In an attempt to get the Mountains-to-Sea Trail off the road in the Coastal Plains, the trail will shift to a section from Clayton to Smithfield. A greenway is supposed to be built along the Neuse River and 2.9 miles of it is already in place in Smithfield.

So I checked out Smithfield, a small town between Goldsboro and Raleigh, population, about 13,000. It's the county seat of Johnston County and its downtown is right on the Neuse River. I walked the few blocks of its lively downtown – with jewelry stores, financial services companies, photographic equipment, and even a $3 movie theater. Yes, it has lots of bail bonds store fronts, but that's what you expect around the courthouse.

It even has a bookstore, Orchard House Booksellers, which also serves as a downtown coffee house. That's always a good place to connect with locals. The Johnston County Heritage Center serves as the local museum and it's only one block to the Ava Gardner Museum. Yep, Ava Gardner came from around here. In case you can't remember a thing about Gardner, she was in On the Beach and her “longest marriage” was to Frank Sinatra.

I walked a bit of the Buffalo Creek Greenway on the Neuse River, the section from downtown Smithfield to the community park. That section starts where John Smith operated a ferry across the Neuse on his property starting in 1759. I met bikers, walkers and a fisherman. A few miles of the greenway would be a highlight of the Coastal Plains.

But I was supposed to check out the services that long-distance MST hikers might need. US 70 Business had everything – fast food places, laundromat and plenty of motels. And further back from downtown was the reason that Smithfield is doing so well - Carolina Premium Outlets. Eighty  brand name stores that stay open until 9 p.m. way after downtown closes attracts a lot of people.

I don't think that MST hikers are going to be interested in the Kitchen Store or Talbot clothes but they will enjoy the services that are there because of the outlet mall. Yes, I think that Smithfield would make a fine MST trail town.    

Goldsboro is in the middle of the Coastal Plains route of the MST. The trail doesn't go through the city but I wanted to see if it would make a good trail town. The short answer is no. The city is too big and spread out. It's also too quiet.

I had read that Temple Oheb Shalom (1886) in Goldsboro was the second oldest Jewish Synagogue in North Carolina - the first is in Wilmington. Now the building is a soup kitchen. A woman worker at the soup kitchen assured me that the building was well taken care of. Even so, they had put a sculpture of a pig in front of the entrance. See the picture on top. The irony was completely lost on them, but they're doing good work in a blighted neighborhood.

Center St., the heart of the historic district is dead. The street has four lanes divided by a strip of grass and shrubs. Unfortunately the street itself has many empty stores. There are a few second hand shops, a beauty parlor and a clinic. Bailbond offices seem to thrive. Some stores are closed when they were supposed to be open.

I dropped into the Paramount Theatre and met Vincent, the theatre service coordinator. The theater is the only lively outlet in the historic district, though, of course, it was pretty quiet on a Tuesday morning. He explained that the building was new but the theatre has been around since the 1920s.

I walked into the Wayne County Museum and was the only visitor. The Assistant Director, Chris, offered to give me a personalized tour but I declined. The museum was filled with displays of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. General Cornwallis marched through Wayne County on the way to Virginia from Wilmington in 1781. Quilts hung in the room upstairs. Chris got so excited that I knew about the synagogue that he wanted me to visit a closed furniture store owned by a Jewish business owner. I didn't think so. I'm not doing a Jewish tour of Goldsboro.

Like Sylva, the County Courthouse had closed its majestic entrances because they figured no one was going to use the steps. Now you enter through an unimaginative courtyard.

I had lunch at the Getaway Coffee house, a quiet lunch spot with attractive paintings on the wall. The coffee was located on a side street and had more life that most of the main historic district.

I went in search of  Herman Park, a recreational park with picnic shelters, tennis courts, playground and lots more. There's a statue of the second “lady in the park'. The original has not weathered well and is convalescing at the museum.

But the people were very friendly. Everyone I talked to asked me in their own way what I was doing here. New in town? Visiting family? Passing through? So I told them about the MST but it didn't make much of an impression.

I have a friend who grew up in Goldsboro. I went looking for a postcard to send her but couldn't find any. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places but a city without postcards has given up hope. It was time to move on.  

I'm in Chapel Hill after a long day at the Friends of the MST Annual meeting. Over 185 people gathered at Saxapahaw. You've never heard of Saxapahaw? Well, I hope I never have to pronounce it in public but it's a small village restored around an old mill. 

