MOUNTAIN GEM: FRANKLIN'S PROXIMITY TO ATLANTA FLORIDA AND THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL MAKES IT A GETAWAY HOT SPOT.

• Author: Mims, Bryan
• Position: TOWNSQUARE: Franklin

Franklin, with a population of about 4,000, is where ruby red rock complements deep forest green and kilts clash with cargo shorts. It's where Florida discovers altitude, Atlanta finds solitude, and the Cherokee find something sacred. It's where sore feet and aching backs get the cold beer treatment.

On its 2,190-mile meander from Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail comes within 11 miles of Franklin, close enough for hikers to hop aboard a shuttle and foray into civilization for a night (and maybe a nightcap). At 110 miles north of the trail's most southern starting point at Georgia's Springer Mountain, Franklin is ideally positioned for thru-hikers to stock up and cool down.

Franklin is designated as an Appalachian Trail Community, meaning that it puts its best foot forward for those who prefer to experience the mountains on foot. The town's logo features a stick-holding hiker, perched on a precipice overlooking a waterfall, and a tree emblazoned with the white "AT" trail marker.

Along Main Street, Outdoor 76 is the long-haul hiker's interstate travel plaza, where boxes of boots and sandals climb the walls like ivy and a "Class of 2019" banner is so graffitied with signatures of AT hikers, there's barely space to scrawl another name. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy estimates that between 2 million and 3 million people hike a portion of the trail every year, with 3,735 attempting a northbound thru hike in 2017, up from 1,460 in 2010.

"The town has really embraced outdoor recreation and embraced the Appalachian Trail," says owner Cory McCall, a 37-year-old Franklin native who opened Outdoor 76 in 2010 with his partner, Rob Gasbarro, a South Florida native. They also have stores in Clayton, Ga., and Cherokee. McCall named the store for its original street address: 76 E. Main St.

In the back of the store is a taproom called the Rock House Lodge, with a range of regionally brewed browns, pales and porters. Locals and wayfarers fresh off the trail sidle up to the bar. "The craft beer industry is very much in sync with the outdoor industry," he says. "When you come off the trail, what is the first thing you would want? Most of the time, it's a beer."

Another option, the Lazy Hiker Brewing Co., opened in 2015 inside Franklin's former town hall and firehouse. "We're only a short hike off the trail," its website teases.

With about 50% of Macon County blanketed by the Nantahala National Forest, wilderness provides the infrastructure for the...