View Full Version : Trapper John Shelter
This shelter is between Smarts Mountain and Moose Mountain, 0.9 miles south of the Lyme-Dorchester Road and the Dartmouth Skiway. 0.3 miles off the AT on a side trail. Standard rectangular shelter, sleeps about 8 on the floor. There is a large stone chimney 30 feet in front of the shelter, apparently from an old cabin on the site. The chimney whistles in the wind. Also a fire pit and a fire ring. Good sized stream to the left of the shelter. Privy is behind shelter 200 yards. It requires about a 4 foot step-up to get in. The seat is an old wooden armchair, quite comfortable. Campsites available between shelter and privy.
Picture with more info: http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=964
Picture with more info: http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=964
Staying at this shelter in October, I read in the journal about a mouse eating into the down sleeping bag of its occupant. Sure enough, next morning I awoke to find some down floating around and a small hole in my bag. The mouse had emptied out a compartment of my homemade quilt. Quess our little friend was getting a winter's nest ready. Beware!
Youngblood
12-02-2003, 22:00
Staying at this shelter in October, I read in the journal about a mouse eating into the down sleeping bag of its occupant. Sure enough, next morning I awoke to find some down floating around and a small hole in my bag. The mouse had emptied out a compartment of my homemade quilt. Quess our little friend was getting a winter's nest ready. Beware!
The mice are getting smarter... who told them about down? All I ever saw them get for nesting material was tp and camp towels.
Hmm... come to think of it I used two different bags on my thru-hike, a synthetic bag for warm weather and a down bag for cooler weather. The synthetic bag had no snags or holes while the down bag had a few tears in the foot section. You don't think it was mice do you? I never noticed down laying around or seemed to be missing any, I always figured it snagged on the the wood floors of the shelters.
Youngblood
aaronthebugbuffet
06-29-2004, 23:33
TJ was the first nice shelter in NH(nobo). Velvet Rocks was trashed and Moose Mtn was a bug infested mudhole. I had no problems with mice during my stay. The water source was close and had great flow while I was there. The privy had a chair with arms for a seat, which was kind of stupid, but that just the kind of silly stuff that the Dartmouth Outing Club does.
TJ was the first nice shelter in NH(nobo). Velvet Rocks was trashed and Moose Mtn was a bug infested mudhole. I had no problems with mice during my stay. The water source was close and had great flow while I was there. The privy had a chair with arms for a seat, which was kind of stupid, but that just the kind of silly stuff that the Dartmouth Outing Club does.
I hear that the old Smarts Mtn shelter privy had gullwing doors like a Delorean sports car. The old Moose Mtn Mudhole Shelter has been replaced by a new shelter in a new location: http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3871&nocache=1. It could still be mosquito infested, it is still in NH. :)
4eyedbuzzard
05-17-2008, 12:23
Did a short overnight this Friday (5-16-08) with my eldest daughter. Parked down on Goose Pond road and hiked north starting around 4:15pm to the shelter, then continued out Saturday morning and got a ride back to our car. The beginning of the Holt's Ledge trail/AT was quite muddy where there were no bog bridges, but not impassable. Once clear of the bog, after what was described as a moderately difficult climb (1250 ft gain in about a mile and a half of trail) kicked our out of shape butts for about an hour, we came to the ledge/cliff section and a wonderful view point with a small rock fire ring. Took a short detour to where the Peregrin falcon nesting area is but did not see or hear any birds. Hiked the remainder of mostly level and then downhill trail to Trapper John Shelter. 2.7 miles total took us 2 1/2 hours - many short rest breaks after every uphill section.
The shelter was clean and the elevated privy has steps. There were a few mousetraps in the shelter but we had no problems with mice or larger creatures. Our down bags were undamaged in the morning. Water is close to the left and running strong and clean. There were a few booze bottles on the old fireplace that fronts the shelter. We made a medium size fire in the ring and gathered some wood for future visitors. Black flies were out down in the lower elevations of the bog on the way in but were not a problem once out of the marsh area or at the shelter. Trial going north down to Dorchester road had a few spots where water was running off requiring a little rock hopping but pretty good conditions for this time of year.