It  would disingenuous if I didn't admit that the highlight of the meeting was getting my Completer's plaque. Eight people completed the MST in 2011; six showed up at the meeting and we all got a lovely, personalized plaques. We participated on a panel where we talked about out experiences. The highlights for me were the people I met on the trail – both those I passed and those who walked with me.

Kate Dixon, ED of the organization, went through the 2011 highlights – the photo contest, more hikers on the trail, more trail on the ground. Next year over 80 new miles is predicted, which would put the trail at over 600 miles. A 65-foot bridge over a section of the Falls of the Neuse recreation area was also a major milestone.

Kate also touted the new NC licence plate. We've now sold 115 plates, over a 1/3 of the way there.

But there are still challenges. The route of the MST out of the Smokies has been a discussion since the trail started and it's still not solved. At the “open mike” session, I spoke passionately (I hope) about staying in the Park as long as possible. It was amazing that others called the park too rugged and remote. That's hiking, folks.

The other challenge is how to get from Raleigh to New Bern without walking on roads for 150 miles. There is no public land there or a conservation ethic. It's an agricultural area that floods. The land values are low and there's no incentive to sell. So the State Park system has been asked to come up with a new route.

Lewis Ledford, head of the State Parks system, may not have been the Keynote Speaker, officially, but he was the highlight for me. We have one of the best state parks system in the country, one that will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2016. It's going to be a tough one to celebrate since it will compete with the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

I reconnected with friends and met some old FB friends face to face.  A good meeting with good outcomes.

The message is “Come on out and walk the trail.”  

Yesterday I took a trip to Jackson County for two purposes.

I wanted to go to Western Carolina University to see where the 2013 Appalachian Trail Conservancy Biennial meeting was going to be held. I had been to Western several times but now I was paying attention.

But the main reason was to explore Sylva as a possible trail town. When Sharon and I did the Mountains-to-Sea Trail close to Balsam Gap in Jackson County, we stayed on the highway and went into Sylva for dinner. Sylva could be a great MST trail town. To qualify as a trail town, in my opinion, the people in town must know about the MST. That will take a long time but it's never too early for hikers to educate business owners about the MST.  

If you're reading this as a Board member or part of the staff of Friends of the MST, rest assured that I know that the MST is not ready for trail towns. But I can speculate.

A trail town should be small so that residents get to see MST hikers as assets that bring in money and publicity to the town. Conversely, hikers get a good feel for the town. Sylva is less than three square miles and has only about 2,600 people.

But for most hikers, a trail town is all about services. Traditionally, long-distance hikers look for cheap food and a laundrymat - Sylva has both and more.

The old County Courthouse is on a hill overlooking Main St. See above. When the new Jackson County Justice and Administration Building was completed in 1994, the old building stayed empty until it was completely restored and reopened as a library complex in 2011.

I walked the 107 steps. But after I reached the top, I saw that the steps no longer lead to the entrance. Now you go into the building from the parking lot. A majestic entrance was lost in the redesign.

At the top of the stairs, a statue of a Civil War soldier guards what was the front of the building. That was the last major war in the U.S. before the building opened. Every town in the South needs a Civil War memorial. The complex includes a room for the Jackson County museum. When I got there at 12:35 pm, the room was closed. The museum was supposed to be open at noon. I asked several employees about the museum but all I got was a polite shrug.

Main Street is the classic small town street - a hair salon, a fly fishing shop, bicycle shop, an outfitter, and a used bookstore that benefits the library.

Massie Furniture Store carries 1950s furniture, the kind in my parents' apartment in Brooklyn.

A hardware store and Jackson General Store have clothes and dishes and everything else that's supposed to keep you from going to Wal-Mart. Peebles, a one-floor department store that seems to pop up in small towns, sells 1960s clothes. The craft gallery is closed for January and February. Free wifi is advertised everywhere. I need to go back to Sylva in the spring when it comes back to life again.

Up on a hill, City Lights Bookstore is very much alive and stays open until 9 pm. Under the bookstore is a coffee shop and cafe that also serves meals and beer and wine. It's the best place for coffee and goodies.

Mill Street parallels Main Street. By the railroad tracks, Bridge Park has a great looking picnic shelter. Wouldn't that make a good place to camp for long-distance MST walkers? The town would have to install a couple of Port-o-Johns. I don't think that's going to happen any time soon but hikers could stay at Blue Ridge Inn. It's a privately owned nonchain motel with rocking chairs and outside entrance to each room. Don't look for rave reviews on Trip Advisor.

