The Mountain Mist Trail is one of the more iconic trails within Monte Sano State Park and has a 50K ultra marathon named after it.
The summit of Monte Sano is often engulfed in a what I use to think was fog but I was informed by the one meteorologist I know, Kevin Nugent, that it is not fog at all. According to Nugent "The cloud base is about 1200 feet so while here in the valley its just low overcast with good visibility when you go up to Monte Sano you're in the clouds with almost zero visibility." There is no doubt that this cloud cover "mist" is how the Mountain Mist trail got its name. I the photo below is from the Monte Sano 15k and is a great example of the how thick the cloud base can be.
The Mountain Mist trail runs from the closed section of Bankhead Parkway where it intersects with the Cold Spring trail and runs all the way to the South Plateau Loop. Along the way it intersects with the Sinks Trail twice and the Goat trail once. To run the trail in its entirety you can start from either end but the Bankhead trailhead is closest to parking so its how I prefer to run it.
The trail starts off with a long section of gradually declining double track in what was most likely an old logging road before coming to the first of two intersections with the Sinks Trail. This is where the trail gets more difficult as it narrows to single track and gradually climbs up to the second Sinks intersection. From there the grade increases up to v-shaped rock passage way. From there you have a rolling downhill section for 3/4 of mile before a challenging last 1/2 mile of switch backs up to the South Plateau Loop.
