Justin Mullins 2024 Thru Hike | Allegheny Trail Podcast #001

Welcome To The Allegheny Trail Podcast! In this first episode you will hear all about why it was important to the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association to start a podcast for the Allegheny Trail. You will hear from Allegheny Trail Board Member Justin Mullins and Outreach Coordinator Nicolle Sawczyszyn as they begin to share about the Allegheny Trail and the trails 50th year celebration coming September 2024!

Podcast Audio:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5rA7h9VQASvwws40wLz13t
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/allegheny-trail-podcast/id1723501614

Allegheny Trail Website:
https://www.hikethealleghenytrail.org/

Allegheny Trail Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/295404191141571

West Virginia Scenic Trails Association:
https://www.wvscenictrails.org/

📱Far Out App:

Allegheny Trail

Hike Registration:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14cjwCJi1ALb237wAcMDKxbrtx7MWQL_qVd_Nah9yAfE/edit?usp=drivesdk

Hike Completion:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FuVbaevvhTRvxiDqP3Pue54AoZvRU3w_h-IHlBB99DA/edit?usp=drivesdk

Trail Angel Registration:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ixmz8x8Yv-bEdH_NXZzaNTp1LctPHslMMndOu5pZ_Lk/edit?usp=drivesdk

Monthly Newsletter Sign-up:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18Kr47QxBsI0xCFOsMOd5o18cGfAu2O9PvKIKMMLGPDE/edit?usp=drivesdk&chromeless=1

➡️ Justin’s Go Fund Me Fundraiser:
https://gofund.me/d8b13eb8

🥾 Follow Justin On YouTube: @Allegheny_Hiker

➡️ Check Out All The Livestream Podcasts On The Channel:

🎙️Podcast Moderator & Producer:
Julie Gayheart (Jester)
Email: jester@jestersectionhiker.com
YouTube: @JulieGayheart
Podcast Audio: https://www.hikingradionetwork.com/show/jester-section-hiker/

🎵 Music By: Benjamin Carey
“Your Words”

#alleghenytrailpodcast #alleghenytrail #podcast

Oh All right welcome to the alagen trail podcast glad that you guys could be with us tonight we’re g to have good time have some laughs hopefully you’ll learn a little something about the alagan trail G to be co-hosted tonight with Justin Mullins and Julie Jester gayart who’s going to be helping produce the

Show for us so hope everybody had a great holiday um certainly I did my family and uh just excited to get back to the podcast start talking trail with y’all what about you guys oh yeah we’re ready so is Molly yeah Molly you guys I can’t help it Molly is so

Cute all right you guys we have been laughing behind the scenes um my name is Julie gayart also known as Jester and uh this is going to be new for me I’m going to take a little bit of a backseat and moderate and help produce the show so my

Message is to everybody that is watching live if you are listening there is a little Thumbs Up Button there uh right beside you in the chat give the show a thumbs up that will help spread the word let us know who’s in the chat if you have comments as Nicole and Justin go

Please please please put comments um in the chat and toward the end of the show we want to pop up a few questions uh to kind of close out the show and uh let these guys answer some questions so uh Justin I didn’t hear you formally

Introduce yourself so you got to do that yeah I’m Justin Mullins I’m the vice president of the West Virginia senic Trails Association and also the section four coordinator and this is Molly my Australian Shepherd Trail Dog uh she comes out with maintenance U all kinds

Of likes and such so she’s all part of everything I do on the trail and then uh Nicole I don’t know if you announced your crazy last name so tell everybody your formal name for us sure it’s Nicole flooda and I’m the Outreach coordinator for the alag trail so try to share a

Little bit more about the trail go out to to schools businesses try to get the word out about what we’re trying to do with our 311 Mile West Virginia longest trail is as well as um just overall organize some of our volunteer elements that we got going on behind the scenes

So it’s a lot of fun if you’re signing up odds are you’re gonna hear from Justin or myself and I want to give you guys Kudos first of all before we really get roll it into the episode you guys are not like podcast afficionados on a live

Stream so you guys uh these two are taking a risk put themselves out there and Molly too and uh really really really trying to get the word out about the trail and that’s why I want to do this for you guys um it’s just to help you spread the word help build

