The dogs "we're" friendly?Originally Posted by Spiritual Pilgrim - formerly AKA Taz
i have stopped there several times,i always make it a point to eat their cheese burgers,i can almost taste one now
Mountain Momma's:
I stayed there two years in a row and had no problems.John and Carolyn Thigpen are very kind people and treated me rght both times.The rate of $15.00 includes a stay at one of the cabins,laundry,shower and ride back to the trail in the morning.Also they have one of the best cheesburgers around.They also have a pretty good resupply.neo
Last edited by neo; 03-14-2006 at 19:51.
Post #2? Go back to trail forums. And take your pocket protector with you.
'All my lies are always wishes" ~Jeff Tweedy~
Chomp.. I am sorry but just can't let this go. 30 bucks for dinner, bunk and breakfast is a rare bargain these days.. presuming of course the food is decent and the bunk is something more than an old camp cot withno sheets. I don't know anywhere in the northeast where I live where you could get lodging..dinner and breakfast..all for 30 dolloars!! The place has to make some money...just to stay in business and cover expenses right?
Two bucks to go to trail head? You are aware that gas is up around 2.30 plus per gallon?
Myself..I would gladly pay two bucks for a ride back to trail head.
Now if the place was in bad condition and/or the food is really sub par or very small poritions..then you have a legitimite gripe. otherwise no.
DavidNH
I recommend skipping it and stopping at Standing Bear. Ive stayed at both and Standing Bear is way much better.
Yea mountainmomma’s is world famous and the burgers are pretty damn good. If you’re passing through you have to drop by for the nostalgia, but as for staying there, I don’t recommend it. I would suggest getting a ride back to Davenport gap and walk on down to Standing Bear Farm Hostel. The place is awesome and I highly recommend it. When I was there they took the group into town in the 15 pax van for dinner and re-supply. Hey, they even got beer! You can’t beat SBF. Booya!
I stayed in the honeymoon shack with another guy. I sure hope no one finds out.Don't know why it is named that, and doubt that it has ever been used for that purpose; but it was sort of embarassing.
Just so people can see what the cheeseburger fuss is all about, I uploaded a picture of my hiking buddy, who was a happy customer:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...?i=10317&c=531
Now, that's what I'm talking about. Next time it's Mountain Moma's!
Last October, my son and I were staying at the Big Creek Campground prior to a hike in the Smokies. We decided to have dinner at Mountain Mommas.
When we walked in the front door, there was a lady behind the counter, talking on the phone. She immediately turned so that her back was to us and continued her phone conversation. After waiting patiently for several minutes, we decided to tke a look around the "store" until she finished her phone conversation. She continued to keep her back to us. Five minutes later, we returned to the counter. After several more minutes, it appeared that the phone conversation was nowhere near an end. So we left. Our presence was never even acknowledged.
So I can't tell you whether the cheeseburgers are any good or not. But I can tell you that, on our visit, customer service was nonexistant.
PHone number?
Can somebody post the phone number for Mountain Mommas?
ad astra per aspera
I can only find a James Thigpen in Cosby TN, and he said it was the wrong number. Not Mtn. Mommas....anybody have the number?
ad astra per aspera
828-486-5995
Thanks so much Lugnut ;-)
ad astra per aspera
Hey . . . what's with all the "Hiker Glum" this year!?! Hey Man.. A ROOF IS A ROOF
Cheers for shelter... Cheers for food.. and 2 legs to walk to Maine!
"Reach Farther" ~ SOLACE
Mountain Moma's
You wanted some experiences with Mountain Moma's. I hope you do not mind the long reply. This is from my journal.
I was heading out on a section hike from Atlanta, GA to Mountain Moma’s located in Waterville, TN. Most people would spell it Mama’s, or Momma’s. However, the guy that made the sign has a 9th grade education from a rural school in Florida. John spells things the way they sound to him. It’s his store. His wife, Caroline doesn’t seem to mind that it is spelled wrong. He named it after her. He cut the sign out of wood and now it’s too hard to change. Like he told me, deal with it.
I had arranged by telephone for a shuttle from them for Monday 14th. Caroline said her husband would be getting in around 9:00 pm and he would drive me around the park to Fontana Dam. I made good time and arrived at Mountain Moma’s at exactly 8:00 pm, TN time.
