The Mountains-to-Sea Trail has hit 50. It now has 50 completers, a milestone.

Lorie Hansen of Hendersonville has become the 50th person to complete the 1,000-mile hike across North Carolina. According to a Blue Ridge Now article, Hansen was very grateful for all the trail angels who helped her along the way. She found the logistics challenging. That’s the big problem – where to stay the night. Everything else is easy, much easier than the Appalachian Trail, to which it is always compared.

The majority of those completing the trail are much like Hansen, a first-time long distance hiker. She also represents the increasing number of women of all ages completing the trail. PJ Wetzel is also hiking the MST, in a leisurely manner and is now in Pisgah National Forest. He seems to be circling back to his van most nights, therefore walking the trail twice. Lorie and PJ actually met on the MST last month.

By the way, according to Blue Ridge Now, Lorie is 63 years old. PJ is certainly not much younger. As I keep saying, hiking is a “life sport”.

The first to complete the hike were long-time outdoorsmen Allen DeHart and Alan Householder in 1997. I was number 21, finishing in 2011. It seems such a long time ago that I completed the trail.

“We’ve got a long way to go to catch up with the Appalachian Trail, but it should be recognized that it was about 30 years between the first A.T. hiker and the 50th ” Kate Dixon, Executive Director of Friends of the MST said.

Congratulations, Lorie. Come out with Carolina Mountain Club. We’d love to hear your story.