The Start of Two New Challenges

The Carolina Mountain Club in Asheville is celebrating its 90th  year with two new challenges.  The club maintains 130 miles of the Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) and 93 miles for the Appalachian Trail (AT).  The "90 in 90 AT Challenge" and the "MST 130 Challenge" require one to hike these sections during the 2013 calendar year.  Over the past several years, I have hiked most of the MST trail mile and some of the AT miles, but this challenge requires they be hiked in 2013.

These challenges are not so much a competition, but a personal challenge to hike almost 200 miles of trails in Western North Carolina.  They will require some planing and the logistics of car shuttles, particularly for the MST challenge.

My friend Rich and I are planning on completing both challenges, and we started the MST challenge with an 11 mile hike on the MST through the "Asheville Corridor."  For those who don't know, much of the MST follows the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Asheville area.  The section of the Parkway from the Folk Art Center to Highway 191 (Brevard Rd.) is heavily used by commuters looking for an alternative to highway driving.   This area is also within sight of houses and other developed areas.

We hiked from the Blue Ridge Parkway Destination Center (milepost 384) to the French Broad River Overlook (milepost 393).  This section of the MST is not particularly steep as it winds its way across wooded land.  Probably the most notable thing about this section is that the MST uses the Parkway bridges over major roads.  Highways 74-A, 25-A, a railroad, Highway 25, and I-26 are al crossed by walking on the Parkway bridges over them.  At the end of the hike we crossed the French Broad River on the Parkway bridge near the overlook and the access to Hwy 191 and Brevard Road.

 

It was a clear day with temperatures in the low 60s.  We completed the 11 miles in less than 5 hours.  Now that we have our first MST section done, we are committed to completing the challenge.  Next up: the 10 miles from the Destination Center north to Ox Creek Road/Bull Gap.  This is another Asheville section of the MST.

The French Broad River from the Parkway Bridge

All photos by Rich Sampson

For the AT challenge, we are planning to do them in three three-day backpacking trips.  More on that later.