Thru Hiking the Allegheny Trail

Considering its nickname, the Mountain State, West Virginia flies under most people’s radar as a backpacking destination. Apart from a few lackluster miles of the AT and possibly the Dolly Sods Wilderness, the state doesn’t get much attention amongst backpackers outside of the region. With lots of higher profile backpacking trails throughout the US, West Virginia’s own “long trail” isn’t well known or hiked that often. 

The Allegheny Trail (ALT) travels 311 miles, north to south, through West Virginia, as the longest trail within the state. While I heard about the trail years ago, I didn’t know much about the trail myself. Early in 2023 Puma and I bought property in West Virginia and I started looking into the trail more seriously. Then we moved to the state full time the following year. This moved the trail higher up on my list of backpacking trips. 

I overlooked the ALT myself to thru hike the Colorado Trail my first summer in West Virginia. After I returned from the CT, Puma asked if there was a shorter backpacking trip closer to home that I wanted to do while taking the summer off. I immediately said the Allegheny Trail. 

I originally planned to hit the trail on September 20th, only three weeks after getting home from my Colorado Trail hike. Remnants of a tropical system brought a wet forecast, so I pushed the start date back another week. Then the remnants from Hurricane Helene moved through, dropping several inches of rain. I pushed the date back once again, finally settling on October 2nd. I’m glad I postponed my start twice. More than 5” of rain fell from the time I first postponed the trip until I actually started. After my unusually rainy trip on the Colorado Trail, I wasn’t looking for another soggy trip. 

DAY 1

Northern Terminus- Beyond Connor Run

20.3 Miles

I began my hike at the northern trailhead on October 2nd. After saying bye to Puma, I hit the trail right at noon. After a dreary morning, the showers seemed to let up with a few breaks in the clouds. Within the first half-mile, I had a barking German Shepherd along the trail following me and barking despite its owner's efforts to call it back. Eventually the owner distracted it with a ball and I moved on.

Northern Terminus

The trail turned onto a quiet dirt road. It started with several houses, but soon I was in more remote farm country as the houses became less frequent. The walking was fairly pleasant and it was nice to ease into the trip.

Farmland

Hiking in the first few miles

The road becomes more of a dirt lane and doesn't really seem to get through traffic. The numerous junctions are all well marked with yellow blazes. I walked several miles and saw only a few vehicles. At times the roads become more wild, looking like forest service roads along creeks lined with mountain laurel. Occasionally I passed a farm, other times I passed through quiet forests.

Lonely dirt road

More cows than people

Dirt lane in the forest

The trail follows paved roads where it is routed under I68. Even on the paved section I didn't really encounter more than a few cars. The paved road changed into a dirt road after a little bit as it passed by more farms.

I saw several red efts the first
few days

When possible, the trail left roads and followed woods paths. While not quite a singletrack trail, the route took you on old roads that are no longer accessible to vehicles. At one point the trail crosses the Cheat River on a closed bridge. Soon I found myself on a laurel lined trail passing waterfalls.

Crossing the Cheat River

Waterfall just upstream from the trail

Cascading stream along the trail

I originally planned on camping by a church along the road that allowed ALT hikers to camp nearby. I reached the church around 4PM. I had plenty of daylight and kept hiking. As would be the case for much of the northern section of the ALT, the road morphs into a more wild looking forest road with no traffic. It feels like you are on a remote forest service road.

Mt. Nebo Baptist Church

Ultimately the trail leaves roads and travels along the Cheat River on singletrack for several miles. This is also the low point of the trail. I hiked several miles along the river. Although you travel along the river, it is normally inaccessible as the trail passes through a steep gorge.

Low point of the ALT

I read about possible camping near stream crossings around mile 19. Unfortunately, the area was quite overgrown and soggy. I ate my dinner and read about better camping a little further ahead in the comments on FarOut. I found a slightly better spot at mile 20.3. It wasn't the best spot. It was a tight squeeze and a little rocky, but it worked for the night. With a noon start for the day, I didn't anticipate a 20 mile day, but I covered fast miles on the roads. I lucked out with the weather for the day. Despite a rainy morning before hitting the trail for the day, I only encountered a little mist for a few minutes. By late afternoon, I saw some sun.

DAY 2

Beyond Connor Run- Reger Family Shelter

29.4 Miles

Starting my morning along the river, some fog lingered in the canyon. A few grassy sections of trail were fairly wet to start the day. I continued along the Cheat for several miles. The trail reaches a road again as it crosses the river. A road walk takes the trail through the small town of Albright.

I took advantage of a convenience store in Albright. I ordered a pizza to fuel the rest of my day. I still had some hiker hunger from my Colorado Trail thru hike and the pizza went down surprisingly easy. 

The ALT travels through the town of Albright. Two dogs left their yard to follow me. They didn't bother me, but they crossed the road numerous times. I didn't want to see them get hit. After traveling several blocks from where I first saw them, they finally left the road and went behind a house. 

Most of the trail was covered in leaves

Tumbling creek

Marshy stretch of trail

The Cheat

Leaving Albright, the ALT climbs away from the Cheat River. Once again, the trail follows dirt roads that become more wild and less traveled as I continued. Eventually the trail became more of a ATV road and then a trail. At one point the trail seems to run through a stream, at least according to the blazes. The trail crosses the stream at several points when not running through it. I was able to skirt the stream or follow an ATV trail nearby and avoid getting my feet wet at least. I think I preferred the dirt roads over trying to avoid the stream bed.

ALT following creek bed

The trail turned away from the stream and climbed up along a large farm meadow. The trail, now a doubletrack road gained some elevation before reaching a fairly busy road. There were some pretty good views from the road. Unfortunately, the traffic along the road was steady with little shoulder. It was also pretty warm along the road, fully exposed to the sun.

Views from the road

Passing one of many cow pastures

The walk along the busy road went on for over two miles. I was happy to turn onto the lesser traveled road. Just like all the roads so far, this road soon evolved into a quiet and forgotten path not suitable for most vehicles. Further along, it was more of a wide trail. 

Usually, the dirt roads grew wilder as the trail climbed further from civilization. Then the trail would drop back down to civilization gradually, eventually reaching civilization and slightly busier roads.

