What happens to shelter logs?

[Fog Horn]

I'm assuming they put new ones out each year (could totally be wrong about this) but I was wondering what happens to the shelter logs each year. Are they archived? Are they transcribed or scanned in and available to view online anywhere? Perhaps just discarded? Does anyone know?

I think it would be a really awesome experience to thru hike, and then be able to scan through the trails shelter logs afterward.

[fiddlehead]

In the old days (80's?) whoever put the log books there would have a page at the end with their address and hoped that whoever finished them would mail them back and they would be their property.
However, I think that is no longer the case.
I believe somehow the ATC claims them. Under what grounds i have no idea but perhaps safety comes into the game here.

I know my buddy placed them already and the FBI came for them. THis was after a problem somewhere and he no longer places them. They never returned anything of course.

[Croft]

The trail maintaining group for each shelter places and collects the shelter logs. Don't know what's done with them after that.

[Cabin Fever]

In northeast Tennessee, most logs ended up with the shelter's maintainer. Some ended back up with the club, but there is no formal process for sending them to ATC or saving them.

[mweinstone]

i thaught you ment the wooden logs the shelters built from.i was like, you wanna save the carved names in the logs? and you think we replace them each year?lol.

[Fog Horn]

i thaught you ment the wooden logs the shelters built from.i was like, you wanna save the carved names in the logs? and you think we replace them each year?lol.

Thats what I like about you Matty, you think outside the box!

[Old Hillwalker]

Thats what I like about you Matty, you think outside the box!

I think you mean, outside the shelter

Hi Matty!

[Lone Wolf]

I'm assuming they put new ones out each year (could totally be wrong about this) but I was wondering what happens to the shelter logs each year. Are they archived? Are they transcribed or scanned in and available to view online anywhere? Perhaps just discarded? Does anyone know?

I think it would be a really awesome experience to thru hike, and then be able to scan through the trails shelter logs afterward.

i've got a few.

[Bearpaw]

I left one at Mark Noepel Shelter on the southern slope of Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts when I thru-hiked in 99. About four months later, I got the full register in the mail. Great souvenir.

[Fog Horn]

I left one at Mark Noepel Shelter on the southern slope of Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts when I thru-hiked in 99. About four months later, I got the full register in the mail. Great souvenir.

So then do you just bring a book with you, and then leave it at the very first empty shelter you find, or do you have to okay it with a group first? I'd love a souvenir like this.

[Awol1970]

So then do you just bring a book with you, and then leave it at the very first empty shelter you find, or do you have to okay it with a group first? I'd love a souvenir like this.

What is the VERY worse thing that could happen? Just bring a notebook with your address in it, leave it underneath the existing one, and see what happens. You either get it in 6 mos or so or you don't. But def worth the effort i would think.

[fredmugs]

In Mar 2009 the maintainer at Bald Mtn Shelter asked me to bring a notebook and leave it at the shelter which I did. It was cool to have the first entry but I would never want to have the completed book.

It would be nice if they were scanned and maintained by the ATC.

[Pedaling Fool]

In the old days (80's?) whoever put the log books there would have a page at the end with their address and hoped that whoever finished them would mail them back and they would be their property.
However, I think that is no longer the case.
I believe somehow the ATC claims them. Under what grounds i have no idea but perhaps safety comes into the game here.

I know my buddy placed them already and the FBI came for them. THis was after a problem somewhere and he no longer places them. They never returned anything of course.

I left one at Mark Noepel Shelter on the southern slope of Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts when I thru-hiked in 99. About four months later, I got the full register in the mail. Great souvenir.

What is the VERY worse thing that could happen? Just bring a notebook with your address in it, leave it underneath the existing one, and see what happens. You either get it in 6 mos or so or you don't. But def worth the effort i would think.

I get the impression that people used to do this in the past {Carry a book to leave at a shelter}. However, I also get the impression that this _________ (not sure if I can call it a tradition) has died. And today if anyone were to leave a book w/ their address they'd be very lucky to ever see it again.

I've also heard that maintaining clubs are starting to collect them more often today; I don't understand that reasoning. I've heard it was a way to improve their services, by reading the collected registers...give me a break

Is this one of the dying quirks of the AT?


.

[Bearpaw]

So then do you just bring a book with you, and then leave it at the very first empty shelter you find, or do you have to okay it with a group first? I'd love a souvenir like this.

You carry it with you, and when you find a shelter with either no register or a full register you leave yours. In my case, I noted in my register all the hikers that had been through in the last couple of weeks (so those behind would know far ahead old friends have gotten) and then I carried out and mailed the full register.

[Cosmo]

In Mass, we use the shelter registers to estimate the amount of use--not that helpful for raw numbers, since not all visitors use them--but it gives us a pretty fair season-to-season idea of use trends.

We typically replace them in November, after the bulk of the season is over. What really frosts my ass is when people take them mid-season and leave their own. Not only is it a problem for the Club, but hikers tend to rely on the information in the registers. It can be important info like "there's a wasp nest by the water source" or less critical info like "I wuz here". In either case, it's pretty rude to take that info for yourself.

Very rarely, they are useful for "lost hiker" notices we get once or twice in the summer. Turns out that most aren't lost, they just didn't get a chance (or chose not to) to call home.

Lately, we have been taking the collected registers to the ATC Biennial and putting them into the Appalachian Trail Museum auction, where the batch fetches a few dollars.

Cosmo

[leaftye]

I think it would be nice for those logs to be scanned and posted online.

[Fog Horn]

I think it would be nice for those logs to be scanned and posted online.

This is what I was thinking as well. Or at least the one at Springer and the one at Katahdin. It would make a great souvenir for anyone who thru hiked, give one a sense of accomplishment, and hey, if they were willing to scan it in, then print up a copy of the two registrars, it could generate some more money for the organization to help maintain the trails.

[Doc]

I'm amused by the comments that "they" should scan the books or "they" should do something else. I suspect that any maintaining club would welcome someone to step forward and volunteer to scan the shelter registers or to do other needed chores on the trail. Lest we forget, the trail is mostly maintained by volunteers who struggle to keep up with the demands of keeping the trail safe, passable, and an inspiration for those who use it.

[The Cleaner]

I left one at Jerry's Cabin Sbelter on 10-23.Upon returning there on 12-31, it was not there.I think local *%&#@!! bear hunters destroyed it.Does anyone remember the original new Flint Mtn. Shelter,built about 1984?That same group burned that shelter down.Also about the same time period they put about 50 hatchet holes in the roof at Jerry's Cabin.These guys are a real piece of work.

[Fog Horn]

I'm amused by the comments that "they" should scan the books or "they" should do something else. I suspect that any maintaining club would welcome someone to step forward and volunteer to scan the shelter registers or to do other needed chores on the trail. Lest we forget, the trail is mostly maintained by volunteers who struggle to keep up with the demands of keeping the trail safe, passable, and an inspiration for those who use it.

I would totally volunteer to do this. I do graphic design and think I could do a fantastic job of it. However, I am completely new to this AT tradition, so I don't know the inner workings of it, hence this thread. If the trail logs of Springer, maybe a mid point, and then Katahdin were sent to me, I'd make one heck of a year book from it in no time and send it to the AT Conservancy for them to sell.

I'd volunteer for this in a heartbeat. The problem, imo, is that no one seems to know who the trail logs belong to? I'm not fully understanding how this whole thing works aside from a hodge podge take your chances and you might get lucky sort of thing.