I had the pleasure last week of meeting 2 great people in Erwin, TN - Miss Janet and Uncle Johnny. We had heard some negative stuff about UJ, but from our own dealings with him, from seeing the help he gives thru-hikers, and listening to thru-hikers who stayed with him, it is clear that he runs a great place and is very hiker-friendly. The bad rumors must be from people who have an agenda. Both MJ and UJ deserve support. I would have no qualms about staying with either one.
Jim Moody (Mango)
UJ is a good place to stay. What he doesn’t put up with is drunken or overly aggressive demanding hikers. The main source of the UJ rumors is one hiker trash from Hanover, NH who got kicked out of UJ’s for not respecting his rules about drunkness and lewd behavior.
Simple: If you want to party, get drunk, and hang with hiker trash, stay at Miss Janet’s.
If you want to much quieter place, stay at Uncle Johnny’s.
Both do provide a service
nrkybill
Never been there but from what Ive hear I donnt think Ms J will tollerate drunkness and lewd behavior either.
Sierra88
I stayed at Uncle Johnny’s in 2003 and found him to be a super hiker friendly guy. UJ’s for me was probably one of the 3 best hostels I stayed at along the A.T. Gossip seems to move really fast on the trail, make up your own mind on UJ.
parmenio
I’ve stayed at both. UJ’s in 2001 and MJ’s in 2004. I found UJ’s a nicer setting, and being right on the trail it has the advantage of being a quick stop. The bunkhouse was great with a sofa, TV and a stack of videos. You can also get pizza delivered right to the bunkhouse door. Whether it was an honest mistake or not there was a mix up over $20 i’d overpaid, i only realised as i was leaving. He did give it back though and appeared very sorry.
MJ’s is in downtown Erwin, not my usual preference but still had a great vibe. There were a ton of people there in cluding some drunkard hikers doing big miles between town/beer stops. They were a little boring, MJ has the patience of a saint to put up with that stuff. It was stil a nice place to chill. MJ also offers the slack packing which is very hard to refuse. All the local ammeneties are right there on her doorstep, if you don’t want to walk far for a burger, you won’t have to.
Either place is a good stay, I don’t buy into all the bs surrounding either party, they both offer a great service to hikers, just in diferent ways.
Cheers
Cheers
First I will stand right up and say Miss Janet will not stand for rude obnoxious drunks at her house.
She will not tolerate underagers drinking in her house, she is mellow and she is a wonderful person, but the above posts seem almost a slap at her and an ad for Johnny. Good timing for it too, being this is hiker start up season in that area.
As for nrkylbill, I know the “Hanover trash” which you speak of, Very Well in fact, you obviously dont. They and I have at different times had personal encounters with UJ, and we all know people on a personal level that things have occured to that made certian rumours, some exagarated over time, some very very true, to be spread and gossiped about.
Again, you are obvously stating something about Miss Janet that you dont know, for I have stayed there Many many times, and not one time have there been big drunken parties. People may have a beer or two and talk, but they do not party in the hosue and keep people awake, or mess the house. That is a complete and utter falsehood.
Now, a story of my own from 2000. I was planning on doing a Herculian day from Hogpen gap shelter all the way to Erwin. I awoke early to snow, cool I thought, so I hiked and I hiked and the snow got heavier and thicker and it got colder and colder, and it kept snowing and got worse and worse…I decided to get to Big bald shelter and stop for the day, as the snow was out of hand.
I get there, and for anyone who has stayed there in rain or snow, it faces in the worst possible direction…it was full of snow, so I couldnt even stop to break or cook, or warm up…when I stopped for a moment to eat a candy bar, I instantly began shivering…so I moved on…I got to Iron mountian gap, a little shy of Erwin and decided to hitch in as I was in horrible condition.
I got a ride and got let off at Johnnys, it was almost dark, but I had shipped my box to Miss J’s, cuz I had meet her the year previous so I was staying there, but I needed immediate help.
