Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2019 - 7

FROM THE EDITOR

EAT WHERE THE THRU-HIKERS DO!

Our States Dominate A.T.
Backpacker Dining Favorites
Restaurants in the southern states of the Appalachian Trail (Georgia, North
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia) held 11 places in the Sweet 16,
seven of the Elite 8, and the full Final Four.

By KURT RHEINHEIMER

M

y limited experience of the
thru-hiker existence does
include the difficult, remote and challenging 100mile wilderness in Maine.
And the sharpest memory
of that experience, which
occurred after about a week in the wilderness, is what was at the end of the boat
ride across Pemadumcook Lake. A hot
shower and perhaps the most anticipated
meal I've ever eaten.
Which is only a tiny and minor version
of what a good meal means to a real thruhiker, who can go for days or weeks never
coming close to a meal beyond what gets
put together out of the food bag in the
backpack. Each contact with restaurant
food is a treasured event.
The good people at the thru-hiker
website thetrek.co, and more specifically
Lance Ness, undertook earlier this
year an NCAA-basketball-style March
Madness tournament for restaurants
along the 14-state, 2,180-mile route of
the Appalachian Trail as it makes its way
from Georgia to Maine. (Well, at least
if you're a northbounder, as most thruhikers are.)
Ness began with 32 restaurants
ranging from-south to north- Barney's
in Hiawassee, Georgia to the Monson
General Store in Monson, Maine.
And after one round of thru-hiker
voting, the Sweet 16 was pretty much
taken over our A.T. states:
In North Carolina:
* Smoky Mountain Diner, Hot Springs

ABOVE: The smoked
chicken is a specialty.
LEFT: Proprietors Joe and
Sonya Miller don't consider
themselves "owners" so
much as caretakers of the
legendary restaurant.

* Rivers End, Bryson
* Lazy Hiker Brewery, Franklin
* Spring Creek Tavern, Hot Springs
* Fontana Village Resort, Fontana
In Tennessee:
* Bob's Dairyland
In Virginia:
* Mojo's Cafe, Damascus
* The Home Place, Catawba
* Three L'il Pigs, Daleville
* Devils Backbone Basecamp Brewpub,
Roseland
* Spelunker's, Front Royal
In the Elite 8 round, seven of those 11
remained, with the only outlier being the
Maine-famous Monson General Store.
And the Final Four was made up

of Mojo's, Devils Backbone, Smoky
Mountain Diner and Bob's Dairyland.
The winner?
Well, just consider the daily specials at
this mountain classic of its kind:
Monday: BBQ Combo Special
Tuesday: Pinto Bean Dinner
Wednesday: Chicken Tender Dinner
Thursday: Hamburger Steak Dinner
Friday: Alaskan Whitefish or Flounder
Saturday: FRIED CATFISH IS BACK!
Sunday: Roast Beef Dinner
And prominent on the "Drinks" part
of the menu? "Milk or Buttermilk."
Yes, Roan Mountain's Bob's Dairyland
took the championship.
Get out on the trail, build yourself a
good day-hike hunger and stop by for
lunch where the thru-hikers dine.

JULY/AUGUST 2019

7
http://www.thetrek.co
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2019

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