Date: 2011-12-03
To: Reviews
Miles today: 0.0

Back in September we drove across Ontario and Quebec to Maine to hike with Flame & Pigeon. We were excited that Flame was nearing the end of her Thru-hike and wanted to do some trail magic in addition to hiking with her to offer encouragement and companionship. She is a special trail friend that we hiked with a lot of miles in TN, NC & VA earlier this spring. An added bonus that occurred during our 2 weeks in Maine was that we ran across several other hikers that we had met earlier on the trail. (Snake Hips & Spud, Shadow & Country Mouse, etc.) We also met some new, to us, hikers as well. (Jerryactric, Peppermint, Diehard, Spice Cadet, etc.) Congratulations Flame on your climbing the Big K and completing the whole AT this year! Outstanding accomplishment!We have appreciated other hikers that did gear reviews along with reviewing lodging, eating and outfitters along the trail. It helped a lot with our planning ahead of time. With that said I will pass on a list of some of the places we stayed at, ate at, and outfitters we visited.Lodging: let me mention first that the following list and comments are our opinion only. Others may have differing opinions due to various reasons. In our case we found that we didn¢t enjoy the hostels as much as we thought we would. This was not always the case but in general true for us. Being a couple, in our 50¢s, we appreciated the quiet and privacy of our own room or tent. Hostels tended to be crowded, noisy, some times dirty, and lacked the privacy that females appreciate. Also we found that the price of a motel wasn¢t much higher than what the 2 of us had to pay for a hostel bunk. On the trail we stayed in our tent most of the time rather than use shelters for the same reasons, We started to stay in our tent at hostels if it was allowed and that worked out well for us. Hiker Hostel in GA ¢ Josh & Leigh¢s place is great. Clean, modern, friendly.Blood Mtn. Cabins, Neels Gap, clean, comfortable, they do you laundryBlueberry Patch Hostel ¢ Hiawassee GA ¢ clean, great hosts & breakfastRon Haven¢s ¢ Franklin NC ¢ outstanding helpful man, motels are OKThe Hike Inn ¢ Fontana Dam ¢ friendly helpful hosts, rooms fair cond.Grand Prix Motel ¢ Gatlinburg, very reasonable, clean, laundry, fresh donutsStanding Bear Farm ¢ Dirty out house, dirty showers, party place, resupply+ Alpine Court ¢ Hot Springs NC ¢ nice clean room, quiet, cash onlySuper 8 ¢ Erwin TN ¢ nice clean rooms, fair price, wifi, owners niceMountain Harbor ¢ Roan Mt TN ¢ outstanding breakfast, clean, nice hostsKincora ¢ Hampton TN ¢ Bob Peeples a nice guy, we camped here, donationsRelax Inn ¢ Atkins VA ¢ dirty, rundown ¢ take bus to Marion VA from Mt. Rogers Headquarters, much better places to stay and resupplyWoodshole Hostel ¢ VA ¢ great place & hosts, do dinner there, we tented4 Pines Hostel ¢ Catawba VA ¢ Joe is a great host, very helpful, tentedHoJo Express ¢ Daleville VA ¢ nice rooms, fair price, hiker friendlyNorthern Outdoors Resort ¢ Carratuk ME ¢ nice clean place, wifi, $$Hotel Terrace ¢ Millinocket ME ¢ nice clean room for a fair $Next entry we will cover eating establishments, outfitters and medical facilities.G & T