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The
GET hiker first nears the Mountain State on descending
2,000 feet to the New River. The New River, despite its
name, is the second
oldest
in
the world, and one of
the few that flows north.
The
yellow blazes of Allegheny
Trail welcome you definitively to West Virginia. A
major attraction on the south end of Allegheny Trail is
the Hanging Rock Raptor Migration Observatory, reached
via either of two intersections with a blue-blazed side
trail. A visit to the observatory will yield, on a clear
day, a 360-degree view of the Allegheny Mountains in West
Virginia and Virginia. Volunteers are working to resolve
issues at a small gap in the vicinity of I-64 that
presently requires a car shuttle.
Presently
the GET is fully hikeable from the Allegheny Trail
at I-64 exit 1, just east of the VA/WV border, northward
through portions of VA, WV, all of MD, all of PA, to
Maple
Street in the Village of Addison, NY.
Soon
the ALT's yellow blazes are left behind for a
route through George Washington National Forest edging
back into the Old Dominion. This route is entirely within
the National Forest, and is covered in National Geographic
Maps 791 and 792. Check Potomac
Appalachian Trail Club for details. This portion of
route uses many existing hikeable National Forest trails
with relatively few and
short connections made on public roads. North of
US Hwy 33, GET generally follows the height of land along
VA/WV
border
with a
few excursions through valleys on either side.
Just
past Big Schloss,
the GET joins the completed and well maintained Tuscarora
Trail, returning to the Mountain
State for a 40-mile traverse of West Virginia's Potomac
Highlands where both GET and Tuscarora Trail finally cross
the Potomac River to Hancock, Maryland where the GET hiker
has a difficult choice between western and eastern branches
forming a loop. Both branches follow the Potomac for some
distance where the hiker almost remains in "Almost
Heaven". (See PATC Maps F and L for the route of the
GET through northern Virginia and West Virginia.)
< South
to Virginia | North to Maryland >
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