NC> MST Piedmont Section

**RENDAWG** · 06-06-2018, 11:59

I am very interested in doing some of the Mountain to Sea Trail (MST) in North Carolina, all of it at some point in sections. I wanted to know if anyone had any experience on the MST in the Piedmont region, Section 6,7 or 8. My idea is to start Friday late afternoon and someone with a friend and hike and hammock camp until Sunday afternoon. I have been on the MST website and looked over the trails. Just looking for personal experience. Does anyone have a good starting and stopping point? Is it better to be dropped off and pick up my truck at the end. Any suggestions?

**Trambo** · 06-11-2018, 20:05

I do not have experience in hiking the MST. There's a great book that I read about it, but I'll have to look up the book title. It's in my amazon, so I'm having to download the app to check. However, did you know that less than 1000 people have ever finished the MST? This was the numbers about a year ago, and it even gives you a special license plate for NC. I would love to do a thru hike of the MST, but I do not have the capital or time to do so.... nor am I physically fit enough. It's almost half the length of the AT, and it goes through just our one state.

**Trambo** · 06-11-2018, 20:40

The book is titled the mountain to sea trail across north carolina, walking a thousand miles through wilderness, culture and history by danny bernstein. It was more about what you'll encounter and things to see than just where to walk. I really enjoyed it.

**TallPaul** · 06-11-2018, 21:15

You probably saw it but in case not, the MST site has both the detailed descriptions of the trail and links to Hiking Project, which also has the GPS tracks.

I’m not familiar with the segments you are interested in so no advice there.

**TallPaul** · 06-11-2018, 21:19

One other note - I did order the Mountains-to-Sea trail guide book (specifically the Mountain one) from the MST site. The info in the book looks the same as the trail guides published on the MST site. It’s nice to have it in book format, but you could get buy with the PDF version and printing parts yourself or saving it to your phone.

**Trambo** · 06-11-2018, 21:50

There's actually a way for me to let another user "borrow" the MST book that I alluded to earlier in the post. If anyone wants to give it a peruse, let me know. I'm more than willing to allow someone to see if they like it, or read the entire thing.

**RENDAWG** · 06-12-2018, 09:13

Thank you guys for the feed back. I had been looking at the MST site for months. I joined as a supporter. The Piedmont section that I am talking about Starts near Sparta and ends near Falls Dam. The Pilot Mountain to Hanging Rock Section is basically my backyard as I grow up in Stokes county. I want to plan to start in the Sparta area and work my way thru Stokes county. I figure it would be a short trip for my first trip. Then try to do the rest of the sections in the Piedmont over time.

**timberlake** · 06-13-2018, 19:15

I have hiked section #10. It starts in Orange county/pleasant green access and ends in Wake county/ Falls Lake dam. It's around 76/77 miles. I hiked it in sections and enjoyed it very much.

**RENDAWG** · 06-14-2018, 08:03

Originally Posted by timberlake

I have hiked section #10. It starts in Orange county/pleasant green access and ends in Wake county/ Falls Lake dam. It's around 76/77 miles. I hiked it in sections and enjoyed it very much.

That is one of the other ones I was thinking as my second hike. What kind of time frame did it take you? Any issues with camping?

**timberlake** · 06-22-2018, 17:17

Originally Posted by RENDAWG

That is one of the other ones I was thinking as my second hike. What kind of time frame did it take you? Any issues with camping?

I hiked it in sections. As far as camping goes there are 3 pay campgrounds and 2 free section/thru hikers only campgrounds. The pay campgrounds are Eno state park (only a few miles from the start of section #10), Rollingview at Falls Lake and Shinleaf/Falls Lake. You will see these if you purchase Section #10 map from MTS website. The free ones they don't advertise is about 15-17 miles from the east bound start. The other one is at falls Lake 10 miles from Falls Lake Dam.