View Full Version : Update on Rusty's Hardtime Hollow?
firecracker1
01-04-2007, 15:50
I stayed at Rusty's in 2001 and something recently made me think about that fantastic treasure on the BRP. I did some internet searching and found that his place was up for sale in 2005. I saw Rusty at trail days the year he was selling a bunch of his signs so that he could spend some time hiking himself.
I couldn't really find any good info. Does anyone know what is going on? Is the place for sale? What happened to it being entrusted to the AT? Will it be protected?
Thanks!
Lone Wolf
01-04-2007, 15:53
What happened to it being entrusted to the AT? Will it be protected?
Thanks!
That was a load of crap Rusty was spewing.
That was a load of crap Rusty was spewing.
Which is all he does BTW.:(
My apologies to those who haven't figured this out yet.:rolleyes:
Lone Wolf
01-04-2007, 17:55
Which is all he does BTW.:(
My apologies to those who haven't figured this out yet.:rolleyes:
For 20 years he's been telling certain hikers the "hollow" would be willed to them.:D He doesn't even own it.
For 20 years he's been telling certain hikers the "hollow" would be willed to them.:D He doesn't even own it.
Yeh, he conned those folks out of a lot of money, but I think he does own it now, w/ the help of his brother.
The Weasel
01-04-2007, 18:11
Smile...bought a sign at Trail Days in 2003 when he was "selling out." I think he may have, a long time ago.
The Weasel
Thousands of hikers have stayed at the Hollow over the years. Most had a great time and praised Rusty for his efforts. A few didn't. At least through 1993, Rusty was one of the few hostels that operated strictly on donations, and as far as I know the practice continues.
Rusty has provided a facility that most hikers enjoyed. He certainly never got rich, though he might if he sells for what I hear is his asking price. But that would not be because he befriended hikers over the years, but because he sits on a piece of quite valuable land near a National Park.
Lone Wolf hints at practices at the Hollow he doesn't like. I never saw anything inappropriate, but neither do I much care. His visitors are almost all adults capable of taking care of themselves.
Weary
Lone Wolf
01-05-2007, 11:04
Lone Wolf hints at practices at the Hollow he doesn't like. I never saw anything inappropriate, but neither do I much care. His visitors are almost all adults capable of taking care of themselves.
Weary
You spent a night there 14 years ago. There's a LOT you don't know.
You spent a night there 14 years ago. There's a LOT you don't know.
Actually, I spent 5-6 nights there and have generally followed the events at the Hollow as they have been posted on this site or Trailplace.
I'm sure there is a lot I don't know. I do know he has public urinals, and takes an occasional kinky photo because he posts them on his walls and ceilings for all to see. There are, I'm sure, the usual suspicions about people who remain unmarried through seven decades and runs an establishment that caters mostly to young males. The woman I was hiking with insisted the suspicions weren't true when I asked her.
The fact remains that Rusty's was easily the most popular hostel on the trail in 1993, among both male and female hikers in about equal numbers. Trail registers were full of entries insisting it was the place that everyone should visit. Being curious, I went, despite the two of three miles of off AT trail and road walking required.
Actually, Rusty's had been recommended to me by a kid with a mohawk hair cut and pet snake on my walk through 275 miles in Maine two years earlier. I had stopped at the lakeside Cookie Lady shelter. I remember the occasion vividly. I never saw anyone carry a snake around before, sometimes in a modified Pringle box, sometimes around his neck. And because the kid showed me how to clean my clogged up Whisperlight.
All of the 35 or so people at Rusty's that early July weekend in 1993 seemed to enjoy themselves, including watching the touch football game between the skins and the pants.
Weary
firecracker1
01-05-2007, 14:53
To all the comments regarding Rusty's character... you gotta believe that the guy gets lonely up there and I can be pretty sure that his endeavors as a host probably didn't put him in the black at the end of the year. Heck, I was a self-centered, just graduated college kid when I hiked and I'm pretty sure that I stuffed myself on pancakes, soda and other amenities and probably mustered up some spare change for the donation box. I'm willing to bet that I'm not the only one who did such ungrateful shinanigans. So that part, I admire.
