Trail News from the Mountains to the Sea November 2021
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State Budget Includes $29.25 Million for Trails
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Thanks to the NC General Assembly and the Governor for a new state budget that includes $29.25 million of new trail funding, most of it targeted toward completing North Carolina's 12 official State Trails, including the MST.
Rep. Dean Arp (Union County), Rep. Hugh Blackwell (Burke), and Senator Brent Jackson (Sampson, Duplin and Johnston) led the effort in the House and Senate, and they found broad recognition among their colleagues and Governor Roy Cooper about the impact that trails can have on health and quality of life. The photo on the right shows one of those advocates - Senator Amy Galey of Alamance and Guilford - expressing her strong support at an MST trail opening (Bill Boyarsky photo).
The new state funding will be used to acquire land, build new trail, and improve trail heads and signs all along the MST and other state trails. It is the first significant investment of funds ever targeted specifically at the State Trails. This funding can be transformational, particularly if the State continues this kind of investment for a number of years.
This funding would not have happened without the Great Trails State Coalition, a new, dynamic group of nonprofits that came together over the last year to advocate for all trails. Thanks to funding from a generous Friends of MST donor, the Coalition was able to hire lobbyists - Tony Solari and Debra Conrad - who were able to respond quickly to requests from legislators.
Please take a moment to thank your legislators and the Governor for this funding and let them know what the MST and other trails mean to you.
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Blaze Orange Raises $24,000+ for New Trail
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On October 10, 200 people gathered at Steel String Brewery’s Pluck Farm (a future trail head) to raise money for new trail through Orange County. Eager hikers were treated to music, words from MST leaders, great food, and time to meet other MST supporters.
The Orange County section of the MST is envisioned as a 35-mile continuous footpath stretching from the Alamance County line near Saxapahaw and then heading northeast along the Cane Creek Reservoir to Hillsborough where it follows the Riverwalk along the Eno River. From there, the trail is to continue east through the Eno River State Park to the Durham County line. To date, 7.2 miles of this route are open, and work is underway to construct an additional 14 new miles. The more than $24,000 raised through this fun event will be used to help construct that trail and more.
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Former Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee who gave the 1977 speech that recommended creation of the MST tells the crowd how delighted he is to see the progress in his own county.
(photo by Gene Erb)
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Fair to Middlin’ (the guitar player, Jim Suiter, is a long-time MST volunteer leader from Carrboro) entertained the crowd.
(photo by Mary Swann Parry)
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New Bridge Opens in Alamance County
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On October 29, MST volunteers, hikers, landowners, and Alamance County leaders came together for a grand celebration of a new bridge over Boyd’s Creek along the Haw River.
The 60-foot steel bridge is located on the Sellers Falls Section of the Haw River Trail/MST approximately one mile north of Granite Mill and downtown Haw River (segment 9). The project was funded by a grant from Impact Alamance and was a joint venture between Alamance Parks and the Town of Haw River. Landowner and owner of Burlington Mechanical Contractors, Herman Johnson, used his passion for the trail and construction ingenuity to build the beautiful, sturdy bridge at bargain price.
The opening of the new bridge is a wonderful addition to the Sellers Falls section, as the crossing was previously impassible during high water levels, requiring hikers to either turn around or take a 4.7-mile road detour.
The photo above shows Herman Johnson cutting the ribbon with our volunteer Task Force Leader Andrew Sam. Below celebrants gather on the bridge. See more of Bill Boyarsky's great photos event here.
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Gathering of Friends 2022: Reservations for Lodging Open at Lake Junaluska
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We hope you'll be part of next year's Gathering of Friends at Lake Junaluska, April 7-10, 2022! We're planning a full long weekend of special events including:
- Thursday, April 7 - trail building workshops led by Friends' members and Carolina Mountain Club. Beginners through expert level trail workers are welcome.
