Is partying so frequent.

[English Stu]

I am 1000+miler and was planning another section hike next in May from the UK-Daleville to Harpers Ferry. I get the impression that Partying groups are very prevalent;even on YouTube saying how contact is inevitable. I did came across one instance when I was last over there. I am no prude- I was in San Francisco in the Sixties-just don't want it now. Coming across music booming out would not suit me.

Can I avoid it by keeping away from the shelters and hostels. I very rarely slept in a shelter but meeting other folk was fine for a chat and water.

I could go on the PCT or the Colorado trail but I do have AT fever.

[Lone Wolf]

yup. stay away from shelters and cheap hostels

[Puddlefish]

I hiked April 7th to June 7th or so, there wasn't any music booming out. There were quite a few very loud groups at the campfire that lasted anywhere from 9:00 pm to 1:00 am. Camping far away from the shelters usually helped in avoiding these idiots, but not always.

There are a lot of unofficial campsites 10 to 50 feet off the trail, and most of them have campfire rings. Many of the official tenting sites near the shelters are littered with multiple campfire rings. In some areas there's just not much level ground, and tents are just flat out crowded anywhere, you never know when some group is going to roll up next to you, light up a fire and keep you awake all night.

All this said, go do the hike anyway. Avoid the idiots when possible, and keep a positive attitude when you can't avoid them.

I'm starting to rant against campfires it seems, but there's really near zero campfire etiquette and safety practiced. Not one campfire pit was ever doused, or properly attended until it burned out. There would be multiple fire rings, and seemingly new rings would be started with the old one filled with ash. A few people did sit quietly around fires, but there seems to be some sort of switch in the average hiker's brain that sees a campfire and assumes everyone within a square mile wants to hear them party.

[moldy]

Chose your mates chose your fate. The party crowd is very easy to avoid. Pick your trail friends carefully and you will have no trouble. The party birds tend to gather in small flocks. I'm a shelter rat and it's rare for me to move on because the flock arrives. Even at shelters the party flocks try to remove themselves a distance from the shelter if illegal drugs are involved. Many times the party birds are not even hikers, they are townies looking to hide out at a shelter that is near a road. Avoiding them is easy.

[Slo-go'en]

One instance of finding partying going on does not sound like a pervasive problem to me.

Mostly the problem is blown way out of proportion. It's of course possible to encounter an annoying group or person, especially at places with easy access on the weekends but I wouldn't call it a frequent problem. In fact, I think it's pretty rare from my experience.

The fat guy who snores all night and so loud it shakes the floor, camp group kids who are out of control or the guy who gets up before dawn and takes the next 2 hours getting ready inside the shelter are the most common problems.

[colorado_rob]

I DID try to avoid the super-popular shelters, and I tent-camped about 75% of the time (many times at shelters), but Like Slogoen says, this is blown way out of proportion, IMHO. On the entire AT, I was "bothered" by "excessive" partying maybe twice, once at Standing Bear (avoid), the other time in Erwin's hostel (is that Uncle Johnnies?), right smack in the bubble.

A bit of snoring here and there, and some LOUD folks ranting about their accomplishments here and there, but otherwise, pretty darn peaceful.

I did see/sleep near TONS of noisy Boy Scout groups (how can a group of thirty 12 year old boys NOT be noisy?) but seeing kids that age getting into this stuff makes my heart so glad, I refused to let that bother me.

[Hikingjim]

north of daleville isn't exactly party central. I don't see how you'll have any issues if you avoid some shelters and hostels

I did about 130 miles down that way in May this year and had zero issues.

[Puddlefish]

I DID try to avoid the super-popular shelters, and I tent-camped about 75% of the time (many times at shelters), but Like Slogoen says, this is blown way out of proportion, IMHO. On the entire AT, I was "bothered" by "excessive" partying maybe twice, once at Standing Bear (avoid), the other time in Erwin's hostel (is that Uncle Johnnies?), right smack in the bubble.

A bit of snoring here and there, and some LOUD folks ranting about their accomplishments here and there, but otherwise, pretty darn peaceful.

I did see/sleep near TONS of noisy Boy Scout groups (how can a group of thirty 12 year old boys NOT be noisy?) but seeing kids that age getting into this stuff makes my heart so glad, I refused to let that bother me.


Yes, Uncle Johnny goes home in the evenings and let's the place go wild.

[Mags]

I did see/sleep near TONS of noisy Boy Scout groups (how can a group of thirty 12 year old boys NOT be noisy?) but seeing kids that age getting into this stuff makes my heart so glad, I refused to let that bother me.

A few years ago, the wife and I did a winter trip to Black Canyon.

There was a Boyscout Klondike Derby that evening.

As with you, it was nice to see boyscouts out and about (in winter no less!) with their parents.

Also, as with you, there was no way I wanted to be near them at night. :D I remember what I was like as a 12 yr old boy scout afterall...

