View Full Version : Misc updates.
The couple hiking with the five month old baby has been bouncing composting diapers up the trail.
They are also trying to concieve on the trail.
People continue to insist that they can set up tents in shelters and to make others camp a n the rain so they can take up three slots.
I've met some delightful dogs.
Before tbis section hike hike I was really hostile to dogs.
Tomight we just told a guy everyone was good with his dog sharing Rod Hollow shelter.
Mountain Home hostel in Fort Royal is incredible. They cook custom breakfasts. The pizza and ice cream was great. Shuttle service was free.
Clean and and fresh sheets, towels, a plethora of shampoos and other toiletries.
I was amazed.
Our shelter tonight has several section hikers, two tents and a guy with his dog. Just enough room for the people and the dog without using the loft for overflow.
Reading the book, 6/20 had forty though hikers at the shelter.
Tonight just a couple through hikers and a few who stopped for lunch and then moved on.
Terrible storms blowong in. We only did fifteen miles but stopped for the night early to beat the tornado watch
Also met a Serb from Canada. She hikes in a trail dress.
Seems to be hitting thirty miles a day. Sprinted up and down to the spring. Her pack weightvwith water and food was close to 12 lbs. Her secret is never carrying more than a liter of water at a time. 2lb pack, 2lb tent, two pound sleep system. Resupply and minimal food.
What exactly is the point of setting up a tent inside a shelter?
As far as I can tell the purpose is to have everyone hate you as you attempt to turn wet people away into the night in 35 degree rain.
Lone Wolf
05-01-2017, 18:25
What exactly is the point of setting up a tent inside a shelter?
fear?.......
The "lady" wanted privacy and it is slightly warmer and less drafty inside a tent v
The 65 year old section hiker who was turned away is still mad about it all.
We've shared a couple shelters with her and she is still mad about it.
Ethesis, I guess that I'm too dense to understand what's probably obvioius, but why is she mad if she got her way?
And also, by "bouncing composting diapers up the trail," do you mean they are hauling them out (hopefully)?
Fear? I dunno -- my Tarptent is made of pretty thin materials. I don't think it would protect me from much other than insects. In point of fact, it really doesn't do that great of a job keeping out rain, which always seems able to mist through the fiber. Guess I'm picky as well as dense...
She is the one who got bounced out into the rain so the other lady could take three spots with a tent. Sorry I wasn't clearer. Too many older white women in the story.
The pne who got sent into the rain just hit over a thousand miles section hiking and is the AT magazine featured artist Quill.
On the diapers they are burying them along the trail. They are also buying them in bulk and shipping them forward in bounce boxes. I was too terse.
I'm dubious about cat holes and composting diapers buried along the trail.
John-- your tarp tent won't stop rain?! Which one do you have? Going on my do not buy list.
As far as I can tell the purpose is to have everyone hate you as you attempt to turn wet people away into the night in 35 degree rain.
Grounds for a mutiny. Tent destruction.
Wayne
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Ethesis, I like my Tarptent(s). I have two -- the Rainbow and the Squall. They are sturdyish and light. I didn't care much for the Squall, though, because it feels like I have to do a snap forward roll to exit the tent. So I got the Rainbow, which is MUCH easier for ingress/egress, and is tall enough in the center to allow me to sit up. But they are single wall tents, so if you're in a hard rain, mist does come through.
FreeGoldRush
05-01-2017, 20:11
As someone with only a little exerpience backpacking and camping, and never having slept in a shelter, I am puzzled by the whole shelter tradition on the AT. There seem to be quite a few examples of frustration from people who hope for or expect a particular shelter exerpience at the end of the day. Setting up a tent takes a few minutes but it offers a lot of freedom. And then there are people who negotiate shelter space AND set up a tent? Maybe what they really wanted was a hotel room. Then you read about the snoring, the mice, the late arrivals, the people not following accepted shelter etiquette, etc. I'm in the minority but it just seems like the AT experience would be more wholesome without these three sided buildings.
