Ridgerunner Season in Review
By Jess LaPolla
Each year, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club’s (PATC) Ridgerunners patrol nearly 2,800 miles on the club’s 240-mile section of the Appalachian Trail (AT), spend nearly 200 nights at one of our 25 backcountry shelters, huts, and campgrounds, and encounter over 1,000 overnight campers.
The Ridgerunners work each summer with the public, trail community, and officials along the AT to enhance the public's enjoyment of the trail and to help protect it. PATC's section of the trail extends from the southern end of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, through Maryland, to Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania.
PATC strives to operate the best Ridgerunner Program on the AT. The club works closely with its partners to fund, hire, train, and support a total of 6 Ridgerunners assigned to 1 of 4 segments of our AT section.
Dan Hippe, PATC’s Ridgerunner Coordinator, oversees the hiring, training, and supervision of our Ridgerunners each year in conjunction with PATC’s Trail Patrol. “Ridgerunners are super interesting people,” said Dan at the beginning of the 2025 season. "This year's crew are all accomplished long trail hikers. They've also held lots of public facing jobs and showed through the interview process that they have the skills and passion for being ambassadors of our club on and off the trail, including a substantial number of planned public events with youth at summer camps and the general public at various events that we were plugged into in 2025."
Over the course of the 2025 season, PATC Ridgerunners patrolled a total of 2,767 miles and had 15,462 total encounters. Encounters include interactions with day hikers, backpackers, thru-hikers, trail runners, and campers. Ridgerunners are responsible for collecting data during their patrols, educating the public about Leave No Trace (LNT) principles and trail etiquette, cleaning up trash, blowdowns, and illegal campsites, and providing emergency assistance when required.
With thousands of people recreating along the length of the AT, Ridgerunners are an essential piece in keeping the trail clean, safe, and open. They work with park staff and other agencies, volunteers on the trail working on their own projects, and even those who come on trail to deliver trail magic. Even trail magic needs to be regulated, according to Hippe. “Unattended trail magic endangers wildlife and leaves litter and spoilage in huts and food storage boxes.”
This season, Dan Hippe, with the help of PATC staff and volunteers, implemented the Jr. Ridgerunner program, designed to reward members of the public, of any age, for (1) assisting a PATC Ridgerunner in their official duties, or (2) participating in a LNT game or discussion led by a PATC Ridgerunner.
Our Ridgerunners had several opportunities to engage groups in Leave No Trace (LNT) focused discussions and games toward earning a Jr. Ridgerunner Recognition and additional opportunities to talk about the AT hiking experience and what Ridgerunners do.
PATC is proud to have such dedicated and passionate Ridgerunners, all of whom have their own interesting history and who come onto the trail for different reasons.
“After finishing my thru-hike, I just really wanted to give back to trail because it had a huge impact on my life. I really wanted to stay connected with the community and continue to be a part of it.” Ridgerunner Marissa Fulton talks about her experience thru-hiking the AT and becoming a Ridgerunner on the Shenandoah section of the trail this year.
“Prior to hiking the AT, I had just kind of lost myself a little bit. Part of the reason I wanted to do the AT when I did was just to get some of my confidence back and prove to myself I can do what I set out to do.” Marissa’s time on the AT allowed her the space to grow and realize she could live a non-traditional life. This life consisted of being on trail 5 days a week, hiking shelter to shelter through SNP from end to end, which would typically take around 2-3 weeks depending on changing schedules.
Marissa had a standout first season. She completed her patrols with enthusiasm, participated in PATC outreach events, and even had to lend her skills to a medical emergency on trail when a hiker fell and dislocated their elbow near where Marissa was camping. Marissa stabilized the arm and helped law enforcement get the injured hiker to safety.
All of PATC’s Ridgerunners had a successful season, including Maryland Ridgerunner Josh Sheets.
Josh has thru-hiked a total of around 8,500 miles since his initial thru-hike on the AT back in 2011. Since then, he has completed the Colorado Trail, the Long Trail, the PCT, the Tahoe Rim Trail, the Arizona Trail, and the Benton MacKaye Trail.
After a career in healthcare that eventually led to burnout, Josh moved to the mountains of Virginia and began looking for outdoor opportunities. As a result of meeting Dan on a trail maintenance outing last winter, Josh found himself accepting the role of a Maryland Ridgerunner this season.
“Getting paid to be outside and hiking and watching the sunset at Annapolis Rock; it just never really felt like work.” For anyone who enjoys spending time in nature, this sounds like the dream.
Josh pointed out that along with getting to experience the peace and beauty of the trail, he also had thousands of positive interactions with the public. Most folks he encountered were friendly, curious, and cared about the trail.
In addition to patrolling on trail, there is a caretaking component on the Maryland section of the AT. One week Josh would patrol while the other Maryland Ridgerunner, Dillon Utter, would act as the caretaker at Annapolis Rock, rotating the following week.
From seeing PATC’s work and from his time spent as a Ridgerunner, Josh noted the sheer amount of work and coordination that goes into keeping these trails viable and open to the public. “Just being able to have a trail exist like this is pretty remarkable. All of the all the volunteer hours and coordination efforts between agencies, and the years of work to get pieces of the trail off a road or to gain land rights is incredible.”
I think many of us as hikers and backpackers can relate to this. We love to recreate in beautiful places but are often unaware of the work that goes into creating and maintaining the trails. Clearing blowdowns, building water bars, managing invasive plant species, creating more accessibility on trails, and keeping them safe and open for the public are all a part of being a volunteer for PATC and other organizations whose mission is to care for outdoor spaces.
The Ridgerunners are an essential piece of this mission. They are on the front lines, interacting with thousands of people on the trail, some of whom are brand new to hiking or recreating outdoors. The impressions they make are lasting and important.
We are beyond grateful for our incredible team of Ridgerunners. The 2025 season Ridgerunners include Marrisa Fulton, Josh Sheets, Dillon Utter, Ellie Strait, Rich Jacobus, and Ray Stinson. To read more about them and to learn more about our Ridgerunner program, check out this article.
