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  1. #1

    Default DO you HAVE to use shelters in GSMNP?

    Am contemplating a section hike from Fontana to Erwin in August. My basic question as a newbie is......

    DO you HAVE to stay in the shelters in the Park, or can you tent nearby?

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Teddy Bear in a hammock HikerRanky's Avatar
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    The regulations state that you must stay in the shelters unless you qualify as a thru-hiker. The definition of a thru-hiker is someone that uses the AT exclusively whose trip begins and ends 50 miles past the park boundaries.

    Randy

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    Trail miscreant Bearpaw's Avatar
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    If you started at Franklin instead of Fontana, you would qualify as a thru-hiker.

    However, in your current itinerary, you would have to call ahead, get reservations for each shelter you were staying at in the park, and then sleep inside the shelter. It's a drag, but it's the way it is.
    If people spent less time being offended and more time actually living, we'd all be a whole lot happier!

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    Registered User Egads's Avatar
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    You can tent if you hike the Benton MacCaye instead of the AT
    The trail was here before we arrived, and it will still be here when we are gone...enjoy it now, and preserve it for others that come after us

  5. #5
    Registered User ChinMusic's Avatar
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    You tent at Site 113 (first designated site north of Fontana, before Mollies) (nice site by the way). Other than that you must stay in shelters along the AT. You still need a reservation for 113.
    Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.

  6. #6
    Registered User Silver Bear's Avatar
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    You can call the Back Country office 865-436-1231 for information. This is part of the National Park service. They can make reservations etc for the shelters.

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    the rule is that you MUST stay in the shelter unless it is full. there 2 spaces in each shelter that are left open for thru hikers. If the shelter is full, thru hikers Must give up their spot to a non-thru hiker that has a permit with a reservation number. Camping outside the shelter must be within sight of the shelter. Rhere are flat open areas near each shelter for this purpose.

  8. #8
    Formerly "Totem"
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    Why is it mandated you stay in the shelters? I've never been. To cut down on environmental impact?

    Whose to say you aren't "thru-hiking" 50 miles past the park?
    up over the hills, theres nothing to fear
    theres a pub across the way with whisky and beer
    its a lengthy journey on the way up to the top
    but it ain't so bad if you have a great big bottle o'scotch

  9. #9
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    From Code Of Federal Regulations - Title 36, Chapter 1. The following regulatory provisions are established for the proper management, protection, government and public use of Great Smoky Mountains National Park under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service...

    The use of tents at shelters is prohibited except by persons qualifying as thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail (by definition an Appalachian thru-hiker is a backpacker who is using the Appalachian Trail exclusively while in the park and whose trip begins and ends a minimum of fifty miles outside the park). Thru-hikers may pitch tents outside shelters only when all bunks are otherwise occupied.

    From: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/parkmgmt/upl...Compendium.pdf

    It is up to you whether you following the word of the regs or the people who post here.

    Captain Blue
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  10. #10

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    So, I would assume in August, chances are the shelters arent going to be full. Thus, shelters it is until out of the park. Yippee.

    So...next question:

    Have the tent maildropped to Green Corner Road so I dont have to lug 5.5 pounds for 70 miles? Yes?

  11. #11
    Trail miscreant Bearpaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pafarmboy View Post
    So, I would assume in August, chances are the shelters arent going to be full. Thus, shelters it is until out of the park. Yippee.

    So...next question:

    Have the tent maildropped to Green Corner Road so I dont have to lug 5.5 pounds for 70 miles? Yes?
    I would as long as I carry a poncho or something I could rig as a "just-in-case" shelter. Once in a blue moon, folks without reservations show up at a shelter and it is full despite reservations. Not common, but I've known it to happen on holiday weekends at least. But there's not a lot of good reason to pack a large tent for the AT in the Smokies.

    Standing Bear would be a great spot to pick it up.
    If people spent less time being offended and more time actually living, we'd all be a whole lot happier!

  12. #12
    Registered User ChinMusic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pafarmboy View Post
    Have the tent maildropped to Green Corner Road so I dont have to lug 5.5 pounds for 70 miles? Yes?
    You're gonna want to carry some "emergency" shelter. If for no other reason than if you show up at a shelter late and it is full. It's not suppose to be full cause YOU have a permit, but it is. What you gonna do? Ask for permits? Kick someone out? Not me. I'm tenting and explaining my case to the ranger if questioned.
    Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.

  13. #13
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    To emphasize the point...there is often chaos in the shelters. Quite a few people get off their reservation schedule on day one or two of their hike. Either they were overly ambitious in their planning, or they got lost, or something. One of my personal practices is to carry enough clothing/shelter that if I dropped on the spot and couldn't move another inch, I could spend the night without dying from the cold. That's not to say I'd carry my full tent and whatnot, but I'd at least have an emergency blanket/bivy.

    A week ago I ran into an Israeli section-hiker. He was doing the AT in the Park as a section, but had not been able to get reservations in any of the shelters along the route. He was having to go way down off the ridge to Kephart Shelter and the like. If your vacation time isn't flexible, your hiking plan needs to be.
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

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    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

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    Ending in Erwin qualifies you as a thru hiker also. 50 miles either way.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bearpaw View Post
    If you started at Franklin instead of Fontana, you would qualify as a thru-hiker.

    However, in your current itinerary, you would have to call ahead, get reservations for each shelter you were staying at in the park, and then sleep inside the shelter. It's a drag, but it's the way it is.
    Pain is a by-product of a good time.

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    Formerly "Totem"
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    But why do they mandate sleeping in the shelters?
    up over the hills, theres nothing to fear
    theres a pub across the way with whisky and beer
    its a lengthy journey on the way up to the top
    but it ain't so bad if you have a great big bottle o'scotch

  16. #16
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Totem View Post
    But why do they mandate sleeping in the shelters?
    It's part of a quota system to limit and spread out impact of campers in the backcountry. In very high-use areas, the best thing to do is have a hardened site (a shelter is about as hardened as it gets) to limit the trampling of vegetation and packing down of the soil. It also limits how many people are supposed to be spending the night in the area to, for instance, 20, if that's what the shelter will hold.
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  17. #17
    Trail miscreant Bearpaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fredmugs View Post
    Ending in Erwin qualifies you as a thru hiker also. 50 miles either way.
    The issue is 50 miles BOTH ways. Starting at Fontana disqualifies him.

    The park's definition of thru-hiker states "...an Appalachian thru-hiker is a backpacker who is using the Appalachian Trail exclusively while in the park and whose trip begins and ends a minimum of fifty miles outside the park..."
    If people spent less time being offended and more time actually living, we'd all be a whole lot happier!

  18. #18

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Marta View Post
    To emphasize the point...there is often chaos in the shelters. Quite a few people get off their reservation schedule on day one or two of their hike.
    So if I have a reservation for Derrick Knob Shelter, get there at 3 in the afternoon and decide to hike on to Silers Bald, I'm allowed? If not, what do they do, fine youif they catch you off of your reservation requests?

  19. #19
    Registered User Hikes in Rain's Avatar
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    I did, but then, I asked a ranger and it was late November so it wasn't like it was crowded.

  20. #20
    Registered User Egads's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pafarmboy View Post
    So if I have a reservation for Derrick Knob Shelter, get there at 3 in the afternoon and decide to hike on to Silers Bald, I'm allowed? If not, what do they do, fine youif they catch you off of your reservation requests?

    It all depends on the ranger, his mood, if you are nice or an ass, and if there is room or not.

    Several times when out solo, I pressed on to another campsite late, and left early in the morning
    The trail was here before we arrived, and it will still be here when we are gone...enjoy it now, and preserve it for others that come after us

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