The Free State now has website

[Bone Pac]

The coming months look to be very exciting as we welcome many of the hikers trekking the Maryland section of Trail.

The Free State website is now up: www.FreeStateHiker.com

-Bone Pac

[Smile]

Thanks Bone Pac, I really enjoyed your journey/journal last year, and have also watched as the whole place has evolved and is now up and running!

You are truly blessed

Will visit when I am down the trail!

[frieden]

Thanks for posting this. I've added it to my book. It looks like everything a thru hiker needs!

[rafe]

The coming months look to be very exciting as we welcome many of the hikers trekking the Maryland section of Trail.

The Free State website is now up: www.FreeStateHiker.com

-Bone Pac

I look forward to visiting on my section hike this summer. Looks beautiful.

[The Solemates]

looks wonderful. a dream come true, I'm sure.

[1azarus]

Is there a phone number I can use? I think I'll be section hiking there in a week or so...

[rafe]

I look forward to visiting on my section hike this summer. Looks beautiful.

Belated follow-up, a half year late... I did stay. It was beautiful. Had the place to myself. Thanks for the hospitality, Ken and Janell. Best of luck to both of you.

[minnesotasmith]

Thanks for posting this. I've added it to my book. It looks like everything a thru hiker needs!

1) Except a 20.00 price tag, standard maximum for hostels south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Why does this place cost motel-level prices to sleep inside rather than hostel-level ones? (Everyone, please don't bother to mention the camping option, as hikers can simply camp on the Trail for free.)

2) The term "Free State" is one that I'd only heard in recent times as associated with the libertarian decision to move to one particular state in order to dominate it politically. That state ended up being chosen by vote to be NH: www.freestateproject.org . How did that term come to be associated with Maryland, of all places?

[Sly]

1) Except a 20.00 price tag, standard maximum for hostels south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Why does this place cost motel-level prices to sleep inside rather than hostel-level ones?

It's $30 and includes linens (like motels) free laundry, free long distance phone, showers etc. If you feel it's too expensive move on. No one is forcing anyone to stay there.

[aaroniguana]

Maryland has been known as the "Free State" since the American Civil War because even though it is south of the Mason-Dixon line it abolished slavery prior to the start of the Civil War. Nice story.

The truth is that NOTHING here is free. Except stealth camping. And stargazing if you can get far enough from the I-95 corridor to actually see anything.

[minnesotasmith]

It's $30 and includes linens (like motels) free laundry, free long distance phone, showers etc. If you feel it's too expensive move on. No one is forcing anyone to stay there.

Ten bucks to cover laundry and long-distance phone is a bit much, especially with the ubiquity of cell phones. Why not offer a 20.00 bunkhouse option with no sheets (use one's sleeping bag) or covered long-dist phone, and laundry ala carte? Likewise, hikers really trying to save money would be able to just handwash their clothes, saving the 3 bucks or so commercial laundromats would charge them to wash their clothes.

I personally have a decent enough job that if I thruhike again, I could afford to pay the 30 bucks. However, I suspect many hikers will have sticker shock, conclude this place is aimed at high-end hikers (which they aren't), and pass it on by.

[minnesotasmith]

Maryland has been known as the "Free State" since the American Civil War because even though it is south of the Mason-Dixon line it abolished slavery prior to the start of the Civil War. Nice story.

Looks like Maryland still had legal chattel slavery past the end of the Civil War, until the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ended it nationwide:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirtee...s_Constitution

[Don H]

From the Maryland State Archives website:
Free State. The nickname "Free State" was created by Hamilton Owens, editor of the Baltimore Sun. In 1923, Georgia Congressman William D. Upshaw, a firm supporter of Prohibition, denounced Maryland as a traitor to the Union for refusing to pass a State enforcement act. Mr. Owens thereupon wrote a mock-serious editorial entitled "The Maryland Free State," arguing that Maryland should secede from the Union rather than prohibit the sale of liquor. The irony in the editorial was subtle, and Mr. Owens decided not to print it. He popularized the nickname, however, in later editorials.

[rafe]

1) Except a 20.00 price tag, standard maximum for hostels south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Why does this place cost motel-level prices to sleep inside rather than hostel-level ones? (Everyone, please don't bother to mention the camping option, as hikers can simply camp on the Trail for free.)

The place is new, clean, and spacious. Not the slightest whiff of hiker-stink. It is in fact the entire upper floor of Ken and Janell's house. The hostel has its own separate entrance, at the back of the house. Ken (BonePac) thru-hiked in 2006. He's a physician's assistant.

