Living near the AT - where?

[TOW]

living closer to the AT is my next goal, I've been stuck in Florida long enough. The summer heat, humidity, and bugs are too much for me after too many years here. Forget about hiking down here anytime in the summer unless you enjoy misery in the heat and being food for chiggers, ticks and mosquitos. We should have let Spain keep this miserable swamp and alligator infested state.

I'd like to hear WB members' suggestions on good towns/cities to live in ...within a half day's drive of the AT, where housing costs are fairly reasonable < $750/month (rental- apartment, condo, small house) for 2 people. My objective is to find a small 1BR apartment, condo or a small house that would be a nice base camp for hiking trips.

My selection criteria are in this order:

1. distance to AT
2. cost of living/housing
3. distance to major city/transportation hub

I'm open to just about any state along the trail, new england, mid atlantic, southern mountains. I've been looking at Asheville, NC area, Erwin, TN, Dahlonega, GA, Roanoke, VA, and Boston, MA. trouble with Boston is I think cost of housing is going to be way over my budget.

There are only three towns that I think are best; Hot Springs, NC., Damascus, Va., or Duncannon, Pa.

[Damaged]

Take a look at Linden, VA. and the Front Royal, Va area. The AT is just a couple miles away and the Shenandoah River passes thru Front Royal the "Canoe Capital of VA". Shenandoah Nat. Park-Skyline Drive, Geo. Washington Nat. Park, G.Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area, Great Meadows Park and a few others are close by. And Harpers Ferry, Home of ATC is about 25 miles.

It's a great area, and I travel there a few time a year to see my sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I 2nd the Linden/Front Royal Virginia area. The AT crosses Route 55 at Linden and it crosses Route 522 about 2 miles South of Front Royal. The DC metro area is just 50 miles away, but as mentioned the commute can be unbearable if you plan on working in that area. Unfortunately, that is were all the jobs are. I don't have any personal experience on rent, but my sister was renting a 2 bedroom townhouse in the town of Front Royal a year ago for $630 a month.


Good Luck

[ki0eh]

The I-81 corridor from maybe Winchester, VA north to Allentown, PA (yes I know that's I-78) seems to be a relative sweet spot for lower cost of living and lower unemployment. The warehouses around here always seem to be hiring off shift help, and there are warehouses here due to lower cost of doing business than the big Northeast cities. It's also midway on the A.T. therefore easier to reach any area from here.

[brandonholt]

I concur with greeneville tn. I live in the extreme southwest of the county and can be at allens gap in 10 minutes. Hot springs in 25 minutes. No state tax, can be in Knoxville at the airport in 1.5 hours, and decent shopping and dining in Johnson city in an hour. Erwin is great too, but not as many jobs

[d.o.c]

daleville troutville area is within 10-15 min of downtown roanoke the trail surrounds the area lots of beautiful walking with in 20 mins of troutville mcfee knob for example.. o trail walks right thru town and lets just say BOCO is one of the nicer areas in this part of Va

[Maddog]

Warner Robins, Ga...3hrs from Springer Mt!

[Skid.]

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area of Northeast Pa meets your criteria. One hour from the AT at Delaware Water Gap, an hour in the other direction to Bake Oven Knob. Two hours from Phila, two from NYC.

[trucker2015]

living closer to the AT is my next goal, I've been stuck in Florida long enough. The summer heat, humidity, and bugs are too much for me after too many years here. Forget about hiking down here anytime in the summer unless you enjoy misery in the heat and being food for chiggers, ticks and mosquitos. We should have let Spain keep this miserable swamp and alligator infested state.

I'd like to hear WB members' suggestions on good towns/cities to live in ...within a half day's drive of the AT, where housing costs are fairly reasonable < $750/month (rental- apartment, condo, small house) for 2 people. My objective is to find a small 1BR apartment, condo or a small house that would be a nice base camp for hiking trips.

My selection criteria are in this order:

1. distance to AT
2. cost of living/housing
3. distance to major city/transportation hub

I'm open to just about any state along the trail, new england, mid atlantic, southern mountains. I've been looking at Asheville, NC area, Erwin, TN, Dahlonega, GA, Roanoke, VA, and Boston, MA. trouble with Boston is I think cost of housing is going to be way over my budget.

It's nice here in Dawsonville GA I live 7 minutes from the approach trail and 1 hour from Atlanta average rent on a 3b2b is 750

[P-Train]

Maryville, TN. 20 mins. from GSMNP and once you're there it's five hard miles to the AT. Not far from Fontana Dam. The economy here didn't get hit like many other cities.

