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  1. #1
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    Default shelter etiquette

    So what are some of the do's and don'ts about staying in a shelter.
    changing clothes? peeing too close to the shelter? being loud? clothes lines?
    cooking? making room for late show ups? sex, drugs & rock and roll?
    etc. etc.

  2. #2
    Registered User ChuckT's Avatar
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    Firstly a shelter is common space. If you're not comfortable with that don't stay in a shelter. Tent, tarp, hammock, whatever instead.
    Secondly share in truly bad weather a shelter can maybe hold half again as much hikers.
    Bathrooms, unless there's a privy, women one way down-trail. Men the other.
    If you _must_ or eat in the shelter clean up! Crumbs attract mice and other critters.
    If you have a campfire try to get enough wood to leave some behind. Don't burn it all somebody later may need it.
    Lastly (I've always felt that) if one hiker is obnoxious the others can ask them to leave.
    Miles to go before I sleep. R. Frost

  3. #3
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    first come, first served whether it's 2 or 10

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    Quote Originally Posted by ChuckT View Post
    Firstly a shelter is common space. If you're not comfortable with that don't stay in a shelter. Tent, tarp, hammock, whatever instead.
    Secondly share in truly bad weather a shelter can maybe hold half again as much hikers.
    Bathrooms, unless there's a privy, women one way down-trail. Men the other.
    If you _must_ or eat in the shelter clean up! Crumbs attract mice and other critters.
    If you have a campfire try to get enough wood to leave some behind. Don't burn it all somebody later may need it.
    Lastly (I've always felt that) if one hiker is obnoxious the others can ask them to leave.
    In all my days of hiking, I never knew an obnoxious hiker can be ejected from a shelter by majority rule. I don't know if you are serious or not. This is truly news to me.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by daddytwosticks View Post
    In all my days of hiking, I never knew an obnoxious hiker can be ejected from a shelter by majority rule. I don't know if you are serious or not. This is truly news to me.
    so glad i never stay in them. they truly suck and are for newbies and the lazy really

  6. #6
    Registered User ChuckT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by daddytwosticks View Post
    In all my days of hiking, I never knew an obnoxious hiker can be ejected from a shelter by majority rule. I don't know if you are serious or not. This is truly news to me.
    Can you get a group to agree on something, anything? I can't.
    Miles to go before I sleep. R. Frost

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    Registered User Tennessee Viking's Avatar
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    Privies are not trash pits. Don't throw anything non-compostable in them.
    Shelters are not party spots by hikers or locals.
    ''Tennessee Viking'
    Mountains to Sea Trail Hiker & Maintainer
    Former TEHCC (AT) Maintainer

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChuckT View Post
    Bathrooms, unless there's a privy, women one way down-trail. Men the other.
    Never heard of this one, maybe it's regional. But just respect other people which includes bathroom needs according to gender.



    If you have a campfire try to get enough wood to leave some behind. Don't burn it all somebody later may need it.
    This is IMHO a great part of trail life, giving back and making the place better for the next person, but it is against LNT principals which would have one re-scatter the wood not used (rescatter = put it back as you found it as you are able to do so, don't just hide it). This is a place that I oppose the LNT principal as it violated respect for each other and the earth, our common home.


    Lastly (I've always felt that) if one hiker is obnoxious the others can ask them to leave.
    In a perfect world...

  9. #9
    Registered User ChuckT's Avatar
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    LNT is an ideal to be pursued but ideal are not reality. I won't pull down a growing tree to get firewood. I will cut up or break a dried downed tree. Someone that did made my hike much more pleasant at a shelter. I will pay that forward when I can.
    Miles to go before I sleep. R. Frost

  10. #10
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    Leave the shelter if you want to make a call on your cell phone.
    Order your copy of the Appalachian Trail Passport at www.ATPassport.com

    Green Mountain House Hostel
    Manchester Center, VT

    http://www.greenmountainhouse.net

  11. #11
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    I some times use shelters when the weather is bad. We have packed people in like sardines in a can in really bad weather. One of the tricky things is to insure you don't mix your gear up with others. It is best prepare your food when others aren't (i.e. work in shifts).

    Depending on the shelter size and layout, hanging wet clothes/packs/food can be an issue. Confine your stuff to one small area. It drives me nuts when 1 or 2 hikers have stuff hanging all over the place.

