2 cars or shuttle?

[MoeTCrow]

5 of us are doing springer to Neels Gap next week. We were thinking of taking 2 cars. Any advantage to taking a shuttle to the trailhead instead? What sort of cost would we be looking at?

thanks

[Runner2017]

5 of us are doing springer to Neels Gap next week. We were thinking of taking 2 cars. Any advantage to taking a shuttle to the trailhead instead? What sort of cost would we be looking at?

thanks
Neels Gap to Springer shuttle goes from $60 to $100 depending on shuttle operators.

[MuddyWaters]

If you got the people and cars, doin it yourself will be cheaper. That distance is no big deal. If it were 200 miles, youd be paying for the convenience. But its convenient to do yourself imo. As long as procure legal parking at neel end. You can park at Byron Reece trailhead, or work out deal with goose creek or blood mtn cabins. You cant park at MX. The parking at BR trailhead can fill up on weekend I think.

Thats why the best way to do that part, is have shuttle drop you at neel, and hike south back to your car. No parking issues at neel.

[MoeTCrow]

Thanks guys. we are leaving mid week so hopefully parking isn't that much of an issue. now we are just hoping we can manage to keep from floating away with the rain!
According to https://georgia-atclub.org/hike-the-a-t/hike-the-georgia-appalachian-trail/water-sources-availability it looks like the water situation should be good, is this usually pretty accurate?

[FlyPaper]

5 of us are doing springer to Neels Gap next week. We were thinking of taking 2 cars. Any advantage to taking a shuttle to the trailhead instead? What sort of cost would we be looking at?

thanks

Have done it both ways many times at different places along the trail. For me, the shuttle seems to be the way to go. If both the cars you would bring are large enough to hold 5 men and 5 backpacks, then it might be more tempting to bring them both and stage the cars yourself (without a shuttle).

Just consider the cost of the shuttle, minus the cost of the extra gas for driving 2 cars instead of 1. Divide that by the number of people on the hike, and then consider how much more enjoyable the trip is if you're all able to ride in the same car to get to the trail head. And if you're like us, you all have day jobs. Your vacation time is limited and you don't want to spend a big part of your trip staging cars back and forth.

[chknfngrs]

Agree that it depends on how much time you have

[illabelle]

Five people with backpacks is a lot for most shuttlers to handle in one trip. Some can accommodate that, but most that we've encountered would have a four-person limit. By bringing two cars you'll have room for everybody and their gear to travel comfortably.

On the other hand, using shuttles is a way to support the local economies of some small towns along the trail, which we are happy to do.

[Nodust]

Five people with backpacks is a lot for most shuttlers to handle in one trip. Some can accommodate that, but most that we've encountered would have a four-person limit. By bringing two cars you'll have room for everybody and their gear to travel comfortably.

On the other hand, using shuttles is a way to support the local economies of some small towns along the trail, which we are happy to do.

But you really only need to shuttle one person. Drop group off at start of hike. One person drives to Neel Gap and gets shuttled to Springer. You may even be able to shuttle with another group and save a few bucks.

But two cars may be quicker because you aren't waiting for a shuttle.


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[illabelle]

But you really only need to shuttle one person. Drop group off at start of hike. One person drives to Neel Gap and gets shuttled to Springer. You may even be able to shuttle with another group and save a few bucks.

But two cars may be quicker because you aren't waiting for a shuttle.


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True, and we've done that with short shuttles. Even though this is a longish shuttle, it's an option worth considering. Thanks for pointing it out.