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RAINBOW MOUNTAIN Gay-owned trail and outdoor store thrives in North Georgia
12 theQatl.com
By Patrick Saunders WHEN ERIC CHAMPLIN AND ROB Sollie opened Trailful Outdoor Company in Hiawassee, Ga., in 2019, they had no anxiety about being an out and proud gay couple in the small mountain town. “What we’ve found is a sort of live-andlet-live and respectful community up here,” Champlin told Project Q Atlanta. “People just kind of enjoy life however they want to enjoy life.” Both spent a lot of time outdoors hiking, boating and kayaking growing up in Montana (Sollie) and Ohio (Champlin). They met in Atlanta in 2002 and started the online hiking guide Atlanta Trails in 2009. By 2014, both men left corporate jobs to run the guide full-time and launch a new one called Asheville Trails.