    If you arrive in foul weather and the shelter is getting packed, ask the group if you can squeeze in rather than just start forcing your way in. If your courteous, they usually find a way to make you fit. Sometimes you might have to lay at 90 degrees at the end and risk getting stepped on in the middle of the night. Changing wet clothes can be challenge. It's probably best to do this outside behind the shelter unless there are just a few folks in there, and just as a courtesy say you are going to make a quick change. Most people don't care and you can often swap your wet undies in the bag.

    Other stuff will become obvious like not walking or crawling around inside with muddy boots or dropping food on the floor. Be careful with your stove (try to stay outside with a lit stove if possible). Be especially careful with alcohol stoves. They are tiny and not obvious to a tired hiker, but if kicked or tipped there can big trouble.

    People will wake up a daybreak and generally pack up in shifts to allow enough space without mixing up stuff or crowding the sleeping hikers who want to wait.

    If you are the last out in the morning, sweep the dirt out off the floor.

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    Just a couple of other things...
    Smoking can be really irritating to others, especially those who fought for years to quit. Best not to smoke, or a least go out away from the shelter, go where the wind won't blow it back in. Pot is most effective in a tent and is still offensive to a few other folks out there.

    Tapping on your PD keyboard after dark is pretty annoying but done a lot these days. Just be aware that some come out there to get away from electronic gadgets and don't want to hear it. Usually by dark, most people are resting or trying to go to sleep. The exception might be Winter or early Spring where a campfire is burning and folks are enjoying the philosophical conversations. .

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff View Post
    Leave the shelter if you want to make a call on your cell phone.
    why? a conversation is a conversation

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lone Wolf View Post
    why? a conversation is a conversation
    Because I dont want to hear somebody talkin homesick and babytalkin their kids, and everyone else in the shelter is burdoned by that one person having their oun conversation with someone not even there.

    This coming from someone(LW) who says they dont know what an ithingy is and dislikes technology on the trail.
    Trail Miles: 4,927.6
    AT Map 1: Complete 2013-2021
    Sheltowee Trace: Complete 2020-2023
    Pinhoti Trail: Complete 2023-2024
    Foothills Trail: 0.0
    AT Map 2: 279.4
    BMT: 52.7
    CDT: 85.4

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gambit McCrae View Post
    Because I dont want to hear somebody talkin homesick and babytalkin their kids, and everyone else in the shelter is burdoned by that one person having their oun conversation with someone not even there.

    This coming from someone(LW) who says they dont know what an ithingy is and dislikes technology on the trail.
    i never stay in or near shelters so ithingy use isn't a problem for me

  16. #16
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    I tend to approach the subject from the point if view of --

    1) Shelters are public spaces

    2) Behave like you are a guest in someone else's home

    3) Don't be so quick to be offended or "suck it up cupcake." Just as you may not share someone's views, they may not share your "I'm offended trigger."
    igne et ferrum est potentas
    "In the beginning, all America was Virginia." -​William Byrd

  17. #17
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    I think the thing about cell phones is that the end of the conversation that I hear (and I'm partially deef) is SHOUTED.
    Makes me uncomfortable.
    Miles to go before I sleep. R. Frost

  18. #18

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    I think we can all agree that all that is said here overlaps hostel etiquette as well.
    Trail Miles: 4,927.6
    AT Map 1: Complete 2013-2021
    Sheltowee Trace: Complete 2020-2023
    Pinhoti Trail: Complete 2023-2024
    Foothills Trail: 0.0
    AT Map 2: 279.4
    BMT: 52.7
    CDT: 85.4

  19. #19
    Registered User No Directions's Avatar
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    I will use a shelter in bad weather and I am not a newbie or lazy.

    I don't think that problems with others are all that common in shelters. Most people are respectful of others. Last fall I arrived at a shelter just before a line of thunderstorms was moving through. A couple with a dog had a tent set up inside the shelter on the sleeping platform. As soon as they realized they were taking up too much space and the shelter was filling up they moved the tent down onto the floor of the shelter.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lone Wolf View Post
    why? a conversation is a conversation
    I think what makes a phone conversation annoying is that it is almost always much louder than a normal conversation. No one wispers into a cell phone.

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