By GREG JORDAN
CAMP CREEK — A link that could eventually bring more hikers and economic development into southern West Virginia is now seeking volunteers willing to do some mapping and building.
About 70 percent of a new pathway for hikers, the Great Eastern Trail, is already complete, but now its West Virginia section needs to be built, said Steve Clark, an extension agent with West Virginia State University in Pineville.
The completed trail will extend 1,800 miles from Alabama to New York, Clark said. West Virginia’s section will run through Mercer, Wyoming, Mingo, Raleigh and Summers counties.
Plans call for bringing the trail through the region where Wyoming, Mercer and Raleigh counties’ borders meet, Clark said. The trail would not go through either Buchanan or Tazewell Counties in Virginia.
“Then it would go through the Camp Creek area, then off to Pipestem and across into the Bluestone area and then head south in the New River area,” he explained. “It will be a hiking trail.”
The Great Eastern Trail is like the Appalachian Trail, he said.
“It’s the newest, greatest addition to the national trail system. We’re excited to have it run through this area,” Clark said. “It will have economic and health and recreation benefits.”
Volunteers in Pineville are now organizing for the trail system, said Becky Morris, West Virginia trail coordinator.
“We had our first meeting Monday,” she said. “The name is the TuGuNu Hiking Club. That’s Tug and Guyandotte and New River. We had 35 at our first meeting, and we have our first outing planned for Jan. 20. It will be 10 a.m. at Twin Falls.”
Plans are underway for a meeting in Mercer County. A date has not yet been set. Morris said she can be contacted at 304-732-6707 or queenbecky@mail.com.
“We need volunteers to help create the trail and get the word out. Everything from administrative work to helping recruit volunteers or helping make the trail or just coming and enjoying our hikes, Morris said. “There’s a lot of areas they can help in. We’re interested in getting the whole community involved.”
At the Pineville meeting, people from a wide variety of age groups and economic circumstances attended, she said.
Organizers hope to have the first section of the trail completed by the end of the year, Morris said. Like the builders of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail for all-terrain vehicles, the Great Eastern Trail’s proponents must seek right-of-ways through property.
Having the trail pass through southern West Virginia will offer long term economic benefits, Morris said. In Virginia, towns such as Damascus have benefited from the creation of accommodations and other businesses created to meet hikers’ needs.
