Logistically speaking.....

One would think that planning a hike would be simple.  You just decide where you want to go and put one foot in front of the other, right?  Wrong!!  So much planning has gone into our 3 week hike its crazy.  You would think we were going to the moon with how much research and time we have put in.  A big part of the planning was logistics.  How do we get to the start of the trail?  How do we get our resupplies?  Where do we stay?  Thankfully, I really enjoy this type of stuff, as I do it daily with my job, and I took on the task!!

We first got our flights to Asheville, NC.  Easy enough.  However, our start of the hike in Deep Gap, outside of Franklin, is over 90 minutes away.  So looking at our options, I came across a hiker friendly hotel that would pick us up, spend the night, and drop us off the next morning!  What a deal!

Next was finding a ride and hotel in Fontana.  There are many options in getting to town and a popular way is hitching a ride.  Thinking that both Tootsie and myself were not really up for that sort of thing, I found and an amazing hotel that picks us up from the trail, does our laundry, takes us into town for our resupply, houses us, and then drops us off back at the trail the next morning.  So awesome!!

Gaitlingburg was next on my list.  Now this town is over 25 minutes off the trail so getting there was not going to happen by foot.  Looking over some blogs, I found Tom Bazemore.  He was awesome and so helpful!!  He is picking us up and taking us to town to resupply.  He said he would give a bit of a tour of the town as well.  This is Tom's full time summer job, helping transport hikers on the AT. He loves it!  I had mentioned that we will be ending in Hot Springs and looking for a ride back to Asheville.  Tom said no problem!!


Our final stop is Hot Springs.  We thought this would be an excellent end to our hike.  I found another hiker friendly hotel which is near the Hot Springs spa.  Our spa appointments are already made!!