A NPS ranger told us about a nice BLM site near the park we could use that evening.

The following evening we camped at the park in one of the sites already dug out by said boyscouts.

As Rob said, tent to avoid the party spots. And I suspect most of the really heavy partying is before Damascus in any case.

[Patrickjd9]

As Rob said, tent to avoid the party spots. And I suspect most of the really heavy partying is before Damascus in any case.
As someone who has done spring section hikes of most of the southern AT, I think you're right about partying thinning out north of Damascus. Maybe Trail Days gets it out of their systems.

[-Rush-]

The party herd is always around up until trail days, and that seems to be their main focus.. to get to trail days. Luckily, these types yellow blaze a lot of the trail anyway, so you're likely not going to encounter many of them on tougher sections or remote stretches of the trail. A ton of them bail out at the NOC and skip to Fontana. From there they bail at Newfound Gap to Gatlinburg, if they don't skip GSMNP entirely, and end up somewhere just south of Damascus. I'd wager 99% of them go home after trail days. Having said that, there's still going to be potheads on the trail the entire way, but they are mostly low key and usually decent folk from my experience.

[MuddyWaters]

Wherever theres large groups

There will form a cluster of like minded, obnoxious douchebags

If you choose to hang around groups of 50 at shelters, you get what you should expect.
There will likely be a few in the crowd.

If you dont, you wont.

But you may need to be more than 1/2 mile not to hear them.

Big difference between people that quietly "relax", and people that infringe on others.

[evyck da fleet]

Overblown. Avoid shelters and campsites near roads where the party crowd including locals can get dropped off with a case or two of beer. There are plenty of hostels run by churches or out of peoples' houses that don't put up with that stuff. Keep in mind if you actually complete your hike you will have spend about 150-180 nights on the trail and will probably have a handful of nights where a party crowd keeps you up until 1am if you aren't careful and a handful of nights where if you stay in shelters a snorer will keep you up all night. You'll hear from other hikers if there's a party crowd around and they should be avoidable.

[Jeff]

There are plenty of hostels run by churches or out of peoples' houses that don't put up with that stuff.

Several newer hostels are stating right up front in AWOL and The Companion "Not a party place".

[English Stu]

Thanks for the replies. I get the picture; as before I will avoid the shelters and campsites near roads.
When I did a section including the 100 mile Wilderness I teamed up with some thru hikers. We met a group that the Thrus had seen many times before but never on the trail but getting in and out of cars which is what they were doing when I saw them.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Several newer hostels are stating right up front in AWOL and The Companion "Not a party place".

I'll second that had an absolutely great time staying with you all last month.

[Lone Wolf]

We met a group that the Thrus had seen many times before but never on the trail but getting in and out of cars which is what they were doing when I saw them.

there's quite a few well known, so-called "trail angels" with vans and buses that yellow-blaze folks all the way to the big K

[Hangfire]

There are definitely a few shelters to avoid if you are in the thick of the hikers. My top 3 Shelters to avoid (northbound) would be Sassafras Gap(NC), Partnership(VA), and Velvet Rocks(NH). All of these shelters lie directly at of just past major towns which means that people can get drunk in town and stumble to the shelter or bring their own booze to the shelter and share the misery with everyone in the vicinity. Of course there are many more shelters that can attract this kind of bad attention, but these ones hold special bad memories for me :-)...

Pay close attention to your book and you can figure out pretty easily which are the hot spot, but sometimes it just comes down to bad luck...if you're out there long enough it will find you!

[cneill13]

What a bunch of Nancies,,, everyone of you must sit to take a pee

I party extremely hard on the trail. But I keep it on the low down. And I bet I can still out hike you.

One thing we are that you are are not is fun.

HYOH.

[4shot]

What a bunch of Nancies,,, everyone of you must sit to take a pee

I party extremely hard on the trail. But I keep it on the low down. And I bet I can still out hike you.

One thing we are that you are are not is fun.

HYOH.

Party on bro. Nobody really cares what anyone else on the trail does or does not do as long as it doesn't interfere with their own hike. We don't care who is drunk or stoned. What we do care about is people who are loud, vulgar boorish and/or those who vandalize and leave trash all over the place. The motto for those of us who, I suppose, are not as fun or cool is HYOH as long as it doesn't interfere with my hike.

[Traveler]

What a bunch of Nancies,,, everyone of you must sit to take a pee

I party extremely hard on the trail. But I keep it on the low down. And I bet I can still out hike you.

One thing we are that you are are not is fun.

HYOH.

By your description, do you just roll over to? :D Just had to ask before Rocket did.

Though the OP had a legitimate question in how to avoid the party scene, which doesn't necessarily have to be loud, low noise into 1 am is still noise. Answers are pretty much spot on, avoid larger groups to sleep near unless there is no other choice and one can probably miss the mess.