Our story

Meet the family

From Founders to current owner/operators - we’re family!

HISTORY of Mulberry Gap

During the summer of 2004, Kate & Andrew met via mutual friends in high school. By 2006, their families had become good friends having helped one another through several hurricanes that pummeled Vero Beach, FL and while traveling throughout the southeastern US for karate tournaments which Andrew, and Kate’s sister, Rachel, competed in. 

Kate & Andrew’s mom’s, Diane & Ginni, were getting antsy from several years of back-to-back hurricanes, sweltering heat and skyrocketing land prices in Florida. They were tipped off to the beauty of north Georgia and began making occasional trips to scout out an acre or two for camping purposes.

While on one visit to the area, Diane & Ginni, learned of a property on Mulberry Gap Road that had a few cabins and campsites. Purely out of curiosity, they requested to see what was behind the closed gates. They took the tour with the agent, learned its history, and fell in love. 

They began to imagine building a business on the 15+ acres based with home away from home comforts for recreational enthusiasts that love the outdoors, but not the hassle that often goes with packing and unpacking endless gear. After a few months, arrangements were made for purchase!

Diane, Ginni, and Andrew jumped in on a wing and a prayer while Kate finished her senior year in high school and attended college at FSU in Tallahassee. Rachel was entering 5th grade and was introduced to her new school. Leaving our established and routine lives in Vero Beach was scary, but new hopes, dreams, and challenges are exciting!

This multi-level wooded property that now serves as a magical place for so many, was beautifully designed by George Mitchell of Dalton, Georgia. Previously a mountain retreat for his family and friends, the upper level had a home, pole barn, large workshop and a farrier shed. On the lower level, George brought in three sleeping cabins, a camp kitchen and rustic dining hall for his friends and guests to enjoy. 

He cleared spacious camping areas and added several enormous hand-built picnic tables. He provided a small bathhouse on the hill between the home and camp area. Two little ponds, fed by natural springs trickle into a brook which runs behind the cabins and camping area. Foot bridges, viewing areas, and paths were constructed to ensure the best experience.

Trout were stocked in the ponds for his grandkids. Wildflowers, wild mushrooms, butterflies, moths, salamanders, and turtles were plentiful, as were rhododendron bushes, dense hemlocks, and a large variety of hardwood trees. 

Thankfully, all utilities were installed underground before adding a large circular, paved driveway so nothing interfered with the natural beauty of the property. It was love at first sight for our families and it didn’t take long for Diane & Ginni to come up with a vision which included drawing women to the outdoors in a safe and comfortable environment. 

It was an outdoor paradise and they deeply desired to share it with others. Though we were aware of a newly constructed trail system in the area called the Pinhoti (Creek for “the turkey’s home”), we were unfamiliar with the sport of mountain biking and expansive access to so much outdoor recreation in the area early on. 

The Pinhoti is one of the Southern Appalachian Mountains premiere long distance trails, offering 350+ miles of recreation opportunities for mountain biking, hiking, backpacking and bikepacking, along with horseback riding on certain sections. In addition, it serves as a connector trail, linking the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama to the Appalachian Trail on Springer Mountain, via the Benton MacKaye Trail found on the South Fork of Jacks River.

Michael Leonard dreamt of a long distance multi-use trail to connect the Alabama Pinhoti to the Benton MacKaye in north Georgia. Over the course of many years, he has worked as part of Pinhoti Trail Association. Working tirelessly with other members to acquire many parcels of land as well as coordinate with different land owners, groups and associations they have now developed the trail corridors that exist today. The trails closest to Mulberry Gap were completed in 2005. Our timing was coincidentally perfect.

In 1828, gold was discovered in North Georgia, and in 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. The U.S. Army forcibly removed thousands of native men, women, and children from their land to march the 1,000 miles to Oklahoma which became known as the Trail of Tears. Portions of the Pinhoti Trail are formed on part of the Trail of Tears.  

Little by little, we began upgrading the amenities. Our first priority was to build a larger, more comfortable bathhouse, close to the center of activities in the camp area that had all the comforts of home.

With that in progress, we tackled a deep clean on the old dining hall, now known as Koi Cove. We replaced the ceiling, stained and decorated the walls and accumulated tables and chairs. We doubled the size of the deck and added koi to the existing trout in the ponds.

Heated by a wood burning, cast iron stove, the old camp dining hall is fondly remembered by our original guests and staff as a cozy place to enjoy Ginni’s fabulous meals, make friends, and enjoy great conversation. It was also the favorite spot of our dogs in those early years. Many of you will remember Shelby, Harley, and Brewski who moved with us from Vero Beach along with 4 cats and 1 bird. Within weeks of settling into the property, Mandy (waffle queen) and Sasha discovered us and we suddenly had a very full house.  

