Vandeventer Shelter

[Former Admin]

Info, questions, comments, experiences (good or bad) regarding - Vandeventer Shelter

Past/Present hikers - what can future hikers expect here? Have any good stories or memories from here?

Future hikers - any questions?

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[Jumpstart]

All I rememeber about this site is that it was a LONG haul for water, like almost a mile round trip and straight down (and therefore, straight up)..it was a typical TN shelter, no privy but pretty views behind the shelter on the rocks...the night we spent here the forest service did a controlled burn of all the surrounding forest so we had a smoky, sulfur-y smell all the next day...

[The Weasel]

FANTASTIC view, best enjoyed during dinner, of the valley below, while sitting on the rocks immediately behind the shelter. In '00, the shelter was VERY mousy, but they were the most entertaining mice of my trip: They'd jump out of their little hole, about a foot up the concrete block wall, run like hell to the other side, shinny up to see if there was any way to get into my food bag, fall off the tuna can, and then sober up, go home, and send out the next fool.

As for water, it's HORRIBLE. About a half mile (honest!) straight down and, yeah, back again. Try to carry enough from Watauga lake to get you through the night; the next water up the trail (NOBO) isn't real far in the morning, as I recall.

[stranger]

Play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to see who gets water.

[chief]

i remember vandeventer shelter well. the climb from wautauga was THE hottest day i experienced in 2000, especially the road walk beyond the dam. the shelter seemed kinda funky to me. my partner and i tented behind it in the shadow of the rock ledge. views were great great from atop the ledge. a noisy bird kept us awake most of the night. we alternately left our tents to throw rocks at the damn thing. gave us a little breaks before he returned. i know i'll be scolded for molesting the wildlife, but the bird got off easy, i didn't have a shotgun!

btw - we missed the fetching water misery, we brought enough up with us.

[Hillbilly]

Haven't been there, yet, but, it and Iron Mountain are both on a route for me in June 04 with my son. The USGS gives me the impression that the trek along the spine of Iron Mountain is one long rail-ride on the ridge of the mountain, with very little up and down....is that a fact? thanks in advance - Hillbilly

[Bearmagnet]

It is flat and very easy to hike from Vandeventer towards Damascus. Have a great hike!

[Kozmic Zian]

Yea......Vanderventer. Great spot, view from the rocks behind. The bird that kept you up is the 'Famous Vanderventer Whipporwill'. Seems to come every night at dusk and cry out to all hours....very unrestful, but beautiful. Also, in '96, there was the resident 'Kangaroo Rat' that everyone was talking about. Probably no longer there, but at the time quite a topic of converstation.....big red thing, size of a house cat, long legs in rear like a kangaroo....biggest, damndest thing I ever saw. Came out the night I was there and snarffled around like it owned the place....it did! All to gether, quite a memorable stay.....KZ@

[abales01]

The sprint down to the water was a lot more fun than crawling back up....I think I drank most of mine before I reached the trail again.

[Berserker]

I spent the night here on 2/29 during a recent section hike. Must be something about a leap year. It was really weird weather that night. It had recently snowed, so there was anywhere from 6" - 12" of snow on the ground. It started snowing before I got there, and proceeded to snow, sleet and rain throughout the night.

At any rate, the shelter is not one of the better ones I've seen. It is a little rustic looking, and for someone my height (6'-5") the roof was a bit low. The shelter was full of snow. It appears to be west facing, which is an interesting direction to face since it would seem that most of the weather would come from that direction. The shelter is also fairly small, and not real deep (my feet would be hanging out of it if it were full of people).

I (and my buddy who was with me) tented outside the shelter. There is not a whole lot of space to set up a tent. We were literally on top of the shelter, and the surrounding area does not seem to have any space to set up a tent.

The spring location was as advertised. It is a long steep hike down the side of the ridge on a blue blazed trail. I could see this being really annoying after a hot long mileage day, but since we had an easy day and it was freezing the hike back up from the spring was kind of nice.

Mice seem to be an issue as we both had evidence of mice being near or in our tents (mouse dookie and a hole chewed in my buddy's tent).

[Jim Lemire]

Ditto on the view of the lake. A 3 ft snake came out of a hole in the shelter post and slithered upward. In the middle of the floor was a winter MRE. I had enjoyed it.

