The Inn At The End Of The Trail

Service With Zero Waste
THE INN AT THE END OF THE TRAIL
In the northeast Georgia mountains, there is an ecologically-operated inn a mile off the famous Appalachian Trail.
Victoria Streib

JUST A mile off the Appalachian Trail in the mountains of northeast Georgia, there is an inn that is a unique part of the Georgia State Park system. Len Foote Hike Inn is accessible by hiking a five-mile trail from a parking lot above Amicalola Falls outside of Dawsonville. “It’s a halfway house for people who want to get out but really aren’t into tent camping,” says Dan Stephens, conservation manager at the Inn.

Named after Leonard E. Foote, the photographer and conservationist who inspired the comic strip “Mark Trail,” the inn was a dream of the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club. It took ten years before the state of Georgia was able to come up with funds to build the facility. The state had no additional funds or experience with managing such a facility, so Appalachian Education and Recreation Services (AERS), a not-for-profit company, was created to run the Hike Inn. The inn opened in November 1998, and has the same mission as Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources — to protect and conserve natural resources.

SUBLIMINAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Open year-round, visitors only need to carry drinking water for the five-mile hike, along with a rain jacket (just in case), and clothing and toiletries for the days to be spent at the inn. Once there, hikers enjoy many of the amenities of a typical inn — hot showers, guest towels in abundance and good family-style food at a rate of $130 for double occupancy (bunk style beds), $89 single occupancy, and $38 per child. They also will be amazed to learn that most waste generated at the inn is treated on-site.

While the whole point of the Hike Inn was to be an educational facility, the staff is not overt about their mission. None of the literature includes information about the ways in which the facility demonstrates its innovations in conservation. Many guests won’t realize they are on “hallowed” ground until they check in and are handed a small brown paper bag along with their linens. Anything that they bring in with them — that would normally go in a garbage can — will go back with them in that paper bag.

“You don’t have to go on the facility tour, where we talk about our different conservation techniques or the construction and history, “ says Stephens. “You don’t have to go to the evening program — but you do have to take a hike [to get here], which is an education in itself. If people get out and use the outdoor aspects of Georgia, they have a reason to want to conserve.”

On our arrival at Len Foote this spring, we made ourselves quickly at home in our new quarters, and then went off to explore the grounds. A facility tour, led by Stephens, was soon in progress. Before convening for dinner, some guests were already learning that nearly everything, from human waste to food scraps, is composted on-site. The only resources leaving Len Foote Hike Inn are recyclable containers and materials that can’t be composted.

By the time I decided to join the tour, the group had already learned that the drain water from the showers (so-called gray water) never mingles with flush water from toilets, but is dispersed in a drainage field on site. The Biological Mediation Systems composting toilets are designed to use a fraction of the water needed for flushing toilets. For example, last year, approximately 2,000 gallons of water were used in operating the composting toilets — compared with the typical five gallon flush toilets where, with each guest flushing just four times during their visit, 117,000 gallons of water would have been used that year. Close to 6,000 guests annually visit the inn — and use the composting toilets.

WORMS AT WORK

What caught my attention was Stephens’ enthusiasm as he introduced the earthworms at work in the basement below the inn’s kitchen. The inn vermicomposts everything possible — leftover food, office paper and cardboard, even old mop heads and discarded cotton and wool clothing. Stephens grinds more resistant kitchen residuals, like celery, in a food processor before feeding the worms, which he does three times a week.

At one time, the inn experimented with conventional composting in that same basement, but switched to vermicomposting with red wigglers (Eisenia foetida) in Fall 1999. Since that time, the operation has expanded to more than 130 square feet of bin space. “We don’t need that much space yet. We’re planning for the future,” Stephens explains. The bins have the potential to accommodate a maximum input of 20 pounds of food residuals daily, which is about the rate of material the inn processes during October, the busiest month of the year.

Finished compost is used on the grounds in landscaping and mixed with soil and incorporated into an herb garden that includes a few tomato plants. “We don’t have a lot of time to spend on a garden here, but by throwing on worm compost and letting the plants take care of themselves, we have had what we wanted out of the project,” says Stephens. The composting toilets don’t need to be cleaned out for an estimated five years. At that time, the inn will need to comply with state and federal regulations that pertain to composted biosolids.

PRACTICING SUSTAINABILITY

The Inn has become a lot more efficient about its processing of waste, especially since the staff members have all committed themselves to the philosophy of managing wastes as a resource. “What was [previously] trash, and what you were actually paying a lot of money to have hauled away, you’re actually now trying to get your hands on,” Stephens says.

The energy source for the Inn is a four-mile power line that comes from Amicalola State Park. BP Solar is trying to find funds to donate and install photovoltaic cells so that the inn can get the bathhouse grid-free. While the Len Foote Hike Inn water supply is gravity fed from a 300 foot deep well, it also has a first rainwater catchment system. “What we have right now is just a demonstration,” explains Stephens. “It’s a 55-gallon drum which catches rain off one corner of the roof. Water is pumped out of the container by a cast iron garden pump. I’m designing a system that will supply all the watering needs for our toilets and bathhouse. Because the roof area of the Hike Inn is over 36,000 square feet and the region gets 56 inches of rain per year, there is the potential of providing enough water to supply all non-drinking water needs, including laundry in the future.

Reservations are necessary at the Len Foote Hike Inn and can be made up to 11 months in advance (or as late as two days prior to arrival) by calling the Georgia state parks reservation number at (800) 864-7275. Family-style breakfast and dinner are served; overnight guests can get a brown bag lunch for the return hike out.

Victoria Streib is a free-lance writer based in Athens, Georgia.