Mountain-to-Sea Trail, Segment 1 (partial) - Clingmans Dome to Oconaluftee Visitor's Center

Mountain-to-Sea Trail, Segment 1 (partial)
Clingmans Dome to Oconaluftee Visitor Center/Cherokee, NC
August 9-11, 2024
We hiked the first 26.7 miles of the Mountain-to-Sea Trail (MST) from Clingmans Dome down to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee, North Carolina. The MST is a 1,175 mile footpath stretching across the great state of North Carolina from Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains, all the way to Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head, Outer Banks.
Segment 1 is technically 46.8 miles, from Clingmans Dome to Waterrock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway - which is the Parkway’s highest (in elevation) visitor’s center, sitting at 5,280 feet elevation.
Given our time constraints, and to be honest, absolutely no desire to climb from 6,644 foot elevation at Clingmans Dome, down to 2,040 foot elevation at Oconaluftee Visitor Center (with LOTS of ups and downs in between, by the way), back up to 5,280 foot elevation at Waterrock Knob, we decided to conquer the 26.7 miles and call it a weekend. It was a great call!
Fun fact: after leaving Clingmans Dome, the MST heads deep into the woods on the longest roadless stretch of the entire Mountain-to-Sea Trial - 22.8 miles with no road access, emerging at US 441 and Mingus Mill.
Starting at Clingmans Dome on a cold and foggy Friday morning, August 9, 2024, we jumped on the start of the MST, which coincides with the Appalachian Trial for about 4 miles. We hiked 10.31 miles down to Campsite #53 Poke Patch, sitting at an elevation of 3,074 feet. This campsite was spacious, set up with wood logs for seating, and a fire pit. Additionally, we were steps away from a crossing at Deep Creek, which provided a welcome evening relaxation spot to soak our feet and enjoy the gorgeous views.
The bear hangs on this portion of the MST are INCREDIBLY close to the campsites, maybe 50 feet, but we had no incidents, thankfully.
Night #1 was the best sleep I have EVER had on a backcountry backpacking trip. I think I slept a total of 8 hours. Sleeping by the creek definitely helped lull me to sleep and keep me asleep!
Day 2 we backpacked about 12.3 miles total with approximately a 2,500 foot elevation gain. Day 2 was INSANE elevation gain for me. On the later part of our Day 2, we initially climbed over 1,000 foot elevation gain in only 1.2 miles, with the next 5.5 miles or so climbing another 1,500 foot in elevation. It was a rough and tough day.
As I was hiking on Day 2 and thinking (because you have plenty of time to think and overthink while backpacking), I became scared that the water source at our Night #2 campsite had possibly dried up, because we had no reports since April of 2023. I was conserving my water the entire day to make sure I had enough water for dinner, and the hike down the mountain Day 3. Difficult with so much elevation climb!
However, we arrived at our Night #2 Campsite #52 Newton Bald. This water source is actually a spring directly from the mountain, so it was amazingly beautiful and clear water! While the water source was a STEEP climb down from our campsite (rough after a 12.3 mile day, however, only maybe a slow 90-120 second hike down), we loaded up about 4 liters of water to get us through the night and the next day’s hike perfectly!
After we made dinner and a roaring fire (best fire backcountry camping to date!), we headed to bed. For me, it was not a great night’s rest, as I had no creek to lull me to sleep, and lots of critter sounds. Thankfully, Day #3 hike down to Oconaluftee Visitor Center was a shorter hike than the past 2 days, so it worked out fine.
Day #3, we hiked a total of 7.14 miles to Oconaluftee Visitor Center with little issues, if any, other than being tired, of course.
We hiked a total of 29.77 miles over the weekend, with 26.7 of the miles being on the first stretch of the MST trail. All in all a great trip! Highly recommend.