Today we ran on a section of the Mountains To Sea Trail that President Obama and the First Lady hiked on their vacation to Asheville on April 23, 2010, making Obama the first President of the United States to hike the Mountains To Sea Trail.
We did an out and back run on the Mountains to Sea Trail from Craven Gap to Ox Creek Road totaling 3.48 miles.This section of the MST is a bit higher elevation (3132' - 3245") making temperatures during the summer cooler than at lower elevations. We parked at the intersection of Town Mountain Road in Craven Gap and the Blue Ridge Parkway (mile post 377). This trail is moderately hilly, but there are no significant elevation gains overall. Portions of this trail are technical and rugged. There are tons of rocks on the trail, a log ladder, stream crossings and a couple of stone stairways, all combined to make this a fun adventure.
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| Trail profile |
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| On the start of our run |
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| Rock Cave |
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| Rock Stairs |
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| The trail got a little steeper than the trail guide indicated :-) |
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| Log Stairs |
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| This is one spot where we have a great view. This time of year, most areas are to overgrown to see |
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| Rock stairs |
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| Trail head at Ox Creek Road and our turn around point |
multi-sport day with the climbing... love it!! nice post
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrea aka "The Great Unknown" :-) We miss you!
DeleteThat's the trail I ended up injuring myself on: new trail shoes+marathon recovery+technical trail= no good for me.
ReplyDeleteI had a great time on it however. And as you reach Ox Creek Rd in the spring (we were there at the end of April) we found a bunch of Lady Sleepers.
I can see how anyone could easily injure themselves on certain sections of this trail, even walking. Very technical in spots, that's for sure. Other parts are very nice to run on especially the Ox Creek Rd side. It seemed kind of "meadowish". Worth taking a trip there again next April to see the flowers! Thanks for the tip. What's your blog? We'd like to follow it too!
DeleteBart, how amazing! No safety harness, gloves, hooks for climbing....I am truly in awe.....you are my hero ;p
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