If you hike the trails, we welcome you to join our volunteers in maintaining those trails.
PATC volunteers are the stewards for over 1,000 miles of trails in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and DC, including 240 miles of the AT.
Basic trail work includes keeping the footpath clear by managing natural overgrowth, removing obstacles from the tread, controlling erosion, and ensuring that blazes and signage are clear and obvious.
No prior experience is required; we will train on the job. Just bring your enthusiasm and desire to give back!
Work Opportunities
- Maintain a trail section: Our trails are divided into sections from about a mile to five miles. A maintainer is assigned to a section that the maintainer goes on several times a year. The maintainer sets his or her own schedule. These maintainers are supervised by a district manager. List of district managers - Open Trail Sections
- Join a Trail Crew: Trail crews go out regularly, but don’t always work on the same trail or district. Crews usually tackle larger trail tasks such as building or maintaining foot bridges, relocating sections of the footpath, or caring for overnight sites. Crews are social and help the worker learn maintenance techniques. List of Trail Crews
- Join a Workday or Project: The club has trail projects to improve a particular trail condition. The workdays for these activities are usually advertised on Meetup or on this website.
Where to Work
Location: If you live in our territory, you can find a trail near you. Alternatively, you can maintain a trail that will give you opportunities for trips to the mountains. See the
list of the parks and other places where the PATC maintains trails. You can also look at the
trail districts.
Difficulty: There are short, easy trail sections with no hike in, and there are long, difficult sections that require a long hike just to start working. Each has its own appeal. You can seek the kind of trail you want.
Other Factors: There are popular trails and lonely trails. Flat trails and steep trails. Rocky trails and muddy trails.
How to Volunteer
There a number of ways to start the process of volunteering:
Trail Maintenance Training
Join one of our workshops to help new and seasoned maintainers learn or hone the skills needed to be effective trail maintainers .Get more information
Help Wanted -- Current Openings