Why does the MST split?

[Earl Grey]

http://www.ncmst.org/maps/statemap_500.jpg

In the middle it looks like you can take two different ways. One is all road walking while the other is a mix.

[Pedaling Fool]

Why is most of the map "White"? If you look at the map legend "White" depicts County Lines - those are some strange lines.

[Taba]

That split is where the re-route is going to be. It is not finished yet but the land I believe has been acquired. The green line is the finished trail and the red line is the planned route and we all know that plans are constantly changing. There is only one MST and does not split but it does have a small loop in the Croatan National Forest.

Taba

[Taba]

I see you are from Florida. Why does the Florida Trail split to go around either side of the Lake Okeechobee?

[Pedaling Fool]

I see you are from Florida. Why does the Florida Trail split to go around either side of the Lake Okeechobee?

I'm from Florida, but I did not ask the original question about the split. I don't know why the FT splits, I've never hiked it. I've been a Florida resident since the mid 80's, that's when I was first stationed here and bought a house then, but then the Navy sent me away, just recently moved back here after I retired. And since returning I haven't spent one full year, because of hiking and biking trips.

In short, I don't know much about Florida, I'm just a 20+ year resident.

[Taba]

I just thought you might have known the answer to that. The county line symbol is the tan line around the box in the key, so it is the tan lines which outlines the county lines an the map.

Taba

[Kate Dixon]

The current hiking route for the MST does not split, but the plan is for the trail to split in the future around Winston-Salem as we move the trail from backroads onto trails.

The northern, rural route is planned to follow close to where it goes now -- from Pilot Mountain State Park through the Sauratown Trails to Hanging Rock State Park and then down the Dan River to Stokesdale where it will follow an old rail corridor into Greensboro.

The southern, more urban route will follow the Yadkin River and Muddy Creek into Tobaccoville and Bethania and then along Salem Creek through Winston-Salem and Kernersville to meet up again with the northern route at Greensboro's Lake Brandt.

Kate Dixon
Executive Director
Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

[Uncle Cranky]

Actually, the split is there to create rotary traffic around Winston-Salem so East-bound and West-bound hikers can avoid collisions.

[Appalachian Tater]

I see you are from Florida. Why does the Florida Trail split to go around either side of the Lake Okeechobee?

I am not from Florida and I haven't hiked it either, but I asked the same question a few years ago and researched it.

My understanding is that the trail around Lake Okeechobee is on the dike which surrounds the lake so there was no reason to choose one side or the other when designating the Florida Trail as a trail already went all the way around.



The dike was built after a bad hurricaine in 1928 killed a couple of thousand people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Okeechobee

[Jeff]

Hiking around Lake Okeechobee can be a hot, hot trek. Not much shade although the wind blows good on some days.