“This was a perfect example of multiple agencies and volunteers coming together to accomplish something through teamwork and collaboration,” N.C. Trails Program Manager Scott Crocker wrote in a letter to CMC volunteers. “A special thanks to Tom Weaver and Les Love and others with the CMC that helped organize the trail work days.”

The new trail bypasses the Rattlesnake and Sherrill Cove tunnels on the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, meaning that the MST is now complete from Clingmans Dome on the North Carolina-Tennessee border to Stone Mountain State Park, which straddles Alleghany and Wilkes counties near Elkin. 

For the first time, N.C. State Parks used a hybrid approach to build the trail, using a machine to rough in the route and volunteers with hand tools to conduct the finishing work. 

“I feel like it was extremely successful, efficient and educational for both CMC and N.C. State Parks staff,” Crocker wrote. 

Work is now underway to blaze the final route through the mountains, allowing it to be open to the public in the near future. 

For more information about the MST, including an interactive map and downloadable section guides, visit www.mountainstoseatrail.org.