We fixed up the sleeping cabins, adding new blinds, blankets, sheets, pillows and porch railings. We brought in hot tubs, prepared a bike wash area and planted wildflowers around the property. There were lots of windows to wash, leaves to rake and rocks to move. 

The original camp kitchen, now known as Pond Nook, also got a deep clean and we began stocking it with cooking and serving supplies to prepare for our opening. We were having a blast and excited to start welcoming guests.

Opening Day was January 1, 2007, when local legend and Cartecay Bike Shop owner, Mike Palmeri hosted his annual New Years Day ride from Mulberry Gap. That was the beginning of what would become Mulberry Gap Mountain Bike Get-A-Way. 

Rick Moon mentioned this wild event coming up, called the Snake Creek Gap, to Diane and Ginni. The business was just getting started and weekends in the winter were slow, so they decided to show up at each race with plenty of hot chocolate, coffee, and Ginni’s famous energy cookies to welcome riders in after a frigid day on the trails. 

While the moms served up drinks and nourishment, Andrew would sweep the course, often on his singlespeed, and was able to build his mountain biking skills by doing so. These gestures provided Mulberry Gap with some tremendous exposure and they attended every race they could for a number of years before business picked up to a point where being away on a Saturday wasn’t possible. 

In 2007, Jann George of AdelRid, inventoried the hemlocks on our property for treatment of the invasive Woolly Adelgid. Money was tight due to us being a new business and the economy on the decline. He reached out to UGA, who he was in partnership with at the time, to use our property as a research location for different strategies and application rates of the insecticide that kills the bug. In exchange for treating our property we offered free lodging and food anytime Jann was in the area. He has since become a dear friend. Andrew even works with him on the side when he has time.

In 2008, we hired a longtime friend and construction skill mentor from Vero Beach, John Jennings, to travel north and help Andrew build an additional 2-unit couple/family cabin for more indoor king size bed sleeping options. This cabin is now known as Deer Run & Bear’s Lair. 

In March of 2008, Gilmer County was recognized as the “Mountain Biking Capital of Georgia” House Resolution 1611 due to the hard work of Mike & Terry Palmeri.

During this time, the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest begins an Environmental Assessment on Mountaintown Creek Trail, part of the Pink Knob Wilderness Study Area. EMBA was involved and was successful in keeping Mountaintown open to mountain bikers.

In 2009, we hosted the first ever Southern Cross cyclocross race with Eddie & Namrita O’Dea. They worked closely with us in the early years to bring cyclists our way and help spread the word about the business. As social media was on the rise, the O’Dea’s introduced us to Facebook and helped spread the word of Mulberry Gap to their mountain biking friends. 

Eddie also happened to be the one to take Andrew on his first mountain bike ride. Ever. And naturally, it consisted of climbing up Potato Patch and coming down Windy Gap. Andrew suffered through it because he’s tough but basically collapsed on the floor upon his arrival. 

The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) maintains a list of the “best of the best” mountain bike trails called IMBA Epics. In 2009, the point-to-point Georgia section of the Pinhoti Trail was recognized as an IMBA Epic which continued to help bring awareness and recognition to the amazing singletrack available in the north Georgia mountains.  

In 2010, two important events took place:

The first grand depart of the Trans North Georgia Adventure (TNGA) designed by Dave Muse took place. From the very beginning, Dave’s vision of the event included a strong relationship with Mulberry Gap as service between the Aska Trails and Dalton was slim to none. 

Dirt Rag Magazine reached out about coming down for a visit. They’d heard about us and were anxious to come check out our facility and the local trails. The magazine published an 8-page spread which put us on the map nationally! We had a 2-week long visitor from the Philippines stay with us simply because he’d picked up the magazine in an airport a few months prior. 

The main residence, now the registration office and retail store, had a long screened-in porch attached, which we enclosed in 2011. This same area of the property also had a horse and mule barn, small pasture and farrier shed. You’ll still find many hitching posts on the property which formerly secured the livestock. 

The talented artist and mountain biker, Bill Otersen of Tallahassee, FL casually sketched his image of Mulberry Gap while sitting on the porch of the camp dining hall after a ride. He allowed us to take his image and design our first t-shirt. 

At the top of the property sat a large workshop. For those that visited Mulberry Gap in the early days, you’ll remember this space as The Rec Room. Fond memories were made there from 2008-2012, as the building housed hundreds of mountain bike posters, race t-shirts, number plates, awards, and memorabilia that captured the late 90’s and early 2000’s of mountain biking. Thank you to Bruce Dickman, an avid collector and race announcer for loaning us his collection.

