Info, questions, comments, experiences (good or bad) regarding - Ensign Cowall Shelter

Past/Present hikers - what can future hikers expect here? Have any good stories or memories from here?

Future hikers - any questions?

This shelter is fairly new and in very good shape,it has a
good out house and the water source is app. 0.2 from the shelter look for the blue blaze before the shelter.As I remmember there are not many spots around the shelter to tent out.

A very rainy night, not too clear, but here's (http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2003_HF_Duncannon/abi) shot of Ensign Cowall.

Pb

This is a very nice shelter with plenty of protection, nice places to cook and clean and eat, and pretty easy access to water.

Here's another picture of the shelter. (http://www.stinkypigs.com/BackPacking/AppalachianTrail/MarylandSection/AT-MD/pages/Dcp_2243.htm)

This shelter is about a half mile (if that much) from a road. If you or someone in your group has a cell phone (I know ...I know, that's a controversial topic) you can call a local pizza place (phone number listed inside shelter) and order pizza/soda. Takes about 10 - 15 minutes and someone has to back-track down to the road to meet the delivery person, but hey ...nothing like a piece (or two) of pizza and a nice cold coke after a hard days hike.

Anyhow ....just thought I'd throw that in.

We were through there last year in March, and there was little to no water in the spring (plenty in the creek, but it was a fair walk with several bottles of water). Anybody know if there's water there now? We're planning to hike through there probably next weekend (5/20/2005).

-BSquared

i stayed there may 2003,i got there really late around 11:00pm,accidentley
scared a hiker when i tripped on a rock and woke him up.there was plently of water in the stream
the place is very close to a road i remember:cool: neo

Where is the Phillip Cowall shelter in relation to the old Hemlock Hill Shelter show on My '98 AT mao (I do not thing there is a newer version)

We are heading out for a section hike on 6/12 southbound. The first day we may get dropped off late in the day so I want to see if we can make this shelter (I've heard Devils Racecourse has issues)

Thanks!

-Don

Ensign Cowall Shelter Map (http://www.topozone.com/print.asp?z=18&n=4389564.72&e=280460.98&size=l&u=5&datum=nad83), red X marks the location.

how did you get the topozone map where you could actually use it, i.e. post it here where I could actually save it?????? this is something i need to know!!! thanks for any help.

The Cowall Shelter is no more than .1 mile north of the old Hemlock Shelter. The spring at the new shelter is the same water source that was used at the old shelter.

how did you get the topozone map where you could actually use it, i.e. post it here where I could actually save it?????? this is something i need to know!!! thanks for any help.

Go to this site (http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/at/asort.html), it has all the shelters in alphabetical order. Select shelter then
select Topozone map and you got it.

i.e. post it here where I could actually save it??????

Just copy the URL address of the link and post it here as a hyperlink or just
post the Link.

Hope this helps.

Great! Thanks alot!

and i think i can do it with what you've given me....so a big thanks to you!

I have heard that you can order pizza at this shelter. If there are any thru-hikers there I plan on doing a little trail magic. Is there anyway to dispose of the garbage there or will I be carring it until Dalghren?

Memories indeed at the Ensign Cowall Shelter,
I stopped in there to get dressed during "Naked hiker day", 21 June 2005. Since I was dressed in my birthday suit I made up my mind that I would hike that way until I either crossed a road, found other hikers or walked in to a shelter (I was looking for a witness). I was to "rubbed raw" to continue on naked, it was to early to order pizza and the trail conditions beckoned me onward for another big mile day (24+ miles). I started at the Annapolis Rocks camp area and ended up at the Antietam Shelter. The EC Shelter was not far from the road at all however I cannot recall a place to dispose of any trash (DGrav, I would plan on hiking with it). Later that evening I came upon a dozen people at the Antietam Shelter having a Birthday/Summer Solstice party, I got lots of leftovers. It was a very good day. WB

Camped there last Sat. night. Full shelter, with a scout troop and a bunch of section hikers (like me). Nice facility, has a loft, sleeps about 8-9 comfortably. Good spring a short distance away, decent tenting areas. A welcome respite from the Ernesto deluge!!

