The beginning of a great journey

So although I've been dreaming for a while, this post is the official announcement. I am planning a thru-hike on the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

The MST is a near 1000 mile trail in development stretching from Clingman's Dome, in the Great Smoky Mountains of Western NC, to Jockey's Ridge State Park, in the dunes of the Outer Banks on NC's east coast. Currently, approximately 50% of the route is on designated trail, while the other 50% follows bike routes on North Carolina's highway system.

I have imagined myself doing this trail for a few years now, but the time is nearing and it is time to start the great planning procedure. I am currently about 3/4 through Allen De Hart's book, "Hiking North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail," and it has been a fantastic read thus far. It seems that one of the greatest difficulties of this trail is the lack of places to stay along it, due to it's nature as a relatively new trail that only a few have thru-hiked. This is certainly an obstacle I am willing to meet.

I plan on starting this trip in early May of 2010 or 2011, and I don't plan on going solo. As for my hiking companion(s), I have a few likely suspects, and we'll see what works out as far as ability and availability.

I am mostly set as far as gear as concerned, but there are a few pieces of equipment that I may need, and this will probably be a point of discussion until I go. I also am going to try to update this journal semi-regularly while out there, which will require me to carry more technology than I have traditionally while backpacking.

The final section of the MST is that of the Outer Banks. Chances are good that I will be hiking this section in May of this year to get a taste for the MST and because I have always wanted to see the Outer Banks.

Anyway, I am very excited to begin the planning stages and to use this blog as a place to gather my ideas, and hopefully get outside opinions.