Camaraderie in your community and uh we actually have an agenda Nicole uh sent us an agenda and the first item on that agenda is kind of going through some nuts and bolts what does that mean Nicole yeah I mean if you’re going to construct something and share something

You kind of got to know the the foundation the platform I just figur the nuts and bolts would be a way to get into really dive it into what’s the trail about where is the trail how do you get here what are some unique elements of it why would you want to

Come hike it and so between Justin and I and Julie I know you’ve been to se uh different parts of the trail you know hopefully we can shed some light on that tonight and invite people to come and experience uh part of the alagan trail and I’m having fun just sitting here

Popping these comments up here cuz uh you guys already have a fan club so uh yeah keep the comments covered I’m going to pop these up here and Nicole mentioned um nuts and bolts and showing you guys about the trail and my job right now is to uh flip you guys over to

A map and uh Nicole and Justin if you guys are ready for that uh I’ve got a special screen just for the two of you to uh start going over the trail perfect what we’ve got here Justin I I’ll kick it off so um the alagan

Trail 311 miles runs from like the Mason Dixon line the famous Mason Dixon line in uh where to buts Pennsylvania goes all the way down through you can see Davis Thomas Durban Cass some of the mountainous area of of West Virginia and ends up on Peter mountain and so kind of

Um this website will be on our or this map I mean will be on our website it’s a way to get here let’s say you’re coming in from Indiana you’re coming in from Rhode Island right these are some bullet points here to go to get you to certain

Cities where you can start on the trail um I’ll take section one the trail has four sections section one um I actually walked part of it today in the rain with uh Kevin uh who’s also section one coordinator for the alagen trail and he basically we both went in the rain it

Was like man this is a pretty pretty nice walk you know um but section one is takes you through some Farmland some country land ends up coming up towards uh the Roseberg area and those kayakers out there people who have kayaking phenoms in their family this is a really

Unique area of our Trail it goes through cheat Canyon and that Canyon they have a big event each year called cheat Fest and essentially they get like 4,000 5,000 people come together celebrate conservation and the cheat on the cheat River to cheat Fest it’s all on the

Elini trail part of that is on the alany trail to get to the river so it’s kind of cool to be a part of that big event that’s why we’ve got a kayaker there between Roseburg and Thomas coming through some of that Canyon and then we hit the pomac highlands we Ascend up

Into the mountains um from that Thomas Davis area you can see a a waterfall there and one of the state parks one of the four state parks that trail goes through is Blackwater Falls State Park and that particular area um has a beautiful huge waterfall that’s not very

Far from the trail so when you’re hiking you can capture that in um and that that area up there is really unique you may have heard us on another on a podcast or a previous one talk about some of the fauna the floor and the fauna it’s different along this Trail maybe than

Some other Mid-Atlantic um hiking trails this has this particular area of the Thomas Davis area has some unique attributes specific to that of Canada um they’re here in this unique area of the mountains in West Virginia and we get to experience those you get to see those just some

Different things that aren’t in the other states in between US and Canada and then we come from Davis we hit some single track uh we come down along a couple different rivers in there hit some single track go up on schaer Mountain and really remote I mean

Beautiful area we got some red Spruce Groves you walk through then you descend into Durban and um Durban is kind of like the middle point of the trail and so great resupply great little Trail town really starting to come into its own um the next few years hikers can

Really start to feel the love coming from that town as they proclaimed and Nam themselves a Bas Camp of the M forest and so uh Justin can talk about this too but we have 190 miles that go through the mananga hila national forest and uh we go through three national

Forests actually on our hike so um Justin you want to jump in and talk about section three yeah uh once you leave uh Durban it would you’ll um pass green bank and you’ll go into Cass which is the start of section three um you’ll start heading into um uh senica State Forest and

That’s another really great place to go to you’ve got um the ccc’s actually um had a big part of building that it was one of West Virginia’s first state forest as well U Boy Scouts played a big role with alag Trail as well they actually donated a piece of land that

