I am 2 weeks away from Jockey's Ridge on my second thru-hike. I am not stopping there though. My plan is to turn around immediately and start back to Clingman's Dome for a yo-yo of the MST. I have been updating and correcting the Thru-Hiker's Manual. I will be working on the westbound version on my return trip. So no matter which direction you want to hike this trail you will have a guide for it. I am working on fixing the camping issues that this trail has by asking every pastor of all the churches along the way if we can have permission to use the property as a place to set up a tent for the night and to use their water spigots to fill our bottles. I have had great responses and will hopefully continue to help reduce some of the stress off of this journey. There are over 100 churches on this trail and if every church says yes about our being there than in comparison we will have more shelters or places to camp than the Appalachian Trail.
Next challenge will be getting a Thru-hiker's permit for the state parks and the Blue Ridge Parkway so there would be no more "illegal camping."
Here's one example of "must do illegal camping." In Falls Lake Recreation Area the map says that "you can enjoy hiking and camping along the MST in this park." However, when I asked where the camping was between Shinleaf to Falls of the Neuse Road, the rangers said that there was no camping. That is a 22 mile stretch. The Paddle Creek store cannot give permission to camp there either. There is a church 2.5 more miles away from there but we don't have permission there yet either. 25 miles is a lot to ask anyone to hike in one day. So, where can hikers sleep if they can't walk 25 miles?
These are the issues I am going to fix this year!!!! We have to get some rules changed to accomodate the thru-hikers that the MST is going to see. There are about 10 people challenging the MST this year that I know of. We need to sleep somewhere.
Overall, I have had a wonderful experience this year. I plan to finish at Clingman's Dome by the middle of October.
Taba