Even though the ALT passed through some fairly remote areas, most of the land around the trail is privately owned. This makes camping somewhat challenging in the northern 100 miles. My plan was originally to camp at an old trout farm. The owners allow ALT hikers to camp at the site. Once again I reached the spot at 4PM. Even with 22 miles hiked for the day, I decided to continue.

ALT passing under a rail line

The ALT follows a quiet road, passing by the settlement of Rowelsburg. Rowelsburg didn't seem to have any amenities, but a shelter sits near the town along a road to a park. I made it to the shelter with well over an hour of light despite hiking more than 29 miles for the day.

The shelter looked to be in pretty nice shape, but it had some issues. Just outside the shelter, the air smelled like a dead animal was nearby. Inside the shelter didn't have the smell, but it was still unpleasant. The water by the shelter was extremely difficult to access down a steep bank. Since the shelter was so close to houses and the road, non hiker types seemed to use it. There were tons of cigarette butts around the shelter and stuffed in the cracks of the floor. I'm not sure why, there were also a lot of cotton swabs in the shelter and in the floor cracks.

Those were minor inconveniences. The real issue was the rail yard across the creek by the shelter. It looked like a hub for freight train traffic. I heard regular trail traffic through the night as well as the whistles. It wasn't exactly a serene camping experience.

Reger Family Shelter

DAY 3

Reger Family Shelter- Close Mountain School

24.0 Miles

Leaving the shelter, the trail heads back to dirt roads fairly quickly and climbs into higher terrain and farmland. The open farms and higher terrain provide some nice views. The ALT passed a country church and cemetery. I enjoyed this stretch. The best words I can think of to describe the area are bucolic or pastoral. Several fruit trees lined the road. I ate several apples and a pear as I hiked.

Valley fog in the morning

Horse along the trail

Mount Olivet Church

Even though I passed civilization, this section seemed pretty remote. Eventually the roads left the farmland and became more forested. The peacefulness came to an end when the ALT reached US 50. Although it seems to be in the middle of nowhere and fairly quiet, this stretch of US 50 is fairly hectic to walk along. There is no shoulder whatsoever and it's sketchy when vehicles pass, especially large trucks or campers. I was happy to leave the road after two miles.

View over a barn

Leaving US 50, the ALT travels onto much quieter dirt roads that are a joy to walk. Even though it passes the occasional house, it feels like you are far from any real town. The roads become rougher until they become jeep tracks. Around mile 65, the trail enters the Monongahela National Forest for the first time. 

Hiking along a creek

In the afternoon, the trail passed through a small settlement called Lead Mine. A church in Lead Mine lets the public utilize their pavilion. I stopped at the pavilion to cook my dinner and charge my phone. There are bathrooms, running water, and outlets. My intended camping destination for the night was only three miles away, but didn't have water. I spent well over an hour at the pavilion.

Leaving Lead Mine, the ALT follows steep trails and dirt roads in the National Forest as it climbs out of the valley. It was a pretty warm day, and I was soaked in sweat as I hiked. The forest service roads here were some of the steepest sections of the ALT to that point. 

My destination for the night was the Close Mountain School. The one room schoolhouse was last used in 1946. The landowners allow hikers to camp in the schoolyard. The school sits relatively high with great views. You get a nice look at the wind turbines on Backbone Mountain just a few miles away. You can also look down the valley toward Parsons.

Wind turbines on Backbone Mountain

While sitting on the porch of the school, I felt something crawling on my neck. I pulled off a deer ked. Deer keds are parasites somewhat resembling a tick. As far as I know, they don't carry diseases like ticks, but they aren't enjoyable to find crawling on you. They were known to be present in my last home in the Adirondacks. I wasn't aware they could be found this far south. I pulled two more off my torso, crawling under my shirt.

Through the night, I was visited by countless deer. The schoolyard is surrounded by fields and oaks dropping their acorns. I frequently heard deer snorts through the night. I left my tent at night to go to the bathroom a couple times and could hear the deer run when I unzipped my tent.

Close Mountain School

DAY 4

Close Mountain School- Canaan Loop Road

27.1 Miles

Another beautiful day greeted me as I left the school. The good views continued. The valleys now had fog, enhancing the view. An interesting landmark sits along the trail not too far from the school, a small family cemetery. Most of the names on the stones are Knotts. Apparently actor Don Knotts' family is from the area and his relatives are buried there.

Morning fog in the valley

The ALT continues gaining elevation as it skirts Backbone Mountain. The trail passes directly under the ridge with the wind turbines. Now over 3,000', I was beginning to see more fall color. I also passed a piped roadside spring. The locals will travel to collect water for their homes from this spring. I would pass several more of these springs over the course of the trail.

Hiking beneath the turbines

One of several piped springs along the ALT

Fall color along a road

The trail eventually climbs to over 3,500’ along Backbone Mountain at the base of wind turbines. The ALT follows US 219. US 219 is a fairly busy road to walk along, and the ALT follows it for just over two miles. The only saving grace is that its shoulders are pretty wide. Following the road isn't all bad. A small park sits along the road near its highpoint. The views from the park are the best to that point on the ALT when heading south. The vista was even more impressive with the dense fog in the valley below.

Wind turbines

Morning inversion layer

Another view of the inversion layer

One of my favorite views on the ALT

I was happy to leave US 219. The next stretch of trail I have mountain biked over the summer and knew it was pretty. The trail enters Monongahela NF and begins climbing to the rim of Blackwater Canyon. The trail leaves a forest service road for a proper trail. It travels through a dense tunnel of mountain laurel along the way while passing a few vistas over the canyon. You can also visit Olson Observation Tower, which is about a half-mile side trip from the ALT. You can climb to the top of the tower for impressive 360-degree views. I didn't make the trip to the tower this time since I was just there in the summer, but recommend it if you have never been there.

Entering the mountain laurel

Hiking through tunnel of mountain laurel

Blackwater Canyon

Colorful foliage

Big Run Falls

The ALT leaves the trail for the remote Canyon Rim Road. This dirt, forest service road is only passable by jeeps and doesn't see much traffic. Along the road you can access a nice overlook of the canyon. With many of the leaves off the trees, I could often see the canyon at numerous points from the road. For more photos and details of this stretch of ALT including Olson Tower, you can visit my post from the summer here.