- Friday, April 8 - hikes and excursions, plus a welcome celebration and rendezvous at Lake Junaluska in the evening, with cultural ambassadors from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee
- Saturday, April 9 - Friends annual membership meeting, plus excursions including a group hike around Lake Junaluska's perimeter
- Sunday, April 10 - more hikes and excursions
Registration will open in early 2022, but for now we've locked in special rates for you to book accommodations. Lake Junaluska, a beautiful, historic retreat center near Waynesville, will be a special place to celebrate the MST's 45th anniversary. There's much to explore in the surrounding area too - beautiful sections of the MST, Cherokee, the Great Smoky Mountains, and so much more. We hope you'll plan to come early or stay longer to explore the whole area.
We've set up a special website for reservations with multiple photos of each type of lodging. Just click on "enlarge photo" to see the extra images. The special rates are available for Tuesday, April 5 through Monday, April 11 if you'd like to stay a few days before or after the event. This map shows the entire property. When we're not hiking or exploring, our events will be held in Shackford Hall, the columned building in the photo below.
Please note that multiple 30 and 40-amp RV and tent campsites are available, and can only be reserved by phone (800-222-4930). The staff at Lake Junaluska has asked for patience, as they are short-staffed like many other businesses right now. If you leave a message, they will return your call. Make sure to mention that you are with the Gathering of Friends.
Although other lodging options are available in the area, we encourage you to stay at Lake Junaluska with others attending the Gathering. These Gatherings are such a fun way to meet others in the MST community, and the more guest rooms our group reserves, the less our rental fees are for the meeting spaces.
And, finally, the elephant in the room: Covid-19. With a dedicated and experienced staff at Lake Junaluska, we plan to hold a safe and celebratory Gathering of Friends. To do that, we'll be following guidelines issued by state and federal authorities. Obviously, we don't know what that will look like in April, but we are already thinking about safe on-site options to spread out more if we need to. There is also a very generous cancellation policy (as long as you cancel 15 days in advance, you will receive a full refund from Lake Junaluska, less $15) for your reservation.
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Tales from the Trail: Birthday Hikers, 40 Hike Challengers, and Second-Timers
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MST hikers came together in September to hike over 7,180 miles in celebration of the trail’s 44th birthday! 157 people climbed the leaderboard hosted on the MST Guide App to participate in our 44th birthday celebration, with 96 completing the 44 Mile Challenge by hiking 44 (and more) miles on the MST during September.
Two folks, Hali Grantham and Daniel Graham, were thru-hiking and sat atop the pack each with 447.08 miles hiked in September! Gieske Miles rounded out the top three with 160.9 miles hiked. Friends Iwona Birk and Sabre Thompson egged each other on, and finished with 151 and 145 miles each. REI sponsored amazing prize packs for eight 44 Mile Challenge completers.
And we raised an additional $4535 in donations by those who gave the MST a birthday gift in support of our work to build, maintain, protect and promote the MST. Thank you.
The aforementioned Hali Grantham and Daniel Graham completed their thru-hike of the MST over the weekend. Once they turn in a completion form, they will become the 16th and 17th official completers this year. We know of at least five others who have completed the trail but haven't turned in the form, which sometimes seems to be harder than hiking 1175 miles. Here's a gorgeous shot of their last sunset on the MST. Congrats and thanks for the photo, Hali!
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Two recent MST completers are back at it again. Benjy "Doc" Brown is 700 miles into rewalking the trail in sections, going in the opposite direction this time. He hopes to finish by early 2022. He completed the trail in 2020, taking the paddle route on the Neuse River. This time he is walking the Coastal Crescent. Benjy documents his journey by snapping photos every few minutes, and you can follow him on Instagram (@ coffee_beans_737)
Completer Jason Nieuwsma, walked the Coastal Crescent route in 2017 and decided to explore the paddle route along the Neuse this fall. Although he didn't rewalk the whole thing like Benjy is doing, we think he is the first completer to have done both options in the Coastal Crescent. Scroll down to the next story to read his lovely "Semi-linear Trail Musings."