Lone Wolf
05-01-2017, 20:14
As someone with only a little exerpience backpacking and camping, and never having slept in a shelter, I am puzzled by the whole shelter tradition on the AT. There seem to be quite a few examples of frustration from people who hope for or expect a particular shelter exerpience at the end of the day. Setting up a tent takes a few minutes but it offers a lot of freedom. And then there are people who negotiate shelter space AND set up a tent? Maybe what they really wanted was a hotel room. Then you read about the snoring, the mice, the late arrivals, the people not following accepted shelter etiquette, etc. I'm in the minority but it just seems like the AT experience would be more wholesome without these three sided buildings.:cool:.........................
ScareBear
05-01-2017, 20:15
People that set up tents in shelters are clueless. Truly clueless.
That said, there ARE campsites that have wood "tent platforms" so maybe they just thought a shelter was a more deluxe version?
So far no mice. One snake that has done a good job. Dogs often keep mice away as does properly bagging and hanging.
Completely waterproof. Great company
a piped spring. Level.
All three shelters ive stayed in on this hike have been great.
By 8:30 completely quiet.
There are obnoxious stories but they arent ghe motm.
We also tent camped in a storm. It went well. A hostel in Fort Royal.
Bears Den tomorrow night.
We are ahead os schedule.
But the shelter experience has been great.
People that set up tents in shelters are clueless. Truly clueless.
That said, there ARE campsites that have wood "tent platforms" so maybe they just thought a shelter was a more deluxe version?
/snerk
Vemchka -- I agree.
It saves a lot of time to use a shelter. They are level which is nice as well.
But you have to be ready for shared space. Not everyone is.
The privies are nice as well.
And with a heavy wind blowing in, a shelter can take a lot more of s blow.
weather radar shows pink zones over the ridge line coming at us. Expected severe weather. I'm grateful for the shelter
And logging off for the 8:30 curfew (though I'm posting from the park bemch thirty feet away). It has a roof too.
MuddyWaters
05-01-2017, 21:02
People that set up tents in shelters are clueless. Truly clueless.
Nope
Many hikers set up net inner in shelter if room. Many thru hiker do this too. Keeps bugs and mices away.
They arent clueless, just inconsiderate if crowded.
More than once I seen 3 or 4 thruhikers (and section) that hiked together, space themselves out in a shelter and take it over, excluding others . No net tent needed. Arseholes are all around you.
But to that, who cares? Not me. First come first served, and if you prefer shelter life you deserve whatever you get. Complainers need to grow up.
Sarcasm the elf
05-01-2017, 21:43
John-- your tarp tent won't stop rain?! Which one do you have? Going on my do not buy list.
Tarptents stop rain just fine. Most, if not all Silnylon tents can experience "misting" in heavy driving rain where an almost cloudlike vapor either gets through or forms in the tent. I've never found it to be much of an issue, but it can be a bit of a surprise to someone that is used to a traditional nylon double wall tent.
ScareBear
05-02-2017, 03:45
Nope
Many hikers set up net inner in shelter if room. Many thru hiker do this too. Keeps bugs and mices away.
They arent clueless, just inconsiderate if crowded.
More than once I seen 3 or 4 thruhikers (and section) that hiked together, space themselves out in a shelter and take it over, excluding others . No net tent needed. Arseholes are all around you.
But to that, who cares? Not me. First come first served, and if you prefer shelter life you deserve whatever you get. Complainers need to grow up.
Those mice will chew through your tent to get at anything they can eat. That's where the clueless comes from. I can't even begin to get my head around why you want your net inner in a shelter, except that it is raining outside. Still, a poor excuse, IMHO.
You literally cannot pay me to stay in a shelter, tent or no. Only in an emergency. It's not just the mice. The insects can be horrific around shelters. Food, trash, water, damp, dark, completely full craphouse. A bug's paradise....
Plus, the only scary aholes I've ever met on the AT have been at shelters when I water up there. One guy was actually "living" in the shelter...totally creepy....
Net inner in a shelter taks up no more room than sleeping pad. It not inconsiderate at all. We call them mice bivies.