AT2000

[Time To Fly 97]

Nice view. I left at 6am and the whipporwill flew straight at my face and my headlamp made his eyes reflect bright red...and then alighted on the fire ring and looked back at me. I took that as a hello from a good spirit and proceeded to bang out 34 miles in 12 hours to (what once was) Quincy's pizza. I felt great afterwards - just awesome ever so slightly downhill trail all the way. That was my biggest milage day and I'll always have good memories of Vanderventer shelter because of that and it is a cool spot for a shelter.

Happy hiking!

TTF

[Berserker]

As others have posted I forgot to mention that there is a nice view of Lake Watauga from behind the shelter. There are some rocks there that one can sit on and eat while taking in the view. Quite nice.

[10-K]

I had lunch at this shelter last week and it was the first (and only) time I've had a mouse come out and sit beside me while I ate. Strangest thing.... stayed about 3' away from me the entire time until I stood up to leave.

[CrumbSnatcher]

if your planning on staying the night here and you were coming up from the lake(northbound)theres a decent spring right on the A.T. 1.7 miles south of the shelter.if you dont want to mess with the water source at the shelter. from vandeventer to damascus is a great hike,mostly downhill and gets easier the closer you get to damascus. they call this section the tennessee turnpike. good hiking

[Pedaling Fool]

Play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to see who gets water.
Outstanding!

[excuses]

Stayed there last June, it was the first shelter I had stayed in. Rain all the way from Hampton and I got in at dark. Three people and 3 dogs. They made room and I was gone at dawn. The others complained about the hike to the water. I elected to wait to fill up later as I still had some. Didn't notice the mice and missed the view in the dark.

[earlyriser26]

We were going to stay there overnight a couple of years ago, but they were doing a controlled burn in the area and a 4 mile stretch of the AT was closed so we did that portion by forest service jeep (still it was the official AT at the time). I went for water and that is why I remember this place. About half a mile straight down! Worst official water on the AT in my opinion. I'm surprised no one has mention the murder that took place at this shelter. Some say it is haunted.

[Berserker]

I'm surprised no one has mention the murder that took place at this shelter. Some say it is haunted.

I didn't mention it cause I didn't know about it. Now that I do, I can say that I am happy I was ignorant of it while I was there. Having not known about it when I was there, the night was perfectly normal (other than the weather). Don't remember anything strange or wierd about it.

[Puppy]

If you are looking to get the water at about 1.7 before the shelter (heading north) - look for the pile of rocks (cairn ?) right on the trail - the water is to the right from the cairn between some boulders. As of about 4/23/08.

[Tinker]

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2DC1E3BF93BA15756C0A9679582 60

I first read of this in Ed Garvey's "Appalachian Hiker" book. Shame.

[sloopjonboswell]

i didnt bother to read anybody elses comment. designate somebody else to go down for water.

[Debbie]

I looked at the NY Times article-it said the hikers were killed in a shelter near Duncannon Pa. if I read it correctly.

[Rick Hancock]

I see that some things never change. I spent the night here way back in 1980 on my thru-hike. I didn't go down for water as I had just about enough to last. Had to hike 5-7 miles the next day to a scummy water source! No filters back in 1980. I remember the great views from the large rock behind the shelter and I remember the great wave of mice that came from under, around, over, and it seemed within the rocks as the sun went down! I slept outside a little ways from the shelter and was fine, several days when I arrived in Damascus I cleaned my pack out and found a nest of baby mice in a wool sock, momma was gone. I'm not sure if I picked them up there or not but I do know they didn't leave Damascus. As for the murder there, it was mid 70's and a young girl hiking alone was camping there, another hiker I believe spent the night there and the next morning killed her with a hatchet. He was an older man 50's I think and a tree surgeon. He was captured and I think I read somewhere that he died in prison

[Debbie]

Thanks for the great shelter memories; I guess some things don't change. I struggle with mice and finding water a lot when I hike, but I don't think to the extent you did. The nest in your pack is hard to top. At least you had great views.

Thanks for clarification re: the murder. I knew about Molly LaRue and Geoff Hood, but not about this earlier one.

[Captain Blue]

April 1975—Thru-hiker Janice Balza, 22, of Madison, Wisconsin, was killed by a hatchet wielded by hiker/tree surgeon Paul Bigley, 51, after breakfast at a shelter in northeast Tennessee. He died in state prison in Nashville. He killed her for her pack, a brand he coveted, testimony revealed.

Tennesse authorities siad that Bigley surrendered to the Carter County sheriff and allegedly confessed that he killed Miss Balza with a hatchet as she sat near his campfire at a shelter (Vandeventer) on the Appalachian Trail.

Miss Balza, who was a graduate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Nursing in January, had been hiking on the trail since late February, authorities said.

