Outdoor Adventures
written by nicolle flood-sawczyszyn
Photo by Wildhare Media.
TREKKING THE
The Allegheny Trail( ALT) is West Virginia’ s longest hiking trail, boasting 311 miles. The ALT is 51 years old and managed by the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association( WVSTA), a volunteer-based 501( c)( 3) nonprofit. In 2025, this group of selfless volunteers set two new records. The first was attaining 7,007 hours of community service in one year. The second was being recognized by the U. S. Forest Service, out of 154 national forests and 20 U. S. grasslands, as the national winner for the Citizen Stewardship and Partnerships Award, a first for WVSTA and the West Virginia Monongahela National Forest.
In 1958, a scout troop from Charleston, WV, hiked the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smokie Mountains with Troop Leader Doug McGrew. Nick Lozano, who was 15 years old at the time, remembers thinking,“ Why should we have to travel to other states to experience the adventure of longdistance backpacking? We have the Allegheny Mountains with their natural splendor to rival the Great
Smoky Mountains. Why can’ t we have a trail like the Appalachian Trail running through the Mountain State?”
ALT began that day as a dream, and Lozano is one of the founders.
The northern terminus of the ALT is located near the Mason-Dixon Line close to Bruceton Mills, WV. The ALT’ s southern terminus abuts the Appalachian Trail on Peters Mountain in Virginia. This is a north-to-south long trail and passes through Preston, Tucker, Randolph,
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