Tygarts Creek Trail

To Tygarts Creek via US 23



The extent to which our trail conforms to the route used by 
Native Americans in 1793 varies greatly. Often there is no good road 
or public access to the most likely path of the original trail.
In other cases, following the trail requires a four wheel drive 
vehicle, hiking or biking. In any case, there are many paths 
down a hollow or river valley, and the preferred route would have
likely evolved over time depending upon changing local conditions.

We may assume that Native Americans walked the literal creek beds 
when that was an efficient way to travel between two points along 
their way. The modern day hiker is drawn to creek beds because they
avoid the brambles, pot holes and potentially dangerous wild things 
that inhabit the forests and meadows.

The smaller creeks meander and it would have been
natural for the ancient traveler to walk across country if the 
meanders added significantly to the distance.

We should always remember that in farming areas, the present routing 
of the creeks does not necessarily reflect their natural course. 
The practical farmer will soon redirect a stream from the midst of
his cultivated area to one side or the other. Most likely redirecting 
along the base of an adjoining hillside. What we see as long 
contiguous flat fields of cultivation would have been a web of 
creeks, marshes and unulating forestlands in the base of the hollows. 
To some extent Native Americans would have regularly set fire 
to these bottoms to facilitate the hunting of game, but they would 
have had little inclination to re-direct creeks or make level 
the undulations.