Manchester
Any chance getting the church hostel to re-open in Manchester? Don't have much choice of where to stay in town, maybe the Equinox, LOL .
Hike more and learn to reduce gasoline consumption
Wish full thinking
Manchester needs a good hostle. However, the last time I checked, no good prospects.
Best advise is to get in, and get out. Nearest camping area is the Bromley Campsite just north of the highway.
Inappropriate thru-hiker behavior caused us to lose the hostel in the Zion Episcopal Church.
I stayed at the Church on my thru. When I returned to Vermont in the late 90's to rehike the state I stayed at Suttons Place on School Street. Don't recall what I paid, but I thought it was a fair price. Because of comments here and on other sites stating that there is no good place to stay in Manchester Center I checked the current Thru-Hikers Handbook to see if Suttons Place is still around. It is; and the prices range from $20 for a shared room to $35 for a private room. Has anything happened recently for hikers to not mention Suttons Place as a place to stop? I would certainly stay there again based on my experience.
Manchester Center is a nice place to take a zero or two. Good outfitter, supermarket, good restaurants (good pizza place), Ben and Jerrys store, one of the best book stores on the trail, etc.
Ditto for Manchester. Kind of like a Hanover, NH except not as flat LOL. Bromley is a hoot. Try hiking up to the summit after, well, never mind....
Hike more and learn to reduce gasoline consumption
This year there were a couple of people taking in lots of hikers coming through. Tortoise from Vermont and myself Blister Sister. The Zion will never reopen. I have been staring at a building for sale 1 mile north from the road crossing for a year round hostel. Problem being - I'm not that rich. Its the perfect place. I have the time but not the money. Anyone out there want to invest in property. As far as closer to Manchester - Suttons Place is definateley very hiker friendly and in town. Just out of town in between the trail and the center is Mikas Chinese Rest. with motel attached. Many hikers stay there as well. Just a reminder nothing is cheap in Manchester!!!! Locals around here call it Zippy. We zip in and out as quick as possible.
Blister "Bitchen" Sister
manchester
I had a pretty good experience with this town and ever took a zero there. Stayed at the Avalanche Motel about a mile and change from town, probably 3 or 4 miles from town. The motel is really cheap if you split it a couple ways. They have hiker rooms with 2 double beds and bunk beds. If you put like 5 or 6 people in there its around 10-12 bucks a person. Place is very nice and clean and even had a fridge. And we swam in their pool! Chinese restraunt next door is good and the diner down the road is awesome. We hitched in numerous times during the day plus i was there and had little problems. I think if you stick to the cheap places you'll be fine. Just don't get stuck at the outlets!
Anything's within walking distance if you've got the time.
GA-ME 03, LT 04/06, PCT 07'
Manchester
I always go in to town, drop my pack at the EMS, then do my chores. Everything is right there, laundry, restaurants, EMS, grocery store and liquor store. Then I stay at Bromely tent site, easy .8 from road.
We stayed at a place called The Carriage House. Fifty bucks for a shared room. They were hiker friendly, and it was comfortable. Friendly to hikers, a bit of walk from town. Not the cheapest, but a nice place if you can split the room.
Bromley
After the construction of the new shelter up near the top of Bromley, the tent site is now closed.Originally Posted by Chef2000
I wouldnt suggest spending the night in machester center unless you know someone in the area that will let you crash, mainly because of how expensive it is. Although I do completely agree it is a good spot for a zero day, and the pizza place is one of the best in the state. The Northshire Book Store is an amazing place although i will admit i am a bit slanted on my thoughts for the place since i basicly grew up in the place (mom was general manager for 16 years). You may also want to check out the 2nd part of the northshire which is a used bookstore right around the corner. This is a great spot to pocik up a cheap paperback for on the trail. I would also suggest you pass on Ben & Jerry's while in town mainly cause the are all over the place up that way and instead go to Mother Mirricks which is a indepentant ice cream and chocolate shop that makes everything right there, a great place and a long time southern vermont secret, hense why its not in the guide books. To get there go to the center of town where the northshire is and go south on route 7 (past timberland) its about 2 blocks up. FYI the pizza place everyone is talking about is north on route 7 about 1 block from the northshire. both pizza and ice cream places are going to be on your left hand side. As a side note there is a Orvis, timberland outlet, a Mountain Goat, and a few other smaller gear stores in manchester as well, for those people who like those instead of ems. All gear stores are located South of the Northshire bookstore. For those people new to the town there isnt much north of town. With the exception of a comic book store and a art supply store (very good stock of stuff). If any one wants more detail on manchester feel free to drop me a line i spent many days of my childhood running around manchester. Oh ya one last thought the liquor store / deli next to the laundry mat makes some great sandwitchs, they also have most of your standard resupply items.
