If you have not heard, the Mountains-To-Sea Trail is growing and growing. As of 2012, the Falls Lake Trail was officially completed to add 60+ miles of continuous trail in Raleigh-Durham area. More land is being acquired for the trail along the Haw River in Alamance County, Eno River in Orange/Durham Counties, and Neuse River in Wake and Johnston Counties.
As of the last meeting, the FMST board has reconfigured their plan for the routing of the MST route in eastern North Carolina. The previous plan was for the trail to follow the Neuse River corridor to New Bern. Due to the lack of public lands and possible easements, plans have changed.
The Board is now proposing a new route from the city of Smithfield in Johnston County to the Bladen Lakes area in Bladen County (near Elizabethtown) then to Holly Shelter Gamelands, the city of Jacksonville, and Croatan Forest (Neusiok Trail). This route will follow a number of natural preserves and public land tracts.
This is a major re-route, if anyone has any experience of hiking or exploring any trails or natural areas on this corridor, please contact me. I am trying to gather information about possible hiking corridors, camping, resupply points and such.