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Twenty-four people have completed the 40 Hike Challenge - walking all 40 hikes in the guide Great Day Hikes on NC's Mountains-to-Sea Trail - by March of 2023. Folks have told us that they've loved how the day hikes helped introduce them to North Carolina and the MST. Cathy Tarr even traveled from California to undertake the 40 Hike Challenge. Cathy is the founder and executive director of the Fowler-O'Sullivan Foundation, whose focus is to assist families of missing hikers.
Inspired by her pal Julie "Jester" Gayheart's podcasts about the hikes, Cathy started with hike one on Sunday, September 9th, and finished hike 40 on October 7th. She especially enjoyed hike 27, the loop through Roseboro and hike 1 at Clingmans Dome, even though it was foggy, with light rain and wind. Sounds about right...
And our very active Facebook Group is a wonderful place to connect with others about the trail. If you are on social media, we hope you'll join.
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Semi-linear Trail Musings upon Completion of the Full Land and Paddle Routes of the MST,
by Jason Nieuwsma
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There’s something alluring to me about a line on a map. The more the line twists, turns, and meanders, the better. And the line of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail most certainly holds such circuitous allure. Necessitating over twice as many miles to get from Clingman’s Dome to Jockey’s Ridge as the line of a straight-flying crow (or Google Maps for that matter), the MST spectacularly fails the “shortest distance between two points” definition of a line. Additionally alluring to me about the line of the MST is that my home in Chapel Hill sits relatively near the midpoint, facilitating access to the trail for the numerous trips it would require of me to undertake it.
So between October 2015 and August 2017, I hiked and biked all of the MST’s twists and turns (sequentially from west to east), filed for and received my completer’s certificate, and created a big canvas map that hangs on our wall at home with all my GPS segments of the MST combined and represented by a long, red, meandering line. I was done, I thought. But another line remained: a blue line, an “alternate route” line, a line with my name on it. No, really, it had my name on it: Neuse. Spelled differently, and without the “ma,” but still, it was clearly calling me out by name (old high school friends still call me “Nieuws”). When I mentioned to Betsy Brown that I was planning to paddle the route, she informed me that she thought I’d be the first to complete all MST route options: both land and water. Clearly this had to happen. [Editor's note: we're crossing our fingers that Jason will also kiteboard the ferry routes.]
Officially, the 170-mile Neuse River alternate route through North Carolina’s coastal plains begins in Smithfield and ends at the northern terminus of the Neusiok Trail near the Cherry Branch Ferry Terminal. I began 45 miles upstream of Smithfield doing day trips down the Neuse from the Falls Lake Dam, and then in October and November of 2021 did two multi-day trips down the official river portion of the MST. It had been four years since I initially finished the trail – my family cheering me on from atop the highest sand dune in Jockey’s Ridge – and the river was a great reminder of everything that is so wonderful about the MST.
That thin little line across our state connects so much. For me, it’s been a way to adventure with friends and family, to see things and places I would never have thought to visit otherwise, to test and push my limits, to make time for achieving goals amid the busyness of work and life, and to meet so many people from all across the state and nation. Even if but briefly, I got to know many hikers, hunters, fishers, boaters, and bikers, as well as campground and hotel workers, Lyft/Uber/taxi drivers, gas station attendants, waiters, and Friends of the MST members and leaders. As I traversed this meandering line across North Carolina, I met folks holding all sorts of different ideologies: Republicans and Democrats, committed pacifists and military veterans, NRA enthusiasts and social justice advocates, and so many more. And maybe it was just my experience, but we connected in all kinds of ways once we got talking, and I found them all quite lovely. It’s amazing what a line can do, especially one that doesn’t insist on being so linear. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all the line makers, visioners, maintainers, and sustainers at Friend of the MST – you have done and continue to do a magnificent thing.
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Top photo: Jason and family celebrating his 2017 completion at Jockey's Ridge.
At left: Jason on his 35th birthday after hiking 35 miles on the trail near Asheville.
At right: on Neuse with friends Tim Field and Mike Craig.