The trail actually um first got built on so that’s was a really important part of the trail right there through the section three um once you leave cica um you’ll start you got a lot of rtop walking uh really great views um you’ll go into uh um Beaver Creek Gorge which is really

Really unique section through there you cross a a nice little Bridge good place to swim camp right there there in the bottom of the gorge but as you start climbing out you’ll enter into logga State Park and that’s just a really really nice park of this of the alany

Trail they’re uh great friends of the aligan trail they’ve helped us out on many work events and it’s also unique through the the dark sky it’s one of the really unique to see all the um unique um stars and such through that area the trail um let’s see uh once we leave uh

Woga um you’ve got you’ll go into Bear Branch which is an open field um which is really really not unique um I think um that’s one section of trail that uh when it’s whenever it’s maintained and cut which I try to get cut as often as I can but it’s you get

Some unique flowers foliage through that area uh nice little campsite that you can see U Wildlife all that stuff can’t through there um and as you leave there you’ll actually actually climb up to another Ridge and you’ll be able to see Lake Sherwood on one side and you can

You can climb down the mountain uh explore Lake Sherwood take a break shower all that nice stuff before we’re getting back on the Ridge and from there you’ll enter into section four which section four is split up into two we have our Gap that’s right there in the

Middle of the trail that goes through the George Washington Jefferson District uh we’re still working on completing uh the trail through there but we have an alternate road walk right now but uh for North starts at lower run trail head and it’s the 16 mile section that is broke

Off perfect L for beginner hikers they’re in 8 miles in you’ve got a really amazing shelter the gram shelters which was donated um and built by the Graham family it was I mean it’s amazing log s shelter uh with a nice provy and it’s on top of a Smith knob which gives

You 180 degree view of a little alghini mountain so you can see where you’ve come about the next 40 miles behind you you can see where you’ve been on these Ridge lines uh the sunrise from there is just amazing and if you’re lucky you can actually catch um fighter jets flying

Right over top of your head as you’re going through there um You’ve Got U that’s one section that they use for training so I’ve been lucky enough to be up on top of that Ridge and have a fighter jet fly right over top of my

Head where you can even see the pilot so that’s just really unique section it’s um no really easy access you got eight miles on each side of the section to get to so it’s really once you’re there it’s kind of just all to yourself but um at that point once you

Leave Smith knob um you’ll go into the Gap area which splits through White Sulfur which is it’s a good place to resupply um but then you’ll enter into Gap meals which is uh a really good set section of place um you’ve got monco Lake State Park which is really great

Especially in the Fall Foliage um superintendant really great to hikers really friendly um you’ve got Amish um um Cheese and More Store uh really good place to stop on your way up to Hanging Rock but um it’s a really good place to stop check out they got

All kinds of uh snacks cheeses Meats a little sandwich shop inside but um one of the highlights for section four South as you’re coming out of the Gap is Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory um it’s definitely the most visited section or visited place on the trail it’s a full 360 Dee view it’s an

Old fire tire that’s uh been rebuilt and it’s just a really unique section as you’re going through there but it’s great it’s beautiful and uh you know we can get into more detail throughout the year as this goes along and we’ve got the we’re on the far out

App and we’ve got our own hiking guide and things like that a couple other unique features um Justin chime in here Julie I know you’ve been to different parts of our Trail as well um it’s rare that you can go I think it’s rare anyway you can go from a actual Raptor

Observatory on One Day hike a couple more days and then you’re in a dark sky so like imagine yourself under the stars and you know May June July looking at Orion and copia that are transitioning through the Mid-Atlantic sky that time of year to leaving that place to coming

Up on um one of the one of the North American unique elements of cast Scenic Railroad and for those of us that have that you know Uncle or grandma or somebody that loved the the sheay engines like that were really into uh railroading this particular area at cast

State park has I believe the largest reserve of all the sheay engines and you can see on the map there it’s a little Railroad and everybody loves to ride a train I mean it’s great for kids it’s right on the alany trail and so we share that particular area where you’re

Getting on and off the train and see you actually will see and hear the trains coming up you’re walking through town it’s kind of cool um and those have been operating since like 1905 so it’s kind of like a little transition back to history as you come through different