In addition, we had ping pong, foosball, and a classic Frogger game available. Cyclists often reminisced about old races and events and would gather around the big screen TV to watch the Tour de France each summer. In 2013, Kate joined the business and married Andrew, who worked hard that summer converting the workshop building into their onsite residence where they lived, with their beloved dog Brewski, for 9 years. This building is now known to guests as our newest cabin; Hilltop Cottage, complete with a full kitchen, toilet, shower, and laundry facilities!

What is was then…

What it is now…

Having outgrown the original dining hall and kitchen located by the ponds, Andrew’s next project included enclosing the horse & mule barn to serve as a combined dining hall, community center, and event space. We’ve hosted dozens of events during all phases of The Barn; the first NICA summit, cycling events and demos, adventure races, ultra races, music festivals, weddings, yoga retreats, family reunions, birthdays, and outdoor industry retreats, product launches, and ambassador camps. 

In 2014, we obtained our package license to sell beer (remember when craft beers were in their early years?) and after a 3-year process, secured our Operating Agreement & Permit through the United States Forest Service to provide shuttles to nearby and surrounding trailheads. 

That spring we hosted our first multi-day festival, the Rockabilly Rabbit Rampage. We brought up some friends from Florida to play true Rockabilly music. We offered tree climbing, slack-lining, a bike race, and an obstacle course.

From 2014-2016, Kate teamed up with several of her friends in the Chattanooga yoga community to host several Weekend in the Woods Yoga Retreats at Mulberry Gap.

2015 media coverage really helped solidify our business. We were fortunate enough to be acknowledged in Mountain Bike Action Magazine, Pinkbike, and on Bikepacking.com.

Mike Palmeri invited Mountain Bike Action Magazine down to Ellijay to check out the trails and took advantage of leaving the dry and dusty trails of the Pacific Northwest to ride some loamy dirt shaded by lush trees of northwest Georgia. Mike spent a few days touring them around the area and they wrote a great article titled: Bike Destinations: Georgia On Our Minds

Brice Shirbach was writing for Pinkbike.com at the time and spent a few days riding the local trails and enjoying some classic Mulberry Gap hospitality. His article can be found here: East Bound and Down: Southern Fried Shred

Logan Watts of Bikepacking.com also stopped by Mulberry Gap while riding the TNGA. He published this online article about the route and his experience afterwards.

We spent a few months between late 2014 and early 2015 scouting and preparing to offer a collection of multi-day guided rides in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. We covered the east and west sections of the Trans North Georgia, as well as the Santos Trails in Ocala, Florida and Oak Mountain in Alabama. 

We offered tours for two years but realized we were all stretched too thin as the business continued to grow. We couldn’t be in two places at once; away on tours and providing great service onsite at Mulberry Gap so eventually chose to stick to the onsite operations. 

During this time, we renovated the old camp kitchen and dining hall to serve as additional sleeping cabins; now known as Koi Cove and Pond Nook. We also added a workshop off the main house to properly store the tools Andrew had acquired through so many projects over the years. At the same time, he expanded one of the back bedrooms of the house for his mom and then chef, Ginni, so she and the menagerie of pets could live more comfortably.

By the winter of 2016, we decided to try a seasonal closure for the first time because our families had worked year round since 2007, including holidays and weekends. We were pretty exhausted and experiencing some burn out so took a risk and closed January & February of that year. Kate & Andrew went on their first bikepacking trip during that break, the 330+ mile HuRaCan bikepacking route in Florida put on by Karlos Bernhardt of Singletrack Samurai.

April of 2016 also brought us our first Maxxis Tires Appalachian Summit, which they repeated in 2017. It was our first large corporate event and we had a blast working with their team to bring their dream to life. Industry media joined the product launch from all over the U.S. and we were very fortunate to receive a lot of coverage from that event including Bike Magazine, The Radavist, Mountain Bike Action, Bike Rumor, Singletracks.com, Teton Gravity Research, and more!

Photos from 2016 & 2017 Summits

In June, we celebrated Ginni’s 75th birthday with a Mexican fiesta and the party continued that December as we welcomed the New Year and our 10 year anniversary. We had live music, plenty of folks gathered for the event, and dropped a mini-bike from the ceiling at midnight.

Daniel Jessee also launched the first inaugural Cohutta Cat Bikepacking ride in 2016; a 290-mile figure-8 loop that starts and ends at Mulberry Gap and ventures through the mountains North Georgia and Eastern Tennessee. The name derived from our semi-famous mascot, Cohutta Cat himself.

Between 2015 and 2018, we worked with the Georgia Conservancy during the summer to host their members for a fun weekend of live music, great food, snorkeling the Conasauga River and exploring the Cohutta Wilderness and Chattahoochee National Forest.

