Excerpted from Thru Hiker's Guide to America by E. Schlimmer
The Mountains-to-Sea Trail throws just about everything imaginable at thru-hikers, some features challenging, some of them remote, some of them boring. But most of the features are in a pretty setting as the MST travels through thirty-seven of North Carolina’s one hundred counties.
On the west end of the MST, you’ll hike up and down the highest peaks in the eastern United States. Peaks that exceed 6,000 feet include Chestnut Bald, Mount Mitchell, Clingmans Dome, Waterrock Knob, Black Balsam Knob, Craggy Dome, Richland Balsam, and Blackstock Knob. Upon leaving the Appalachian Mountains, you will start to encounter the deep hardwood forests of the South and, continuing on, finally reach the Atlantic coast, where the Mountains-to-Sea Trail ends in Jockey’s Ridge State Park. This park is home to the tallest sand dune on the East Coast, rising a full 140 feet above the beach.
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