Anyone avoid shelters, hostels, and hotels

[TheYoungOne]

Maybe I long to be out west, where there is large open lands, and when you go hiking into the wilderness, find a spot to camp, and you wake up almost alone with no one around.

I'm on the east coast, so unless you want to camp in some campground in a plot that is smaller and less wooded than my backyard, the AT is the way to go.

However I see some folks prefer to use the shelters. Thru hikers regularly staying in hotels, and hostels. Is waking up in a bed, and taking a shower every 4th day really roughing it on the trail?

Anyone prefer to sleep outside? In a tent, hamock, or tarp. Has anyone done a thruhike and has completely avoided shelters, hostels, and hotels?

[IronGutsTommy]

Im just about to embark on my thru hike, but i see what you mean. i think starting out in a motel makes getting an early start on the trail nearly impossible. I plan on using my tent mostly, frequenting shelters only for the sign in books and the stories, history and mystique surrounding a number of them. Plan to hike six days and take the seventh day off. I figure even God rested on the 7th day. So on occasion, I may try to start the sixth day early enough where I can get a hostel or motel that night, resupply in the morning, and hike just a few miles on the zero day to get to a spot on the trail I can set up camp, enjoy a long evening by a campfire, and be able to wake up on the trail bright and early to go at it again. Although I plan to stick to my 6 on 1 off schedule, I probably wont go the hostel/motel route buy maybe twice a month.

[double d]

Its a big trail, it someone likes to hike into town every fourth day, thats their enjoyment. If someone doesn't and they like to stay out longer between town stops, its all good as well. Its "fun" to look forward to hiking up a peak in the morning, camping on the backside in/near a shelter in the late afternoon, talk to folks at the shelter you've never meet before and then in the morning, hike onward for the next day.

[IronGutsTommy]

yeah definitely on my nobo, i plan to smell the roses a bit more, try to soak up as many personalities as I can, enjoy the people. My sobo will be quieter. besides my hiking partner itll be more nature inducing. damn cant wait

[drifters quest]

I definetely prefered my tent over any other sleeping option. However, when all your stuff is wet for days on end, your tent is leaking and it's raining outside; or your sick, a motel or hostel is a good way to get dry and help prepare to head out again. Plus packing everything up in the rain sucks. I did get sick of hostels and motels for the most part

[SassyWindsor]

If I get to the point I'd rather stay in a motel or hostel, I'll just go home. If I find I'd rather stay in a trail shelter than my tent, then I'd consider committing myself. I've stayed in all these places, but prefer my tent. To explain, I have stayed at a few hostels and motels, and one, maybe 2 trail shelters when friends I was hiking with wanted to or because of injury or sickness.
When camping, I stealth, I stay clear of shelters, trail-heads and heavily populated areas when I can.

[Ender]

There is no wrong way to hike the trail (assuming you aren't hurting anyone else, of course). If someone wants to hike into town every fourth day, there's nothing wrong with that. No one ever said you *have* to rough it on the trail.

Me, I generally prefer to stay in the woods, in a tent or hammock. But that's just me. I see nothing wrong at all with the people who choose to hike differently.

[scope]

Most of us do avoid shelters, except Lone Wolf.

[fredmugs]

Most of us do avoid shelters, except Lone Wolf.

You're just asking for it.

I avoid shelters like the plague to sleep in but I like to hammock near them mostly because I hike SOBO and I can get good intel from the NOBO hikers. Plus there's normally a water source and easier places to hang food.

After 1700+ miles I have spent maybe 5 nights in a shelter.

[Tilly]

I'm on the east coast, so unless you want to camp in some campground in a plot that is smaller and less wooded than my backyard, the AT is the way to go.

Hate to break it to you, but there are a plethora of trails in the eastern half of the country besides the AT. It's not the AT or nothing. That kind of attitude is ridiculous.

[Skyline]

In the eight years it took me to finish the AT section hiking, I only stayed in six shelters. Four of those were in the Smokies because I thought it was required. The other two were almost brand new at the time and no one else was there on those nights.

But the shelters serve a purpose many others believe to be valid, so I say HYOH. If no one stayed in AT shelters, I guess I'd be out of a (volunteer) job in SNP!

