How many shelters

[Stix]

Just wondering how many shelters were on the AT? I have heard numbers thrown around but does anyone have an accurate 2006 count? Also, has anyone ever thru hiked or attempted a thru with the goal of camping at every shelter? Not that I would ever have the patience to accomplish such a feat, but wondering if anyone ever thought of doing it.

[Old Spice]

This is just a guess... but I don't think you could thru-hike the whole trail in one season if you stayed in every shelter. I'm gonna go count them out of the Data book. Just kidding.

[wilderness bob]

Yes you can go from shelter to shelter for the most part. This would limit your distances that you could go per day do to where the shelters are located and the distances between them. I would not recommend this though. Shelter life comes with it's issues. Shelter mice, passing on the cold or flu, noisy snoring hikers, people coming and going all the time. Plus boy scouts, girl scouts, college interns and weekend hikers just to name a few. Go to ground and enjoy a vista, that was my favorite camp site, a room with a view. WB

p.s. Use shelters when you need them, water is normally located there as well as privys (toilets). Log books let you know who is ahead of you and gives you a place to write your own thoughts. They are great places to socialize as well.

[Peaks]

In most cases, I usually passed one shelter every day, and stayed at or near the second one. Some times, I passed two shelters, and stayed at or near the third one. So, based on a very rough appoximation, that probably means there are between 300 and 400 shelters along the AT. If you want an exact count, use the AT Data Book.

[Lone Wolf]

Just wondering how many shelters were on the AT? I have heard numbers thrown around but does anyone have an accurate 2006 count? Also, has anyone ever thru hiked or attempted a thru with the goal of camping at every shelter? Not that I would ever have the patience to accomplish such a feat, but wondering if anyone ever thought of doing it.

Way too many is all I know.

[Ridge]

291 total from Black Gap shelther to The Birchie in Baxter SP

[Ridge]

Correction a total of 290. I had incorrectly included Max Patch as a lean-to. This info can be verified by the down-loadable database from the ATC.

[Dances with Mice]

291 total from Black Gap shelther to The Birchie in Baxter SP

If you include Black Gap then you also have to include the Max Epperson. Both are on the Approach Trail.

[neo]

shelters suck neo

[Lone Wolf]

shelters suck neo

hammocks suck more wolf

[Ridge]

If you include Black Gap then you also have to include the Max Epperson. Both are on the Approach Trail.

I'm not familiar with that one, is it in the Amicalola SP, before the Black Gap Shelter?? As I said, I downloaded all the shelters from the ATC site. You are correct, we should add this to the lot, total of 291 now.

[Dances with Mice]

I'm not familiar with that one, is it in the Amicalola SP, before the Black Gap Shelter?? As I said, I downloaded all the shelters from the ATC site. You are correct, we should add this to the lot, total of 291 now.

It's the screened shelter right behind the Visitor's Center in the Park. BUT it's not listed in the GATC's Yearbook, so the Park may be responsible for its upkeep.

[ed bell]

Just wondering how many shelters were on the AT?

On the AT? I would guess Zero.

[Stix]

On the AT? I would guess Zero.

Actually there is one that sits right on the trail. Cold Spring Shelter.
What a dump!

[ed bell]

Actually there is one that sits right on the trail. Cold Spring Shelter.
What a dump!

Not familliar with it. The trail goes though it?

[Rainman]

Big Branch is "right on" the trail. It is about 16 miles south of Clarendon Gorge in Vermont. Thee is a great view of the brook just across the trail.

[Stix]

Well its official and Ridge called it, there are 291 shelters on the AT. Thanks Ridge. So, if one were to flip then theoretically it would be possible to thru hike and stay in every single shelter in a single season. I see an opportunity here. Who’s up for the challenge?

[pjbarr]

Cold Spring Shelter in the Nantahalas appera to have been built in the center of the AT, so I'd say that one is "on" the AT.

One note on the above comprehensive list. Kephart Shelter is about 2.5 miles off of the trail. I wouldnt even consider listing it as an AT shelter, unless you count hotels and bridge overpasses that require short hitchhikes into towns. Kephart is a GSMNP shelter, as is Mt. LeConte shelter and Laurel Gap shelter, both about 5 miles off of the AT. Laurel Gap would actually be easier to return to the AT than Kephart, which is a good 2000 feet below the trail ridgeline.

Thus, what distance off the trail is too much before it is not considered an AT trail shelter?

Also, anyone know how many their were historically, during certain decades. I assume that the numnber has risen greatly with the erection of new structures, but many have left us. False Gap Shelter on the AT in the eastern Smokies, Birch Spring Shelter in the far western Smokies beyond Fontana Dam, and Moore Spring Shelter on the old AT section by Gregorys Bald in the western Smokies. Not to mention, Spence Field, Silers Bald, and Icewater Springs for a brief time had two shelters at the same location.

Of course, I can only speak for the territory I know well (NC/TN), so I'm sure there are many more instances of decommisioned and removed shelters. A list would interest me though.

How about long gone fire towers on the AT? Standing Indian Mountain, White Rocks Mountain, Temple Hill in NC and TN alone.

[Tipper]

I stopped into most of the shelters along the way this past summer while conducting site inventories for the ATC. I surveyed 252 shelters and missed 9. That's 261. I believe my ATC staff contact thought there were 263. No way are there 290 (or 289).

[Tipper]

Oh, and as a follow-up thought with respect to distance from trail...I typically avoided any that were greater then a half-mile off-trail, not because they weren't legitimate as potential AT overnite options, but because traveling that extra distance didn't always fit into my day's travel plans (or energy levels!). That said, some were definitely on a different trail then the AT.