Tag Archives: Mountains-to-Sea Trail

New Year’s Resolutions – 2015

Family Nature Summits, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Mountains-to-Sea Trail, National Parks,

After I wrote about my 2014 outdoor world, I felt an obligation to write about my New Year’s resolution.

Now you know that the most popular resolution now is to lose weight. It’s outstripped to quit smoking. I guess that’s an improvement. To success, all the experts say that you need measurable goals. Not “try harder” but lose XX pounds.

Cypress Knees
Cypress Knees at Barataria

*  By this time next year, my Parks book will be in the publishing works.  I don’t know how it’s going to be published at this point. Heck, I don’t even have a title but I’m working on both. So, expect some blogs about my progress on both.

*  I will introduce at least five (5) people to the pleasures of hiking Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Each time I lead a hike for Friends of the Smokies, there’s a person who’s never been on Smokies trail. It’s very satisfying to show them my park.

Anna Lee crossing Caldwell Fork - no. 5
Anna Lee crossing Caldwell Fork – no. 5

But this is going to be such an easy goal for next year. Family Nature Summits is coming to the area in 2015. There will be dozens of new Smokies hikers, especially since I’m leading hikes for them next June.

*  I will let at least five (5) people know that they’re hiking on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and that it does indeed go to the sea. Does that sound ridiculous?

From the MST off Waterrock Knob
From the MST off Waterrock Knob

In the Western North Carolina mountains, the challenge is not to get hikers on the MST; it’s for them to know where they are.

*  Each trip down Merriman Ave. in Asheville, I will stop and let at least one person make a pesky left turn.

With six food stores within two miles on Merriman Ave, the traffic has escalated to where drivers have to take matters in their own hands. The only way to keep traffic moving is to cooperate and let drivers turn. Now the real challenge is to cooperate without getting rear ended by some impatient jerk. If I do get hit, you’ll read about it here.

What are your New Year’s resolutions?

Happy New Year. May 2015 be your best year so far.

My Outdoor World – 2014

Family Nature Summits, Hiking, National Parks, ,

A lot happened in the 2014 outdoor world. In no particular order, here are the important highlights:

*  We celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. As part of the celebration, Carolina Mountain Club led several hikes in wilderness areas, including Cold Mountain.

*  We mourned the 100th anniversary of the passing of the passenger pigeon.

Cassius Cash
Cassius Cash

*  In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Superintendent Dale Ditmanson retired. After 13 months and three acting superintendents, Cassius Cash will arrive in February, 2015.

*  Friends of the MST is putting together a quality, official guidebook of the whole trail. I wrote the Smokies section.

* Carolina Mountain Club finished a major section of the MST east of Waterrock Knob. Speaking of CMC and MST, both were named number one in the Mountain Xpress, Best of readers survey. CMC was the number one hiking club and the MST was the number one hiking trail.

Museum in Bryson City
Museum in Bryson City

*  Great Smoky Mountains Association opened a new Smokies store in Bryson City in the old Courthouse. It’s beautiful.

* Family Nature Summits announced that they’re coming to the Smokies in 2015. Yippee! Lenny and I will be hike leaders for the week. Check them out.

Personally, I visited 25 national park units on a six-week road trip from Asheville to San Francisco. But my major project is to visit all the national parks in the Southeast. This past year’s highlights include:

Camp on Selma March
Camp on Selma March

** Selma to Montgomery – Little did I know that a movie about the march would be made. It hasn’t come to Asheville yet, but I’ll be there the first week it does.

**  Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Alabama where I couldn’t find any reference to Junaluska.

** Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in and around New Orleans.

In 1814 we took a little trip  – Oh no, the song is going to stick in my brain again.

** and the three parks in St. Croix, the US Virgin Islands.

So what about 2015?

 

 

 

Mountains-to-Sea Trail Growing Across North Carolina

Mountains-to-Sea Trail,
Reedy Fork Farm on the MST
Reedy Fork Farm on the MST

 

A few weeks ago, Milestone Press asked me to suggest changes for Hiking the Carolina Mountains. The book is on its sixth printing and it’s updated before each printing.

I looked at what I had written about the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in 2006. before its first printing. At that time, the trail was “over 900 miles”. Now it’s 1,100 miles. I also said

Only eight people have walked its full length.

Now over 45 people have completed the Mountains-to-Sea Trail across North Carolina. Unlike in 2006, there are websites, blogs and personal accounts of walking the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. We’ve had veterans walking off the war on the MST. The trail was featured on a program, Highway to the Future, shown on UNC-TV. The MST has even been a day sponsor on WCQS, the Asheville NPR station.

Kate Dixon
Kate Dixon

Much of that credit goes to Kate Dixon, Executive Director of Friends of the  Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Kate seems to be everywhere in North Carolina, talking up the trail and conferring with state officials on its future – the trail is a North Carolina state trail.