Looking across Blackwater Canyon

After the enjoyable hike with laurel and canyon views, the ALT utilizes another busy road walk. The ALT follows WV 32 between the towns of Thomas and Davis. These two towns are popular tourist destinations and the road gets pretty busy. I hit this section on a Saturday during the popular fall season. The steady traffic didn't make for the most enjoyable walk.

Once I got to Davis, there were sidewalks and the traffic slows down. I stopped in Davis to eat pizza and ice cream. I also stopped at a gear store for a fuel canister. Davis was bustling with weekend tourists and I was ready to move on after some good food.

Leaving Davis, the trail heads back to proper trails. The ALT passes through Blackwater Falls State Park. While it doesn't go directly past the falls itself, Blackwater Falls is just a five-minute detour off the ALT and worth the side trip.

Blackwater Falls

The hiking after the falls becomes wilder as it leaves the state park and enters the National Forest in the Canaan Mountain Backcountry. The trail passes through dense forests lined with thickets of laurel. The trail becomes rocky at spots with more mud. Lots of leaves had fallen, hiding a lot of these obstacles.

Bridge in laurel

Tunnel of foliage

Like most days on the ALT so far, the miles had passed by quicker than I expected. I originally planned on camping at the Canaan Mountain Shelter, only to arrive earlier than I expected. I decided to hike a little further and camp along the Canaan Loop Road. A campsite sits at the junction of the road and the trail. This campsite sits at mile 100.8. It was nice to hit the 100-mile mark, a mini milestone.

When I arrived, the spot was already taken by a car camper. The occupant told me that I was more than welcome to camp there. The other camper was a long-time ALT trail maintainer and member of West Virginia Scenic Trails Association, the group that oversees the ALT. It would be the only night I didn't camp alone on the entire trip. I enjoyed his campfire and some conversation for the evening.

Boardwalk near Canaan Mountain Shelter

DAY 5 

Canaan Loop Road- US 33

30.7 Miles

Although I slept comfortably, the temperature dropped to about 35F at my campsite. I encountered some frost in the shadows after I began hiking for the day. At first, I regretted not wearing gloves to start hiking. The sun warmed me up soon enough.

The trail starts out in the National Forest and soon passes through Canaan Valley State Park. For the most part, the trail descends as it leaves Canaan Mountain, so the hiking is fairly easy. The bigger challenge was the leaf cover on the ground hiding obstacles.

Leafy trail

Looking up at the tree canopy

Wide, leafy trail

Clearing near Canaan Mountain SP

Mowed strip of trail through field

Leaving the state park, another several mile stretch of roads begins. Like earlier, the roads travel by a mix of scenic farms, and churches. Cows are much more common than people. The paved road turns into dirt as you continue to lose elevation enroute to the Dry Fork River.

Valley fog in the distance

Hiking above the river

The dirt roads give way to trail as you enter the Monongahela National Forest again. The ALT begins a long journey following the along the Glady Fork River. Even though the trail follows what looks like an ancient road or railbed that nature reclaimed, this section of trail feels pretty remote.

Following the Glady Fork

 

Passing under a cliff

Along the Glady Fork

While the trail remains pretty flat, occasionally it climbs away from the river to bypass steep banks. A few cliffs rise above the river. The trail negotiates some steep sections to get around the obstacles. Even though it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I didn't see anyone on the trail.

Passing under a rock outcropping

Two Springs

Upstream from the crossing at Two Springs

Continuing along the Glady Fork

The trail rejoins the roads for a short distance as it passes through a drive-in, dispersed camping area. The river follows close to the road here and the walk is quite pleasant. I even stopped for a break along the river here.

Not long after leaving the road, I encountered a group of three people. Two of them were officers with the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association and Trail Section Coordinators with another volunteer, working on trail maintenance. They seemed happy to encounter a thru hiker on the trail and wanted me to pose with them for a photo.

Approaching a brushy section of trail

 

Posing with section 
coordinators

Although not originally my plan when I started my day, I decided to hike to US 33. Again, I was making better time than expected. The ALT crossing of US 33 is only about a half hour from my house. My plan was to get a ride home when I hit this road crossing to resupply, shower, do laundry, and get a night of sleep in a real bed. Even though it would be more than a 30 mile day, I figured I had plenty of daylight to make it to the road before dark. I made it to the road just after 6PM with about an hour of light to spare. 

The last ten or so miles to the road, I picked up the pace. I now had town fever knowing I was going to be off trail with better amenities for the night. Generally the hiking was pretty easy as it continued along the river. There were a few steep climbs that caught me by surprise, especially as I approached 30 miles for the day. I also encountered a tricky creek crossing on an interesting log crossing. Just when the road was in sight, it veered around private land, taking longer to reach the road that looked so close.

Following long abandoned road

Back into the laurels

 

Getting to my house proved more difficult than I expected. I thought I could call home and have Puma pick me up, but alas, I had no reception. Plan B, US 33 is a fairly busy road and it was the weekend. I could hitch into Elkins, just a few minutes from home. Unfortunately, it was getting close to dark and West Virginia isn't accustomed to hitch hikers. Nobody stopped.  As it became darker, I was starting to think about Plan C. Walk toward Elkins. It's pretty hilly, and I hoped I got a signal from higher ground. No service after two high hills. 

Ahead I could see a motel/restaurant lit up, plus it had a phone booth out front. The motel was closed and the phone was disconnected. Not my night apparently. I continued walking, now in pitch dark. Eventually I had to get a signal. I knew there were towers visible at some point. As I climbed yet another hill, now a couple miles from the trail, a car had pulled off the road. I was ready to ask for a ride if it was still there when I reached it. As I approached, the driver offered me a ride into Elkins. He had encountered rough times trying to hitch and could relate. Once in Elkins I called Puma and she soon picked me up.

Although it wasn't originally forecasted, that night some pretty intense thunderstorms moved through the area. According to the radar, I would have been hit pretty hard on the trail. I picked a good night to be out of the woods.

DAY 6 

Zero Day

I didn't originally plan a zero day at home. After my 30+ mile day and rough time getting a ride, I didn't get home until after 8PM. I figured I could take a day to recover. I had hiked over 130 miles in six days. I didn't feel necessarily like I needed a day off, but figured it wouldn't hurt. Besides showering, restocking my food bag, and laundry; I ate a lot. I lose weight quickly hiking such high mileage and took advantage of being home to recover some of my weight loss. As a pleasant surprise, Puma picked up a ice cream cake for me. I ate the entire cake in one day.