A-Town
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost. "
-- JRR Tolkien
I stayed at Sutton's this past summer and thought the place was great.
Nice owners, nice TV room to check out the incoming rain forecast, a hiker box and short walk to the payphone.
The night before I was there, the place was full, no rooms available, so hikers are definately still staying there.
That's where I heard about the great little coffee shop in town called Mrs. Murphy's....it's where all the locals go for early breakfast and you can get a ride back to the trail pretty easy, I checked it out, place was packed!
Suttons Place is pretty cool. Up For Breakfast is just down the street.
But expensive. $50 for a room when we were thru there. and no breakfast! i hate it when they charge by the person instead of by the room. a guy and his wife should still be $25, not $50.
Sutton's place was great this summer. A room by myself was $40. If there were three people in a room, the price was $25 a person. Definitely a quality stay: Quiet and comfortable. Party people should seek another place to stay, though. Sutton didn't mind me sitting around drinking beer and watching TV, though.
In Manchester, I was able to stay with a family for a night as well. Along with some other hikers, I worked a church supper, originally in return for us being able to stay in the basement. They liked us so much that a couple invited us back to their mansion for the night, laundry, and breakfast the next morning. At services the next morning, the minister publically thanked us for working the supper, even though we got much more than we gave. So, know that some good will toward AT hikers has been generated.
Manchester Center
We also stayed at the Carriage House. In fact, there were about half a dozen hikers there that night. Stop in the Mountain Goat and talk to them. They have a list of motels and they even called for us to find a room. Great folks in the outfitter.
GA - NJ 2001; GA - ME 2003; GA - ME 2005; GA - ME 2007; PCT 2006
A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.
—SPANISH PROVERB
We also stayed at Suttons, nice house, nice guy, not the cheapest hostel on the LT, Manchester is kinda weird, outlets and tourists, I cant say enough nice things about the folks at the Mountain Goat. I needed a new pack or I was going home, hooked me up with a Granite Gear Stratus Lattitude for 100 less than list, I checked when I got home. This year just gonna resupply, do laundry, and get out of town, easy hitch both ways.
May the four winds blow you safely home
Sutton's in Manchester
Maybe he was having a bad day....
A woman friend of mine hiked solo in Vermont in mid-April and stayed at Sutton's and had an unpleasant experience. According to her, he was rude, short, and unhelpful. Granted this is not "normal" hiking season in Vermont but she still expected a more positive attitude.
This is second hand slander of the worst kind. The key word here is "expected". Just what we need around here, the same kind of people who closed down the church hostel taking out Sutton. Why does this have to happen over and over and over? Maybe, just maybe, the women friend of yours IS an unpleasant experience.Maybe he was having a bad day....
A woman friend of mine hiked solo in Vermont in mid-April and stayed at Sutton's and had an unpleasant experience. According to her, he was rude, short, and unhelpful. Granted this is not "normal" hiking season in Vermont but she still expected a more positive attitude.
Maybe the place had problems with people abusing their accomidations. Not every place to catch a bed is gonna cater to cheap hikers. As long as people are aware of the rates and the establishment is consistant with that, then why complain about it.
That's my dog, Echo. He's a fine young dog.
No Blue Jay - she's not the demanding or unreasonable type. She's a very pleasant person. She didn't ask for a shuttle, only directions. She had a phone card and didn't want to use the phone for too long but he didn't want her to use if at all. The shower was cold. All-in-all a bad experience. As I said at the beginning, maybe he had a bad day or just wasn't mentally prepared for early season hikers. But he certainly wasn't accommodating.
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