[Seatbelt]

Does anybody know if there are any tent sites(one rather small one) just north or south of this shelter??

[Mr. Bumpy]

About a mile or so north there is some memorial or marker that would do. It is still on the ridge so water will be an issue.

[Seatbelt]

Thanks for the help!

[Seatbelt]

About a mile or so north there is some memorial or marker that would do. It is still on the ridge so water will be an issue.

You're not referring to the Nick Grindstaff Monument are you? If so, it is 7 or 8 miles north of the shelter. I was hoping for something within a mile or two.

[Mr. Bumpy]

You are probably correct. It was hot the day I last moved through there. Still, I do remember some sort of spot within about a mile on the north side.

[wren again]

Enjoyed Vandeventer Shelter and met four interesting hikers that evening.

[wornoutboots]

For anyone planning on staying in this shelter, it is an older shelter & I don't know if they didn't take direction into account when it as built? It's face opens up to the West so during rain & snow, it get brutally windy, cold & wet. I hiked sobo through there a few Autumns ago, I stayed the night in Iron Mountain shelter it was a day of rain,turned sleet, turned snow. The next day I hiked all the way to Kincora & when I arrived there was a hiker named "Skinnylegs" who said he stayed at Vendeventer & nearly froze to death.

[Seatbelt]

You are probably correct. It was hot the day I last moved through there. Still, I do remember some sort of spot within about a mile on the north side.

I'll find out tomorrow nite.

[Tennessee Viking]

There is somewhat of a campsite at the wilderness boundary. There is space all along the lakeside. And there should be enough along the ridgeline for basic tenting.

[Seatbelt]

There is somewhat of a campsite at the wilderness boundary. There is space all along the lakeside. And there should be enough along the ridgeline for basic tenting.

Just for future reference, you are correct. I tented about a mile north of the shelter last Friday nite and the next morning counted at least 2 more sites before the campsite/bog spot.

[Gambit McCrae]

This saturday myself, two friends and a nobo stayed at vandeventer shelter. I did not know about the murder of Janice Balza until I got home and googled haunted AT shelters and this is one o the only shelters that came up. At 1:00 am exactly i woke up in my tent, apx 5-10 seconds later i hear a stomping noise like a trail runner comin down the trail, it stops right at my tent and i yell and "growl" at the sound, no response for a minute of so, and i hear 3 more stomps like running.


Next morning i tell my buddy who was tenting about my experience and he said, "same thing happened to me at 2:30.


Anyone else have Vandeventer stories? Lol


"April 1975—Thru-hiker Janice Balza, 22, of Madison, Wisconsin, was killed by a hatchet wielded by hiker/tree surgeon Paul Bigley, 51, after breakfast at a shelter in northeast Tennessee. He died in state prison in Nashville. He killed her for her pack, a brand he coveted, testimony revealed.




Tennesse authorities siad that Bigley surrendered to the Carter County sheriff and allegedly confessed that he killed Miss Balza with a hatchet as she sat near his campfire at a shelter (Vandeventer) on the Appalachian Trail."

[SawnieRobertson]

Ah, yes, Vanderview! After Bob Peeples dropped me off at the picnic area by the lake, I had a day that I remember as challenging but sweet. Crossing the dam alone took all I could muster because of acrophobia that was hanging above my head. Then there was a seemingly endless road walk until I finally found the spot to turn up the mountain. When you can't find a blaze, all fun comes to an end, and it was HOT. Once climbing,i it was great with, as I recall, the lake visible down to the left. But this is about the shelter . . . and the view behind the shelter, which is definitely impressive. There is, though, space enough between the wall overlooking the lake and the shelter for someone to tent there. Unfortunately, a couple from New Hampshire chose it, preventing any further gazing down at the lake for the remainder of the day. Campsites were scarce, so who could blame them. I tucked my Stephenson 2R under the branches of a tree next to the trail. Well after dark a hiker came stomping in, narrowly missing an opportunity to squash my tent and me. He went on to the tent he knew housed his friend. I heard him whisper loudly, "Whose is that big ass tent?" Then there was the whippoorwill mentioned earlier. It sang loudly all night. I was prepared for that though because in his handbook Wingfoot had mentioned that it would be there, calling away. The next morning all slept while I quickly made my coffee and took off up the trail, the first and only time that I was the web breaker. Not too long after, here came the big ass guy and his friend. They asked if I needed water (a traditional hiker courtesy). You bet I did. No way was I going after water from Vanderview.