 

Sure you can eat an entire ice cream
cake in a day as a thru hiker

DAY 7

US 33- Wildell Shelter

16.8 Miles

After my zero day, I had one more calorie bomb in the way of a Chinese buffet. After lunch, Puma dropped me off at the trailhead and I hit the trail about 1230PM. Once again, the trail starts right back up where it let off following the Glady Fork River. Although there are a few spots it climbs away from the river, generally the trail stays fairly low and close to the water.

Heading back to the trail at US 33

Back following the Glady Fork

Garter snake

Neat bridge over Daniels Creek

Bridge over the Glady Fork

After about 25 miles following the river, the trail crosses the Glady Fork on a bridge and climbs away from the river. A short road walk passes through the small settlement of Glady. Beyond Glady, the ALT utilizes the West Fork Rail Trail a short distance. The trail passes lots of livestock including cows and sheep near Glady and the West Fork Rail Trail. When the ALT leaves the rail trail, it begins climbing pretty steeply as it gains the ridge of Shavers Mountain. Back on singletrack, the trail became fairly rough. The ground was quite thick with fallen leaves. The leaves hid a lot of downed branches and rocks. Without blazes, the trail would have been pretty difficult to follow at times with all of the downed leaves.

My destination for the night was Wildell Shelter. Just over a mile from the shelter I was surprised to see a pair of backpackers. They were the first and only backpackers I would see along the entire trail. The pair was also hiking the ALT as a mix of backpacking trips, day hikes, and slackpacks. 

They told me that the spring at the shelter was without water. Up until this point I didn't have any issues with water after five inches fell in the past two weeks. I was a little surprised by the lack of water at the shelter. I didn't plan on cooking dinner though since I ate so much at the Chinese buffet for lunch. I only had a little over a liter of water though. Since the couple I met planned on getting off the trail for a few days in Glady, just a few miles away, they offered me a liter of water since they didn't need it. Although I probably could have got by without it, the extra liter made my night and next morning a little more tolerable. I'm sorry I don't remember their names, but I'm thankful for the extra water.

I thought the mileage for Springer was interesting

I spent the night in the Wildell Shelter. The shelter sits relatively high at over 3,600'. The night was forecasted to be in the low 30s. I was a little worried it would be quite cold at elevation since the day was fairly cool to begin with. It felt quite a bit warmer in the shelter though, away from the sheltered valley. It was pretty windy though, and I never like sleeping in my tent on windy nights.

Wildell Shelter

DAY 8

Wildell Shelter- Stream Crossing (4 miles south of Durbin)

25.5 Miles

Leaving the Wildell Shelter, the trail was much rougher than it had been up to that point. I encountered quite a few large blowdowns across the trail over the first ten miles of the day. The dense leaf cover on the ground left the trail difficult to see. A lot of sticks were hiding under the leaves.

Overgrown trail

The trail climbed to over 4,000' for the first time. With the fallen leaves, I could catch an occasional view through the trees. I also passed the halfway point of the trail. I took a break at John's Camp Shelter, about seven miles in the day and was happy to find water coming from the piped spring.

The rough hiking continued along Shavers Mountain. Most of the leaves had fallen at elevation. The leaves hid lots of branches that seemed to trip me a couple times a minute. There were quite a few blowdowns along the ridge as well. I'm not sure if this was damage from Hurricane Helene that passed through a couple weeks earlier or if this stretch of trail just wasn't maintained in a while. 

View from Shavers Mountain

Passing through large rocks

Moss-lined trail

Halfway point

Sign by Gaudineer Scenic Area

After passing through the Gaudineer Scenic Area, the trail dropped below 4,000' and began a long descent. The leaves were particularly thick on the descent. Ultimately the trail makes its way down to the West Fork of the Greenbrier River. The trail provides a high water alternate route to a ford of the river. Since the majority of the summer was dry and it hadn't rained for a couple weeks, I opted for the standard low water route. None of the creek crossings or rivers up to this point were particularly high. 

As I neared the river, I read the comments on FarOut. The most recent comment was over a year old but indicated the water was deeper than knee high. When I reached the banks of the river, I was surprised that the river looked fairly deep and wider than I expected. I switched into my camp shoes and forded. The water reached the bottom of my shorts. The bottom of the river was pretty muddy, causing me to sink a little deeper. It seemed like there were rocks at the crossing to step on, but they were hard to see in the dark water. As I neared the opposite shore, I almost lost a shoe in the thick mud. I walked a little further in my camp shoes to let my feet dry.

I misread the App. It indicated a north bank crossing and a south bank crossing. It also listed a trailhead between the two crossings. I misread it as there were two fords close to each other. It was just one ford. I read the comments for the south bank and realized I would of had a much easier ford if I went down stream a short distance. Sure enough, the river was only ankle deep just around the bend from the actual trail crossings. It would have been much easier and warmer crossing there. 

Split for High and Low water routes

River at ford

West Fork of the Greenbrier

After the river crossing, the ALT rejoins the West Fork Rail Trail as it makes its way toward the small town of Durbin. There was no phone reception in Durbin, but the trail passes through town, right by the library. I took a break at the library to touch base with Puma and charge my phone.

Leaving Durbin, the trail heads back into the forest. Several small creeks were running dry, and I began to worry. Although I wasn't ready to stop for the day, I stopped at the first flowing creek outside of Durbin and ate dinner. I filled up my water and anticipated a dry campsite ahead. 

About an hour after my dinner, I reached a creek that was said to have unofficial spots to put up a tent. The creek was trickling, but not enough to gather water, so I'm glad I ate and topped off at the last creek. There were flat spots to tent, but with all the leaves on the ground, it was hard to find a decent spot for a tent. I moved an area of leaves big enough for my tent and found a serviceable spot for the night.

DAY 9

Stream Crossing (Four miles south of Durbin)- Seneca Spring Shelter 

25.7 Miles

I woke up to a cold morning. I was happy to have bright sunshine to warm me up some. The trail was a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs. Even by mid-morning, I encountered frost along the creeks in the deep valleys. A cool wind added to the chill. 

