Mountain-to-Sea Trail – June 2022 Newsletter

Moutain-to-Sea Trail

The MST (Mountain-to-sea trail) stretches for 1175 miles from the mountain peaks of Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains to the sand dunes of Jockey’s Ridge in The Outer Banks. While some people just hike sections of the MST for a short outdoors adventure, others challenge themselves to hike the entire MST roughly taking 3 months to complete.

The MST is broken up into 18 segments. The segments help you clearly understand the section of the MST that you are hiking with detailed information describing difficulty levels, milage and an area map. Segment #6 (The Elkin Valley) 69.3 miles runs through Byrd’s Branch Campground starting at The Devil’s Garden Overlook in Stone Mountain to Pilot Mountain State Park, with an alternate route of paddling the Yadkin River from Crater Park in Elkin to Pilot Mountain.

The MST has been built by many hard-working volunteers who help create, clean, and maintain the trails it wouldn’t be a success without all their support. Whether you are an experienced hiker or someone who just likes an occasional stroll with nature the MST has something for everyone and will provide an experience you will never forget!

How can you help? Join Friends of Mountain-to-sea trail to make a donation, receive e-newsletters, trail workdays, meetings and more. Interested in becoming a Trail Angel? Trail Angels provide shuttling, lodging, showers, meals etc. for the Mountain-to-sea hikers. Contact Jim Grode at jgrode@mountaintoseatrail.org. for more information.

Upcoming Specials/Events:

6/2-6/5 NC Trail Days {Area Event}

6/10 Food Truck Fridays {Downtown Elkin}

6/18 “Dad’s Day Potluck” Live music, food, and fun

6/25 Elkin Valley Cruisers Car show

Cooking at Camp Recipes:

Walking Tacos

Ingredients

• 6 individual-sized bags Doritos
• 1 pound taco meat (prepared taco seasoned ground beef or shredded chicken both works great)

Topping options (all to taste):

• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
• 1 1/2 cups lettuce
• 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
• diced onion (to taste)
• 1 avocado diced
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup sour cream

Instructions

1. Open each bag of Doritos.
2. You may crunch up the Doritos for easier eating or keep the chips big.
3. Add about 1/6 of the taco meat (about 1/4 cup) directly to each of the bags.