Trail Registers History

[trailangelmary]

Did Earl Shaeffer write in trail registers? Where are they?

[The Old Fhart]

trailangelmary-"Did Earl Shaeffer write in trail registers? Where are they?"

Do you mean like this entry? I left 2 registers in shelters that I got back at the end of the 1998 season and Earl had entries in both. Apparently what some hikers were doing was to remove his entry to save as a souvenir so I was lucky.

[StarLyte]

Do you mean like this entry? I left 2 registers in shelters that I got back at the end of the 1998 season and Earl had entries in both. Apparently what some hikers were doing was to remove his entry to save as a souvenir so I was lucky.

You're a tease Old Fhart!!!
I have to say......you have the BEST DAMN PICTURES I have ever seen of the AT and the community.
Thank you so much.
(I'm not crazy about the bare-butted one though ha ha).

[Jack Tarlin]

I'll tell you one of my favorite Earl stories, it says a lot about him. O.F. is right, an Earl register entry from '98 is probably pretty rare, but the real reason isn't because people were stealing them all. The REAL reason they're rare is because Earl FOUND OUT they were stealing them, and he was afraid people were removing entire pages of registers in order to get his signature. He was concerned that other hikers' posts or messages to their friends would be lost in the process, so he pretty muched stopped signing log books.

A very classy man.

[max patch]

I've got one from '91 signed by Dufflebag Tim, Lone Wolf, and Wingfoot. Not hiking together, alas.

And another from '93 signed by Bill O'Brien (remember the "Garvy Approved" stamps?) and Taro.

[The Old Fhart]

This doesn't have much to do with registers, but does this bridge in Duncannon look familiar?

[trailangelmary]

With the help of a townie, I am trying to track down the old registers from the Doyle. I'll let all know what I find.

[trailangelmary]

http://www.njherald.com/360678178229622.php"

Found this very informative on where to find full registers:

(The registers') biggest and most important function is on the trail itself," said Larry Wheelock, who collects registers for the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference region. "Once they are retired, they don't have much function."

Wheelock, the trails director for the trail conference, keeps most of the old registers in boxes in his office. His files are not complete, he said, as some hikers keep the registers, and other registers may end up in the hands of trail maintenance workers or ridge runners.

"People will come in and spend a pleasant couple of hours" reading the registers that have made their way to the conference office, Wheelock said. He believes the registers in his office date back to the 1990s.

The Appalachian Trail's Main Conservancy in Harper's Ferry, W. Va., "the psychological half point" of the trail, holds registers from the 1970s forward, Information Services Manager Laurie Potteiger said.

In addition to their own registers, some of the Appalachian Trail's 30 regional clubs send their registers to Harper's Ferry. These are generally clubs in the South that are still run from volunteers' homes, she said. The clubs believe the registers are better kept at the Main Conservancy.

The use of registers has evolved over the years. Wheelock believes the registers probably started regionally when occasional logs were kept in shelters.

Now, Appalachian Trail staff "peruse the registers for comments of management concern and trail conditions" to plan improvements on the trail, Potteiger said.

For example, one hiker at the Mashipacong Shelter in High Point State Park wrote that a water tank should be installed there to catch rain water, since there is no water source at the shelter.

Potteiger said the registers are also used for research, particularly on the social, psychological and spiritual aspects of hiking. Wheelock said researchers visited the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference office to view hikers' thoughts at the time of Sept. 11, 2001.

[hikerjohnd]

As a researcher, I find that not having a central repository for trail registers is a problem. I understand the important role the registers play in helping to define the culture of AT hikers and I sincerely hope they find a home in the AT Museum.

[julie]

All the Dartmouth Outing Club's trail registers (that don't get stolen or burned that is) go to Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College.

All Dartmouth's libraries are open to the public, and none more so than Special Collections. If you're in town, pay a visit! Our librarians are wonderful. I was on a tour recently and saw a copy of the Brut Chronicle, an incredibly valuable (like, more than my house valuable) book the college had just acquired, sitting out to be part of the tour. Everyone was encouraged to touch it and look at it - as the librarian said, "what good is a book that no one can read?"

So - I hope you'll stop by and check out the collection, the hiker registers, the Brut Chronicle, Shakespeare, Audubon, the Stefansson collection, and my personal favorite, Thomas Orde-Lees' diary from the Endurance expedition. Amazing stuff! I heart Rauner Library!!!

[Doctari]

IMHO it would be great to read a few of Earl's shelter entries. Loved the few passages I have read from his book. Some day I'll get a copy & read the whole thing.


During the early years the FBI was looking for Eric, The registers in the smokies shelters disapeared, rumor had it that the FBI took them to try to find Eric, but they didn't leave any replacements so for the week or so they were missing, there was nothing to write in the shelters, so he may have been sighted, but there was no way to log it in a shelter. Bizzare.
Anyway, with 9 shelter logs in a row missing*, it became aparent just how important, even VITAL they are to the AT hiking community. By the time I got to Newfound gap everyone was pissed at the FBI, wether they took the logs or not.


*All logs were missing from the Fontana Hilton to the MtCollins shelter, I got off at NFG so dont know if any of the others were taken.


Doctari.