The Cabin - Andover

[pauly_j]

Everyone was raving about this place so I stayed on my way through. I just wanted to share a different experience that I had to the rosy one everyone seems to have had.

I got in a little later than I would have liked (due to waiting for a hitch at a dead roadside for 90 minutes) but I wouldn't have thought 7:30pm would be an issue and it didn't seem to be at the time.

I arrived promptly for the 7am breakfast at 6:55, after which the owner (Earl) asked if I would be going with everyone else who was hiking that day to the trailhead at 7:30am, and if I wanted to slackpack with them. I explained that I didn't want to slack as I was carrying my pack the whole way and I wanted to finish my (still wet) laundry and read and rest until around noon when I would make my own way back to the trail and hike the 10 miles to the next Andover road and make my own way back to the hostel because it was such a nice place I wanted to stay another night. I made it very clear I did not expect them to take me anywhere and that I would be back in time for dinner (6pm...).

It was then that Earl (I think they call him Bear?) got nasty with me and started accusing me of being selfish and only thinking of myself and not them. He then said that I'd arrived late the night before and disturbed them (not true - his wife was on the computer upstairs and the rest of the hikers were watching movies until gone 10:30pm) and hadn't been on time for breakfast in the morning (not true either), and that now I wanted to do my own thing and disturb them again. His wife was trying to tell him that he was mistaken but he wouldn't listen and ended with telling me I wasn't welcome and I should sleep in the woods that night.

I left them a note (as they were shuttling when I left) explaining what had happened, apologising if I had done anything wrong without knowing, and letting them know how upset I was that I had gone over 1900 miles without a single confrontation and then get told by a hostel that I'm not welcome for absolutely no reason. I also left my contact details in case they wished to apologise for any misunderstanding on their part and for the way Earl had acted but they have not so I'm posting this here to warn others. I spoke about it with other hikers who were at the hostel later down the trail and they thought it was very weird.

If you want to do their thing and get dropped off at the trailhead at 7:30am, go for it. It's a lovely place and the food is great. If you want to hike your own hike, this may not be the place for you.

From speaking to his wife's son, Earl may be having some age-related confusion and sundowning anger in the early morn or eve. I also heard about him giving another hiker **** for being 5 minutes late for dinner.

Very unpleasant experience and if you're not prepared to let a hiker do his own thing, you have no place in the hiking community in my opinion. As it happened, I got out of there two hours earlier than I wanted, overtook the slackpackers who had left two hours previously, and did the 10 mile section (with a long lunch break) in under 5 hours. I WOULD HAVE BEEN BACK IN TIME FOR DINNER.

Rant over.

Anyone else have a similar experience here? Or any other hostels which normally get good reviews?

There seem to be a few older hostel owners who should maybe think about retiring and want things done their way or the highway (cough*unclejonnys).

[Starchild]

Sad if true, hoping Bear the best.

[chknfngrs]

Dunno what to make of it, but sounds odd. Kinda sounded like he wanted hikers out of the way.

[TJ aka Teej]

Anyone else have a similar experience here?

Nope. Just you.

[Sparkeh]

Is the "Cabin" the one that is advertised as alumni hikers only?

[10-K]

Interesting... I was through there in 2010 and was glad to leave too. I would describe the atmosphere as "frosty" and Earl had bees in his bonnet when I was there too.

[Jeff]

Not to make excuses...

but, as the hiker season begins to wind down, service providers who work 7 days a week can be at the end of their rope.

[mrcoffeect]

earl suffered a stroke a few years ago, and could have lasting side effects. my father was far more prone to outbursts of anger after he suffered a stroke. it can basicly change who you are

[egilbe]

earl suffered a stroke a few years ago, and could have lasting side effects. my father was far more prone to outbursts of anger after he suffered a stroke. it can basicly change who you are

People's personalities can be changed by strokes. Nice people can become mean and nasty, and nasty people can become as sweet as pie.

[tiptoe]

Wow. I stayed at The Cabin just a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't have had a better experience. Honey, Bear, Hopper, and Don were warm, helpful, accommodating and courteous hostel hosts. I don't slackpack, either, and have never felt pressured not to hike my own hike. Running a hiker hostel is very demanding, as Jeff said.

[gwb]

I had an odd stay there to say the least and witnessed similar behavior.

[Rain Man]

I and my hiking partners (6 total) stayed there last year, three nights total each separated by a night in the woods.

Our experience was the exact opposite of yours, pauly, to say the least.

I'm a bit "confused" when you decide for Earl whether or not your late arrival disturbed him. Unless you're a mind-reader, that's a pompous claim, not to mention conveniently self-serving, which undermines the rest of your side of the story.

I feel the same about dog owners who declare that "nobody" had any problems with their dog. Again, until they can prove to me their mind-reading abilities, they just shot themselves in the foot in my opinion.

Perhaps well that you honestly end admitting it's a rant. Hopefully, this won't ever happen to you again. Sorry you had the experience no matter if there are two sides to every story.

Earl is a crusty, elderly, generous gentleman. You and I may be too some day?

