The Appalachian Trail weaves through Hot Springs, NC and is one of the few places the trail goes right through a town.  So when a double-wide trailer in Hot Springs came on the market, we knew it was time to act.  This particular double-wide is surrounded on three sides by the Appalachian Trail as it leaves the main street in town to climb up Deer Park Mountain.
 
This is the perfect spot for our hiking business, Blue Ridge Hiking Company, to have a bunkhouse and gear rental location.  In January we closed on the property and after 3 months of renovations and repairs along with installing bunk beds, we opened the doors to our very own "Appalachain Trail-er" .  We've been so lucky to have two hiking friends to help spearhead this project: Haley Blevins and Cheryl Janisko.  Haley Blevins is currently our Trail-er Caretaker.
 
The obvious place for us to start was with our own guided backpacking trips.  We now have a place to do gear shakedowns, offer gear rentals and  accommodation before trips.
 
 
But, this is a truly unique opportunity on the trail because we offer not only accommodation and gear rentals for our guided hikes, but also for anyone who wants to hike a section of trail around Hot Springs.   We have everything you need to go backpacking - as well as a shuttle service.  This means that folks can show up with little more than some clothes and a toothbrush and hike sections of the trail without having to worry about gear, figuring out transportation from one end of their section to the other, and accommodation along the way.
 
 
We also now offer shuttled day hikes with accommodation in Hot Springs, so that folks can hike a section of the Appalachian Trail in a series of day hikes ("slackpacking") without having to worry about sleeping out on the trail or carrying overnight gear.  You can even purchase any of our rental gear that you particularly liked from your trip directly from our Trail-er.
 
As far as we know, we are now the only place on the Appalachian Trail to offer all of these options.  Come visit us and spend a couple of days hiking the Appalachian Trail around Hot Springs!