Would you like to avoid the crowds and commercialism of the “Black Friday” weekend this year? Here is something different and interesting to do instead!

The primary mission of the Friends of the Allegheny Wilderness is working with local communities to ensure that increased wilderness protection is a priority of the stewardship of the Allegheny National Forest in Elk, Forest, McKean and Warren counties.

Over the years has also made significant investments in the stewardship of the Hickory Creek Wilderness trail, ecological restoration of sites adjacent to and within the Hickory Creek Wilderness, and removal of refuse from the Allegheny Islands Wilderness.

The next major wilderness stewardship project will be a clean-up of the 13-mile Hickory Creek Wilderness trail over the weekend of November 27, 28, and 29.

Yes, this is the Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend, but why not try something new this year if you have the time free? We will be leaving from the Hickory Creek Wilderness trailhead on Hearts Content Road Friday afternoon, spend Friday and Saturday nights in the wilderness, and hike out on Sunday.

Minimum tools such as axes and elbow grease are all we will use to remove woody debris and vegetation from the trail, in order to help perpetuate the rustic wilderness character of the trail. And of course, no power tools such as chainsaws are permitted in wilderness, so there will be no specialized training needed in that regard.

There is no charge to join this program, but participants will need to bring all of their own food, water and/or water filtration, camping equipment, and come fully prepared for any weather conditions we may encounter.

This is a fun and rewarding way to intimately experience the natural beauty of the Hickory Creek Wilderness first-hand and help give back to America’s National Wilderness Preservation System that is such a treasure for all of us!

For a review of this past August’s Hickory Creek Wilderness trail stewardship weekend to get a better idea of the kind of work we do, see this September 14th Warren Times Observer newspaper article.

Please contact us to sign up, or with any questions, by calling 814-723-0620 or sending email to: info@pawild.org.

 For more information on programs, initiatives and activities, visit the Friends of the Allegheny Wilderness website.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates on Friends activities.

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