You can make use of all the other amenities a shelter and the surrounding area provide, most of the time, and not actually sleep in a shelter. Just find or create a tentsite within a quarter mile or so. Many shelters have pre-existing or even designated tentsites nearby. You can still use the shelter's privy, water source, picnic table, bear pole or cable, and enjoy the comaraderie that sometimes exists there. You just don't have to sleep in what is sometimes a filthy wood or stone box with the snorers, farters, partiers and rodents.

[garlic08]

I've met several hikers who never slept under a roof on their thru hikes. I respect that. Though I only stayed in a couple of (empty) shelters on my AT thru, I did enjoy a few motels when the cost was reasonable. I only took three zero days (to meet friends and family), so if you hike a sustainable pace, and (big if) you can eat and rest well on the trail, there's no need for regular town stops for physical recuperation. WeatherCarrot has an article on this site that details a way to avoid towns and motels, mainly as a way to save money.

[weary]

Shelters and hostels have been a part of trails forever. During the 17th and 18th and early 19th centuries it was common for houses in rural areas away from the settled towns to take in travelers. Simple shelters were commonly placed a days walk apart by hunters and trappers.

Three sided adirondack shelters were commonly used in New York for a century before the design was transplanted to the trail by maintaining clubs.

The value of shelters to the trail is that they lessen hiker sprawl. Without special places for hikers to congregate the trail would be one long string of fire places and campsites.

Skip the shelter areas if you wish. But don't replace it with hiker sprawl. Camp well off the trail and leave your site as wild or wilder than you found it.

Weary

[4shot]

It all depends on your goals and if you are referring to a section hike or a thru. If you want privacy & solitude in a wilderness setting, then perhaps there may be other trails that better meet your needs. On the AT, my preferred means of shelter was my tent but I also cowboy camped some and used hotels, hostels, and shelters (least preferred option) as circumstances dictated. If I got into town late I preferred not to hitch or walk back to the trail if it was late in the afternoon.I hiked with a guy who would go out of his way to stay in a shelter - others went the entire trip without sleeping in one.Not sure if I knew anyone who completely avoided the hotels or hostels on a thru but I'm sure its possible. Whatever you want to do bro' - it's all out there and it's like Burger King, you CAN have it your way on the trail. Happy hiking.

[Moose2001]

It's always interesting to hear, or read, statements from future hikers on what they will or won't do on the trail. Funny how the trail has a way of changing your mind on things. In any case, where you stay, how often you go into town, shower, resupply are your decisions. You do your thing. Allow others to do theirs.

[Luddite]

Believe me, sleeping in a AT shelter is still roughin' it.

[warraghiyagey]

It's always interesting to hear, or read, statements from future hikers on what they will or won't do on the trail. Funny how the trail has a way of changing your mind on things.

Well said. . .

[bigcranky]

Thru hikers regularly staying in hotels, and hostels. Is waking up in a bed, and taking a shower every 4th day really roughing it on the trail?

Don't judge other hikers until you have walked a few hundred miles in their boots.

Unlike many Western trails, the AT can be a very wet experience for days on end, making the occasional motel or hostel stay a good thing for drying gear and generally getting one's stuff together.

[sbhikes]

It's always interesting to hear, or read, statements from future hikers on what they will or won't do on the trail. Funny how the trail has a way of changing your mind on things.

That is so true. When I was a future aspiring PCT hiker I was so sure of so many things. I was sure it would be a totaly solitary wilderness experience but it wasn't. I was sure I'd avoid towns and hitchhiking but I didn't. Eventually I did very much come to prefer my tent to any kind of walls. I didn't make that choice out of some sense of what is more "wildernessy" or pure or noble or rugged or anything, but out of what was truly best for me.

[Red Hat]

It's always interesting to hear, or read, statements from future hikers on what they will or won't do on the trail. Funny how the trail has a way of changing your mind on things. In any case, where you stay, how often you go into town, shower, resupply are your decisions. You do your thing. Allow others to do theirs.

If anyone had told me that I'd be skipping some white blazes and spending lots of nights in hotels, I wouldn't have believed it. But the trail changes your mind a lot! Now I'm proud to be considered blue blazing hiker trash...