Social Media
Recent News Articles
- Smoky Mountain News, Embracing the season: Cross-state trek presents challenge and reward for Asheville hiking legend
- The Citizen-Times, Asheville thru-hiker bags 1,175 mile trek across Mountains-to-Sea Trail
- To read other articles about Jen’s hike, visit our In the Press page.
Blog
In the end, it wasn’t about the distance
On Saturday, Nov. 18, Jennifer Pharr Davis completed a task she began at Clingmans Dome on Aug. 15: hiking the 1,175-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail. She shares her thoughts after completing her journey atop Jockey's Ridge State Park. I wanted to hike the Mountains-to-Sea Trail to reclaim [...]
Join Jennifer Pharr Davis as she finishes the MST on November 18
On Saturday, November 18, Jennifer Pharr Davis finishes what she started back on August 15: her 1,175-mile trek across North Carolina on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. It’s a climatic event in more ways than one: she’s completing her three-month trek, and she’ll have to climb a [...]
The trail: Conservation’s ultimate classroom
I have hiked several trails that end at the ocean. In each instance, I have walked hundreds of miles to reach the beach and as soon as I stick my toes in the water, the hike ends. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail takes you to the coast, [...]
The gift of the MST
Hiking the Mountains-to-Sea trail has been a gift. I am out here every day living a dream. I say that because hiking a 1,175-mile trail with two kids under the age of five who are tagging along seems more like a fantasy or delusion than [...]
The MST: a trail more diverse than you might think
The Mountains to Sea Trail is the most diverse path I have ever experienced. It travels past the spruce and fir trees of 6,000 foot ridgelines in the Smoky Mountains to the cotton fields of Eastern North Carolina. Along the way, I have observed the [...]
The beauty of experience and wisdom
Two pregnancies, 24 months of nursing, one knee surgery, and six months of physical therapy all separate me from my last hike of over a thousand miles. Time has passed, seasons have changed, and somewhere amid the transition, I lost my top gear. Most days [...]
Stationary wildlife, and 9 other reasons to hike the MST’s road sections
The beauty in the piedmont section of the Mountains-to-Sea trail has exceeded my expectations. And the state parks here are awesome! The view from the summit of Stone Mountain is spectacular, we enjoyed a hike with the kids at Pilot Mountain, and our family loved [...]
On the trail, a community of better understanding
On the Mountains-to-Sea Trail you never know what you are going to see around the next turn – or who you might meet. When I come across folks on the trail I like to ask them where they’re from, how far they plan on hiking, [...]
Carving a path across North Carolina
You never realize how much it rains, until you spend all your time outside. On the days it didn’t rain, my feet were wet from a ford across the Linville River and an unsuccessful rock hop at Harper Creek: the recent precipitation has caused the [...]
Trail Food: Rx for a good bar
What keeps Jen fueled on her long-distance hikes? While she makes her way across North Carolina on the MST, she’ll share some of her favorite trail food. Bars are a hiker’s best friend. They offer instant energy in convenient packaging. It rained 5 out of the [...]
Run a Mile in His Brooks Cascadias: Todd Gothberg
While Jen is working her way across the state, she’ll be interviewing the people she encounters along the way. Today: Todd Gothberg of Asheville. Todd has a hint of a Yankee accent that lets you know he’s not a native, but he has lived in [...]
Karen Chávez: Hike a Mile in Her Boots
While Jen is working her way across the state, she’ll be interviewing the people she encounters along the way. Today: Karen Chávez, longtime outdoor recreation writer and editor with the Asheville Citizen-Times. Karen Chávez didn’t grow up in North Carolina, but she has spent the [...]