Nastiest Shelter

[pepkbell]

there was a nasty shelter in bear mtn

[Tuckahoe]

Thomas Knob shelter near Mount Rogers... Pretty damn nasty last August. Poo & Paper piles all over the place around the shelter as though people couldnt walk more than 3 feet away. Sad considering there was a privey about 50 yards away.

[Feral Bill]

This may be the most depressing thread yet.

[jbwood5]

It is one of those things that changes all the time. You get a bunch of weekenders partying and place is trashed. The next week the caretaker comes in and cleans it up, and it looks pristine. Two weekends ago I was at Muskrat Creek (1st shelter into N Carolina from S). A couple of frozen thru hikers had their tent set up inside the shelter and they had a dog who must of ran between the shelter and the outside a 100 times. The floor was muddy and wet. You couldn't find a place to park your butt without getting muddy. The place looked really bad, but it could be that they cleaned it up when they left. We didn't stick around long because it was very cold and windy.

[Cosmo]

So, being bored and all..what is the nastiest shelter / site you have seen on the trail?

For me, it was Roan Mtn last May. There was toilet paper piles everywhere, trash left in and around the fire pit. Old gear left in the shelter etc. I stayed for about 30 minutes and kept on moving.

Yup, Roan was pretty nasty last July. Everything, I mean everything was covered with flies. Even the dead flies on everything had dead flies on them, then live flies on those.

Other on the hit parade have been mentioned as well. Brien shelter was definitely a winner. A cool idea to build it into a rocky hillside, but cold, damp and muddy inside. Wiley, don't even get me started.

It's too bad the trail has these less than ideal places. Without opening the whole 'let's get rid of all the shelters' debate, one would think that a Trail Club with a crappy shelter would either tear it down or maintain it. Who wants something like that on their section?

Cosmo

[Sierra Echo]

For me, so far, Rufus Morgan. Sits in a side gully, steeply sloping down to the water source a few yards in front of the shelter. No Privy, so most folks go a few feet behind the shelter to make their deposits. Any kind of rain will wash right down the hill, under the shelter and into the stream (water source) in front of the shelter.

The Rufus Morgan shelter has a brand new privy. I even have a picture of myself sitting on the pot!

[swjohnsey]

That is really my PET Peeve. Taking name from a movie or TV show is my least favorite of all. I know some people get named by their grand children, thus all the Poppa Smurfs, etc, but how many Skywalkers and Stryders do we need?

How 'bout Squatting Dog?

[Spools]

Maupin Field shelter is pretty gross, seemed all the wood was rotten. Beer cans and tea bags all around fireplace, But it's only a half mile from the BRP.

[bamboo bob]

Maupin Field shelter is pretty gross, seemed all the wood was rotten. Beer cans and tea bags all around fireplace, But it's only a half mile from the BRP.

What's BRP? I don't recall Maupin being a 1/2 mile from anything.

[Lone Wolf]

blue ridge parkway

[Derek81pci]

I agree...

[Derek81pci]

One of the more depressing threads...

[CrumbSnatcher]

in 1999 the first shelter in GSMNP going north was birch spring shelter(camping spot now,shelter was tore down), not only did it have horse camping allowed, but it had no privy! i went over the hill behind the shelter, and there was at least a hundred or so piles of poop with toliet paper sticking out of the piles, i could be wrong? maybe they were some crazy type of flower

[LIhikers]

Cooper Lodge was pretty nasty the year my wife and I hiked over Killington, in Vermont.
Not only was it in poor shape, but it had a fair share of trash in it.

[coach lou]

Cooper Lodge was pretty nasty the year my wife and I hiked over Killington, in Vermont.
Not only was it in poor shape, but it had a fair share of trash in it.

In 90/91ish, we took refuge in there during a thunder storm. The roof leaked so bad, we put all are tarps up.

[coach lou]

'O-U-R tarps'

In 90/91ish, we took refuge in there during a thunder storm. The roof leaked so bad, we put all are tarps up.

[aaronthebugbuffet]

Cooper Lodge was pretty nasty the year my wife and I hiked over Killington, in Vermont.
Not only was it in poor shape, but it had a fair share of trash in it.

I had no plans to stay at Cooper Lodge but a severe t-storm hit so I hunkered down.
I was glad I was the only one there. With the leaky roof there was only about a 5'x6' corner that stayed dry.

[wornoutboots]

Cold Spring in NC not too far out of GA, I was there in January & showed up just after dark, there were 2 thru's already there, so I got to sleep next to the huge 2' hole in the corner + it snowed inside the whole night covering everything.


Cable Gap is a crazy little shelter w/ it's own bat that flys in & out all night long

Muskrat Creek was pretty nasty as well. not dirty, but this shelter is in a very low damp area, everything was wet when I woke up.

[ChinMusic]

I've been at many of these shelters. None of them seemed that bad..............but I slept in my tent.

[SCRUB HIKER]

Davenport Gap for me. Still has the chain link fence in front, or at least it did last spring, and has a minefield about 50 yards uphill from it.

Maybe not the nastiest per se, but I think the worst time I had was at Blackrock in the Shenandoahs. Crowded, trashed when I was there, lousy tenting options, a water source that was a slow drip, and the loudest whippoorwill in the East living nearby. I got there at dark with a thunderstorm coming in; otherwise I would have said see yuh and kept going.