I cringed when I picked up the July Outside magazineand saw that it had the Mountains-to-Sea Trail listed under “Best Through-Hikes You’ve Never Heard Of.” No mention was made of the fact that the roughly 1,000-mile MST is only a little over half done, meaning that roughly 500 miles of this best-trail-you’ve-never-heard-of actually is on pavement, often competing with cars. Not exactly the escape most of us seek when we hit the trail.
Tag Archives: Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail
A workout on a trail workday
Sunday, I woke up as sore as I’ve been in a long while. Not just leg sore from running, say, a half marathon, or riding a mountain century. And not the shoulder and arm sore from a long paddle. Full-body head-to-toe sore. That’s what a day of honest work will do.
Show a trail you care this National Trails Day
If there were justice in this world, every bank executive and mortgage handler in the land would be forced to turn out on Saturday and participate in National Trails Day. Rationale? Federal, state and municipal land managers are facing drastic cuts as a result of recent recklessness in the financial sector, and they’re more in need than ever for help to maintain existing trails and blaze new ones. Alas, since it’s doubtful we’ll see a brigade of shovel- and mattock-wielding pinstripes flooding our forests Saturday, it’s up to the rest of us.
One man’s carrot …
Last week I wrote about the need for carrots as incentive to work out.
Kate Dixon writes to agree — sorta.
“I ran a 5K in Raleigh on May 1st called Race of Grace,” writes Dixon, who when she’s not running is executive director of the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. “The prizes are cakes home baked by members of the churches that organize the race. Anyway, I have never been so motivated to run harder than I would have in hopes of winning a prize.”