Mountains to Sea Trail needs volunteers

Kate Dixon, who serves as the executive director of the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail, recently spoke to members of the Alleghany Rotary Club of the nonprofit's efforts.

According to Dixon, the history of the Mountains to Sea Trail dates back to its proposal in 1977 by Howard Lee, the then-secretary of department of environmental resources.

During a national trail conference held in the state, Lee worked with state park staffs on his vision of having a trail across the state. He presented the idea, which was approved. Dixon said a group of citizens who cared about trails in North Carolina have kept his dream alive. One example is Allen de Hart, a retired professor from Louisburg College. "This was an idea that really appealed to him and he felt tired of waiting for the trail and so he sat down and figured out a trail using as much existing routes as possible and then back roads where there are no trails," Dixon explained. "Then with a friend, Alan Householder, they were the first two people to actually hike the trail and they finished in 1997. Then, he wrote a book so other people could do it to. What this does is it gives you a route that follows a lot of existing trails and uses back roads where there are not trails right now."

Dixon stated that De Hart played a role in the founding of Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail, a nonprofit organization that approached the state legislature in 2000 and requested that the Mountains to Sea Trail part of the National Park System.

The request was approved.

Route of Trail

The route of the Mountains to Sea Trail begins at Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains, comes through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and joins the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Trail follows the Parkway to Stone Mountain State Park, cuts through the park and follows back routes following bike route number four until reaching the Pilot Mountain area. The trail also includes 22 miles of the Sauratown Trails (which were started by an equestrian club for horse trails), which initially were on private land and landowners granted permission for the trails to be on their land. The 22-mile stretch connects from Pilot Mountain to Hanging Rock State Park. From Hanging Rock State Park, hikers go down to Greensboro, follow watershed lakes and then cut across, using back roads to Eno River State Park in Durham, and then down past Raleigh. Continuing to travel back roads, hikers travel to New Bern, then out to Cedar Island, take a ferry across the sound to Ocracoke and proceed to travel 70 miles on the sand, out to Jockey's Ridge State Park near Kitty Hawk.

At present, the trail encompasses 940 miles and it is anticipated to be a 1,000 miles in length upon its completion.

"In this area, the general concept is as we work to try to get it on trails, when you come out of Stone Mountain, you would actually start heading down toward the Yadkin River and then follow the river over to Pilot Mountain," said Dixon.

Importance of Trail

When addressing the importance of the Mountains to Sea Trail, Dixon highlighted the economic impact and other aspects.

 

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