And now the state is funding a Master Plan which “will chart a path toward designation of remaining planned portions of the Mountains to Sea State Trail. The master plan will describe the trail sections to be designated, unify regional planning efforts, recommend priorities for preparing plans for logical sub-sections of the trail, outline potential partners and their roles, identify funding strategies and sources, and provide tools for segment managers.”

Friends of the MST
Friends of the MST

The state wants our input – and with 18 task forces, it will get input. So what can you do?

First, if you’re not a member of Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, join and become a member. Remember, the most important thing is to show up and be counted.

You’ve joined? Great! Tomorrow, the next step to getting involved.

Giving Tuesday Coming Up!

Carolina Mountain Club, Mountains-to-Sea Trail,

Remember Giving Tuesday this year.

This is the time to give to your favorite non-profit. There are many worthwhile charitable organizations and it’s time to give to others. Here was the line-up of days around Thanksgiving.

* Thursday for giving thanks and eating. Most people say that they’re thankful for their families. Let’s widen the circle a little and include causes outside ourselves.

* Black Friday for shopping, mostly at the mall. This year, so much of Black Friday started on Thursday evening. We ended up in downtown Asheville spending money locally. We were just ahead of the crowd.

* Local Saturday for shopping locally. In Asheville, local stores did well. We skipped it and went to Carl Sandburg Home

* Monday is CyberMonday. Probably not relevant anymore. It dates back to the time that speedy internet access was only available in the office.

But Tuesday is the time that we give to charities. We ought to give some time year-round but on Tuesday, we can remember our favorite charity with a check.

Several charitable organizations are worthy of our support.

Carolina Mountain Club

Carolina Mountain Club – My local hiking club and the largest hiking club in Asheville

 

Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Friends of the Smokies – Which assists Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I lead monthly hikes for the group.

 

Friends of the MST

Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail – Which champions the  Mountains-to-Sea Trail Across North Carolina

 

Great Smoky Mountains Association

Great Smoky Mountains Association which assists the Smokies by managing the bookstores.

Which organization are you going to support?

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail through Hillsborough

Hiking, Mountains-to-Sea Trail,

 

Friends of the MST folks are a generous lot. They’re willing to give their time and energy to build and maintain the Mountains-to-Sea Trail across North Carolina. They’re also eager to to take people they’ve never met on their section of trail. And that’s how I got to hike yesterday with John Willis on the Hillsborough Riverwalk.

John Willis on the Hillsborough Riverwalk
John Willis on the Hillsborough Riverwalk

The Riverwalk is a paved path through woods connecting Gold Park to downtown Hillsborough, just outside of the Triangle.

When it’s finally finished, the Riverwalk will be 1.8 miles. Right now, the Hillsborough Taskforce, the folks building and maintaining trail through Hillsborough, need to build a couple of bridges before the Riverwalk will connect to the MST coming through from the west.

After walking a short stretch through town, we got into John’s car and went around the bridge-to-be, and walked a longer, “more rugged” section including the old Occonecchee Speedway. This old track, active from the 1940s to the 1960s, is being restored by a group that remember the speedway in its glory. Now the land has trails. People jog on the track. Another fascinating piece of North Carolina history that deserves more space.

John is a retired insurance agent who came down from Southern Indiana in an RV and discovered Hillsborough. He fell in love with the town and then a woman and is happily married and settled in a house now. When he first arrived here, he didn’t know anyone but was eager to “find his tribe”. He read about an MST Falls Lake workday and checked it out. He was hooked. Now he helps to build trail from Boone to east of Raleigh.

Alien MST blazes
Alien MST blazes

We continued our walk on the bluffs of the Eno River – that was the “rugged part” where the blazes could need a little help. Right now the circles are neither round nor white. John said that they were made by aliens.

This section of  trail is on private land, owned by Ayr Mount historic site, one of several properties in the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. The MST has a 20-foot right of way. The landlord leaves nothing to chance. They’re put up signs like Off Trail Exploring Prohibited. Fair enough. It’s their land.

The end of the trail for now
The end of the trail for now

Again, the MST ends just under a bridge.

To continue the trail, the state needs to acquire a few small parcels of private land. It’s so complicated. Each landlord had his/her own quirks. They don’t seem to understand what a hiking trail really is. They picture hordes of “hippies” squatting on their land. And the state has to negotiate with each of them. It’s going to take a long time.

Here John looks out on a future section. Then we turned around and retraced our steps.

Ayr Mount
Ayr Mount

 

 

 

After all this talk about Ayr Mount, I had to see the building.

The house, built in 1815, was part of a plantation. Now it only has 60 acres of land but the property has been saved. They give tours on weekends. In the future, Ayr Mount will be reached by a short diversion off the MST.

Thanks, John, for a great afternoon.