"First impressions with hikers - that can be challenging. They're a bit of a ragtag looking bunch. They smell to high heaven," she says. "But they are the funniest, most diverse group. The variety of age, in social strata, the whole thing is just absolutely amazing."

And some have a hard time moving on from the inn.

Murray McGrath remembers a hiker named Port-a-Can Dan.

"He was a riot. He packed his pack probably five times to head out and would meet another hiker whom he hadn't seen since Virginia and the next day he'd be back at his barstool. He was hilarious.I said, 'Dan, we're going to have to call you Backspin because he just never left.' It was great."

Port-a-Can Dan did finish his hike, eventually. The McGraths say he sent them a grinning photo of himself at the end of the Appalachian Trail later that fall.