Trail Terminus Marker

A new stone marker now marks the western end of North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Kuwohi, the highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (themountaineer.com) Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail unveiled the marker on April 9 at the foot of the Kuwohi Observation Tower with Friends of the Smokies, the National Park Service and other partners. Knoxville artist Preston Farabow designed it, and reports on the unveiling said it was sculpted from about 700 pounds of local marble. (mountainstoseatrail.org) (knoxnews.com) The trail itself is North Carolina’s state hiking trail, stretching 1,175 miles from the Smokies to Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks, according to the trail’s official organization and the state trails program. The new marker gives that western starting point a fixed landmark at one of the park’s busiest destinations. (mountainstoseatrail.org) (trails.nc.gov) Kuwohi sits at 6,643 feet, making it the highest point in the national park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park logged more than 12 million recreational visits in 2024. Putting the marker there places the trail’s start or finish in front of a huge stream of visitors who may not know a coast-to-mountains route begins at the tower. (nps.gov 1) (nps.gov 2) The location also ties the trail to a bigger long-distance hiking network. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail connects with the Appalachian Trail near Kuwohi, giving hikers a direct link between North Carolina’s cross-state route and the best-known footpath in the eastern United States. (trails.nc.gov) (visithendersonvillenc.org) The summit’s name changed recently, too. In September 2024, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names restored the Cherokee name Kuwohi, which the National Park Service said means “mulberry place” and identifies a sacred place within the traditional Cherokee homeland. (nps.gov) That makes the marker part of a newer map for many visitors: a trail endpoint now stands at a summit whose official name was restored less than two years ago. The observation tower remains one of the park’s signature stops, built in 1959 as part of the National Park Service’s Mission 66 building program. (nps.gov 1) (nps.gov 2) Trail advocates said they expect the stone marker to become a photo stop for hikers beginning or finishing the full route across North Carolina. After years in which the Mountains-to-Sea Trail has been promoted as a line on maps and blazes on trees, it now has a western monument people can stand beside at the top of the Smokies. (friendsofthesmokies.org) (smokymountainnews.com)