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Corrigan
01-24-2011, 17:32
Got TABAs Guide in the mail the other day. Arrived promptly after purchase and is all its cracked up to be. I appreciate all the help and hints TABA.....your hard work is sure going to make this trip easier. I'll do my best to take some notes if anything has changed drastically. Thanks again!

If you're gonna thru the Mountains to Sea, buy this book!

-WrongWay

BSF-Hiker
01-26-2011, 11:28
I have Taba's Sheltowee Trace guide and it's highly detailed and packed with all the information you would need along the trail and nearby trail towns.

10-K
01-26-2011, 11:37
Got TABAs Guide in the mail the other day. Arrived promptly after purchase and is all its cracked up to be. I appreciate all the help and hints TABA.....your hard work is sure going to make this trip easier. I'll do my best to take some notes if anything has changed drastically. Thanks again!

If you're gonna thru the Mountains to Sea, buy this book!

-WrongWay


I see you're in CB - are you starting at the Outer Banks and hiking west?

Drop me a Britt's donut on the way through please. :)

Corrigan
01-29-2011, 19:00
Yea I'm heading westward.....I'm moving to Boone, only seems right to walk there. I'll pack a Britts if you meet me at Clingmans and eat it haha..... I get calls from people year round begging me for Britts, I feel like a crack dealer sometimes.

Taba
01-29-2011, 19:48
Hey Wrongway, when are you starting your hike?

Corrigan
02-02-2011, 14:16
May 1st.....ish. I'll be in Europe for a bit and when I get back I'll start. No later than May 1st is the plan. I'm hoping to get off work so I can come to the MST Meeting this weekend, not looking good as of now though.

Tennessee Viking
02-02-2011, 15:28
Just to let you all know there is a lot of new trail built west of NC 50 at Falls Lake going into Eno River State Park.

Corrigan
02-04-2011, 13:44
Great news! Thanks for all of your hard work....I'll be out to lend a hand as soon as I'm settled into Boone

Tennessee Viking
02-04-2011, 14:52
Another update: The FMST is supposed to break ground on new trail in Hillsborough within the next month. It probably won't be open till next year or so though.

I maintain the MST from Cheek Road to Hickory Hill Boat Ramp around Durham. I need to get back up to the lake to cut the final weeds. So give me a heads up when you walk Falls Lake, and I will see if I can do some hiker support. Plus I am hope to be finishing up the Falls Lake section this year.

Ashman
04-23-2011, 07:19
Interesting quote from the MTS Website about Taba's book:

"HOWEVER, this book includes illegal camping sites and does not identify them as such. If you use this guide, please check the legality of your camping sites and please do not camp illegally. Illegal camping puts you in danger, and it threatens the future of the trail by encouraging landowners to close the trail on and near their land."

http://www.ncmst.org/the-trail/plan-your-hike-2/guidebooks-maps/

I know he is working to get more camping available and for that I am thankful but I wander if he has plans to address this issue in his book in the next edition?

modiyooch
04-23-2011, 21:31
section 15. (Deep Gap 421 to 16) park vista restaurant and hotel CLOSED. entire section trail walking with multiple access points from parkway. nice trail section 14 (boone to 421) trail appears to be in progress, but not there yet.

Taba
04-24-2011, 19:39
All of the "illegal campsites" in the book will be removed but I wish the he'll camping in the woods was legal for backpackers. This would make the MST a must hike trail. Right now to thru-hike this trail you are forced to become a criminal. Anymore questions about camping!

Taba
04-24-2011, 20:56
This is an amazing adventure none the less. I just wish that camping for the long distance hiker wasn't such a major issue. I have asked all around for solutions to this problem. I have had lunch meetings with Senators about it and still no resolutions. If anyone has any answers please come forward and help all of the hikers who would like to challenge this journey without becoming a criminal of man's law. This is the pioneer spirit that is being destroyed. What's next, hiking on the Wii.

modiyooch
04-24-2011, 21:29
It is an amazing trail/experience, but it is not conducive to thru hiking. It takes support from a family member, or friend. So far, for the first 300 miles, there has only been 3 towns for resupply (Asheville, Marion & Boone). We just resupply from a well stocked car. I think it's a multi purpose trail. We backpack where we can, road walk where we can't, and probably will bike when we hit I77. It's very beautiful. A unique way to experience the Parkway. Kudus to trail establishment north of Deep Gap. It's safer. Plus, it reduces the number of kind people asking if we need help.