The bunk room and game room are carpeted. There are about 20 bunks. The game room has tables, games, TV, DVDs, stereo, foosball. The kitchen/sink area has a huge basement-type sink for washing gear; a washer and dryer (not coin-op) and a workstation with a fast internet connection. There's a long distance phone that you're encouraged to use, and it's free. There are shelves loaded with hiker-type food (candy bars, chips, M&Ms, etc.) -- take what you want, leave cash in the jar -- entirely honor system. The fridge is stocked with cold drinks and ice cream bars, again, honor system.

You can call for take-out food (Smithsburg is about 2-3 miles away) or Ken or Janell will shuttle you into town at their convenience. I walked into town, had dinner, and called for a shuttle back to the hostel.

They ought to just call it paradise. The hostel is about 0.3 down the road from the AT -- it's the road crossing just south of Ensign Cowall shelter.

[rafe]

Is there a phone number I can use? I think I'll be section hiking there in a week or so...

301 824 2407

[Sly]

Yeah, so if hikers don't want all that or aren't willing to pay the price they shouldn't stop. Sounds simple enough to me. Why MS can't get it through his thick skull is beyond me.

The place is new, clean, and spacious. Not the slightest whiff of hiker-stink. It is in fact the entire upper floor of Ken and Janell's house. The hostel has its own separate entrance, at the back of the house. Ken (BonePac) thru-hiked in 2006. He's a physician's assistant.

The bunk room and game room are carpeted. There are about 20 bunks. The game room has tables, games, TV, DVDs, stereo, foosball. The kitchen/sink area has a huge basement-type sink for washing gear; a washer and dryer (not coin-op) and a workstation with a fast internet connection. There's a long distance phone that you're encouraged to use, and it's free. There are shelves loaded with hiker-type food (candy bars, chips, M&Ms, etc.) -- take what you want, leave cash in the jar -- entirely honor system. The fridge is stocked with cold drinks and ice cream bars, again, honor system.

You can call for take-out food (Smithsburg is about 2-3 miles away) or Ken or Janell will shuttle you into town at their convenience. I walked into town, had dinner, and called for a shuttle back to the hostel.

They ought to just call it paradise. The shuttle is about 0.3 down the road from the AT -- it's the road crossing just south of Ensign Cowall shelter.

[aaroniguana]

From the Maryland State Archives website:
Free State. The nickname "Free State" was created by Hamilton Owens, editor of the Baltimore Sun. In 1923, Georgia Congressman William D. Upshaw, a firm supporter of Prohibition, denounced Maryland as a traitor to the Union for refusing to pass a State enforcement act. Mr. Owens thereupon wrote a mock-serious editorial entitled "The Maryland Free State," arguing that Maryland should secede from the Union rather than prohibit the sale of liquor. The irony in the editorial was subtle, and Mr. Owens decided not to print it. He popularized the nickname, however, in later editorials.

You mean... they lied to us in school???

[minnesotasmith]

Yeah, so if hikers don't want all that or aren't willing to pay the price they shouldn't stop.

The place sounds like a B. & B. at motel prices. Most thruhikers are forced to be sufficiently thrifty that a mere hostel at hostel prices would fit their needs better. I predict that many hikers (not just the "trying to thruhike for under $1000) will hear of the price, and keep going. The philosophy of many thruhikers on lodging is IMO "if the price starts with a three [or higher], it's not for me.".

It's kind of a shame, too. The place sounds nice, and BonePac is undoubtedly someone many aspiring thrus would have a good time meeting.

[Sly]

No hiker is forced to do anything. If they haven't saved enough money to spend on more expensive accommodations, so be it. Not everybody can afford to let hikes stay for next to nothing. $30 isn't a lot of money.

[dessertrat]

The place sounds like a B. & B. at motel prices. Most thruhikers are forced to be sufficiently thrifty that a mere hostel at hostel prices would fit their needs better. I predict that many hikers (not just the "trying to thruhike for under $1000) will hear of the price, and keep going. The philosophy of many thruhikers on lodging is IMO "if the price starts with a three [or higher], it's not for me.".

It's kind of a shame, too. The place sounds nice, and BonePac is undoubtedly someone many aspiring thrus would have a good time meeting.

IMO is right. Griping over ten bucks? So if it was $29.99, you'd say that was fine?