Trail News: From the NC Mountains to the Sea

MST PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Check out the winning photographs and take a few minutes to look at all 129 submitted photos. They will make you want to head out for the trail!

1st Place - People on the Trail category. Photograher Duncan Hoge

FIRST PLACE - PEOPLE ON THE TRAIL

Running the MST by Duncan Hoge

Thanks to everyone who submitted photos, and a special thanks to our distinguished panel of judges: Photojournalist Ted Richardson of Ted Richardson Media; Jessica Lobdell of Jessica Lobdell Photography; and Chuck Millsaps of Great Outdoor Provision Co.

Thanks also to Great Outdoor Provision Co. and all the corporate sponsors who made the contest possible.

We hope you'll enter your best MST photos in next year's contest. We'll start accepting submissions in August 2013.

TWO GREAT WAYS TO SUPPORT THE MST

ONE - Make a gift to help FMST build, protect and promote North Carolina's trail. You can make your gift online, or you can print and mail your donation.

TWO - Show your love of the MST by being one of the first 300 people to buy a speciality MST plate. Submit your application now, and MST license plate

when FMST has pre-sold 300 plates, the NC Division of Motor Vehicles will make the plates and mail you yours.

This holiday season, you can also give the plate as a gift to the hiking enthusiasts in your life! Just fill out the holiday gift form and mail it with the application fee to FMST. Then we'll send the person you've bought the plate for a special card to let them know of your gift.

To date, FMST has sold 228 plates. Help us reach the 300 goal by sending in your application today!

WELCOME HEATHER MCGEE AND BETSY BROWN

FMST is delighted to have the help of two talented new staff people.

Heather McGee on the Pacific Crest Trail

Heather on the Pacific Crest Trail

Heather McGee, a graduate student at Duke, is working with FMST through a federal work-study program this school year. Heather has worked on two Student Conservation Association trail crews - in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and on the Pacific Crest Trail. At FMST she is providing support to our volunteer task force leaders, helping to build interest and support for the MST paddle trail option on the Neuse River as well as assisting in the office in many other ways.

Betsy at home in Raleigh

Betsy Brown is helping organize FMST's 2013 annual meeting, promote the license plate and assist with other outreach efforts over the next few months. Betsy comes to us with an impressive background in public relations with record companies and the snowsports industry.

GET INVOLVED...

The Army Corps of Engineers is updating its master plan which guides management of Falls Lake, and FMST is asking them to add more campsites along the 60-mile MST. Currently, there are only two sites, and they are not conveniently spaced for hikers who would like to do the entire trail. We encourage you to submit comments to the Corps about this or any other Falls Lake issue. Comments will be accepted until Monday, December 17th. Please feel free to share your ideas with FMST too so we can incorporate them into our own work and comments to the Corps.
Register for FMST's annual meeting on Saturday, February 2 in Saxapahaw, a historic town near Burlington where the trail is being built along the Haw River. The meeting is a great place to learn more about the trail and how to get involved. Diane Van Deren, the North Face ultrarunner who completed the MST last year, will be the keynote speaker.
State Parks is developing a trail plan for the far-western counties in North Carolina, and one of the issues to be determined is the route of the MST as it leaves the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. FMST welcomes your ideas about this issue, and you can learn more about it and how to get involved on our website.
1st Place - Youth Photographer - Miranda Knox 'Tree at Jockey's Ridge'
Winter doesn't stop our trail volunteers! See our calendar for upcoming workdays. Groups in several parts of the state are continuing workdays through the winter. But if warmer weather suits you better, several spring and summer 2013 workdays are already posted!

MST NEWS BRIEFS...

1st Place - View from the Trail Brenden Kjar "Rays of Light on the MST"

On September 27, ninety people gathered at Pilot Mountain State Park to celebrate the official dedication of 12 miles of trail at the park into the MST. Adding those miles meant that we needed to adjust the backroad route that long-distance hikers use to hike the MST across the state. Thanks to our sister group, the Elkin Valley Trail Association, for working with Surry and Wilkes county leaders to recommend that new route and develop hiking directions. Directions and maps of the new route are provided on our website.
State Parks officially dedicated the new trail near Boone that links together 300 miles of continuous MST in the mountains on September 29. Before heading out through the rain to hike the trail, volunteers gathered around State Park and Blue Ridge Parkway leaders for a light-hearted ceremony to drive a "golden" spike into a trail marker - just as was done in 1869 to link together the transcontinental railroad.
Last year, the FMST Board voted to make paddling the Neuse River an official option for completing the MST, and Jim Hallsey became the first to use that option this year. An interactive map created by the Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation is available to help plan your paddling trip, whether it's an afternoon paddle or part of your cross-state journey on the MST.

MST IN THE NEWS...

The MST was voted "Best Hiking Trail" in Western North Carolina by Mountain Xpress's "Best of 2012" list.
Speaking of photography, a photo of the MST near the Blue Ridge Parkway, taken by Randy Johnson, was selected as a National Parks Traveler Photo of the Week.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Kate Dixon

Executive Director

Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

PO Box 10431, Raleigh, NC 27605

919-698-9024

[email protected]