Stayed oovernight at Cowell Shelter on November 23 (yes, Thanksgiving!) found it a very clean and very nice shelter. Someone had left a folded blanket and pillow for the next "tenants."

Cell service is somewhat "variable" and you need to locate a good spot.

The privy seemed fairly new and very clean.

The Shelter is located an easy 5-10 minutes from the nearby Wolfsville road. I don't know whether or not you can order pizza, but if I had known that was a possibility, I might have tried on that drippy, drizzly night.

The spring, located a little piece down the trail, off to the left, wasn't "gushing", but there was enough water there to draw from. Also, as another hiker posted earlier, there was a good running stream a few more paces down the trail. :)

The spring was in good shape last month. You can indeed order pizza and pick it up 1/4 mile south of the shelter on wolfsville road. It seemed from the register entries that a lot of hikers are choosing to stay at the free state hostel on wolfsville road instead of the shelter. Lots of great things said about the hostel and it's owners.

this shelter sounds great! hope to be blessed by its pizza proximity on next thru attempt.

I plan to hike the Pen Mar to Harper's Ferry section in late September 07.. I had thought about staying at this shelter and appreciate knowing more about it from this forum. Does anyone know about the water sitiuation right now at this shelter and how they think it will be in September. I have not seen much in the forums about a lack of water during this big dry spell this summer.

There is a good spring there...but it is a long way down hill and a long way back up. You will be left a short day if you stop their on your way to Harper's Ferry. Have a great trip

the spring is not a long way down hill, it's 50 yds from the shelter, right past the tent sites...i was there on 7/30/07 and the spring is "boxed in" and low and slow but was still serviceable. hope it's still flowing in sept., you'll need it heading south the next morning- enjoy the rocks.

Spring and Other Drinking Water Conditions in Md. and Pa.

http://www.patc.net/chapters/north/water.htm

This link did not work?
Spring and Other Drinking Water Conditions in Md. and Pa.
http://www.patc.net/chapters/north/water.htm

I am planning an over night trip on the AT over new years or the week after. I have some friends that have never done any winter camping so I am planning a stay at Pine Knob. (close to the car if anyone gives in) The next night I am looking for a hike up Ensign. Its a very long way for my friends that have never packed in there life. Well there be water there that will help lighten the load a little.

It's very close to the road. Might worry about that a bit. But fear not, there's a beautiful hostel 0.3 miles down the hill.

Hiked by there a few weeks ago- why is the shelter named after him? I googled for info and found an Ensign Robert Cowell- is that him? But no mention of the App Trail. Just curious, tks.

Hiked by there a few weeks ago- why is the shelter named after him?

I'm sure this isn't him but it's as good a reason as I can think of to name a shelter after someone :p

" Roberta Cowell, born as Robert Cowell on May 21, 1921, became the first known British male-to-female transsexual to undergo vaginoplasty on May 15, 1951......."

Also "Ted Bundy" the serial killer was actually born Theodore Robert Cowell..His last name was later changed when his mother married

I'm sure this isn't him but it's as good a reason as I can think of to name a shelter after someone :p

" Roberta Cowell, born as Robert Cowell on May 21, 1921, became the first known British male-to-female transsexual to undergo vaginoplasty on May 15, 1951......."

Also "Ted Bundy" the serial killer was actually born Theodore Robert Cowell..His last name was later changed when his mother married

I'm sure these tidbits this will make for cheery and interesting conversation for some future dwellers at that shelter. Personally, I'd recommend walking out to the road and down the hill 0.3 miles to stay with Ken and Janelle Berry (FreeState Hiker Hostel.)

I stayed at this shelter during my past trek through Maryland. I have only slept in a few, but this is the nicest one so far. It has a really nice loft, a good privy, and a nice spring just down the trail from the shelter. It was in nice shape. Humorous warning though; I was awoken at 5:30 by a female turkey on the prowl calling through the site, beautiful but obnoxious.

Does anyone know who Ens. Phillip Cowall was? what happened to him? it does say memorial shelter...

"David and Cindy Cowall of Salisbury, Md., had donated funds to PATC in 1998
in memory of their son, who had loved the Appalachian Trail."

The Register - Spring 2000
(AT Newsletter)