A lot of it is broken up with dirt roads (which I don’t count as road walking) or local trails, but some of the road walks are very long, on roads with narrow or heavily slanted shoulders, and on busy highways. Road Walks: If you don’t realize that a good portion of this trail is road walking, you need to do more research before going in. All of the trail supporters that I stayed with were amazing people who were familiar with the trail in their area and were excited to help. Another supporter, who lives on the trail, spotted a couple of hikers that had not contacted him and took great care of them. One town I contacted 4 trail supporters from the list and got no response, and in another town I was contacted by someone who knew I was coming and basically told that I was staying with him. The MST site also has a list of trail supporters that you can use to plan, and they are organized by trail segment. I’m not going to confess any potential crimes here, but you will pass places along the route where, as one commenter on the app puts it, the stealth energy is strong. If you are not comfortable stealth camping this trail is going to be very expensive and hard to plan. There are very few established camping sites on this trail, and many long sections where camping is not legal. I’m also a big fan of supporting local businesses, so I ate at quite a few small restaurants and delis as I hiked.Ĭamping: This is the greatest logistical challenge on this trail, in my opinion. My average food carry was 4 days, and several times after transitioning to the Piedmont portion of the trail I could carry 1-2 days of food knowing I was going to pass a Dollar General or Food Lion soon. My longest food carry (I average 17-18 miles/day) was 6 days, and that only happened once. Resupply: This is one of the logistics I was most concerned about, but my concern was not necessary. I camp with a tent, but I know others have used tarps and hammocks to do this trail. I did see many hunters while I was hiking, and they often had alcohol in their possession. Several sections of trail go through active hunting areas, and if you’re hiking in the fall it is hunting season. Gear: The only gear that was specific to this trail was a safety orange bandanna and hat. I did not use them often, but they were useful in clarifying some confusing signage. I primarily used the MST iPhone app for navigation, but I did purchase the written guides and kept pdf copies of them on my phone. I started on 4 Sep 22, so the hike took me 66 days, only one of which was a zero day. I followed the route as precisely as possible with only a few necessary detours. Yesterday (8 Nov 22) I completed a thruhike of the MST.

Before starting my thruhike of the MST I came to this subreddit and looked for posts like the one I’m about to submit and didn’t really find anything, so I’m hoping this helps a prospective thruhiker in the future.

Mountains to Sea by Mike Joy