Appalachian Trail helps blaze Hot Springs forward
HOT SPRINGS - The Appalachian Trail runs right through the heart of Hot Springs, which presents a big opportunity for Madison County’s smallest municipality. Maximizing that relationship is key to a growing partnership between trail supporters and town leaders.
In late June, representatives from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting, maintaining and celebrating the AT, joined representatives from the U.S. Forest Service and the Carolina Mountain Club for a daylong tour of Hot Springs.
The visit, which included stops at places popular with hikers like the Hot Springs Library and Bluff Mountain Outfitters, offered insights on what the town does right when it comes to servicing hikers and how it can improve offerings for visitors to the longest hiking-only footpath in the world.
Hot Springs part of AT history
Opened in 1937, the Appalachian Trail measures roughly 2,190 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Katahdin, Maine. Though the exact path through 14 states has changed over the years, the AT has always passed through Hot Springs. While it may not have a stoplight, Hot Springs is the only North Carolina town that can claim the Appalachian Trail.
“The Hot Springs community could be and should be a model for other towns along the Trail,” said Suzanne Dixon, the ATC’s president and CEO, before sitting down for a home-cooked midday meal inside the Sunnybank Inn, a popular spot for hikers to rest their heads. The day’s itinerary included a talk on the history of the trail and Hot Springs from Sunnybank’s owner, Elmer Hall. The delegation also took the trail out of town to the top of Lover’s Leap, some 500 feet above French Broad River.
On her first visit to Hot Springs, Dixon said she was impressed by how many businesses cater to hikers and tourists. “There are real entrepreneurial opportunities here to move businesses forward with the outdoor recreation industry.”
Bridge Street is the small mountain town’s main drag, where the AT’s influence is most apparent. Along with the stone AT markers set in the sidewalk, the storefronts, restaurants and even the branch of the Madison County Library that lie along the stretch of trail cater to hikers in some way.
The number of downtown business is also growing because of the hiker and tourist connection, with a coffee shop, a deli and a brewery all looking to open up in the months ahead, according to Mayor Sidney Harrison.
“The Appalachian Trail is important to the town’s history and its important as a draw,” Harrison said. “We’ve got one or two full-time businesses that really depend on it. People come through here hiking the trail and some just take short trips on the trail. People come to town so they can say they walked on the trail.”
Looking at where towns like Hot Springs can improve when serving hikers, Dixon noted “transportation and lodging” gaps. She speculated there could be a market to shuttle hikers to different parts of the trail or to other attractions in the area.
With a mix of hotels, a hostel, bed and breakfasts and short-term rentals, Hot Springs may have hikers’ need market for overnight stays well-served. To hear Hall tell it, though, that wasn’t always the case.
The growth he’s seen in his more than 40 years in Hot Springs is what organizations like the ATC hope can continue through the town’s connection with the Trail. During Hall’s after lunch talk inside Sunnybank’s music room, the octogenarian said he stayed at there when hiking sections of the Trail in 1976. After he purchased the 1870s home two years later, “Sunnybank was really the only place to welcome hikers. Now, everyone welcomes hikers … and tries to sell them stuff.”