Most of what a long-distance hiker needs is on US 107 including Ted's Laundromat and several supermarkets for resupply. All types of fast food are available on the highway. Two all-you-can-eat buffets, Ryan's and Jade Dragon, will fill up anyone.

But this may be an old-fashioned stereotypic view of long-distance hikers. Not everyone who does a long-distance hike walk is trying to do it the cheapest way possible.

Sharon and I wanted slow food. Lulu's on Main Street is the classic place.

But Soul Infusion further north has, well, soul. They offer over 60 different teas, served properly in a tea pot with boiling water. That's the infusion part. The soul is the 1970s funky decor - posters, signs, lei hung on the wall - and friendly people that will talk to you. The food is good and, yes, they serve beer and wine. 

So when the time comes, Sylva has a good chance to compete as a MST mountain trail town.

I want to wish everyone a happy hiking year!

If my mission is to get people out of their cars and hiking, it might be a good time to review what I did this year and where I hiked.

My big accomplishment this year was finishing the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. I hiked 500 miles of the MST and completed it in the Outer Banks in May. I wonder what I'll do in 2012 to top that.

Right now, I'm busy writing a book proposal for a travel adventure book on the MST, tentatively called The Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Walking 1000 miles through North Carolina. If you can suggest a better title, I'd love to hear it.

I took the opportunity to visit several National Park Units as I traveled -
the Washington Mall and Arlington House in DC and Manassas National Battlefield when we celebrated Lenny's birthday in Washington,
Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh and Wright Brothers Memorial on the North Carolina Coast as I finished the MST,
Moore's Creek Battlefield on the way to a writing course in New Bern,
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (the St. Louis arch) before taking my granddaughter to  Family Nature Summits in Missouri,
Fort Frederica National Monument, De Soto National Memorial and Timucuan Preserve on our way to Florida.
Not bad. That's 11 parks without any of them being destination places for me. And that doesn't count Great Smoky Mountains National Park, my home park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I also hiked on the Appalachian Trail regularly and participated in Virginia 2011, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Biannual Conference.

This year, I started volunteering to lead monthly hikes on the North Carolina side of the Smokies for Friends of the Smokies. The point of these hikes is to show North Carolinians the beauty and accessibility of the NC Smokies. The top picture is of Hannah E. who scouted one of the hikes with me.

I continue to hike and lead hikes for Carolina Mountain Club and do trail maintenance on our section of the Appalachian Trail.

Even though hiking (and writing about hiking) is what I do, Lenny and I took a hiking vacation in England. We walked the Cotswald Way (102 miles) and the Norfolk Coastal Path (47 miles). Very different hiking from the Smokies.

But it's not all hiking. I'm on the Board of the Great Smoky Mountains Association, the cooperating association that runs the bookstores in the Smokies. I write for National Parks Traveler, the best website on all this National Park and for other outlets on the outdoors.

And of course, there's blogging and editing the eNews for Carolina Mountain Club.

I have gotten involved in a couple of non-hiking activities but this is not a family newsletter.

So what's next? Keep reading this blog.   

Yesterday, I went on a seven-mile hike, mostly on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and down to Bent Creek. Now you would think I would be tired of the MST, since I walked the whole trail and continue to do bits of it. But the MST is one of the closest trails to Asheville and  there's always something to see and learn.

We started at the beginning of the Shut-In Trail close to the North Carolina Arboretum. But look at my companions. What's wrong with this picture? It's still hunting season - that's what - and I was the only one with an orange hat. We could hear gunfire down below, though someone in our group said that it was just target practice.

Dwight Mc., the guy on the right hand, is a retired Smokies ranger. He came from Gatlinburg, TN for this hike. He pointed out exotic plants and flowers that were confused about the weather and coming up too soon.

He also showed me that vines go around trees counterclock wise. I had never noticed this but now I noted every tree and every vine - and of course, he was right.

When I looked it up, I learned that not all vines go around counterclockwise. It does depend on the vine. But again it was a question of not noticing something until it's pointed out to me.

But I did notice every person who was wearing and not wearing orange. It's hunting season until January 2.

Friends of the MST just announced the winners of their first photography contest. I won third prize. That was a real surprise.

There's my winning entry. On Pea Island, in Cape Hatteras National Seashore, this painter had spread out his paints and palette. He was oblivious of the blazing sun.

If you look at the winning entries, you'll see that the photos are beautiful. Some are very professional. I have a Cannon Sureshot but I'm sure the others had more sophisticated equipment. I can't compete on beauty, only on quirky.

There should have been more winning entries on the MST sections in the Piedmont and Coastal Plains. Actually there should have been more entries in those sections. Maybe next year.