Photos courtesy of Jason Nieuwsma
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Volunteers Come out in Force to Build and Maintain the MST at Falls Lake
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Over the weekend, 65 volunteers with our Falls Lake Task Force finished constructing a beautiful, new 2-mile trail to help hikers bypass a washed-out bridge on Hereford Road in segment 10. The work crew included Friends' Executive Director, Kate Dixon, pictured with task force leader Jeff Brewer.
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Workdays like this along Falls Lake are made possible by our members and generous donors like the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) which made a special grant of $1000 to fund the crew's work on Public Lands Day in September. NEEF is the nation’s leading organization in lifelong environmental learning, creating opportunities for people to experience and learn about the environment in ways that improve their lives and the health of the planet.
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The Falls Lake section of the MST is built on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps helps us in many ways, including applying for the NEEF grant mentioned above. Each year they also recognize one of our volunteers for exceptional service. This year the award went to Chris Underhill for his 20+ years of service. Chris, pictured here, says that he and his wife Kathy see their service on the MST as a way to payback for all the miles they have hiked on the Appalachian Trail. Thanks to Chris for the two decades of dedicated labor to atone for those AT miles!
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At our most recent Friends of the MST board meeting, we celebrated several board members who are rotating off the board and unmasked long enough for Susan Hester to take the shot below.
From left to right, Millie Chalk, Kate Dixon (Friends of MST's executive director), Jim Cobb, Greg Yahn and Mark Rostan.
Millie Chalk served as president of the Friends in 2020 during the challenges of Covid-19. She kept morale high as we sorted our way through unprecedented times and one of our busiest years for trail usage. Millie has just retired from a long career with Duke Energy and plans to spend more time with her grandchildren.
Jim Cobb has been Friends' pro bono attorney for over ten years. He has provided legal advice on all trail-related topics from waivers to contracts. Jim is retiring from the law firm of Wyrick Robbins and has said he is eager to hike more of the MST.
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Greg Yahn is the current task force leader for Greensboro and eastern Guilford County and served on the board for one term. One of his big accomplishments during his time on the board was to lead the effort to write a manual for our task force leaders. Greg represented the needs of trail workers on the board and is likely thrilled to have more time to get back to hard labor!
Mark Rostan, of Valdese, served as Board Secretary and will be a hard act to follow. He amazed us with both his thorough notes and his ability to run long distances on the MST for hours on end.
All retiring board members are given an MST cartouche, handmade by Andre' Sarre. These serve as trail markers along many parts of the trail in Segments 2 and 3. We appreciate the energy and experience that this retiring crew shared with us and look forward to introducing our new slate of board members in 2022.
And lastly, we are saddened by the passing of Carrie Vernia in August. Carrie was Friends' membership coordinator in 2019 and attended the Gathering in Surf City. Staff will remember her fondly for her stories about fungi, her passion for teaching English as a Second Language to refugees, and her dedication to the MST.
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Other Ways to Support the MST
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TWO: Buy an MST license plate. For $30 per year, you can show the world your love of the trail and help financially too. $20 of your annual fee will come back to Friends of MST to build, protect, and promote the trail. Order your plate directly from NC DMV.
THREE: If your employer hosts a workplace-giving campaign, look for Friends of MST as a giving option. We are a member of EarthShare NC which promotes workplace giving for conservation and environmental groups. We are a giving option in the North Carolina state employee campaign and in many local government and corporate campaigns too. Friends code numbers are: State employee campaign -- 1102; United Way of the Triangle - 60001159.
FOUR: Link your AmazonSmile account. Simply shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/52-2204330 and Amazon will donate half a percent back to us at no cost to you.
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See you on the MST.
Betsy Brown
Outreach Manager, Friends of the MST
919-518-1713
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Become a Member and
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Members save 10% on Friends merchandise available at our online store.
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Volunteers are the heart of Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
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We need people with a wide variety of skills and interests to build and care for this beautiful trail.
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3509 Haworth Drive, Suite 210, Raleigh, NC 27609
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