Parts of of West Virginia and you know you see the farmland and so you leave Cass and the next day or two um you’re looking down on modern society with the large world’s largest stable radio telescope right which is right above it’s between Cass and Durban in a a

Little town called Greenbank and that’s where we’re having our 50th celebration this year right almost in the middle of the trail but um you know those couple elements back to back to back just kind of keeping not not just the beauty right keeping you engaged and enthralled and

Counting your blessings as you walk along trail but really these little popups along the way are are kind of unique um Julie I know you’ve hiked a bunch uh Justin you’ve certainly hiked a lot more than me um it’s not just because I’m I’m a West Virginia I love

This place but have you heard of other Trails having some unique features like that not those unique features um which I am actually looking forward to I have been up to the Hanging Rock Observatory oh my goodness absolutely phenomenal um and I have not been to

I’ve been through some of the towns we do have a question that I think is applicable at this point uh Stella wants to know does the trail go through some of these towns or do you have to get a ride so I guess some of the main towns

That you were speaking of I’ll pull up the map here sure Justin uh I could take that one um regarding regarding um I’ll take Section like three right there with Cass um no the trail literally right it shares part of a um rail trail called The greenb River Trail which is a

Fantastic um biking trail hiking trail right along the river it’s beautiful and as you walk that trail it comes right into Durban and you’ll see a almost like a like a night throwback like a 1920s town that used to be a Timber town all row houses if people want to Google Cass

West Virginia you will see it and it’s beautifully decorated right now uh for the holidays but essentially the general store right is right there great another great resupply place but the train where you get your tickets and where you get on isn’t but maybe 200 yards Beyond

Where we walk down the trail and we cross um the green R River to continue up and Ascend into the mountains for our hiking trail this particular area if you want to take the train is right there in front of you I mean you could it’s a

Great place to lay a day dry out get some food take a train ride why not but but good question I mean it would be awesome just to stop at Cass get it ride up to Durban and then hike back or vice versa either way I mean that’d be an

Excellent trip I mean that’s a great way to do a shuttle yeah a very unique way but uh Justin I know Stella had another question there about maybe hang rock Observatory is that in a town um the Dark Skies I’ll just finish up real quick the Dark Skies Stella is in um

It’s in West Virginia’s largest state park and that is watoga and that’s over 10,000 acres so that specific designated area to go and view the stars is in watoga state park but not on the trail it is on the trail it is on the trail we go right

Through that state part okay I apparently I took a nap and missed that part so it does go through that part but you’re fine yeah it’s not a town though um Justin real quick do you just want to hit the highlights like uh I guess people want to know probably the biggest

Question is how hard is it to resupply on this Trail because I know when hikers are CED because after you guys spread the word from now until your 50th uh they’re going to come you’re going to get more and more questions so I think a big question that you could answer is

Just in general how hard is it or is it hard to resupply compared to the at it’s going to take more planning um you can do the the regular like mail mail drop like you would do on the at uh that would be recommended for some sections but like

As you enter in Thomas Davis that has everything a hiker would need you’ve got a a a nice little bar um all kinds of Sandwich stops um a store laundry but as you’re going further south it might get a little bit thinner Durban has a few amenities through there as well but uh

It’s kind of it’s just a couple of small things but they’re still growing so you’re there’s going to be more in the future definitely but um uh Huntersville all you’ve got there right now is just a little uh convenience store which they will do mail drops so it’s definitely to

Look online see where you can Mel drop um and um there’s all there’s we’re looking to develop these towns more and get more amenities in the future so it’s definitely going to get easier in the future but right now you definitely will look at look on the website look at what

You can where you can mail a drop to or contact somebody to get you a shuttle into town yeah you can uh you definitely reach out to us too via the website or our Facebook page and ask questions but I will say Justin’s 100% spot on when he

Talks about you know we’re developing we’re going into the towns to say Hey you know this is West Virginia’s longest hiking trail at 311 miles you know we’re turning 50 and and they kind of look at us like what but at the end of the day we walk away with the relationship right

Um for them to help us to to understand what a hiker needs and I can tell you in Durban specifically um we’ve got a new store that’s going to be going in that’s that wants to know hey what do hikers need to resupply we’re here to help how