Open forest

The ups and downs continued through the morning. With most of the leaves down, I had a few glimpses into the valleys and surrounding mountains. Perhaps the most interesting vista looks down upon the massive telescopes in Green Bank.

View without the leaves

Looks like I'm on the right path

Telescope at Green Bank

Another view south of Green Bank

 

After a morning of ups and downs, the ALT descends to the Greenbrier River in the village of Cass. I stopped in a store at Cass and had a pizza and took an extended break. In Cass the ALT picks up the Greenbrier River Trail for a few miles. The Greenbrier River Trail is an 80-mile Rail Trail, probably more popular with bikes than hikers, that follows its namesake river.

Back in the laurel near Cass

Along the Greenbrier River Trail

Greenbrier River

The ALT leaves the Greenbrier River Trail at the first paved crossing. After a short road walk on a paved road. The trail heads onto a dirt road with a steep climb, only to drop back down after a couple miles. 

The ALT enters Seneca State Forest. I enjoyed the next several miles of trail. The trail climbed back up to an old CCC shelter on top of a mountain with a good view. The shelter is open to ALT hikers for overnight use. I thought about staying at the shelter but decided against it. The slate floor was pretty uneven and didn't look particularly comfortable, even by backpacking standards. I had plenty of daylight left, and a shelter with bunks was only a couple miles further.

Seneca State Forest decorated for Halloween 

Seneca State Forest Hiker's Shelter

View from the shelter

About a mile beyond the shelter, the ALT passes Thorny Mountain Fire Tower. For a fee and reservation, you can sleep in this shelter. I wanted to climb the tower, but a group was renting it out. Signage by the tower specifies that it’s only open with reservations.

Thorny Mountain Fire Tower

I spent the night at the Seneca Creek Shelter. Since I ate a pizza in the afternoon, I didn't end up cooking a dinner. I just ate a few snacks. The shelter had a couple bunks. The bunks had rodent midden piles. I saw numerous chipmunks running around the shelter and crawling under the walls. After dark, I could hear numerous rodents scurrying around in the leaves outside the shelter. They sounded larger than mice. Occasionally I could hear them under the bunk chewing. They never bothered my gear or me on my bunk. I didn't think chipmunks would be active at night. Possibly a wood rat used the shelter.

Seneca Creek Shelter

DAY 10

Seneca Creek Shelter- Beaver Creek Tentsite

24.1 Miles

I woke up to another nice day. I looked over my gear in the morning but found no signs of rodents getting into it. After a half mile, I reached the 200-mile mark of my hike.

Within the first hour of the day, I spotted dark movement ahead. A bear with two cubs took off, running down the ridge, maybe 30 yards ahead. They ran out of sight quickly. As I reached the spot I saw them, a cub quickly downclimbed a tree and took off. I don't know if it was a third cub or one of the first two. I didn't see any climb though. I definitely saw a mother and two cubs, possibly three.

Making progress

After the bears, the next several hours went by quietly. The trail dropped to a valley with a short road walk. The trail began climbing again, utilizing dirt roads much of the morning. I came to enjoy the dirt roads on this hike. When in the dense woods on singletrack trail, the leaves consistently cover branches. I'm guessing most of the branches were a result of the hurricane. I found myself tripping quite a bit on the hidden branches.

I made my way to Marlin Mountain Shelter for a break. After sitting at the front of the shelter a few minutes. I caught movement off to the side. A bear came from behind the shelter. It saw me and ran like hell down the mountain. It was before noon and I had already seen at least four bears, possible five.

I didn't see any more bears for the rest of the day. After some hiking along the ridges, I dropped to another road walk that passed through the little village of Huntersville. Huntersville has a convenience store that I stopped at for a light resupply of snacks and a lunch consisting of Doritos and chocolate milk. I was surprised that many of the patrons of the store asked me about the Allegheny Trail. Up until this point, it seemed like many of the locals near the trail were not aware of the ALT.

The trail climbs back up to higher elevation leaving Huntersville. The trail was in rough shape at times. I missed a turn at one point. Luckily, I only hiked about a 1/4 mile before I realized my mistake. The trail was pretty brushy with no visible tread at times. I traveled blaze to blaze to stay on track.

Nice, wide stretch of trail

A few blowdowns complicated the navigation. Plenty of branches hid under the leaves waiting to trip me up. I did encounter a few vistas along this stretch at least as the trail travels on the edge of a ridge. The trail leaves the ridge and drops steeply into a gorge carved by Beaver Creek. Approaching Beaver Creek, the trail runs through a creek bed. Fortunately, it was shallow enough to avoid wet feet.

View of a distant ridge

Another view

I camped for the night at Beaver Creek. There is a tentsite with a picnic table. As with many of the campsites, heavy leaf cover made it difficult to find exactly where to set up a tent. A bunch of broken limbs fell right where the obvious tentsite sat. I had to clear some debris for my tent. The picnic table was pretty convenient for cooking and sorting my gear.

I don't always hang my food at night. Although it's not talked about, most long-distance backpackers and thru hikers sleep with their food in the backcountry if they are in a remote area with no bear issues. I had seen at least four bears on this day. Someone in Huntersville told me that they were having problems with bears in Watoga. I was just a few miles from Watoga. I decided to hang my food.

I have hung my food plenty of times with no problems. I wasn't completely satisfied with where my food rope sat in a tree, so I decided to resituate it. When I pulled on my line, the rope popped the gate of the carabineer open, catching the rope in the carabineer. After spending too much time trying to pull it down or snap the line, I had to climb the tree to retrieve it. Luckily, it was a spruce with plenty of sturdy branches.

DAY 11

Beaver Creek- Bear Branch

15.7 Miles 

From Beaver Creek, I had to plan my next couple days carefully. About 40 miles south of Beaver Creek, the ALT enters the gap, a 30-mile stretch of incomplete trail. The ALT utilizes roads in the gap and usually travels through private property. Camping is very limited. A shelter, about 35 miles south of Beaver Creek, is the last camping spot before the gap. I had to plan my next two days so that I ended up at that shelter. This meant hiking at least one shorter day than I have been hiking so far.