In 2017, it became abundantly clear that we were also in need of a proper retail space to display our growing merchandise options. The easiest solution was to take over the main house’s kitchen, living, and dining room. We spent a few weeks during our winter closure preparing that space for the upcoming season. 

Over this same winter, our friends, Brett Davidson and TJ Kearns, helped construct the onsite pump track and jump line onsite. These additions were tied into the hand cut trail Andrew dug in 2012 with the help of a few friends and volunteers. Since the start of those trails, countless clinics, adults, and kids have enjoyed them and passed the time learning valuable skills. 

Update! During May 2023, TJ Kearns came back to revamp several parts of the trail and added in a new flow line.

That spring we hosted Liv Cycling’s Ambassador Camp and the second Maxxis Tires Appalachian Summit. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the relationships and friendships that have come from those opportunities and are honored to hold a space that provides and supports these types of events. 

Kim Murrell brought back the well known and classically challenging Death March Revival in November in 2017. 75 riders lined up for a chilly start and spent their day traversing 88 miles and over 12k feet of climbing! Cold beers and burritos were a welcome sight.

In 2018, we hosted Bell Joy’s Ride Camp with women from all over the United States and Canada for a long weekend of community building, home cooked meals, riding, yoga, and live music.

That same year, we added our only two-story cabin, Squirrel’s Nest. Andrew, and our former employee turned friend Dillon, spent 5 months tackling this project and its modern design and bright interior have helped it become our most popular and highly sought-after cabin on the property.

After attending the Bikepacking Summit in Gunnison, Colorado in 2018 - we met Lindsey & Neil Beltchenko amongst many other amazing folks. We started dreaming up the idea of hosting the event on the east coast and in 2019, worked closely with Lindsey and Neil to make it happen.

Like much of the world, our lives were turned upside down in March 2020 with the Covid-19 shutdown. We had just reopened 3 weeks earlier for the season before having to turn around and close down again. After several months of closure, it was financially scary; especially being stacked on top of the early days of the pandemic with so much being unknown.

However, we reached out to the community asking for help, and folks stepped up from all over the U.S. and Canada and submitted hundreds of online orders to purchase merchandise or gift cards to help us make it through. We worked on staying positive by taking advantage of having a spring to ourselves for the first time in 15 years and got outside to ride our bikes, walk in the woods, and spend lots of quality time with our aging dog Brewski. As most of you nature-lovers know, being outside is the best therapy.

Once we reopened in May 2020, we made adaptations to our business model to ensure people could get out of their homes and into the woods safely. We saw a huge uptick in demand as folks were “staycationing” and quickly onboarded more staff to help us manage it all. 

The down time during Covid afforded us the ability to finally move forward with the rebrand that had been on our mind for a few years. Our goal was to expand our market beyond just mountain biking as many other outdoor markets didn’t feel welcome since our name included the words “mountain bike getaway.” We spent a few months working on a new logo and updating the website which launched in June.

To help maintain the staff and help people continue getting out of their house and into the outdoors, we stayed open year-round over the winters of 2021-2022 while there were still many travel limitations.

We also entered into some pretty cool partnerships during this time. Yakima provided us with two of their Hang Tight vertical 6-bike racks for our shuttle vehicles to help ensure your bike makes it safely and securely to/from trailheads. Terrapin Beer Company also came on board as the official beer of Mulberry Gap. Many of you have likely taken advantage of their daily Happy Hour specials or enjoyed a cold brew or two provided at one of the events they sponsor. 

The last few years have been a whirlwind of gratitude. We’ve continued to learn so much along the way and are incredibly humbled by the support shown from each and every one of you.    

Since the fall of 2006, we have continually adapted the property to add to the enjoyment of our guests and efficiency of the business. We have enjoyed sharing Mulberry Gap with our guests and do our best to make it a trendy, comfortable, and casual home away from home. 

We’ve worked hard to build genuine relationships and connections with you all. We care deeply about this community and have enjoyed being on this ride with you. There are so many people to personally name and thank for their assistance in keeping Mulberry Gap alive for 16+ years but the list would go on forever. Please know we could not have done this without you!

To each of you who has stayed with us, recommended us to a friend or family member, or hosted a gathering with us, thank you. Every single one of you has made a difference and we try really hard to be intentional about not losing sight of that.

It is the ultimate honor for us to have many guests who return regularly and become our friends. We appreciate the support and encouragement we have received to continue the mission of Mulberry Gap as an outdoor destination! Thank you for your continued support, friends! We hope to see you again real soon.

- Kate, Andrew, Diane, Ginni, and the entire Mulberry Gap Crew <3