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Section Hike on the MST

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    • Section Hike on the MST

      Tentatively trying to plan a mid-May section hike on the MST, somewhere in the 50 mile range, meaning 6 days for my wife and me, as we hike slow.

      I have the Thru Hikers Manual by Scot "Taba" Ward, and it's a great resource, but the trail is cut into arbitrary sections. I like sections 9-11 (area around Mt Mitchell through Linville Gorge area, I believe). The problem is, these sections total about 72 miles. (23, 13, and 36, respectively)

      I am not sure if there maybe a prettier section (s) that we can do that meets the 50 mile max, or maybe we can start or finish in the middle of section 9 or 11 to shorten that trip down from 72 to 50ish. We could do just sections 10 and 11, but then we'd miss Mt Mitchell...too bad we can't skip section 10 and do 9 and 11 lol.

      If anyone on here lives out that way, or has hiked up there and could give some advice, it would be mucho aprreciando.
      First Law of Physics for Backpackers: What goes down must come up.

    • Section Hike on the MST

      I can tell you this much, though. If you plan to be hiking Linville Gorge in May check your dates carefully. The Gorge section is permit-only for weekends and holidays from May 1 to Oct 31. You will need to apply well ahead of that time since they limit access to I think 50 people a day. It fills up pretty quickly. If your schedule is flexible, you might try for the last week in April and have your trip roll over into May.

      Here's a link for more info:

      http://www.ncnatural.com/Resources/Adventure/Gorge/Camping.html

    • Section Hike on the MST

      thanks so much for the help! Looks like weekdays are ok, it's the weekends that you need a permit, but it is really important that we knew this to make sure we aren't there on that section during the weekend!!!
      First Law of Physics for Backpackers: What goes down must come up.

    • Section Hike on the MST

      Also keep in mind that there was a huge wildfire around the Table Rock area a couple of months ago. You might want to call the Forest Service to get an idea of the extent of the damage and its proximity to the section of the MST trail. If it's really burnt out and ugly, you might decide to hike another portion.