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This shelter would be a great spot to stay in for a winter or cold weather hike. It's build like a cabin... has a sliding door and a wood stove inside, though I'm not sure if it works. It has four very large bunks and a table inside as well.
I just stopped by the shelter for a rest on my hike, so I'm not sure where the water source is.
- Ivy
There is a great spring at Spruce Peak down a short path past the shelter site.
There used to be many wood stoves in shelters on the Long Trail, this is the only one left.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...papass=&sort=1
On my first long distance hike ever in 1985 southbound from Katahdin I stayed at SP the year after it was built. It was like a Taj Mahal to a through-hiker. We were just starting to get frosty nights with some below average temperatures in October.
The Long Trail really had its act together as far as shelters and cabins along its route. Spruce Peak was built in cabin style because of Vermont and the Long Trail. I wish there were more like this...
I was there this past weekend, and a hiker had a fire going in the stove. It was kind of cozy.
I posted about this shelter a couple of weeks back on another forum. I went on a section hike south for a few days. At the end of the second day, we were trying to reach Spruce Peak shelter. When we came to the spur that leads to Spruce Peak itself we looked around expecting to see the shelter. Didn't see it. So we tried continuing down the trail past the peak to see if it was a little further on but still didn't see it. At this point my brother broke out the trail guide which said that the shelter was on the same spur as the one that leads to Spruce Peak itself This is, of course, incorrect (time for a new trail guide or better reading comprehension, I guess) but we didn't know it at that point. So we went back to the peak and followed a poorly marked blue-blaze trail which led to the top. All along we kept expecting to see the shelter. Finally it was getting dark and starting to rain so we had to camp out on the peak itself.
As it turns out, had we continued probably another 200 meters before we turned back, we would have found the shelter and spent the night at one of the nicest shelters on the trail. Instead we were under a tarp in the rain on Spruce Peak.
Not an issue for NOBOs, I guess (or smarter hikers) but there you have it.
JoeHiker I know how ya feel. The same thing hapened to me...well almost happened to me. I was hiking that section of the trail with two friends, one who had been to the Spruce Peak Shelter before. It was the classic "10 more minutes guys"...."right around the corner" coming from this friend as the two of us who had not been there started to worry. Well we soon found ourselves in the dark about to set up a lean-to because we could not find the shelter. Oh yeah this was also in the winter (Christmas Day 2003 to be exact!), and about a hour into a heavy snowfall that lasted most of the night.
Fortunatley for us the friend who had been there before was finally right. The cabin was "just around the corner." He had hiked about 50 feet a head of us and found the sign directing us towards the cabin. So we made it to the cabin just in time for it was now pitch black out and the snow was accumulating. Like JoeHiker said the map was incorrect and could have put us in a tough spot.
My wife and I stayed here, sort of, in August of 2007. While the shelter seemed to be of a good design and in good repair it was overrun with mice that we couldn't scare off. Plus the shelter register was filled with stories of hikers spending the entire night fighting off the mice. Not wanting to deal with the mice on the last night of our section hike we put up our tent on the wood platform.
Spring, privey, and picnic table were all good.
im from nebraska,so i found it interesting to see nebraska game and parks on the backside of the sign at the shelter turnoff.
Still in good repair as of Sept 1, 2008.
Two miles south of the shelter is Prospect Rock, a great view of Manchester just off the trail. It is well marked for southbounders. However, this could easily be missed if hiking north. I could not find a sign alerting NOBO's to the view.
stopped in to sign the register on Friday the 14th, GREAT spring!!! in fact fill up water here!
the shleter looks to be in good repair.
Stayed at this shelter this weekend. It's a sweet spot that should sleep 14-16 (although we 3 had it to ourselves.) The rumors of the mice are well founded. Our food and packs were hung, and they lept at the bags all night.
I left a baggied roll of toilet paper in my boot, and one of the buggers gnawed into it. My pack was hung outside and a mouse slipped into an open zipper and pooped in my (empty) oatmeal bowl. I guess the scent brought him in. Live and learn, I'll be bagging that too from now on.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/...1fb801bf06.jpg
The spring was slow given the lack of rain I guess.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/...605511242f.jpg
A really nice fire ring, but firewood was hard to come by. The area is really picked over. We walked a long way beyond the spring before finding any deadfall.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/...00585e7914.jpg
Spent this past weekend (28-30.Jan.11) at the shelter with some friends. LOL, less snow there than I have here in CT.
Water was not an issue, and in spite of the cold we didn't need to melt snow all weekend. Wood for the stove was scarce in the area around the shelter. OTOH, so were the rodents, we only saw one lone mole inside there all weekend.
TP was in the outhouse but the mountain of *expletive deleted* exceeded the height of the seat. :eek:
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/file...ng_trailvt.jpg
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/file...ak_shelter.jpg
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/file...k_outhouse.jpg
Is the stove still there?
Stove was there a few months ago....what have you heard ?? !!!!
Haven't heard anything different, just checking! Thanks Jeff :)