Great Eastern Trail

Smith, who is the club’s district manager for the 32 miles of the Tuscarora Trail that run through West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, has been actively working with his team of volunteers to move a segment seven miles down a Sleepy Creek Mountain ridge and through a rock scramble along the Meadow Branch creek to the Devil’s Nose, where hemlocks and rhododendrons grow at the base of a canyon in the shadow of 100-foot rock cliffs.

He believes it’s something people really have to see.

“The only reason I’m moving seven miles of the Tuscarora Trail is because of Devil’s Nose,” said Smith. “What’s the point of walking somewhere if you don’t have something to look at?”

Smith, who lives in Winchester, Va. and is married with two daughters, previously was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and served two tours in Vietnam as the commander of a rifle company before retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1980.

He went on to work for Loudoun County, Va. as a human resources specialist and later retired when a renewed interest in hiking and backpacking coupled with a desire to give something back drew him to the PATC.

“I think we get to a point in time where we want to pay back others. A lot of people have helped me along the way and that’s how I got involved with the PATC,” said Smith, 71. “There’s inspiration in seeing the beauty of the Earth. You become interconnected with things.”

Smith, a Mormon who also plays the organ as a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, has served two terms as president of the PATC, from 1999 through 2002. He joined the club in 1992.

After he stepped down from the leadership post, Smith became the district manager for this area, where he now works with volunteers to construct and maintain hiking trails for the public.

“You see lots of animals and meet interesting people along the way,” he said.

Clearing brush and blown-down trees, painting blazes on trees and setting the signs along the trail are just a few of the jobs that Smith and his volunteer crew are responsible for.

The crew, under Smith’s guidance, also blazes new trails and builds shelters for weary hikers to rest overnight. The PATC owns more than 2,000 acres of land and maintains more than 40 shelters and 32 cabins on trails throughout the region.

“I like creating something that will help benefit people in the future,” he said. “These are some of the prime vistas on the East Coast.”

The PATC does a wonderful job of maintaining it's trails. The volunteers are very helpful to hikers with resource information as well as actual physical support. My Spring and Summer of 2007 would not have been possible without the help I rec'd from the PATC. I have to also say that the members of the ATHS were also very supportive and helpful.

I am taking a medical break this year but hope to be back out there in 2009.

Sue/HH