(KUWOHI, N.C.) SMOKIES.LIVE – Visitors to Kuwohi, the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, will find a new marker for the western terminus of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
The trail is a 1,175-mile footpath that crosses North Carolina from the Tennessee state line at Kuwohi to the Atlantic Ocean on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This will serve as the start or finish point for hikers.
Danny Bernstein, an avid hiker and outdoor writer from Asheville, was a driving force in the effort to create a marker for the western terminus. She recalled her experience completing the MST in 2011 with difficulty locating the western terminus and nothing at the beach to mark the finish.
“This marker means a lot,” said Bernstein. “It is beautiful. It is obvious. It has a very nice description of what the MST is on a plaque. Now we’ll have more people seeing this marker and thinking about the trail starting here. And people will want to get their picture taken at the marker looking through the stone.”
Friends of the Smokies donated the new stone marker and commissioned Knoxville artist Preston Farabow to create it. Farabow built the marker with around 700 pounds of indigenous stone known as Smoky Mountain gray marble along with a large bronze plaque.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park superintendent Charlie Sellars welcomed a crowd of more than 70 people who hiked up the half-mile Kuwohi Trail for the unveiling ceremony.
“We’re grateful that the Mountains‑to‑Sea Trail now has a more visible presence at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and even more grateful for the partners who made it possible,” said Supt. Sellars. “Today is a celebration of our shared work, stewardship, and joy in preserving these landscapes and the adventures they inspire.”
“The Mountains-to-Sea Trail is truly a place where countless memories are going to be made,” said Dana Soehn, president and CEO of Friends of the Smokies. “I think as Friends of the Smokies, this is also a place where new friends are going to be formed along the way. And that’s part of our mission is to create lifelong friends of these mountains, and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail allows that to happen one step at a time.”
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