Rookie Mistakes

MST. Chapter 2. Segment 18 (Part 2)

This is my serialized story of hiking the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST), a 1,175-mile route that crosses the state of North Carolina. I’m hiking west from Jockey’s Ridge near Nags Head on the Outer Banks of the Atlantic Ocean to Kuwohi (formerly Clingmans Dome) near the Tennessee border in the Great Smoky Mountains. If you’d like to start at the beginning of my story, click here. 

See the Mountains-to-Sea map at the bottom for reference.

---

The Mountains to Sea Trail begins at Jockey’s Ridge State Park, and this is where I leave my support team, my wife and. daughter, Karen and Helen. In signing the ledger at the Visitors Center, the ranger takes me out to his truck and gives me a green “Year of the Snake” bandanna for good luck. It is his last one and I immediately put it on. I had forgotten my bandanna from the Camino (!) and decided the Universe must have wanted me to have a new bandanna emblematic of this new journey.

At 2:30 PM, the 1,200 mile trek begins with walking out of the Park, crossing the busy highway, and following the sounds of the surf to the ocean. The next three hours/nine miles consist of walking up the beach and thoroughly getting my shoes and socks soaked in trying to find firm footing in the sand. This is not good and I know this can’t continue every day. (One more Rookie mistake!)

At Mile 10 I take to the road and, finally, at mile 14 reach my campsite for the night, the Oregon Inlet Campground run by the National Park Service. After such a long day, I am exhausted, my shoes and socks are wet and full of sand, my thighs are sore from walking the beach. With my tent set up in the dunes, I am asleep in minutes.

Like a special gift, a beautiful dawn awaits me in the morning. My sister-in-law, Marlene, back on the Camino, always had us verbalize a prayer to begin our day - here too, I pray to the Lord, or the Universe, or the Powers-that-Be, for giving me this unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I wish my family and friends on this, the start of my second day, safe passage on their own respective journeys.

Click here to read the next chapter.

Click here to read the previous chapter.

Map of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail: This post focuses on Segment 18