ScareBear
05-02-2017, 08:45
Net inner in a shelter taks up no more room than sleeping pad. It not inconsiderate at all. We call them mice bivies.
It's all fun and games until you find mousey inside your tent and wonder....then find the entry portal....
I can't count the number of times I've heard folks bitch about mice eating thru a dry bag/backpack at a shelter. One poor thru shrieked "But I only put the damn thing on the rail for FIVE MINUTES! The stink that comes from so many shelters in the rain/damp is so icky that I just can't see wanting to be in one for anything other than putting a rain cover on the pack and warming some tea before taking off again to find a proper tent site. Of course, YMMV;)
MuddyWaters
05-02-2017, 09:01
It's all fun and games until you find mousey inside your tent and wonder....then find the entry portal....
;)
Not a concern
Even with a hole, its serviceable
Gear is gear, it will wear and tear
Better than having them run across face
Dribbling their incontinent pee and poops
And its great fun to send them flying for distance when theres one on the netting
The couple hiking with the five month old baby has been bouncing composting diapers up the trail.
They are also trying to concieve on the trail.
People continue to insist that they can set up tents in shelters and to make others camp a n the rain so they can take up three slots.
I've met some delightful dogs.
Before tbis section hike hike I was really hostile to dogs.
Tomight we just told a guy everyone was good with his dog sharing Rod Hollow shelter.
Mountain Home hostel in Fort Royal is incredible. They cook custom breakfasts. The pizza and ice cream was great. Shuttle service was free.
Clean and and fresh sheets, towels, a plethora of shampoos and other toiletries.
I was amazed. On the night of September 17, 2003 my life changed at the Rod Hollow Shelter when Hurricane Isabel hit. I became a believer of God hands down that night.............
ldsailor
05-02-2017, 16:00
But they are single wall tents, so if you're in a hard rain, mist does come through.
I have the Rainbow and bought the liner to go with it. Without the liner, you get condensation on the inside of the tent that drips down on you. In a heavy rain, the rain drops knock off the condensation so hard it can seem like it's raining inside the tent. I assume you sealed the tent seams. They are not sealed when you get the tent from Tarptent.
ldsailor
05-02-2017, 16:20
More than once I seen 3 or 4 thruhikers (and section) that hiked together, space themselves out in a shelter and take it over, excluding others . No net tent needed. Arseholes are all around you.
Never had this problem. If I want to stay in a shelter and a couple of guys are spread out, I don't ask, I tell the guys to move over and if they dont, I move them over. Never have seen someone setup a tent in a shelter, so it's hard to guage a reaction to it.
I don't like shelters for all the reasons hashed out already, but sometimes they can be preferable. Rain, sloping terrain at tent sites or the need to quicky get away in the morning are all reasons I'll look for a spot in a shelter.
Rod Hollow was clean, no insects, everyone hung their backpacks on the anti-mice hooks and food on the near pole.
I dont doubt that later in the season it will get worse. When the privy overflowed last year I bet it was horrid
no mice all night. May have been the dog. No insects other than ticks.
I have the Rainbow and bought the liner to go with it. Without the liner, you get condensation on the inside of the tent that drips down on you. In a heavy rain, the rain drops knock off the condensation so hard it can seem like it's raining inside the tent. I assume you sealed the tent seams. They are not sealed when you get the tent from Tarptent.
Glad to learn more about the tarp tents.
Heliotrope
05-02-2017, 22:44
Not a concern
Even with a hole, its serviceable
Gear is gear, it will wear and tear
Better than having them run across face
Dribbling their incontinent pee and poops
And its great fun to send them flying for distance when theres one on the netting
Thanks for the visual. ;) Incontinent mice running across the face.
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Bears Den hostel was great. A couple guys doing work for stay. They did so much work they were invited back any time they would like.
More february start through hikers. Some from Being by loved it when temps dropped to the 49s.
At another shelter just north north on the Blackburn Yrail Center. The .2 mikes to the spring are on a two for one sale.
Has a swing. Swept it out when we got here. No sign of mice.
Bear spore everywhere tearing into trees trees to eat termites.
