Tag Archives: Carolina Mountain Club

Carolina Mountain Club and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail are number one!

Carolina Mountain Club, Mountains-to-Sea Trail,

Carolina Mountain Club and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail have been voted number one. But I could have told you that.

The Mountain Xpress just published the results of their 2014 readers’ poll. They have 561 categories.

In the Hiking Club category, Carolina Mountain Club was voted number one for at least the second year in a row. We’re the largest hiking club in Western North Carolina, but certainly not the only one. We did have legitimate competition.

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail was voted the best Hiking Trail in Western North Carolina. The trail has been voted the best for a few years because it is now in the Hall of Fame. They even printed the Friends of the MST website. In case you’re wondering, the Appalachian Trail came is second and the Art Loeb Trail through Pisgah National Forest was third. So the competition was real.

But there are other reasons to feel good over these votes.

Only a few years ago, voters didn’t even know that they were walking the MST. I remember clearly that the Blue Ridge Parkway won the “best hiking trail” category. Of course, hiking voters meant the MST, they just didn’t know they were walking it.

See the article I wrote in 2007 for the Mountain Xpress. Ironically, I contributed to the Mountain Xpress Outdoor column for several years but the magazine decided to drop the Outdoor column at the end of 2010.

The Mountain Xpress also had a box on the MST that I’m reproducing here:

How Far Can You Go?

The almost-complete, 1,000-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail – North Carolina’s longest marked footpath–connects Clingman’s Dome (sic) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks.

OK, so there isn’t an apostrophe in Clingmans, but I’m delighted anyway.

So come out with CMC and walk the MST. We’re number one.

PS Diamond Brand Outdoors won the best Outdoor-Gear Shop category. They are a great supporter of CMC. Congratulations to them, as well!

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Rough Creek–Now smooth walking

Carolina Mountain Club,

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Yesterday, Lenny and I went back to Rough Creek in the Canton Watershed to scout his Carolina Mountain Club hike again, scheduled for Sunday December 1.

The first time we hiked it, the Cherry Cove Trail, the only trail off the old roads, was completely overgrown. I blogged about it. I also found a Friends of the Rough Creek Watershed group on Facebook. With the wonders of Facebook, I shared my blog on their page.

A wonderful conversation ensued that you can read as comments on my last blog. But the bottom line is that the group went out and cleaned up the trail. Dave Tate, the leader of the group, wrote:

On 11/16/13, six volunteers spent 5 hours clearing 26 trees from blocking the trail, and weedeating all of the undergrowth on the trail. The trail is in great shape & should provide a stellar hike for your Dec. 1st hike!

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And he was right. Look at the pictures of the great trail. Lenny is pointing to the fresh cuts.

roughfork2scout4.JPGEven more important to me, the maintenance group cleared Cherry Cove Trail of weeds and bramble. They may have even added a few new “red paw” blazes. It was now a pleasure to walk through. Thank you!

We followed Cherry Cove Trail up to the magnificent views and back down. See the photo above.

I had done this hike several years before. At the time, I remembered that we made a longer loop but I have a feeling that we were on a private road. This time, we had no doubt that the road through a subdivision, called The Glades, was private. Even so, we could see several mid-size houses on large lots. A quick web search revealed that they sold for about $300,000.

Have no fear, Glade residents. We have no desire or need to walk on your private road. In Western North Carolina, we’re blessed to have thousands of miles of public trails.

Come and see the beautiful trail on Sunday December 1. If you’re not a member, you need to contact the leader by going on the CMC website and looking at the hike schedule.

Again, thank you to Friends of the Rough Creek Watershed. You are friends, indeed.