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Desert Lobster
01-02-2004, 19:50
What was your most memorable time at the hollow? By the way, how is Rusty and does he still live there?

Lone Wolf
01-02-2004, 23:13
The "hollow" is for sale. $450,000 gets you 17+/- acres. No electric or running water. I remember when he was gonna will it over to the "family" of hikers. He always was a capitalist. Suckers!! :D

magic_game03
01-03-2004, 01:00
Lone wolf you got more bad mouth talking than i can stand.

first of all, rusty got the right to do any damm thing he wants to do with that property. and until what ever is done, is done, i'd keep my two damm cents out. rusty is damm near seventy and been puttin up with hiker trash for twenty years now, and if any one paid him 450K for that property, he should take it. he'd be a damm fool not to.

second; he's still there! and you watch your damm tounge while he's still putting up with us trash.

third; i paid twenty bucks for two days(in 03),and i sure dont feel like a sucker. in fact i think it was pretty damm cheap.


magic


P.s. your name better not be on that will, the way your trash talking him. i'll be up to see rusty later this spring.

Lone Wolf
01-03-2004, 01:07
O.K. magic. Whatever you say. :p

Desert Lobster
01-03-2004, 02:09
I gave him a $20 bill for a $12 shirt and he must have thought I was donating the rest cause he didn't offer me any change back!

I guess all that ice cream, sodas from the spring, and views of the naked women in the hottub were worth the extra money.

eldwayno
01-03-2004, 02:56
Naked Women???? where's this place at?

weary
01-03-2004, 10:47
Naked Women???? where's this place at?

I missed the naked women, but Rusty's was the first time -- and only time -- where I watched a touch football game between the "Skins" and the "Pants." I was amused by a cute 26-year-old from New Jersey, trying to get a photo of the game, but being too embarrassed for her to get close enough for a good shot.

Rusty's was my favorite hostel in 1993. I spent six days there -- part of the time slackpacking. There was no charge for anything in 1993, just a donation jar. The place was a mecca for freeloaders, however.

Rusty weeded some of them out, which made for hard feelings because in at least one case he made mistakes and refused hospitality to a legitimate thru hiker, actually one of the few "purist" thruhikers I met that year.

But viligence was needed. Half way through Shenendoah I met a guy with a dog heading to Rusty's where I suspect he expected to spend the rest of the summer. Rusty routinely asked new arrivals about the trail and who they had met.

The guy in Shenendoah pumped us for information about who was on the trail, obviously, seeking to learn enough to survive Rusty's scrutiny. He told a story about leaving Katahdin on April 1 and walking south. He looked too pale and flabby for a thru hiker, so I asked him about snow on Katahdin. "No problem," he declared. "I drove right in to the trail."

Well, when I had left the coast of Maine on April 10 that year -- a thousand feet lower and 150 miles south of Baxter Park -- there was three feet of snow on the ground and Maine had sustained near record late season snows.

Weary

Desert Lobster
01-03-2004, 12:43
clarification: topless girl in the wood-fired sauna(not hottub) down by the stream!

That rebel flag, all those crushed cans, the bulls-eye pee target, etc. all made for an interesting place. Also, the collection of photos covering the walls was interesting. Finding an old picture of yourself and your hiking buddies from the past makes for good memories.

3oz
01-15-2004, 22:45
My memory at Rusty was shooting clays with Rusty, and Stringer, followed by a steak dinner.

Bankrobber
01-16-2004, 02:15
I saw him a few days before New Years Eve after a day hike up Three Ridges from Reeds Gap. The man gets lonely during the winter, so I highly recommend that all who know him pay him a visit if they get a chance.

show me the monkey
01-20-2004, 12:58
Er... am I missing something here? Maybe I'm a bit dated in posting this info, but when I was there in 1991, I was told by Rusty himself that he had gotten permission from the owner to live there, and in exchange he fixed up some of the structures on the property. I can't imagine that he bought the place on hiker donations and food stamps, which at the time were his only income (his own words). Perhaps that little invention of his took off, or maybe VA has some obscure law regarding squaters?:confused:

icemanat95
01-20-2004, 15:01
I saw a lot of potential in Rusty's, but most of it was squandered by the plethora of slackers just hanging out doping it up and waiting for Rusty to go into town so they could buy more beer or score more pot. People routinely violated Rusty's rules, brought dogs up into the bunkhouse, and generally made nuissances of themselves. By the time I got there in mid June, Rusty was getting pretty worn out and had started losing his temper with hikers. He would withdraw for a while and just hide. I stayed one night and wished I hadn't. There were fleas in the bunkhouse and the party animals started truck dancing at about 11 and didn't finish up until 4 or 5 AM. Myself and two others left just after sun-up without a word, and beat feet to Waynesboro to resupply and get cleaned up.

I'm not saying this to trash Rusty or Rusty's. What I saw of Rusty and his place was a real giving guy and a place that should have been a thru-hiker's haven, but had been abused for too long by freeloaders and wannabe hippies. Rusty withdrew his section in the handbook and Companion after that year because the publicity was just plain killing him and attracting the wrong kind of hiker. Of course everyone who was staying there for weeks on end thought they were just the sort of hiker Rusty wanted, the truth of the matter is that Rusty was just too damned nice to give them the boot.

If you choose to visit Rusty's on your hike, offer to help him out and don't overstay your welcome, a couple days is one thing, a couple weeks is excessive.