Trail Maintenance

The TEHCC maintains 130 miles of the Appalachian Trail including side trails and shelters from Spivey Gap, North Carolina to Damascus, Virginia.  TEHCC maintainers are made up of club members and non-members.  ANYONE can be a trail maintainer.  To participate, contact the TEHCC Trail Maintenance Coordinator (atmaint@tehcc.org).

Regular Maintenance
A maintenance team is assigned to each section of of the AT in TEHCC's area.  Each year, teams are rotated, so over 20 years, each team will have maintained the entire TEHCC section of the AT.  Each team maintains its section at least twice a year, to remove blow downs, repaint blazes, clip annual growth, pick up litter, and replace missing or vandalized signs.

Tuesdays
A dedicated group of trail maintainers ventures out to the AT almost every Tuesday.  Typically, Tuesday work outings are spent preparing for special projects by scouting, procuring tools and materials and flagging trail.

Third Saturdays
The third Saturday of each month is dedicated to special projects, which has included trail relocations, shelter repair and renovations, and bridge construction.

Adopt-A-Trail
Groups and individuals can "adopt" sections of the AT to maintain.  Unlike regular maintenance teams, adopters are assigned to a section of their choice for as many years as they care to maintain it.

Konnarock Crew
The Konnarock Crew helps TEHCC with major trail relocations and other major projects.  The Konnarock Crew is a volunteer trail crew supported by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the U.S. Forest Service.

Hard Core
Hard Core is an annual trail maintenance event hosted by the TEHCC following Damascus, VA's Trail Days in May.  It lasts for 2 days and gives Trail Days attendees the opportunity to give back to the Trail.  Hard Core has grown to over 100 participants and helps the TEHCC complete special projects (e.g. Mountaineer Falls Shelter) in a short amount of time. 

Hiker-Trail Volunteers
"Hiker-trail volunteers" (thru-hikers and long-distance hikers) take a few hours off from their hikes to help  maintain our section of the A.T.  These volunteers are always welcome and very much appreciated.  A hiker-trail volunteer who works on the Trail for eight hours or more under the supervision of a TEHCC maintainer will be entitled to receive one.

Maintainer Patches
TEHCC awards patches to A.T. maintainers and adopters, based on the the number of hours worked as reported using the.  Patches are awarded for 50 hours, 100 hours, 250 hours, 500 hours, 1000 hours, and multiples of 1000 hours.  The appropriate number of hours are added to the patch template shown here.  When the next level of A.T. maintenance is achieved, a new patch is awarded.  The patch depicts two crossed pulaskis.