[History2005]

You're not alone, pauly_j. Stayed there for a few days in September '05 and had a bizarre experience that our group still makes references to whenever we see each other today.

Like many others, we had heard nothing but good things about The Cabin. At first, Earl was very friendly, and the food and accommodations were so great that we decided to turn what was going to be just a single night into a multi-day slack pack stay. I found their slack-packing service to be a bit expensive for what you got, but we were nearing the end of the hike and figured why not take advantage of it since it was the last such opportunity. There were about 10 of us there, and we sort of set up shop in the basement - filling up the fridge with lots of hiker goodies from the store and wearing their odd wardrobe of clothes they had stored in a side closet. "There's lots of fun wigs in there," Earl had said.

It must have been sometime during Day 2 of our stay that things got weird. It rained that day and we took what Earl referred to as an "act of God day" and just watched movies and chilled. But that evening, as they were preparing dinner in the kitchen, some hikers had overheard Earl complaining to Margie that no one had paid for their stay and everyone was taking advantage of him and that we needed to just move on if all we were going to do was lay around and not hike. Like everything else we would soon learn about Earl, this was his passive aggressive way of compensating for the Cabin's lack of clear communication for what they expect from hikers. We were never asked to pay for our stay up front - in fact, he insisted we wait until we were ready to leave to settle up. And he had suggested we take the day off!

Most of us slack packed on Day 3, but a few stayed behind for more rest. This only further added to Earl's perception that we (or at least some of us) were being lazy. At some point during the day, Earl snuck into the hiker kitchen and surveyed the contents of the fridge. We had all chipped in and bought a case of beer the night before. When he discovered this, it might as well have been as if he'd found a kilo of cocaine stashed under one of our beds. Now, I can confidently say that the group I was with at the time was made up of some of the most respectful and quite folks on the trail that year. We were not a rowdy crowd by any stretch. In fact, we actively avoided those groups. But seeing that beer in the fridge, after having never told us this was against the rules, set him off. When we all returned later that afternoon, he began to seriously express that we had collectively decided to end our trip there at the Cabin and basically invade his place with debauchery. That, after hiking 2000 miles, we had suddenly lost our drive after drinking a few beers and taking a day off, and that we had moved in to The Cabin for good. We all started looking at each other like - "*** is happening?" Best of all, he started making references to "old tapes" that kept playing in his head, an apparent reference to a previous experience. It was then that we started putting everything together. He'd had a bad experience with another group that came through, and he was projecting those feelings of paranoia onto our group who had done nothing but be respectful of him and his property since we arrived.

That night we decided to try and calm the situation by gathering all the money we owed for our stay up to that point and handing it to him. This was a good-faith gesture to try and reassure him that we were not trying to do anything but have a normal stay and that we would be gone the next day. That didn't seem to matter. Someone had eaten some of the ice cream he kept stored in the main freezer upstairs. "At least one of you is still stealing from us," he said. Nevermind he had clearly stated in front of everyone that there was ice cream in the freezer for anyone who wanted it, and all you had to do was add it to your tally of what was owed, which the "thief" in question had done.

It probably doesn't reflect in these few anecdotes, but it was just a really strange, tense experience for everyone there, and we couldn't get out of there fast enough the next day. Looking back on it, it was one of more amusing memories from the trail, but when we were actually there I felt like we were in an episode of the Twilight Zone where nothing made sense and everything we did was wrong.

I can also echo the original poster's experience about how bizarrely strict they are about their shuttle/slack-packing service. One of the girl's in our group had a friend who had been shuttling us through Maine, and when we tried to use him as our slack pack shuttle they got really upset and claimed that wasn't part of the deal. Of course, what they really meant was, "you're eating into our cash flow." Which is understandable, considering how good a deal it was to stay there and eat their dinners, they probably were barely breaking even with the lodging/meals. It was that, again, none of this was communicated. Part of what they expect from you (but don't actually say, of course) is that, as a thru-hiker, part of your duty is to surrender yourself to the Cabin experience and be completely on their schedule and use their services exclusively, or you're on their **** list. None of this is even implied, you're just supposed to know that.

Earl came across as a bipolar personality who was your best friend one moment, and then suddenly you were the scum of the earth. This was long before he had any major health problems, so I think it's just part of his personality. I've wondered if we had been there a few weeks earlier or a few weeks later if we'd had a totally different experience. That's entirely possible.

Having recounted all this I have nothing but well wishes for The Cabin. I'm glad most folks have had a better experience, and there is definitely something to be said for people being "at the end of their rope" by that point in time. I can't imagine managing a popular hostel. At the same time, why even do it if it's going to turn you in to a crabby, passive aggressive basket case? There are better ways to spend your golden years.

[10-K]

Earl came across as a bipolar personality who was your best friend one moment, and then suddenly you were the scum of the earth. This was long before he had any major health problems, so I think it's just part of his personality.


This is exactly my experience. I didn't go into any detail in my post above but this sums it up. I definitely didn't cause them any trouble of any sort and Earl still had a "you're in the way when are you leaving" then "you're my friend" switch flipping on and off while I was there.