I planned to hike under 16 miles leaving Beaver Creek. Even with the short days of October, I had no problem hiking 20-25 miles and even more on the ALT most days. With a shorter day planned, I slept in until almost 8AM and didn't start hiking until nearly 9. My first six miles took me to a campground in Watoga State Park. I took nearly a two-hour break at a vacant campsite to completely charge my phone, dry my ground cloth, and snack.

Bridge over Beaver Creek

Sign near Watoga State Forest

After a chilly start, the day warmed up quite a bit. The trail throughout the day continued a series of climbs and descents between creek valleys and ridges. By the last climb and ridge of the day, the trail became pretty rough and overgrown. At one point I missed a turn where a strategically fallen blowdown blocked the trail. I wandered maybe only a 1/4 mile before I realized my mistake.
 

The sign speaks for itself

The final descent for the day brought me to the Bear Branch. Passing through the area, the trail crosses a meadow and the ALT is a mowed path in the grass. Between the overgrown trail on the ridge and the grassy trail in the meadow, I pulled off way too many ticks from my legs. Other than one tick within the first week, these were the first ticks I encountered. Bear Branch also sat in a shaded valley. When I arrived in the area around 5PM, the surrounding hills blocked the sun and it was already shaded for the night. 

The tenting spots weren't the best at Bear Branch. Most of the area was a meadow with tall grasses. This seemed like a recipe for more ticks. My second choice was to camp along the mowed path to the creek. This was slightly better and would be fine as long as nobody decided to hike to the creek. considering the lack of people I have seen I figured that I would be alone.

After setting up my tent, I soon realized that the mowed area included lots of pointy vegetation that would have probably punctured my sleeping pad. I had to carefully feel the ground and cut away any sharp vegetation. The entire area seemed to have the mowed, pointy sticks growing out of the ground so moving my tent wouldn't have helped. 

Nice look at the distant ridge

Like most nights, I was in my tent not too long after 7PM. The sun sets early in October and I'm not much for fires when backpacking, so I'm in bed early. I woke up around 945PM. 

My campsite sat about a 1/4-mile from a road and trailhead. I could hear an occasional car on the road. Around 945, It sounded like a vehicle stopped at the trailhead. I heard voices and dogs. 

Soon I could hear hounds baying in the distance. I heard a lot of yelling and saw lights in the distance. The commotion subsided for a few minutes. Then I could hear dogs running up the creek, which was no more than 30 yards from my tent. 

The dogs started baying again. Now the people were within 50 yards of me in a meadow through a thin strip of trees. There was lots of yelling and lights on the ground and in the trees. Then came gunshots. I wasn’t 100% sure what was going on, but I started to get nervous. I didn’t want a pack of dogs to come upon me or get shot at. 

I got out of my tent and yelled to let them know I was there. It turned out they were raccoon hunting. While they didn’t get any closer and seemed to be shooting away from me, it was quite unnerving. They must have fired at least 50 rounds. I don’t know if they were bad shots or there was a family of raccoons. The were focused on the same tree for at least twenty minutes and shooting consistently. They moved on further away and I heard the same racket in the distance again. They were at it at least an hour before finally leaving. 

DAY 12

Bear Branch- Graham Shelter

19.2

After the hunters left, I surprisingly fell asleep fairly quickly. I had a decent night sleep. Camping near a creek surrounded by a large meadow left my tent soaked with dew.  

Climbing away from Bear Branch, I climbed back up onto a long ridge. Once again the trail was brushy and overgrown with lots of thorns. Like most sections of trail, this stretch was covered with leaves that hid lots of branches. Between the thorns and branches, a tear started to form in the mesh on one of my shoes. 

Valley fog in the distance

With the brushy trail, I found a lot of ticks on my legs. I stopped regularly in the worst of the brush to check for ticks and usually found one or two. It was strange that I only had a problem with ticks for two days. I probably pulled well over a dozen off me in a twenty mile stretch, but only one anywhere else on the trail. 

Chicken of the Woods

Brushy trail

Besides the ticks, I at least had some exciting wildlife sightings. Along the brushy ridge, I spooked two bear cubs that climbed down a tree and took off running. 

After I saw the bears, the trail began a fairly long descent. Before the drop, there was a nice view to the next climb. I was surprised to see a day hiker in this section. He was only the third or fourth person/group I have seen hiking in nearly 250 miles. 

Looking ahead to the next mountain

After dropping into a valley, the trail crossed a road. The ALT follows Laurel Run for at least four miles. Laurel Run lived up to its name. Dense thickets of mountain laurel lined the creek. It was difficult to see very far into the forest with the lush foliage. 

Apparently hikers aren’t the main traveler along this stretch of trail. I never seen so much bear scat in my life. No exaggeration, I saw scat everywhere every few feet, ranging from old and dry to very fresh. Several times, my foot silpped as I stepped in piles hidden in the leaves. 

Not surprisingly, I soon enough saw a bear. A small bear dropped down a tree trunk and took off into the forest in the opposite direction. After that, I clapped and sang regularly. I was hiking alone and didn’t want to spook a mother with cubs as I walked around a blind bend in a tunnel of laurel. 

My noise paid off. Not too far down the trail, I passed a clearing surrounded by laurel. After clapping and making noise, I heard something large run away and crashing through the forest. I didn’t see it, but I’m confident it was another bear having heard quite a few run by now. 

The day was pretty warm, probably in the 70s. The forecast called for a big change in temperatures ahead with highs struggling to reach 50, even in the lower elevations, the next couple days. 

I took advantage of the warm day and Laurel Run. When I stopped for lunch, I stripped down and took as much of a backcountry bath as I could, washing off head to toe. If only for a moment, I felt a little less funky and refreshed, since I hadn’t showered since I was home six days earlier. Stripping down also let me do a more thorough tick search after hiking in brush most of the day. I found at least a couple more on my thighs that were thankfully not buried in my skin yet. 

My mountain stream-fresh feeling didn’t last long as I climbed away from Laurel Run. A series of ups and downs took me back over 3,000’ as I made my way toward Graham Shelter. 

Eastern Continental Divide

Graham Shelter is the last allowable camping before the gap and last spot for over 20 miles. The shelter sits at nearly 3,400’, next to a large mountaintop meadow. The views are quite pretty from the meadow. With its location on top of a mountain, there isn’t any water near the shelter. Fortunately the ALT coordinator for this section brings a cache of water to the shelter for hikers. 

