From Hope to Hostel
My husband, Sunsets, and I first started thinking about opening a hostel when we were thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2017. We stayed at hostels about once a week and developed a good understanding of what we liked about each one.
The idea of running our own hostel started as a joke. To occupy our long days of hiking and help distract us from the grueling hard miles of the AT, we would play a game, "What would an AWFUL hostel be like?"
The worst hostel ever would include things like:
One bathroom for 15 hikers. Imagine standing in line with other stinky hikers to wait for a shower or to take a dump, and then all the while you're in the bathroom knowing that there is a line waiting right outside the door.
10+ bunk beds in one room stacked so tightly that you have someone's feet touching your head (ew!).
All charging is in a central location with only one outlet strip, instead of separate outlets by each hiker's bed.
I guess you could say we were hostel snobs — or were we just old enough (in our late forties) that even though we knew what hiker hostels entailed, we still wanted a more comfortable experience?
After a few days (weeks?) of playing this game, we suddenly turned it around, with one of us asking, "Wait, what would the most AWESOME hostel be like?"
After a few more weeks, those conversations led us to, "Hey, maybe we should open a hostel ourselves!"
The further we got into our hike, the more we knew that our thru-hike was going to be one of the best adventures and experiences of our lives. What better way to stay involved and give back to the hiker community than to open and run a hiker hostel?
It's been two years since our thru-hike, and the thought of operating a hostel has never left our minds. Recently, we bought a duplex with the sole purpose of using the downstairs apartment as our hostel.
Where are we?
“After we visited Franklin on our thru-hike, we fell in love with the town, and we knew this was where we wanted to be.”
We chose to relocate to Franklin, NC, as we had thought about this small town even before our hike. We wanted a place that had all four seasons but didn't get too cold in the winter (I'm from Wisconsin) or too hot in the summer (Sunsets is from Texas). We loved the thought of living in Asheville, but it's too pricey and frankly, too far from the Appalachian Trail. After we visited Franklin on our thru-hike, we fell in love with the town, and we knew this was where we wanted to be.
Upon moving to Franklin in April of 2019, we found and bought the perfect "bones" of a house. Being a duplex, it offers the ideal set up – we live upstairs, and the hostel will be downstairs. It needed a good bit of work (understatement!), but the price was right, and we had time and the ability to work hard on our side.
What can you expect?
The Chica & Sunsets Hostel will have:
Four single twin beds -- no bunk beds!
Room to spread out, with two beds per bedroom.
Hooks in bedrooms to hang things or dry things out.
Fast wifi.
Peace and quiet.
Hikers will have the whole apartment to themselves, including bathroom, laundry, kitchen, and living room.
Soda and snacks shop.
Small hiker to bathroom ratio: max of four hikers per bathroom.
Homemade breakfast.
AT hiker passport stamp.
The price will be all-inclusive at $45, which includes all occupancy taxes, pick up and drop off at Winding Stair Gap, laundry, shuttle to town for resupply, visits to Outdoor 76 outfitter & Lazy Hiker Brewery, and breakfast.
Our vision.
The Chica & Sunsets Hostel will not be a typical hostel, but more of a "hiker bed & breakfast." By keeping it small (four hikers max), it will be a more peaceful stay. The breakfast will be homemade, hot, and filling. Hikers can recharge their batteries – both literally and figuratively – and get back on trail fully energized.
When we bought the house, the downstairs was pretty awful. Dark wall colors, water damage, and ugly carpet all made it look very dark and dungeon-like. That is no longer the case! We've been working incredibly hard, with some help from friends, and the place is starting to look awesome! Here's a few before & afters:
New luxury vinyl plank flooring
Refinished kitchen table
Repainted upper deck where hikers will dine for breakfast
The décor throughout will have hikers in mind. It's been a fun challenge for me to come up with a "natural / hiker / farmhouse" motif on a budget. A few things I've added so far include: a wooden ladder for the kitchen, a wreath & welcome sign for the front door, a white blaze wall hanging, a hand-painted AT map on barn wood, drop cloth curtains, and an AT poster with a wooden frame.
This hostel is our next dream and adventure, and something we felt in our hearts that we just wanted to do. We can't wait to meet new Appalachian Trail hikers each year and be able to sit down and talk with them about the trail. We are thrilled it is all coming to fruition!
“The décor throughout will have hikers in mind.”
Details
The official opening date is February 15, 2020!
We will be in Guthook and AWOL's The A.T. Guide!
More info is available on our website, chicaandsunsets.com. We will be posting more pictures as we complete our renovations!