Can how can the hiker benefit from us being here so um that’s great and that’s a that’s a middle point in the trail but there are other towns along the way that definitely accept and other locations we’ve talked to that accept the mail drop for sure and I know Justin you’re going to

Be able to tell us uh rather rapidly because uh as we move along our notes here that Nicole so graciously gave us uh you are headed out for a hike and I did just pop up the website on the screen as you guys were talking so in

The description below um of the actual show this evening there’s all kinds of uh websites and access and things that you guys can have um links to uh in the description so uh I’m going to turn it over to you and Nicole and let you guys uh talk about your hike

Justin yeah exciting yeah I mean I’ll be leaving uh this Sunday December 31st so it’s just uh it’s getting close um I do this uh the last two years now I’ve took time off work and um took a long hike two years ago I went I did the penod um I did all

Of it jumped on the bit myai Trail and linked to appalachi and trail with that so this year um beginning this year I did the same thing I jumped on at where I left off and just headed north but I want to do something different this year

Um this year it’s not just going to be for me I’m going to do this hike to benefit the West Virginia cnic Trails Association by not just um hiking the trail getting weight points for uh maintenance uh blowdowns um I’m going to be recording um and updating the guide book for the

Fifth edition that we will hopefully have out before too long but also far out as well U be checking the way points updating photos descriptions and um just keeping just doing that as I’m hiking through so it’s it’s going to be more than just walking I’ll have to uh just pay close attention

As I’m going so it’s going to be a little bit more than what I’m used to but I’m I’m looking forward to it you’re G to be great Justin for those of you that have never ever hiked with Justin or followed him on a work day he’s hard

To keep up with let me tell you he’s used to ripping off like 20 miles a day um you know yeah maybe not as much daylight right now but I know you’re still going to be getting your miles um but the cool thing is for those of us um

He’s also going to do a ton of amenities right ton of upgrades if you will on the far out app and so um lots of new pictures lots of new amenities coming on board we’ve got towns starting to kind of reach out to us and be like hey uh

Can we kind of help out here as well as a lot of airbnbs different things like that along the way that would be great campgrounds for hiker so um we couldn’t have a better representative go out and do this just and I hope you know how much that means from the alagan trails

Perspective to have not just a great hiker but to have Molly uh the mascot of the allig trail go out keep you company keep you warm because I know I know there’s gonna be some cold nights coming up oh looking in the forecast I am I’ve got molly all outfitted ready to go

She’s got her jacket um uh she’ll be in my sleeping quilt as well but it’s a zero degree so we’re going to be pretty good shape there but I’m hoping she can do as much of the trail as possible with me she’s uh she’ll be turning three in

February so she’s she’s getting she’s a good age to do this I I’ve been trying to get her ready prepared getting these uh long hikes in for her so she’s not taken by surprise um she doesn’t like cold on her paws very well so I’ve got some boots to go

With her that she seems to actually take too pretty well um she’s gotten used to those pretty quick so I’ve got a little rough wear pack for her so she’ll be carrying most of her year uh her food is going to be dehydrated food so it’s

Going to be really light easy to carry so it’s I think it’s going to be fun I hope I can take her for a good sex bit of the trail with me yeah yeah she’s great you I know you’re going to take care of her just like you

Take care of everybody and make them feel comfortable and enjoyable on trail have a good time out there um Justin talk to like I know we put together a game plan for you in terms of um what we’re trying to put together for trail Angels you want to talk about that a

Little bit how you’re going to sort of test out the waters on some of that stuff as a couple of us get to be your Trail Angel yeah yeah I mean um once I announced my hike um I had at least 12 people reach out to me um like how can I

Help I want to be a part of this so I went online and uh I’ve got a few Google forms I’ve made for the trail already so I made a form called a trail Angel registration so it’s it’s definitely benefiting me on my hike but I’m going

To use that information going forward to help other hikers as they hike the trail we’ll have our own little spot on the website where they can go uh check out what section has um a good place for a shuttle where you can go um just it’s just a good place to look and