By the time I reached the shelter, the cold front started to move through with gusty winds. I was happy to have a roof over my head. With the wind, it seemed like a good night for falling branches. If I needed more reason to enjoy a shelter, showers were predicted overnight. 

The night was noisy with the wind whipping all night. As predicted, I woke up to rain not long after midnight. The rain didn’t last too long, but I was happy to not deal with a wet tent or the wind. 

Morning view near Graham Shelter

DAY 13

Graham Shelter- Creek crossing near Cove Creek WMA

24.0

When I woke up, it was still breezy, but the rain had cleared. It was noticeably cooler. For the first time on this trip, I started the day with long pants.  After a few miles in the mountains, the trail began to descend. The trail transitions to a dirt road before reaching pavement. From the pavement, it’s mostly road walking the next 30 miles. 

View just past Graham Shelter

Despite its length, the road walk isn’t as bad as I expected. To be honest, I was looking forward to it a little bit. With the fallen leaves and downed branches hiding underneath, I was looking forward to easy footing. The hidden branches are enough to trip you up. The hole in my shoe’s mesh was getting bigger quickly from the branches poking into it. If it wasn’t so leafy, the branches would be avoidable. Another downside to the deep leaf cover on the trail was the noise. Hiking is very noisy with the nonstop crunching of dry leaves underfoot. I was happy to have a break from the noise. 

Most of the road walk was pretty quiet. Other than a couple mile stretch on either side of White Sulphur Springs, traffic was minimal. I took advantage of passing through White Sulfur Springs. The route passes right through town with a full sized grocery store and several restaurants. I made a small resupply to get me through the end of the trail and had lunch at Hardee’s. 

As is most of West Virginia, the scenery along the road walk is fairly pretty forest and countryside. Even though a decent stretch takes you over paved roads, the ALT used dirt roads when possible, and some sections were quite remote. I even saw a bald eagle near Tuckahoe Lake and another bear on a secluded dirt road in the forest. The ALT briefly crosses into Virginia at one point. 

Underpass south of White Sulfur Springs 

Tuckahoe Lake

The biggest challenge in the gap was finding a camping spot. The comments in FarOut were helpful with finding a place to camp. I ended up finding a pull off along the road about a half-mile after I crossed back into West Virginia. There were no signs for private property in the area. The spot was quiet with a nice creek for ambiance. Only one car passed while I was setting up and no others that I’m aware of overnight. Placing tent stakes was a bit challenging though. The ground was pretty rocky and I ended up bending a stake. It was the only time I ran into difficulty with placing tent stakes. 

Most of the day was cool and dreary. Rain was in the forecast overnight. Finally around 1030PM rain started falling. It was the first rainfall I encountered on trail after 13 days. I still didn’t get rained on while hiking apart from a brief mist on the first afternoon. The only other rainfall occurred overnight when I was home to resupply. The rain sporadically fell through 6AM. 

Crossing the state line 

DAY 14

Creek crossing near Cove Creek WMA- Southern Terminus

28.8 Miles

Although it wasn’t raining when I left my tent and started hiking, the morning looked quite dreary. It wasn’t particularly cold with temperatures probably in the 40s. It wasn’t supposed to get much warmer. Yesterday, the last several miles of the ALT followed quiet dirt roads. Within the first mile of my morning, I was back on pavement for the next 16 miles. 

Walking on paved roads can be strange. I end up hiking at a faster pace, but at the same time, the miles kind of drag on. My pack was light as my hike was winding down. It was also chilly, so a fast pace kept me warm. I also had one last town meal ahead of me for lunch. 

About ten miles into my day, the route passes through the tiny village of Gap Mills. A small Mennonite run store called The Cheese ‘n’ More Store sits about a minute walk off the trail. The store has a deli and I planned my food supply around lunch there. They offered a deal with a sandwich, chips, and drink. I ended up getting a second round. 

As a Mennonite store, they had some Pennsylvania Dutch offerings and I was excited that one of the available drinks was birch beer. When I hike and see sweet birch, I will often snap off a small twig and chew on it to enjoy the wintergreen flavor. I occasionally did this along the ALT and craved birch beer. Birch beer was pretty common where I grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I was tickled that the store had a brand from the area I grew up. 

After enjoying lunch at the Mennonite store, I hiked the last five miles of road. The last several miles were rather nice as I passed farms with increasing views of the surrounding mountains. The paved road began to climb steeply toward the mountains over the last couple miles, gaining over 1,000’ from the valley. 

After covering about 16 miles for the day, I reached the end of the gap and was back on trail. During the gap, the ALT doesn’t have any signage or blazing. It was nice to see a yellow blaze again after 30 miles. With the fallen leaves obscuring the trail, hiding downed branches, I was happy for a little road walking. After the gap, I was happy to be back on a proper trail. 

As I approached the end of the gap, rain started to fall, my first time actually hiking in rain since the start of the trail. Now at 3,400’, sleet started to mix in with rain. I already had rain pants on to stay warm on the chilly day. I added my rain jacket and poncho before beginning the climb toward Hanging Rock. 

The end of the gap

Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory might be the most spectacular viewpoint along the entire ALT. An enclosed observation deck sits at the top of the rocky promontory. The observatory is primarily used to track birds of prey during migration. From its perch, 360-degree views take in the scenery of the surrounding ridges and farmland. 

Even though I had nearly perfect weather with blue skies for nearly my entire trip on the ALT, I hit Hanging Rock with cloudy skies and somewhat diminished visibility. Even with the weather moving through, the views were still pretty. In the increasingly bad weather, I didn’t see any birds of prey however, just a couple ravens. 

Hanging Rock Observatory 

View from Hanging Rock 

Looking down the ridge at Hanging Rock 

South along Peters Mountain 

I’m glad I had some visibility before 
the weather moved in

Low clouds moving in

Hanging Rock sits only about a mile from the road. With its short distance from the road and stellar views, the area sees a decent amount of traffic. The trail from the road to the observatory was one of the few section that the leaves were trampled and the trail tread well defined on the ALT. Immediately after passing the spur to the observatory, the thick leaf cover started again. Just after leaving Hanging Rock, I passed the 300 mile mark of my hike. Only a mile past Hanging Rock, the trail passes Neel Rock, which might be the second best view on the trail. The cloud ceiling floated just above me, allowing me to enjoy the views from Neel Rock. 

