Milestone moment for Mountains-to-Sea Trail
The ribbon was cut on the new trail m arker last week.
Donated photo
At the foot of the Kuwohi Observation Tower at the highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail unveiled a new stone marker for the trail’s western terminus.
The unveiling marks a milestone moment for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, a 1,175-mile footpath that crosses North Carolina from the Tennessee state line at Kuwohi to the Atlantic Ocean at Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks.
The marker will serve as a starting or finish point for hikers. It also raises awareness of the trail, with its location at one of the most popular attractions in the most-visited national park in the country.
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. He modeled the marker to share similar features with the wooden eastern terminus marker that was installed on the Outer Banks in September 2023.