Anyway…Im hypothermic, other AT hikers see me stumble to the porch in the dark(limping after a 25 miles in calf/knee deep snow), they invite me into the TV room where the wood stove is, I thank them and shiver as I try to warm up…UJ walks in with the now famous “Hi Im Uncle johnny etc…”, I told him I was waiting on Miss J, he then told me, Even in my condition, even though it was dark and cold and still snowing, that I couldnt be in his place if I wasnt staying there…so he held the door open until I grabed my stuff and walked back out to the bridge. Miss Janet took me back, let me shower and had a heated blanket waiting on me, along with a hot Pizza and hot cocoa to help me, and it still took hours and hours for my body to stop shivering…that was my experiacne with UJ.
I cant speak for everyone, I really cant, but that is my personal experiance. Now I dont tell anyone to not go anywhere, hell you may go and have the best of times there, I have heard some do. I will never go again. ever.
Just think before you blast another person who is a trail legend with her love and kindness that has spaned a lot of years now, especially if you dont know what the hell you are talking about.
Lion King
No one is blasting Miss Janet. But if you are the partying type, that’s where you go as she is much more tolerant of it then UJ. It is where the hiker trash all hang at also.
Lion King is hiker trash himself (nothing wrong with that, it means they simply hang around the AT for one reason or another) and that’s why he stays with Miss Janet. Even when he isn’t hiking.
UJ will make sure you pay while Miss Janet gets stiffed quite often.
Lion King - you are referring to same hiker trash from Hanover that called your wife a “towel head” right along with other racists remarks?
nrkybill
Miss J has a big heart and sometimes people take advantage.
I remember one night in partcicular, she was driving some of us hikers from a hiker feed to a blue grass festival. The Blue grass festival was a family affair and she warned all of us about not drinking as it was a dry event. At this point a couple of hikers started whining and complaining about how they wanted to drink and Miss Janet rode off, bought some beer, and allowed the hikers to slip out to her van to have a beer between sets. After all this, some of the hikers were still being extremely obnoxious, making fun of some of the acts, whistling the Deliverance theme, etc… I was mortified. On the way back, one of the hikers was making lewd comments about Miss J. She was very patient and tried to laugh it off and deflect the talk but then these hikers then proceeded to tell some racist jokes.
Hiker trash? …yep, pretty much.
In contrast, I think Uncle Johnie is in it for the money. He’s running a business which is fine, but he sometimes gets overly aggressive and defensive about things. There was a former thru hiker staying at Uncle Js and slack packing some hikers around for free. Uncle J put a stop to it real quick. He also has some questionable tactics like changing prices on services. I don’t think he’s an evil guy, but he sometimes seems to see only dollar signs when it comes to hikers. As one well known Trail legend put it, running a hiker hostel has to be first and foremost an act of love. you gotta love the trail because you cant really make good money from hikers.
It would probably be best if Miss Janet was a little more
courageous in dealing with hiker trash and Uncle Johny went to see the wizard to get a heart.
:boy
striper
What happens between me and other people is our business and to bring up something like that in this conversation is unacceptable to me.
“That” person and I have straightened out things.
We are both strong personalities, and there have been a couple times in the past where if not for my ability to stay cool headed, that person and I would have been rolling over gaps and knobs till one of us were through hiking for good.
I forgive them, and again, what happened at Crayfish gap in 2000 has nothing to do with Uncle Johny or Miss Janet.
Lion King
I was told by Nocona from '98 that I would love my stay and UJ’s and I really did enjoy it in '99. In fact, I stayed an extra day and slacked for the first time because of the great pizza.
The next year, I did a 27 mile hike to get to his place. ( Of course, that was to get to a phone so I could talk to the wounderful gorgeous woman who said yes and married me. – she is now pregnant with our second child, another boy )
So, consider me biased. I am looking forward to going out to Erwin some time in the future and staying at UJ’s just to say hi and let him meet my family.
He is a good man with a good heart. And he made my thru-hike a better experience.
And, even though it is a business, it does not automatically mean that it is evil for wanting to show a profit.
However, the way Lion King does Homer Simpson in a shelter in the Whites, ;-> , well, that might make a really interesting thread … O.K., enough teasing of you LK …
Mr. Boo
Mr. Boo GAME '99
nrkybill,
I’m not sure who you are but I’m sure you’re not Johnny.