Know that this is someone that’s uh trustworthy it’s good all that that way you know what’s going on yeah that’s going to be huge moving forward and I know people are excited to even just kind of feel like they’re helping Molly not just Justin so I mean worried about

Molly yeah they’re gonna have dog treats I mean Justin might get a hot meal but I mean seriously this is about Molly too people well listen we got a we got a question in the chat from Aaron bird uh Justin you are I’m excited um you know

We’re going to answer this question and I think we ought to end the show with what you’re doing on New Year’s Eve but let’s get to Aron’s question I’m we pop that back up there again how do we learn more about the 50th Anniversary yeah Erin uh great question

Thank you for your interest on that so essentially we’re just tying up a few loose ends we’re gonna be opening registration here we hope within 60 days you can certainly stay in touch with us on Facebook Instagram some Tik Tok on there now but mainly our website okay I

Don’t know if you’re a member or not but you can become a member for 10 bucks if you’re not a member you can jump on our newsletter free totally free to do that all of the details will be coming out about that 50th during that in that

Newsletter or Facebook so at the end of the day though I will say that members will have registration first they’re going to be a priority registration period and essentially you can mark your calendar right now it’s September 6th 7th and 8th and it’s going to be at the

Green Bank Observatory so you can mark that down stay with us we’ll be updating you we’ve got so signed one West Virginia artist the other day to come play some concerts I’m pretty excited about so that’s all I’m going to give you now little snippit little tidbit to

Keep you hanging on for the next episode but um and I’m looking forward to seeing people there too yeah yeah Julie Julie’s gonna be there Aus I think is gonna be there a couple other big big time fans of ours are gonna be there so that’s right we

Are part of the community fan club so uh so more info Nicole’s got fireworks and all kinds of things going behind her so more info to come about the 50th anniversary and as always um whether I’m on my own show or now on the Alig Trail podcast time flies when you’re having

Fun so Justin let’s round out this episode about what is happening in I don’t know three days I think uh on New Year’s Eve what are you doing well uh I have invited as many many people who uh would like to come with me and join uh the start of my hike

Um I’ve got people U already reach out to me and come out ready to either meet at the start or meet up there at Hanging Rock but Sunday at 10:00 a.m. I’m going to be at the Peters Mountain trail head uh just north of harisburg if you want

To look U we can put that in the show notes there but um uh once we get there at 10: you can hike with me a part of the ways up to the southern Terminus it’s about three mile hike up there uh or you can hike a whole 14 miles with me

All the way to Hanging Rock but I plan to make it to Hanging Rock at midnight and just celebrate the new year uh watching um the surroundings up there I think there’ll be some fireworks up near Alderson so we should get some good shows up there for New Year full 360

Degree views so it should be a good time I’ve got people that’s already wan to meet me at midnight I’ve got the uh will be the first uh uh group up there um to be ready to sign that register U it’s going to be unlocked at midnight it’s usually

A race to see who can get the first person to sign that register uh oh the RAC is on people get your lives together on New Year’s Eve and meet Justin at the Peters Mountain trail head 10:00 a.m. and I know Justin you had asked people to

Uh let you know directly and they can find all of that information on the Facebook page so I’m excited for you guys we’re going to be back next month uh Nicole uh or Justin I should say do you have any parting thoughts and then we will turn it over to

Nicole well I just want everybody to uh if you got any questions just let us know about the trail we really just want people to come out there get involved with the trail learn more about it and I want to do this by doing the hike not

Just for updating the guide but I just want to promote the trail and get more people involved it’s a not just hiking but volunteering as well well said my friend well said Julie thank you so much for being a part of this producing this so kudos to her I’m

Gonna take us out and close us out tonight team uh basically the next one is January 17th another live YouTube Aly Trail podcast be number two we post on Facebook we’ll post on our social media a little bit ahead of time about that but you even if you can’t get if you

Don’t get a chance to watch it live share it with your friends feel please feel free to comment like thumbs up it do whatever you can to help us spread the word and like Justin said right this a pure invitation to learn about our Trail come enjoy our Trail and if you’re

Not hiking anymore but maybe you like to drive shuttle or you like to be the camp cook or keep the campfire going come on out and volunteer this until next time happy Trails