I remember one time in particular where he pretty much berated me then showed up with a smile and a pot of coffee when he picked me up from a slackpack.

Long before his stroke.

I'm not ragging on the guy, I don't really care one way or the other because I'm not responsible for how others behave. This is just a recount of my experience.

[Praha4]

Reminds me of some other "hostel" folks along the AT who displayed similar split-personalities in the past.... in other cases the Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde episodes were usually brought on by alcohol consumption. Mr. Hyde usually appeared as more alcohol was consumed. My father suffered a stroke too....and depending on what parts of the brain are affected by the stroke, the person's personality can change in a major way.

98% of my AT and LT hostel visits have been 4 to 5-STAR experiences. Any business where u deal with the public can tax your nerves at times.

[TBoneWalker]

I spent some time at The Cabin in 1998 when it was pretty new. Even spent a couple nights there with Earl Shaffer on his 50th anniversary thru, swapping songs and listening to his trail stories. I'm honestly surprised to read that they are still operating. In those days my impression was that Bear liked to have hikers for drinking company, and Margie was not quite as enthusiastic about it.
I have fond memories of the place, but it sounds like they may need to hang it up. I might get resentful too after 20 years of sharing my home with thru hikers.

[dudeijuststarted]

AT hostels can get weird. The AT would be nothing without bizarre experiences! Who else walks around in the woods for a vocation and lets a dozen strangers into their home every night? I had a good experience at the cabin, but can see what you all mean. I was in brutal condition after coming SOBO into Andover in the pitch dark after a long day with little food. Earl had picked me up and hooked me up with a slackpack the next day in exchange for stacking wood for just an hour. The son was also very nice and quite funny. The cabin provides the best meal on the AT (although if you were lucky enough to get Vanessa Breton from Salisbury to cook for you, you were in heaven, she's a private chef!)

Honey and Bear are getting up there in years, they've worked alot of magic for alot of people. Some hostels have no excuse yet continue to divide. I know of one in New England that verbally expresses disdain for southbounders while doing drugs and being hours late for shuttle runs. The cabin is paradise compared to that place.

[pilgrimskywheel]

What if there were no hostels? Hikers would actually have to camp free in the woods! AHHHHHHH!!! Hosteliers would have to leave the house and get town jobs I guess and pass up thousands of dollars a year in tax free cash that just kinda wanders into the yard! AHHHHHH!!! Yep, thousands. If 3000 thru-hikers pass through your place every year and they each spend $20 that's $60k, add shuttles, add soda and candy, etc. Boom! Not bad when you consider that most folks in Appalachia are working like dogs just to stay broke. (I'm pretty sure the combined average annual income per household is like 26k in Appalachia.) So, why are they so grumpy? (Because hikers are needy, and often seem daft after a long day.) And, who's helping who here? I'm amused by the wonky myths of the A.T. where everyone is purported to be a struggling hiker-loving saint selflessly "supporting" hikers for a small donation. Nope, not everyone - mostly just Bob. I'm particularly amused by the "Hey, I'm doing you a huge favor here!" mentality which is pervasive in certain areas. I'm actually doing you a huge favor when I give you $20 to stay in your barn. Want to avoid drama? Seek solitude in the wilderness and sleep in your tent - it doesn't cost a dime.

[LuckyMan]

Thanks for the warnings - I'm in rangely headed south and definitely won't be staying at the Cabin.

[Slo-go'en]

I doubt any hostel puts up 3000 hikers in a year. A typical hostel can handle 10 to 20 people at a time and the season is only a couple months long. So, lets go with the high end, 20 per night for 60 days, that's 1200 hikers. So, maybe they pull in 24K. Still not a bad income, but taxes, car payments/repairs, utilities and so on comes out of that too. Depending on location, some hostels probably do better then that, but I bet many do less.

And yea, they are doing you a favor. 20 bucks for a bed, shower and ride to town for resupply. That's one heck of a deal.



What if there were no hostels? Hikers would actually have to camp free in the woods! AHHHHHHH!!! Hosteliers would have to leave the house and get town jobs I guess and pass up thousands of dollars a year in tax free cash that just kinda wanders into the yard! AHHHHHH!!! Yep, thousands. If 3000 thru-hikers pass through your place every year and they each spend $20 that's $60k, add shuttles, add soda and candy, etc. Boom! Not bad when you consider that most folks in Appalachia are working like dogs just to stay broke. (I'm pretty sure the combined average annual income per household is like 26k in Appalachia.) So, why are they so grumpy? (Because hikers are needy, and often seem daft after a long day.) And, who's helping who here? I'm amused by the wonky myths of the A.T. where everyone is purported to be a struggling hiker-loving saint selflessly "supporting" hikers for a small donation. Nope, not everyone - mostly just Bob. I'm particularly amused by the "Hey, I'm doing you a huge favor here!" mentality which is pervasive in certain areas. I'm actually doing you a huge favor when I give you $20 to stay in your barn. Want to avoid drama? Seek solitude in the wilderness and sleep in your tent - it doesn't cost a dime.