Mountain Moma’s is located along side of Big Creek creek, about a mile from the Appalachian Trail. Davenport Gap Shelter is located a short distance from Moma’s along with Big Creek Ranger Station. Mountain Moma’s is an old school building built in the late 30’s. The school closed down in the late 80’s because of the low population in the area. It sat empty for several years before a guy from the local water plant bought it. He didn’t do anything with it until he sold it to the present owner’s in 1991, which they planned on making it a retirement home. The couple had been living in Jacksonville, FL and would come up to the mountains during the hot summers. They saw that the school building was for sell and bought it. While fixing it up to live in, a local rural grocery store/general store closed down a short distance from their retirement home. There was no store in the area for the local people to purchase supplies. Caroline and her husband decided to turn the front part of the school into a General Store/ Restaurant. The back side would be there residence. They also added some bunk houses and rooms for people spending the night, those people being hikers from the Appalachian Trail. It is what I would call a genuine General Store. They have all the basic staples any respectable person living in Tennessee would need. One entire wall is filled with nothing but cigarettes, every type of cigarette that has ever been made. The cigarette boxes are stacked from the floor to the ceiling. If you can’t find a cigarette here that you don’t like, well then, you just don’t like cigarettes. You can buy flour, sugar, milk, coffee, bread, soup, chewing tobacco, hunting hats, work gloves, candy, gum, slim jims, and soft drinks. It’s hard to tell if you are in the store or in the restaurant. It reminds me of what the first Cracker Barrel must have looked like. I don’t imagine a health inspector has ever visited this place. The restaurant has 5 tables and an additional 5 booths which face out the large windows of the front of the building. The cigarette wall is located at the far end of the restaurant. The other walls are covered with Dolly Parton’s Glamore/Publicity pictures. She has signed each one. Without much effort they could turn this place into a Dolly museum. Pictures, bobble head dolls, figurines, calendars all with the likeness of Dolly. Between the store and the restaurant is the kitchen. The kitchen opens at 8:00 am and closes at 6:00 pm. I was told by Caroline “and not one minute later than 6:00 pm”. The store closes at 8:00 pm. What was to be their retirement home has turned into a daily 12 hour job. I knocked on the door to Mountain Moma’s at 8:02 pm. The place was closed of course, but I could see that there was someone inside. Caroline the owner of Mountain Moma’s opened the door and asked me in. I introduced myself and then asked for the location of the bathroom. It had been a long ride. She told me to just follow the foot prints. On the floor were painted what looked like foot prints from Big Foot. The foot prints went through the restaurant into a small walkway/storage area back to a bathroom. The bathroom had hand written signs stating, that you should take care of the bathroom facilities or they would be closed down. There were instructions on when to flush and how to hold the handle down. There was hand written cards on each table that read that it is perfectly okay to tip the waitress. I don’t remember seeing a non-smoking area. I got the feeling that visitors were not really welcomed here. Caroline offered me a cup of coffee and after a few minutes of small talk she seemed to relax and put her guard down. Her husband arrived at 8:45 after a long day of selling produce along the side of the road in Sterling or Greenville. Watermelons were his top sellers. He buys the watermelons from someone else and hauls it around in some type of giant pick-up truck. He does this a couple of days a week and works on the remodeling of the school building the rest of the time. I lot of hikers find out about Mountain Moma’s from word of mouth and hiking websites. Moma’s does not have a website. They really don’t do any advertising. She thought when they opened the store she would get 3-4 people a day. She says now when it is a very busy day she will have 3 to 4 hundred people coming into the store. That sounded like a lot to me. Caroline and her husband decided to travel together to take me to Fontana Dam. They are down to earth people and very religious, however they seem to be a little against organized religion. I parked my car about a ½ mile from Moma’s at Big Cedar Ranger Station. I took out my backpack from my car the and loaded it into their 1988 Ford Aerostar, with over 200,000 miles on it. He bought the car used last year. We started the drive to the other side of the park. Caroline told me the story which happened to her early that week. She was low on oil and called her husband to see what she should do. He explained that she needed to get a can of oil out of the garage and pour it into the crankshaft. She pulled down a can of break fluid and poured it into the engine. He had to drain the oil pan and add new oil. They both had a big laugh about that. They drove me for two hours, we laughed and talked the entire time. They dropped me off at the Hilton around 11:00 PM. Mountain Moma's is a part of the AT experience, like all experiences it is up to us to make them positive or negative.
Today's "thru-hikers" are whiners. I remember the days of no hostels and so-called magic at every road crossing. I would never run a hostel. Too many hikers are hostile and unappreciative. Mountain Momas is what it is. Be thankful it is there. ******* I hate hikers sometimes!
This is sooooo true.
Blame it on the hostel owners
I don’t think we should blame the hikers. I say we blame the current majority of hostel owners for setting the current standards.Today's "thru-hikers" are whiners. I remember the days of no hostels and so-called magic at every road crossing. I would never run a hostel. Too many hikers are hostile and unappreciative. Mountain Momas is what it is. Be thankful it is there. ******* I hate hikers sometimes!
It is their outstanding service and accommodations that the hiker community has come to expect and anything less is seen as inferior.
We all compare and measure places with our own experiences. We compare our AT experiences, Miss Janets, Uncle Johnnie's, Damascus Bed & Breakfast, hostels, Elmer's Place, etc. We compare the service at these places, we compare how we are treated, we compare facilities, like it or not Mountain Moma is competing against all these other establishments along the AT. If people expect a high quality of service out on the trail, perhaps Mountain Moma is not for them. If people want a high quality cheeseburger, which is also being compared with other food places, stop in.
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