Only 11 miles left

View from Neel Rock 

The ceiling is dropping quickly 

When I started my day, I still had 28.8 miles of the ALT left to the end of trail. I had a hunch I would finish the trail today. When I hit the 300 mile point just after 1PM, I was pretty confident I could finish the last 11 miles before dark. The road miles in the morning went by quickly and I was running on the high of knowing my goal of finishing the trail was so close. 

Since reaching the ridge of Peter Mountain at the end of the road walk, the air cooled off quite a bit at elevation. The earlier sleet and rain didn’t last more than 15 minutes. The sky still looked ominous with the clouds dropping. Adding to the cool air was a steady breeze. 

A few miles after Hanging Rock, more rain moved in. This quickly mixed in with sleet and snow. By this point the clouds dropped and I was hiking in fog most of the last 5-6 miles of the ALT. There were breaks in the showers, but the fog stuck around. The trail climbed over 4,000’. Considering that it snowed and sleeted, I’m guessing the temps were at best in the mid 30s. A gusty wind made it feel even colder. My last couple hours on trail, I just plugged along to keep warm. 

Hiking along Peters Mountain 

Here comes the fog

After plugging along for 2-3 hours in cold winds with mixed precipitation, I saw several signs ahead. At 453PM, I passed the last yellow blaze and finished the Allegheny Trail. I stopped briefly to take a few photos and take in the accomplishment. Not wanting to add any more layers, I didn’t stay too long so I could keep warm. 

The last yellow blaze of the ALT

The southern terminus 

While I was officially finished with the Allegheny Trail, I still had more hiking in store. The ALT ends on Peters Mountain where it meets the Appalachian Trail. Eager to lose elevation and potentially reach warmer temperatures, I hiked another 2.5 miles to Pine Swamp Shelter along the AT. 

The difference between the AT and ALT was immediately obvious. The AT clearly saw much more traffic. The leaves had covered much of the ALT’s tread. The leaves on the AT were well trampled with the trail clearly visible. 

Pine Swamp shelter sits more than 1200’ lower than the end of the ALT on Peters Mountain. The last 2.5 miles passed quickly. I soon hiked below the mist and warmed up even though I was cruising downhill.  The last 2.5 miles put my mileage for the day at 31.3 miles. Despite the distance I felt pretty good. About half those miles were on the road and pretty easy. Plus the satisfaction of finishing a trail can help you forget about a few minor aches after such a long day. 

Hiking along the AT

It had been a while since I followed the
White blazes of the AT

Conclusion

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with my hike of the ALT. While the trail has a green tunnel feel at times, there are plenty of positives on this trail. 

I saw plenty of wildlife. I saw deer regularly, which is pretty common in WV. I startled wild turkeys on several occasions. Early on, just after it rained, I saw red efts pretty often and the adult newts a couple times. A few garter and ringneck snakes basked in the sun on warmer days. Most nights, barred owls called near my campsites. Most surprising was the number of bears. I saw at least eight, including several cubs. I have seen dozens of bears over the years, but never so many in such a short time. I saw all of them in a few day span. 

There is no shortage of nice scenery. I had the added bonus of changing leaves. The trail passed countless mountain streams and the occasional waterfall. To my surprise, some of the nicest scenery was of the countryside while walking along quiet roads. 

I really lucked out with the weather on this trip. Most days were clear and warm for October. On a 300+ mile trip, I only hiked a few hours in rain. Even though it was cold and mixing with snow, I can’t complain too much since the rain fell at the end of my hike. 

Perhaps the biggest bonus of the ALT is its solitude. I only encountered one pair of thru hikers. I saw three groups of day hikers as well. That’s surprisingly few for a 311- mile hike. I literally saw more bears than people. 

One other asset of the ALT is the community. I ran into a pair of section coordinators with another volunteer working on the trail. They were extremely friendly and receptive to any input to improve the trail. The volunteer coordinator for the WVSTA reached out for input on the trail and asked if I needed anything.  She then reached out to volunteers to help me coordinate shuttles to get back home after my hike. The two volunteers drove me several hours The volunteers involved with the trail genuinely care about the trail and want to make sure trail users enjoy their experience on the ALT. I never saw a trail group so happy to personally reach out to trail users. The trail passes through several small towns as well with quite a few businesses happy to cater to thru hikers. 

No trail or backpacking trip is perfect. My only grievances were minor. I had a lot of ticks on this trail. This is part of hiking in this part of the country though, and no fault of the trail itself. My only other inconvenience was the leaves. A lot of the leaves had fallen, which is to be expected in October. The leaves made the tread difficult to follow at times. As I mentioned before, they also hid a lot of debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s passing. Again, it’s no fault of the trail, just my timing. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect of the Allegheny Trail before I started the trip. There isn’t a lot of firsthand accounts of the trail since it’s lightly traveled. Two things stood out beforehand. Older accounts from the trail talk about an overgrown route that can be near impossible to follow. The other focused on the long stretches of road walks. 

In recent years, the group overlooking the trail’s maintenance, West Virginia Scenic Trails Association (WVSTA), has seen an increase in a younger leadership. This younger group has taken the initiative to improve the trail. 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of the ALT.  This led to a push to further improve the trail in hopes of attracting more trail users. As a result, the trail maintenance really stepped up in the past couple years. Yes the trail, is slightly overgrown at places, but it’s more from a lack of hikers trampling the path, not the lack of maintenance. 

As for the roads, there are quite a few miles of roads. The sections of roads added charm to the trail in most cases. Words like bucolic, serene, and pastoral come to mind when trying to describe the sections of the ALT that utilize roads. 

There were a few short sections on busier, paved roads. These sections were relatively short to gap stretches of the trail that navigate private land. Occasionally, a paved road can’t be avoided. As for the 30-mile gap around White Sulfur Springs, the WVSTA has been working with the Forest Service, state, and private landowners to hopefully close the gap and move the trail to a more permanent route. 

Overall, I’d recommend thru hiking the Allegheny Trail. With the lack of people and remoteness at times, I felt like I was hiking 50 years in the past.  There really is a lot to appreciate on the ALT. 

For more info on the Allegheny Trail, visit their website at www.hikethealleghenytrail.org/ or their group on Facebook.

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