12/06/2023
The Mountains-to-Sea Trail was just listed as one of three "new" long trails to keep an eye on by Backpacker Magazine (). The New Triple Crown. We're honored to be listed alongside The Pacific Northwest Trail and the Great Divide Trail. Both of those trails have long been on our list of eventual must hikes!
"Backpacking a lesser-known long trail is like taking a step back in time. Do you wish you could hike the Appalachian Trail as it used to be, when the shelters weren’t packed shoulder-to-shoulder, and A Walk in the Woods was just an idea in Bill Bryson’s head? If so, set your sights on one of these up-and-coming routes. All three are hikeable today, though there’s some bushwhacking, compass wrangling, and road walking to be had. But when it comes to embarking on a “New Triple Crown”, that’s all part of the fun.
One of the challenges for any long trail on the East Coast is avoiding people. With a majority of Americans living east of the Mississippi River, it can be hard to find solitude. One eastern trail that’s made peace with that reality is the Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Over its 1,175-mile length, there’s plenty of natural splendor to enjoy, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the beaches of the Outer Banks. But the trail also embraces civilization by routing hikers along main streets and through the historic towns of North Carolina. “The MST is a little different,” says Brent Laurenz, the executive director of Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the non-profit dedicated to the trail. “From the outset it was never designed to be a purely wilderness trail. One goal was to connect the communities.”
Read about all three trails here: https://bit.ly/3R6gXIE