Read our post on Hurricane Helene one year later
In September 2024, Hurricane Helene barreled through western North Carolina causing unprecedented damage, including to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. The storm brought down thousands of trees, created washouts, landslides and many other hazards in the mountain region. Through much hard work, recovery is underway throughout the region and on the MST.
As of March 2026, almost all of the trail from Kuwohi to Stone Mountain State Park has reopened. For more details, see our “Hurricane Helene Update” blog post.
Trail Status Information
In addition, the Blue Ridge Parkway has created a detailed Hurricane Helene page with information about the road status, including before and after images of a few cleanup locations.
Remaining Closures
Two portions of Segment 4 remain closed. One, near the intersection of the Blue Ridge Parkway and NC 80, has a detour available, but it is along heavily traveled roads, so driving instead of walking is permitted. See more details here.
The second closure is at the North Fork of the Catawba River, where a bridge was destroyed in the hurricane. Unfortunately, in this area, the river is deep and channelized, and there is no safe location to cross, nor is there a safe walking detour. Therefore, there is currently a gap in the trail that must be driven around, from US 221 north of Marion to the west side of Linville Gorge. We describe this bypass in our Segment 4 guide and on FarOut. The trail sections between the ends of the bypass can be walked in-and-out but cannot be thru-hiked. We currently consider them optional.
MST Completions
Friends of the MST has resumed recognizing new completions of the trail even when the mountains were not completed before the storm. In order for Friends of the MST to recognize a valid completion, the hiker must have walked (or, where allowed, biked or paddled) all sections of the trail (1) between Kuwohi and Black Mountain Campground, (2) from NC 80 to US 221, and (3) from the trail junction with FS 106 west of Linville Gorge to Jockey’s Ridge.
Although the bypassed sections are not currently required for completion, they include some of the most beautiful and rewarding stretches of the trail, and we strongly encourage completers to return and fill in the gaps when they reopen.
Trail Angels or commercial shuttle services may be available to assist with bypassing the closed sections. As a reminder, we maintain a list of all commercial shuttle services we are aware of, and the list of our Trail Angels is available to registered hikers.
Thank You!
Huge thanks to all the Friends of the MST volunteers, staff and contractors with the US Forest Service and National Park Service and many others who have worked countless hours to restore and reopen the MST. There is still much work to do and we will sound the call when more help is needed.