Taba
04-25-2011, 12:19
It is an amazing trail/experience, but it is not conducive to thru hiking. It takes support from a family member, or friend. So far, for the first 300 miles, there has only been 3 towns for resupply (Asheville, Marion & Boone). We just resupply from a well stocked car. I think it's a multi purpose trail. We backpack where we can, road walk where we can't, and probably will bike when we hit I77. It's very beautiful. A unique way to experience the Parkway. Kudus to trail establishment north of Deep Gap. It's safer. Plus, it reduces the number of kind people asking if we need help.

I believe you have been misled about the ability to thru-hike the MST. There are many more resupply towns in that first 300 miles. Including; Gatlinburg, Cherokee, Waynesville, Arden, Skyland, Asheville, Black Mountain, Marion, Linville, Newland, Boone and Blowing Rock.

The only reason this trail in your opinion isn't conducive to thru-hiking is because the government has figured out how to make money off of the long-distance hiker and force us to pay at their designated RV campgrounds and threaten us with fines if we don't obey their rules.

I have thru-hiked the MST 3 times already and will be finished with my 4th within the next week and a half. If that doesn't prove it what more can I do, turn around at Clingman's Dome and go for a 5th thru-hike?

That is why I wrote the Manual for the MST, to help ease the stress off of planning and navigating a thru-hike on this trail.

I don't believe it should ever be "illegal" for a long-distance hiker to sleep after a long day walking in the woods. Especially if there is an available flat spot with a fire pit on the trail where we need to stop.

Go ahead and ride your bicycle on the road walk or kayak the Neuse River but stop saying this trail is not thru-hikable. It is if you have the ambition.

Treat the road walk like a treasure hunt and an opportunity to experience everything that NC has to offer. Also it is a fantastic way to communicate with the locals and learn even more about the area you are travelling through.

Fix the camping issue for the woods and you will see more thru-hikers that you would have ever thought. I have already done my part by fixing it for the road walk by finding nearly 50 legal camping locations.

modiyooch
04-25-2011, 18:40
I believe you have been misled about the ability to thru-hike the MST. There are many more resupply towns in that first 300 miles. Including; Gatlinburg, Cherokee, Waynesville, Arden, Skyland, Asheville, Black Mountain, Marion, Linville, Newland, Boone and Blowing Rock.

The only reason this trail in your opinion isn't conducive to thru-hiking is because the government has figured out how to make money off of the long-distance hiker and force us to pay at their designated RV campgrounds and threaten us with fines if we don't obey their rules.

I have thru-hiked the MST 3 times already and will be finished with my 4th within the next week and a half. If that doesn't prove it what more can I do, turn around at Clingman's Dome and go for a 5th thru-hike?

That is why I wrote the Manual for the MST, to help ease the stress off of planning and navigating a thru-hike on this trail.

I don't believe it should ever be "illegal" for a long-distance hiker to sleep after a long day walking in the woods. Especially if there is an available flat spot with a fire pit on the trail where we need to stop.

Go ahead and ride your bicycle on the road walk or kayak the Neuse River but stop saying this trail is not thru-hikable. It is if you have the ambition.

Treat the road walk like a treasure hunt and an opportunity to experience everything that NC has to offer. Also it is a fantastic way to communicate with the locals and learn even more about the area you are travelling through.

Fix the camping issue for the woods and you will see more thru-hikers that you would have ever thought. I have already done my part by fixing it for the road walk by finding nearly 50 legal camping locations.
This is an opinion. It's not necessarily right, or wrong. But, if you have to walk more than 5 miles one way off the trail to tent , then it's doesn't appear feasible to me as a thruhike. RV campgrounds ? Can't really say those were plentiful, either. Exactly how far is Gatlinburg from the trail? Waynesville? I'm not even willilng to walk to Maggie Valley. Those are decent stretches between towns without adding an extra 12 miles, not to mention the elevation gain/loss to come off the parkway. Asheville/Skyland is the first logical resupply point, and that's about 10 days into the hike. (Again, in my opinion).

I like the trail!! There are gems behind the scenes of the parkway. I'm just pointing out there is another way to approach the trail. If you have to roadwalk 30+ mile stretches of road, why not bike, or perhaps run?

10-K
04-25-2011, 18:46
Is there still a 30ish mile roadwalk on the BRP as the trail exits GSMNP?

That's on my short lists of hikes to do. I was kinda hoping this section would be moved to a trail by now.

modiyooch
04-25-2011, 18:55
Is there still a 30ish mile roadwalk on the BRP as the trail exits GSMNP?