I never felt completely comfortable around Rusty and he kept wanting me and my hiking partner, Bluegrass, to stay (both females). I'll stick to my lonely theory. But hey, we met A LOT of eccentric people on the trail.
All of this is interesting discussion, but can anyone give me any facts? Was the place actually for sale? Is the land his? Who does it belong to now? Could a private party (i.e. developer) buy it (what a shame!) Does he still live there? Does he still take in hikers?
I'll take anything! :)
Last time I spoke with him a couple of years ago it was still for sale and from what I heard the asking price was so much more than the value that it would never sale. Rusty was looking to get rid of the realitor he had signed with at the time and was talking of buying some other secret land close to the trail. He's been talking of hiking, closing, selling, willing the place for as long as I've known him and its all been talk. I recieved many PM when I stated my opinions on this site way back when and it only reconfirmed my concerns for hikers and my commitment to let hikers know to be careful while there. Rusty ain't stupid; I've never met a con man/ manipulator who was, but he has slipped up and many if not most of the people who have really gotten to know the man over the years aviod him like the plague.
firecracker1
01-05-2007, 20:41
huh... i won't lie... all this is news to me.
mogilews
03-17-2007, 22:30
Rusty was OK by me, although it was more of a "social" place to go than as a place of rest. I don't know what I was thinking trying to get any sleep there the night I stayed. I left as much money as I thought fair, plus cash for all the sodas and hot dogs I threw down my hole.
Later, in the Doyle's bar at Duncannon, I ran into Hiker X, who had through hiked in the late 90s. He was cruising along visiting trail hangouts. "Did you go to Rusty's?" he asked. "How's he doin'?"
"Well . . it was neat," I said, my voice trailing off.
"Rusty has real quiet years, and then he has years that are just, well, sort of weird."
"I don't know what you'd call weird. It was pretty normal until Rusty and Pirate came out wearing evening gowns and offering free ice cream to anyone who could shoot a beer can off a post with a .357." I wasn't actually around when the supposed .357 contest came up; as I mentioned, I was foolishly trying to sleep.
"A weird one, then."
spittinpigeon
03-18-2007, 12:23
The price he was asking last fall was really low.
Supernova
03-30-2007, 23:53
I have to tell you that I have nothing against rusty and he treated me with the utmost respect. I believe that he is honest and respectful. he might be slighty exaggerating the value or the availability of his property. I do believe him that it is for sale. I would buy it and ask for a title as I would for any other property.
Like Lone Wolf and Nean have said, there is more to the story than you first see or hear.
All of this is interesting discussion, but can anyone give me any facts? ... Does he still take in hikers?
I'll take anything! :)
As of 03/17/2007, blue business cards with directions to Rusty's place were tucked behind the Blackrock Shelter rules & regs sign in the Shenandoah NP. I assume that means he's still taking hikers this season.
Undershaft
03-31-2007, 19:55
So what's the rest of the story?
So what's the rest of the story?
Don't ask. Don't tell. Actually, I don't know. Most people I've met in this world, I can put in a categroy with dozens of similar types. Rusty is a rare individual. He was almost unique. Being basically an observer, not an actor in this world, I was fascinated by the human interplay during the five or six days I spent at the hollow.
Thousands have stopped at the hollow. Virtually, all of them, judging from trail registers I saw, thought Rusty a great guy. Some apparently don't. No one is totally distinctive. Some perceives some things in Rusty that they don't like. I'm guessing they have to do with sex.
Being a curious person I asked a number of people what they thought. Most seemed to think Rusty was normal, whatever that may mean.
Weary
Rusty is up and running. I've kept in contact with him since my few day stay with him last year and he's still having hikers come through and welcomes them all. He has ups and downs like the rest of us and you could run into him on a bad day, he's getting old and is sometimes crankey. I think he's a great guy but definitly an odd duck.
I might add through all of our conversations he's never asked me for money and yes he blows smoke but I'm not so sure I've known many who don't.
I stopped by the Hollow about a month ago. Rusty's was open for hikers, tho unfortunately I missed seeing him personally. He called me about a week later and verified he was still open and eager to see alumni hikers and this year's new hikers alike.