Includes bibliographical references and index.

1 Starting in the Mountains 19 -- Route from Clingmans Dome to Mount Mitchell 19 -- Clingmans Dome, Highest Point in the Smokies 20 -- Horace Kephart, Lover of the Smokies 23 -- Cherokee: More than the Casino 25 -- On the Blue Ridge Parkway 28 -- Sylva, a Mountain Trail Town? 29 -- Constructing the MST Through the Mountains 31 -- Pisgah Forest, Land of Milk and Honey 35 -- George Vanderbilt's Buck Spring Lodge 36 -- Allen de Hart, Granddaddy of the MST 38 -- Zipping Around Asheville 40 -- Stopping at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center 42 -- Rattlesnake Lodge, Summer Home of a Mountain Activist 44 -- 2 Continuing Through the Mountains 47 -- Route from Mount Mitchell to Stone Mountain State Park 47 -- Mount Mitchell, Highest Mountain in the East 48 -- Up Bald Knob, the Toughest Climb of the MST 51 -- Overmountain Victory Trail 52 -- Linville Gorge, Remote and Rocky 53 -- Tanawha Trail on Grandfather Mountain 55 -- Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, a Legacy from the Denim King 57 -- Crest of the Blue Ridge: Grazing Cows and the Story of Tom Dula 61 -- Kate Dixon, Friends of the MST 64 -- Doughton Park: Bluffs and Meadows 66 -- Traversing Stone Mountain State Park 68 -- Wilkes County's Moonshine Past 70 -- 3 Piedmont 73 -- Route from Stone Mountain State Park to Falls of the Neuse 73 -- Elkin, a Trail Town? 74 -- Through Pilot Mountain State Park 76 -- Sauratown Trail: Using Private Lands for Public Good 78 -- Rock House, a Revolutionary War Fort 80 -- Hanging Rock State Park and the Last Waterfall on the MST 81 -- Musings on Private Land 84 -- Revolutionary War in the Piedmont 85 -- Sharon McCarthy: Biking the MST Roads 87 -- Glencoe Mill: "I Owe My Soul to the Company Store" 90 -- Emily's Cookies, a Welcome Stop 93 -- Reaching the Eno River 96 -- Falls Lake State Recreation Area: Sixty Miles of Trail in the Triangle 99 -- Falls of the Neuse: Where Are the Falls? 104 -- Jeff Brewer, Friends of the MST Activist 106 -- 4 Coastal Plains 109 -- Route from Falls of the Neuse to the Cedar Island Ferry 109 -- In Praise of Walking the Road 110 -- Growing Tobacco and Cotton in Eastern North Carolina 111 -- Kathy Kyle: Remembering a Coastal Plains Childhood 115 -- Smithfield, a Trail Town? 117 -- La Grange, a Happy Place 120 -- New Bern, the First Capital of North Carolina 121 -- To the Minnesott Ferry 125 -- Backpacking the Neusiok Trail 126 -- Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge: Protecting Wildlife 132 -- 5 Outer Banks 133 -- Route from Cedar Island Ferry to Jockey's Ridge State Park 133 -- Ocracoke Island: Lighthouse, Blackbeard and a British Cemetery 134 -- Protecting Birds and Turtles 137 -- Climbing the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse 138 -- Off-Road Vehicles on the Beach 141 -- Buxton, a Trail Town? 144 -- Salvo, Waves and Nights in Rodanthe 145 -- Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge: Sustaining a Wildlife Habitat 147 -- Remembering the Pea Island Lifesaving Station 149 -- Bodie Island 150 -- Jockey's Ridge State Park: A World of Sand and Wind 152 -- On Reaching the End of the Trail 156 -- 6 MST's Past and Future 157 -- 7 What People Want to Know about Walking the MST 163.