A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the Birthday Challenge this year!

Through our optional Activity Log, we had a total of 326 activities logged by 41 participants throughout the month. Of those, 28 participants logged enough activity to meet at least one of the Birthday Challenge completion thresholds. That’s pretty incredible! 37 hikers logged 2,164 miles in 2026, including one thru-hiker with 322 miles and one section hiker with 144 miles. Even excluding those two high-mileage efforts, the remaining hikers still averaged about 48.5 miles each. Only six participants logged litter removal this year, but together they removed 857 pounds of trash — 107 pounds more than last year’s nine participants! Trail maintenance remained remarkably consistent: 13 maintainers logged 160 volunteer hours this year, nearly matching last year’s 164 hours. Reminder: If you completed the Birthday Challenge, don’t forget to fill out the Completion Form at bit.ly/MSTbirthday to be entered into our Prize Drawing! The deadline to submit your completion is October 7. We’re already cooking up some new things for next year’s challenge! In the meantime, check out some of the stats from this past month. #mountainstoseatrail #MSTbirthday