent Mountain Falls would shape an immediate relocation of the originally planned AT route.

Like other clubs south of Washington, DC, RATC was the brainchild of Myron Avery, the driven and meticulous implementer of Benton McKaye’s visionary Appalachian Trail. Avery became chairman of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in 1931, when about 1,000 miles of the AT had already been completed. He was also president of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and, like Johnny Appleseed, was busy planting new clubs between Georgia and Maine.

The founders of the RATC were hikers. Under Avery’s guidance, some of them would also become expert trail builders. After encountering Avery at an ATC event in the Smoky Mountains, Prof. Gates began corresponding with Avery, and he called a meeting of interested parties at the Roanoke YMCA on October 24, 1932. Next came a two-day meeting with Avery and other PATC members at the Hotel Mons near the Peaks of Otter on October 29-30. It must have been an impressive show. After day hikes to Sharp Top and Flat Top, PATC members showed movies and slides on how to mark and build trail along with scenic views on the completed northern sections. The next day they demonstrated exactly how to construct a trail.

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By Posted on Posted in Appalachian Trail, McAfee Knob/Triple Crown Tagged with

Want to show your love of iconic McAfee Knob and support the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club?

McAfee Knob shirts are available in various styles and sizes via this link –  http://www.bonfire.com/store/ratc

Proceeds support the mission of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club (RATC) to maintain 120 miles,16 Shelters/Privies and 53 Bridges on the AT from Lickskillet Hollow in Giles County to Black Horse Gap in Botetourt County. This includes Virginia’s Triple Crown, i.e., Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs.

http://www.bonfire.com/store/ratc