Keep taking those pictures. Winter scenes of the MST should be beautiful.

Is your license plate naked? Does your car believe in anything? If you've been reading this blog for a while and you live in North Carolina, I assume that you have an affinity license plate to show your support of the Smokies or the A.T.

But if not, are you in luck? Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail has been approved a great license tag. See above.

We voted for our favorite design. People said that they liked this design because 1) it's based on the actual MST sign; 2) it includes hikers; and 3) the FMST colors are vibrant enough to see from a distance.
 
So now you need to get one. We have to sell 300 plates to even be in the game.
 
Why buy an MST plate now?
1.    It's a fun way to show your love of hiking and the MST
2.    It's a great way to provide financial support for the MST - $20 of the $30 annual cost will be returned to FMST to build, protect and promote the trail.
3.    Your plate will have a low number which will identify you as one of the early supporters of the MST.
4.    If you want a personalized plate, most options are still available if you order now.
5.    A plate would be a great present for a special person this holiday season!

To order your plate, download the application, fill out the form and mail it with your check to Friends of the MST.
 
When FMST has pre-sold 300 plates, the NC Division of Motor Vehicles will produce the plates and mail them to everyone who has preordered.
 
Please act now. The NC General Assembly has given us only a short time to sell the first 300 plates before the authorization for the plate expires. Now is your chance to have an MST license plate.

We seem to have started a tradition of doing our end-of-year trail maintenance on the day after Thanksgiving. The last thing we want is to be with shoppers and the maintenance has to be done anyway. This year was no exception. In addition, our son and family were visiting. We stuffed ourselves yesterday - OK stuffing, Bernstein style, which would have been considered pretty light. So today we took our granddaughter trail maintaining on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

Lenny maintains a two-mile piece of trail  from Beaver Dam OV to Big Ridge OV. It's in a narrow piece of the Blue Ridge Parkway, surrounded by Pisgah National Forest so we wore orange.

She had her own clippers and gardening gloves. She took  weed clipping very seriously. At first, we discussed every weed that she was going to clip. Then she developed a test. As she walked, if she could feel the vegetation, she clipped it. Otherwise she gave it a pass.

Meanwhile, Lenny was cleaning out  waterbars. Some times, he was ahead but most of the time, he was behind us. His clipping test was more stringent since he is so much bigger and could feel more weeds around him.

Hannah and I discussed why we wore orange. I skipped the part about the Parkway being a national park and there's no hunting in a park. Sure enough, on the trail, a man and his four-year old son walked toward us in full hunting gear. See to the right.

They weren't having any luck, he said, and they were just walking.

So the moral of the story is that whether you want to encourage hiking and trail maintenance or hunting, you have to start them young.

When is a guidebook an artifact and when is it just old?

At Second Gear, my favorite Asheville consignment shop, I found a book, An Introduction to North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail, (second edition) published in 1997. It's really a large pamphlet, 34 pages, put out by the North Carolina State Trails Program. It's not in black and white, but green and white - same thing.

Darrell McBane was the State Trails Coordinator then. The MST had 330 miles, most of it in the mountains, Croatan and Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Neither end points were established. The western end starts at Balsam Gap, not the Smokies, The eastern end is a the National Park Service Visitor Center at Cape Hatteras, not Jockey's Ridge State Park.

So most of it is still accurate, though the MST has certainly expanded since then. There's one exception. In the book, there's an 8-mile section through Waynesboro State Park which goes through Goldsboro in the Coastal Plains. That has been changed and now the MST bypasses Goldsboro all together. And in addition, Waynesborough State Park is not a NC state park, at least it's not on the state park website. I'm sure an MST historian will have the answer to this.

I snapped up the book and won't tell you what I paid for it. It's not like finding an Ansel Adams at a flea market. But I wonder how many of those were printed and how many are still in circulation.

The Shut-In race on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail will be held on Saturday Nov. 5, starting at 10 am. It's always on the first Saturday in November.

It's an 18 miles run from the North Carolina Arboretum near Asheville, NC to the trailhead for the Mt. Pisgah summit.

The race travels along the portion of the Mountains to Sea Trail known as "The Shut-In Trail". The trail was originally an access trail for George Vanderbilt to reach his hunting lodge on top of Mt. Pisgah. You can expect about 3,000 feet of elevation gain, very technical single track and virtually un-runnable climbs in many places.

So if you're planning to hike on the MST tomorrow, be prepared to see runners whizzing by.