Hello my dear WhiteBlaze friends,
It has been a long time (almost a year and a half, which I guess isn't really that long) since I've been active here. For which I am very sorry! And now I come back only wanting favors. Of course. As you might be able to tell from my signature, I thru-hiked the AT in 2010. When I went through the Smokies in March, it was, ah, snowy. I've always had troublesome knees and one acted up for 17 miles before Newfound Gap. So I shuttled around the 2nd half.
Now, I finally have time to go back and do the second half and I'm super excited. I'm going with my mother & we're probably flying into Asheville. We thought about Knoxville, but it appears that coming from Boston, we'd have to fly thru two other cities before getting there-no thank you. Any suggestions for how to get from Asheville to Gatlinburg? (I think we'll fly in the day before we start hiking and then grab a short-range shuttle from Gatlinburg to Newfound Gap, though we could, I suppose start the same day and stop at that first shelter north of Newfound Gap).
We will be ending our Section at Standing Bear Farm and will need a shuttle back to Asheville (I really wish I could find a way to spend a night at Elmer's but I don't think it's happening, very sadly).
What shuttle services have people used and/or recommend? What kind of prices do you think we should expect?
Thanks so much folks.