Standing Bear Farm Hostel

The first hostel explored on this Hostel Exploratory adventure was one recommended to me by some AT thru-hiker friends of mine: Standing Bear Farm Hostel. Curtis and Maria Owen are lovely purveyors of this rustic Appalachian retreat, established in 2001.  This hostel caters to hikers.  It has a very "through hiker" bent. It has seen constant improvements throughout it's 9 years tenure. Maria is the "idea person" and Curtis is the "implementer".

Rob and I asked about nearby loops hikes to get us into the Greater Smoky Mountains for the day and everything suggested was geared toward the AT.  Curtis was very helpful in finding us great topographical maps of the area so we could hand-pick the hike we chose for the afternoon. 

I picked Hen Wallow Falls, a 2.2 mile hike in to some beautiful falls. 

One of my favorite things about Rob is that he's always teaching me new things.  On this hike I learned that you can tell the relative temperature by how tightly rhododendron leaves are curled. Apparently at about 40˚F they flatten out again.  It was definitely more along the 25˚F lines, January 3rd.

This is the cabin we stayed in, it spans a stream. The gurgling brook made us have to pee all the time.  The cabin floor has no insulation so even with the propane fireplace the ground floor of our cabin was about 20˚, while the loft (where we slept) was a balmy 80˚.  The bridge to the left heads back to the showers and the composting outhouse.

Trooper, is the resident dogger. He was marvelously friendly, pawing at our door to come in and cuddle.

The kitchen, laundry and internet are all housed in out buildings. Hot water was lovely on frozen fingers but morning brought us frozen pipes and frozen yogurt. Cooking with mittens on. brrrrrrrr!

The rustic interior to our cabin that we had all to ourselves (this time of year).

Curtis and Maria were gracious to allow me to interview them on their experiences with owning and running a hostel. They live in a house just over the stream from the hostel compound. They assure me that "they are always on" and that "you have to want to do it".