Love the woods, hiking, and hikers too, especially AT through hikers. Would like to open a hostel when I retire, which is not too far away. I’d like AT hiker input for where a hostel is really needed along/near the trail. I know in some areas places that will take care of hikers are far and few between. I’d rather not Maine - getting old, winters are hard up there. Maybe nothing will come of this, but Im dreaming, and starting research. Help me please.
Little Legs
Funny, we have the same dream. Two places we would love to have a hostel (other than maine) are Boiling Springs, PA and Catawba, VA. Boiling Springs may be ATC Regional office with plenty of hiker services, but there is no economical place for hikers to stay. And its a beautiful town. There used to be a hostel in Catawba, but no longer. After going over Dragon’s Tooth, it would have been nice to have a place to stay out of the rain.
swamp fox
Hey Swamp Fox–my hero–remember us? Yeh, we would like also to have a hostel but finding a place is the pits. I have one realtor looking but he is not very reliable so will have to find a plan B Maybe we could get 10 acres some place and share in the hostel??? take turns feeding, shuttleing etc etc? take care-are you hiking this year? we will try to finish tn,va and then hop up to PA and go north starting about April 15th. Happy Trails-Chilly Willy
Wilma (Chilly Willy)
looks like we’re all dreaming the same dream!..i agree with swampy…(hey swampy!..is that swamp fox and rocky that we met in delaware water gap?)…yep…either catawba or boiling springs would be great!..(i think everyone would vote for SOMEWHERE other than by the railroad tracks in boiling springs to rest their weary heads!)…good ol’ bruce (ishmael) has quietly rescued MANY a hiker there in boiling springs…his kindnesses to us last year were above and beyond what any hiker could dream of…but i think he may be more into smaller groups and would probably appreciate someone else’s help near that town for sharing the “magic” load…i asked bob peoples at the gathering last fall about that old brick house that’s abandoned just off the trail after damascus (before whitetop mtn), 'cause i thought it would make a great place for a hostel…he said he thought the ATC owned that property…is that a possibility?..paw-ee thinks somewhere close to the james river foote bridge would be good…i agree…again, another ‘angel’ (del schecterly) takes care of hikers needs there, but if he’s not around (like he was for us in ‘03), you can spend a long time waiting for a ride (4 miles) to the campground, (or i think it’s about the same the opposite direction into town)…we loved manchester center in vermont and stayed at the very reasonable carriage house motel…but it still is a mile out of town…other town “niceties” are rather expensive in manchester…a hostel closer to the trail there where you could receive packages, cook and wash clothes would be heaven on earth!..kent, connecticut just simply needs a laundromat…but daleville/troutville sure could use a hostel (or at least, again, a laundromat, say, there at the kroger’s or close by)…goodness! we’re gonna make this trail too easy!..EVERYBODY’ll be out there tryin’ to hike it! (ha ha)
maw-ee