Who's pissing everyone off?

[modiyooch]

I'm wondering if it is even the thru hikers or AT hikers. IMO PA was very trashy including the parking lots and mt tops and town boundaries. On top of the range in Palmerton, sleeping bags and coolers were dumped. This may be the result of locals. Both of these shelters are in PA with road access.

[Rockhound]

thank god the 2010ers had a chance to hear about this now. At least they have time to cancel their hikes. I feel bad for the people out there right now.

[emerald]

Thank god the 2010ers had a chance to hear about this now. At least they have time to cancel their hikes.

I hear the phones are ringing off their hooks at ATC!

[The Old Fhart]

These posters appear at many hostels along the Appalachian Trail. If every hiker would just act like the poster suggests, there would be far fewer problems.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...imageuser=1531

[fiddlehead]

It's tough being a caretaker.
Thru-hikers are very demanding and it gets old fast.
The ones in PA are in the middle of the "bubble" right now so, it is not hard to figure out why they are a little ornery at this time.

Hikers have broken every rule at these 2 "shelters"
some have even walked into Lazee's house, (eckville) used his shower, turned on his Tv, and even fired up his computer and used it, littered his yard with cigarette butts and garbage over and over until he had to make a rule, no smoking on the premises to slow it down a bit.

[saimyoji]

i'm local to the PA trail 501 to DWG.....walk it on a regular basis. Its hit and miss. Sometimes local kids screw it up, sometimes good people clean it up. Like any place that has proximal road access, there will be issues.

sorry to the folk that have had bad times in PA, but there have been plenty (dare I say the majority) that have had mostly good times.

[modiyooch]

It's tough being a caretaker.
Thru-hikers are very demanding and it gets old fast.
The ones in PA are in the middle of the "bubble" right now so, it is not hard to figure out why they are a little ornery at this time.

Hikers have broken every rule at these 2 "shelters"
some have even walked into Lazee's house, (eckville) used his shower, turned on his Tv, and even fired up his computer and used it, littered his yard with cigarette butts and garbage over and over until he had to make a rule, no smoking on the premises to slow it down a bit.

wow, I stand corrected. I'm sorry to hear that. I liked the eckville shelter facilities.

[DapperD]

Chance09, this is a prime example of why each one of us should never forget that we are all trail representatives. What we each do as hikers reflects upon other hikers to follow.

This is what the ATC has been preaching for years, we are all "walking and talking" billboards for the AT and the thru-hiking/trail community in genearal.

[Jeff]

I was at Overmountain Shelter when a bunch of drug abusers (their drug of choice was alcohol) left the privy pit full of beer cans and whiskey bottles. Needless to say, they were chewed out by other hikers (me included) who stayed at the shelter that night with them.

Yes, some things hikers do boggle the mind, ... for the good or for the bad.

Rain Man

.

Rain Main,

Thanks for speaking up when you saw the abuse at Overmountain shelter. Letting these people slide when problems occur does nothing to deter their actions.

[MedicineMan]

nice enough guy but do not ask him any questions about anything ever....just look around and you'll see that every question anyone could ever ask is already answered and plastered on the wall. He was very cool about my hammock out back of the shelter in the ivy.

[TOW]

I'm just glad it's not me pissing everyone off for a change.

i am getting upset and and and...........never mind.........

[Tin Man]

I'm wondering if it is even the thru hikers or AT hikers. IMO PA was very trashy including the parking lots and mt tops and town boundaries. On top of the range in Palmerton, sleeping bags and coolers were dumped. This may be the result of locals. Both of these shelters are in PA with road access.

wow, I stand corrected. I'm sorry to hear that. I liked the eckville shelter facilities.

In my experience, it is locals who trash shelters convenient to road crossings. Most thru-hikers behave very well when they are only one or two travelling together. It is more the party groups that create the problems...

[emerald]

Only Pennsylvania through hikers are permitted to camp at PA 501 and Eckville Shelters.

Alcohol is not permitted at either location.

[fiddlehead]

Only Pennsylvania through hikers are permitted to camp at PA 501 and Eckville Shelters.

Huh? Does that mean born in PA, or hiking in PA at the present time?

[emerald]

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=51666

My point was problems at these two facilites are not caused by locals who use them as a place to party, since they're not permitted to use these facilities on NPS land, but some of the same general principles govern their use.

Camping is restricted to AT hikers except with the consent of the resident caretaker. The rules at these two facilities are more strict than at other shelters due to their proximity to roads and more consistent with those apt to be encountered at hostels.

[Tin Man]

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=51666

My point was it's not the locals, since they're not permitted to use the facilities.

Camping is restricted to AT hikers except with the consent of the resident caretakers. The rules at these two facilities are more strict than at shelters and consistent with those more apt to be encountered at hostels.

how does that work?

[emerald]

Basically, AT hikers have use of these facilities at the discretion of their caretakers. Exceptions might be made when they feel one's warranted although such a decision might involve consulting with BMECC's Corridor Management Committee chairman or ATC.

I'm off tomorrow and I don't know if shelterbuilder is available to field any additional questions. I'll PM him the link.

[Many Walks]

There is a lot of generalization about all the nasty thru hikers. I agree we saw a few cases of bad behavior, but the worst seemed to get stuck partying in some town and dropped out. The vast majority of hikers in it for the long haul tended to their business, appreciated services and amenities, cleaned up after themselves and were respectful of the folks they encountered.

We pulled into Eckville on a rainy day and the place was a bit crowded, but everyone was courteous, obeyed the rules, and cleaned up after themselves. The caretaker wasn't overly friendly, but was nice enough. Rather than answering the same questions 1,000 times in a season he pointed us to the signs first, then was glad to discuss anything the sign didn't cover. No problem, I could see that.

Maybe it was just the bubble we were hiking with, but I believe the majority of thru hikers are good folks. The rest should be called on it when they get out of line. I also believe the folks living on the trail dealing with hikers routinely see enough of the bad ones to get very frustrated with the entire hiker community. As with anything, it only takes a few to spoil it for the rest. With the few cases we did see or heard of, it seemed like the hikers had left Mom a little too soon as she wasn't there to take care of them.

I hope as future hikers read this thread they realize how their actions on the trail and in the supporting communities impact all other hikers out there.

[Jack Tarlin]

It's true; generalizations are just wrong. Are there bad thru-hikers out there, even bad groups of thru-hikers?

Sure there are.

But on the other hand, I just spent the past two days hanging out with a group of around fifty of them, talking to them, shuttling them, feeding them, you name it, and you couldn't ask for a better group of folks.

There's good and bad everywhere. The thru-hiker Class of '09 (and I've met several hundred of them) is made up of some really fine people, and anyone who speaks ill of them, or makes unkind generalizations about them...well, I'm not sure they've met enough of them.

It's human nature to concentrate (and speak more often) on the bad apples one encounters.

That's too bad.

I'd rather speak well of the good ones.

And this year, anyway, what you see out there is mostly good.

[Lone Wolf]

I also believe the folks living on the trail dealing with hikers routinely see enough of the bad ones to get very frustrated with the entire hiker community. As with anything, it only takes a few to spoil it for the rest. With the few cases we did see or heard of, it seemed like the hikers had left Mom a little too soon as she wasn't there to take care of them.

come spend a month or so in damascus when they're all comin' through here. it's way more than just a few "spoiling it for the rest"