View Full Version : David Lesser Memorial Shelter (VA)
Kerosene
09-04-2002, 20:02
Spent a lovely evening here in October 2001. The David Lesser Memorial Shelter (there was no indication as to who David Lesser was) is a clean, beautiful shelter with a lovely porch and skylight. There was a big Adirondack chair on the porch as well as seating along 2 sides of the porch. A separate, covered dining area also had a beautiful 2-person swinging chair that I sat on while filling out my trail log as the sun went down. Here's a picture that fails to do justice to this lovely shelter: http://www.jmclum.com/spring2000hike/050100c.jpg
The only drawback is that the spring is a good quarter-mile down the mountain (knowing this ahead of time, I brought down my 4-liter water bag to avoid a morning trip).
There's an overflow camping area below the shelter that looked fairly well used.
The hike north into Harpers Ferry was easy, quick and pleasant.
Does anyone know what the history of the David Lesser Memorial Shelter is? I was asked tonight by a friend Who it was named for and the story that goes with the name. Any leads would be appreciated!
Contact the PATC on their forum.
http://www.hypernews.org/HyperNews/get/trails/PATC.html
CitronellaMan
05-13-2007, 23:24
Wonderful time here in Spring '06 on a section hike. There were (I think) 13 of us, and our group had the site to ourselves. We pulled in after a rough day (every day is rough on the rollercoaster) just ahead of some rain and, somehow, all of us managed to fit into the shelter confortable. Whoever David Lesser was, he must have been a great man for people to build a shelter like that in his name. Great picnic area off to the left if you're standing in the shelter. Only complaint is that water is a long, steep ways downhill. Tent sites on the hillside, too.
Country Roads
07-17-2010, 17:35
Stayed at this shelter in Sept 2008. Very nice shelter! Decent campsites, nice pavilion for cooking. The water is a long way down, but it is some of the best water you ever tasted! Cold and clear; all good.
A note in the register mentioned mice problem. I solved that problem by taking the sandwich bag of dog food someone had left :mad: and took it way out into the woods and dumped it. We had no mice that night, but one of my hiking buddies did watch a spider catch a cockroach.
This is a very nice shelter; I loved the deck.
Mrs Baggins
10-17-2010, 17:53
Just spent the night at the Lesser Shelter with 4 other ladies. Time to either replace that privy or at least repair it. No latch on the door and it hangs open. One of the ladies had to tell a guy to BACK AWAY FROM THE DOOR as he stood right there and watched her. I realize most maintenance/shelter crews are mostly men and men just don't seem to care who's watching - - we do care!!! Otherwise, the shelter is still a great place to stay (water is waaaaaaay too far away down that steep hill but oh well - it's not as bad as the Garvey shelter :eek:
I concur about your water remark. I had stayed at Garvey the night before DLesser. In June Lesser was full and I had to hammock in the tenting area which also filled up.