[Terry7]

I moved from Fort Lauderdale to Damascus 5 years ago after my first A.T. hike.

[sterling98]

Charlottesville is about 25 minutes from the blue ridge parkway and skyline drive. I live in c'ville. Its pretty nice, university town, you can find something not too expensive, just not downtown.

[Wise Old Owl]

Uhhh a second vote Damascus VA!

[docllamacoy]

Portland, Maine is only about an hour and a half from the trail. I live in North Conway, NH which is right near the trail. Job market is tough here, though. My husband and I both work 2 jobs to make ends meet. It's nice living in the Whites, though. Portland is a nice, smaller city with jobs and close proximity to the trail.

[T.S.Kobzol]

Try Portland, ME for double whammy - great access to hiking and great sea kayaking/camping hub. There is even a small community that can translate your nickname 'natively' ;-)

living closer to the AT is my next goal, I've been stuck in Florida long enough. The summer heat, humidity, and bugs are too much for me after too many years here. Forget about hiking down here anytime in the summer unless you enjoy misery in the heat and being food for chiggers, ticks and mosquitos. We should have let Spain keep this miserable swamp and alligator infested state.

I'd like to hear WB members' suggestions on good towns/cities to live in ...within a half day's drive of the AT, where housing costs are fairly reasonable < $750/month (rental- apartment, condo, small house) for 2 people. My objective is to find a small 1BR apartment, condo or a small house that would be a nice base camp for hiking trips.

My selection criteria are in this order:

1. distance to AT
2. cost of living/housing
3. distance to major city/transportation hub

I'm open to just about any state along the trail, new england, mid atlantic, southern mountains. I've been looking at Asheville, NC area, Erwin, TN, Dahlonega, GA, Roanoke, VA, and Boston, MA. trouble with Boston is I think cost of housing is going to be way over my budget.

[Not Sunshine]

I second the option of TN/NC or VA. I'm in VA after failed attempts to find a job near Asheville - Asheville is an amazing town (so much to do, so many laid back people, so many outdoorsy people) - but the cost of living is definitely higher.

VA has 500 miles of the AT, and there are so many decent-sized towns that are within 2 hours of the trail. Plus, it's not a state - it's a commonwealth. I still don't know what that means - they collect taxes and require car inspections and the such....

Roanoke is a great town - big enough to have an airport (albeit not a major one), and close to the trail. There are a lot of little towns further down 81-S, which would offer lower rental costs (lots of trailers/trailer parks - woot!)...

I kid you not, I found my current job/home by looking at this map and scrolling up from NC - looking at nearby towns and google-ing them for hospitals; and checking those websites for job offers. Worked for me. Maybe it was just meant to be - personally I believe it was God's plan.

http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~dunigan/at/googleat.php?lat=39.8&lon=-77.48&scale=6

Good luck!

[Not Sunshine]

Plus, the winters in TN/NC are more along your FL liking.

[Mrs Baggins]

We came back to Frederick, Maryland in part (a large part) because of it's proximity to the AT (and plenty of other great trails) in Maryland, VA, WV, and PA. It was very important to us to have such ease of access to the trail after spending 18 mos in South Carolina and being hours from any decent trail (for that matter hours away from anything decent - period.) There are 4 REIs within an hour's drive of here, a local outfitter downtown, and when you feel like going into "the big city" you've got DC, Columbia, and Baltimore, all an hour's drive away.

[warren doyle]

I live ten miles from Damascus in Laurel Bloomery, TN where I am starting the Appalachian Folk School. There is a lovely, fairly-new log-paneled home with vaulted ceilings and five bedrooms on the property that we want to sell so we can use the proceeds to finish our building projects at the folk school. I can be reached at [email protected].

[Hairball]

I have to heap praise upon my home area of Augusta County Virginia. It's in Shenandoah National Park, George Washington National Forest, the AT crosses thru in Waynesboro, there is the Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive, and more historical sites, parks, lakes, and sites than I can list. The people are incredible, the county schools are fantastic, a low crime rate and a very reasonable cost of living. If you have any questions I will be happy to try and answer them for you. Staunton is a nice little city. It's about 10 miles or so west of Waynesboro. If you want really small town, Grottoes is amazing. I grew up there.
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[Hairball]

I forgot to include airport info. There were two small airports in the Valley, Shenandoah Regional Airport in Weyers Cave, and Eagles Nest in Bridgwater. charlottesville is about an hour away. The weather is great. Props to VDOT for keeping the roads clear in the winter. DC is 90 miles/2 hours away. VA Beach is about 4 hours. The wild beauty of West Virginia is in your backyard. I love my Shenandoah Valley.

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