Now I don’t have any personal beek with the man. He put me up when I was tired, and even though he ran his business like a Brazilian fruit stand I can’t hold that against him. Now I do have to admit, it was the only place on the trail that charged me for toilet paper and refused that I do nothing but keep an open tab until I left, but that still doesn’t make him ill to me.
The stories are other peoples stories -close people tell me some stories both really good and really bad.
But let me tell you this: Lion King’s friend is not by far the only person sharing his strong thoughts on Johnny’s. So all I’m saying is don’t single him out, because that’s not fair at all. You either have a big personal beef or jealousy of him, or you really just don’t have a clue.
Don’t take offense -It just that he’s just the loudest.
tha wookie
I stopped by coming off of the trail on my way to MJ’s. UJ was more than cordial and very helpful in getting me shuttled over to her place. He even placed a couple of phone calls to her to make sure she had room before I paid for the shuttle over there. So even though I have not stayed there, the dealings that I did have with him were very positive. I also know that he shuttled a new Therma-rest mattress up to where the trail crossed 19E for a hiker. So I know we all have personal preferences, but I don’t see where he deserves some of the unfavorable press that I have heard.
Piece of Work
It’s not just that certain thru-hiker from Hanover that’s given Johnny a bad reputation. Numerous others, including the non partiers have had bad experiences with Johnny.
Myself, like some other posters, I found him to be a great host, and enjoyed my evening there. So, if you do choose to stay there, just be aware that he has rubbed many people the wrong way, for what ever reason.
Peaks
I gave UJ my clothes to wash,(for s fee) including 2 pairs of smart wool socks, and he lost them. Them told me I did not give them to him. Pissed.
Al-
And he took a bunch of us hikers to a resturant for dinner, got drunk, and got into a fight with the owner because they did not comp him.
Al-
We got into UJ’s late and my wife (Flame) was sick and asked UJ if he had a place for us. He said he was full and we asked him if we could get a ride to MJ’s. He put us out side on the road with our maildrop and told us not to even step foot on the deck. I told him my wife was sick and could she at least sit on the deck. He said we both could if we stayed at the Holiday Inn but if we went to MJ’s we had to hitch from the road. I didn’t have a clue what was going on. We had asked to stay at his place and now he was putting us on the road. We only asked for MJ’s because it was the other name listed in the book.
We asked if we could go to another motel in town because I wanted to eat at the Borrito Factory I had heard about. He said the other motel was owned by “one of those people.” I asked who is “one of those people.” He said “the kind we don’t want around here. We ran the black out of here in '53 and these people are not coming in here either!” (I cut our the expletives and name calling.) We got a ride to town and stayed at the motel (MJ’s was full also). The motel was owned by an Indian family. They were really great, washed our clothes at no cost and shuttled us around town at no cost.
We zeroed in Erwin (2 days) until Flame felt better and during that time we met two people that UJ had shuttled to do some slacking and they said when he picked them up he was “tippsy.”
That was my experience. I don’t own the trail, hikers can stay where they want to but for me, I’ll not stay at UJ’s.
Papa Smurf
i would say all my experiences with miss janet have been very fun, and all my experiences with UJ have been pleasant. I, when in erwin always seem to need to shuttle someone from town or trail to his place, and often, his small outfitter generally always has something that will work for a hiker in need. he does provide many things that Miss Janet doesn’t wish to.
now i know several of the people here. But my best bet is the most important one to me is Papa Smurf and Flame. They are some of the nicest people on the face of the earth and since that happened to them, i would possibly listen very close to that post.
burn
I have never met Ms. Janet but I have stayed at Uncle Johnny’s twice. Both times I found him to be very business like with me and my friends. However, I also heard stories and saw hikers have problems. Many times these problems where caused by the hikers attitudes with UJ, his prices, or showing respect for the services provided. UJ sees a lot of hikers and many of them try to take advantage of him. He is running a business. He’s not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He can be very helpful when your polite. The incident with Papa Smurf and Flame is most likely true. UJ and Ms. Janet have a lot of bad blood between them but I don’t know why. I heard from a reliable source on the trail that UJ is better when he’s not drinking. My advice is go to the places and meet the people for your self.
Darth Pacman