That's on my short lists of hikes to do. I was kinda hoping this section would be moved to a trail by now.
last May it was all road walk except for 3 miles. We camped in Maggie Valley behind a church. Taba can tell you next week. This year, although the guide said road walk, Section 15 & 16 has been moved off the parkway. Great work.

Taba
04-25-2011, 19:05
As a thru-hiker you may have to hitch-hike in and out of towns. Just like hikers on the Appalachian Trail. Resupply towns can be up to 20 miles from the trail. To be a thru-hiker you have to walk all of the trail and can hitch off trail to get more food. It's a skill hiker may have to learn.

Taba
04-25-2011, 19:11
last May it was all road walk except for 3 miles. We camped in Maggie Valley behind a church. Taba can tell you next week. This year, although the guide said road walk, Section 15 & 16 has been moved off the parkway. Great work.

Sections 15 & 16 are rerouted onto some very nice trail as much as they can be. My compliments to the trail builders on such a great job out there. To the maintained who cleaned up the Shortoff Mountain trail down to Linville River, thank you! That section was so overgrown with thorns you couldn't get through without tearing your clothes or skin. That must have bee a huge task for you.

The final part of the BRP is planned to be rerouted but not sure of the proposed route or if it will become official anytime soon. Personally I enjoy the tunnels through there.

10-K
04-25-2011, 19:16
Sections 15 & 16 are rerouted onto some very nice trail as much as they can be. My compliments to the trail builders on such a great job out there. To the maintained who cleaned up the Shortoff Mountain trail down to Linville River, thank you! That section was so overgrown with thorns you couldn't get through without tearing your clothes or skin. That must have bee a huge task for you.

The final part of the BRP is planned to be rerouted but not sure of the proposed route or if it will become official anytime soon. Personally I enjoy the tunnels through there.

So sections 2 and 3 are still roadwalk?

Taba
04-25-2011, 20:55
So sections 2 and 3 are still roadwalk?

Not sure yet but will find out soon. I think you can pick your route between the 2 but if it's not blazed or designated I will not be adding it into the Manual and will continue on the road possibly unless the FMST wants me to change it. The Manual is to route the trail according to what the organization says where the trail is.

modiyooch
04-26-2011, 07:11
Taba, The guide is a great help. Thank you. I wanted to point out that the map of Skyland is not oriented North. Thanks for all you do.

Tennessee Viking
04-26-2011, 10:46
So sections 2 and 3 are still roadwalk?
I talked to the area task force leader not long ago. There are some road walks on 2 & 3. Sec. 3 is getting closer to being completed.

Last I saw, you don't see trail until halfway down from Waterrock Knob to Balsam Gap.

10-K
04-26-2011, 12:21
I talked to the area task force leader not long ago. There are some road walks on 2 & 3. Sec. 3 is getting closer to being completed.

Last I saw, you don't see trail until halfway down from Waterrock Knob to Balsam Gap.

How does someone not plugged into the grapevine find the relocated trail?

For instance, if my wife and I drove to Oconoluftee where we last finished and started walking up the BRP per Taba's guide would there be any indicators saying to move from the BRP to trail?

Tennessee Viking
04-26-2011, 13:47
10K

For most of the BRP section, when ever trail crossees or turns off/onto the BRP, you should see some post markers. http://mstwatauga.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-plant-post.html

Last time I was up at Waterrock, there was a post pointing toward white/blue dot blaze around Woodfin Cascade overlook. The route then climbs down graded trail/dirt roads to Orchards Overlook. Then small road walk back on BRP across the highway at Balsam Gap where there is more established trail.

PMing you a contact for the area.

Taba
04-27-2011, 19:27
Taba, The guide is a great help. Thank you. I wanted to point out that the map of Skyland is not oriented North. Thanks for all you do.

I didn't mean to reply so strongly earlier. I have hears so many people say that the MST isn't thru-hiker friendly when it actually is. I feel like I am the only one who believes this. My apologies to you. It really wasn't guides to you specifically. I hope you have a wonderful adventure out here. I am always here to answer questions. If you have the Manauls you have my cell phone number and email address. You can always ask the questions here as well.

Taba
05-05-2011, 19:49
Just finished my 4th thru-hike of the MST. Summited Clingman's Dome at 4:25 pm. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

gunner76
05-05-2011, 20:30
Congrats on the hike.