Sounds to me like this lady was already in the shelter since you say she 'gave up her space.' Which means she did so voluntarily and she has nothing to be angry about. She could have just as easily said "first come, first served. I was here first. Feel free to set up your tent next to the shelter." They are going to have a long hike if they expect everybody to make special allowances for them because they decided to bring a 5 month old baby on a hiking trip. If you aren't prepared to meet the baby's needs then you shouldn't have brought the baby out there and its nobody else's responsibility to feel obligated to save space for them in the shelter.
Sorry if things got conflated.
The couple with the baby had no problems with any shelters I know of.
The woman with the tent took up three shelter spaces and refused to give up any space. Forced the last two people to go back out into the rain rather than take her oversized tent down.
Insisted that first come, first served.
Changing topics.
Just made it to Harpers Ferry with a flip flopped finishing their through hike.
My wife took her and some others out to lunch.
We fly home shortly. But it has been a great section hike.
Dumped off the last of our food and fuel in the hiker box.
Decided I'd just have a late lunch rather than eat the last pop tarts and knorr side.
Traveler
05-05-2017, 07:18
As someone with only a little exerpience backpacking and camping, and never having slept in a shelter, I am puzzled by the whole shelter tradition on the AT. There seem to be quite a few examples of frustration from people who hope for or expect a particular shelter exerpience at the end of the day. Setting up a tent takes a few minutes but it offers a lot of freedom. And then there are people who negotiate shelter space AND set up a tent? Maybe what they really wanted was a hotel room. Then you read about the snoring, the mice, the late arrivals, the people not following accepted shelter etiquette, etc. I'm in the minority but it just seems like the AT experience would be more wholesome without these three sided buildings.
Using shelters in high season during the bubble months can be, in a word, miserable and present all of the circumstances noted above never mind other nuisances. While I agree shelters can be a not-so-pleasant places at times, they do serve an important function.
The value of these shelters comes to mind when bad weather blows in delivering snow measured in feet, driving rain, damaging wind, and thunderstorms with hail. Over the years I have found a few people who were well into hypothermia, who had managed to find a shelter to dry off and warm up. It doesn't matter at the time why they were in that situation, what matters is the shelter provided what it was supposed to.
Shelters are also waypoints used by a lot of people when hiking with others. They provide an easily recognizable place to stop and wait for trail-mates or group to reassemble, determine if someone is missing, or to just have a meal. While some may be able to locate less noticeable waypoints using a map/compass/gps, the vast majority of people using the trail do not have that level of skill to find that rock, tree, or specific overlook.
However, the chief reason shelters are important to the AT is increased trail traffic and the heavy damage to the trail and environment around it. With this circumstance comes the need to consolidate high use like where people will spend the night, cook, or need sanitary facilities. Consolidation of these uses tends to keep the damage caused by these activities to a much smaller area, making the effects of use easier to manage.
Sometimes its difficult to accept shelters as a beneficial part of the AT landscape when people who do not know any better use them for parties, pet petting, pontificating, pooping, and playing musical instruments (usually poorly). Coming into a shelter as quarter size hail is ripping leaves out of trees and joining a few others huddled in it, few of them would agree it should be removed.
Francis Sawyer
05-05-2017, 09:14
Wouldn't burying trash along the trail be considered illegal ?
theinfamousj
05-09-2017, 14:30
I work a day job as a nanny and work for generally organic-feeding crunchy granola folks. I have met composting diapers. If you don't change baby quickly enough, the diapers will decompose on the little one. (don't ask how I know) They are little more than fancy, shaped toilet paper, but less processed.
The poop inside the diaper on the other hand, will take longer to break down.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
I work a day job as a nanny and work for generally organic-feeding crunchy granola folks. I have met composting diapers. If you don't change baby quickly enough, the diapers will decompose on the little one. (don't ask how I know) They are little more than fancy, shaped toilet paper, but less processed.
The poop inside the diaper on the other hand, will take longer to break down.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
That is scary.
Car camping for Mother's Day.
Sure different than backpacking. Fun though.
Lots of good food and good company.