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phishpapond
01-30-2009, 03:23
I am guessing that everyone has a story or two about a night in a shelter.

Here is mine.

I was staying in Gravel spring shelter in SNP.
There was a mist all day and the shelter was wet. i put down my tarp and 3 of us slept on that. One other person Slept in the loft above .

I got up to water the trees halfway into the night and when I get back Teabag an 80 plus year old man from the UK was climbing down to water the trees. I thought I would be nice and hold the light up for him.

Well Teabag sleeps in the nude. Those wern't grapes I saw that night.
It got worse when he came back. He had to climb back up and was right above me.
I pulled my bag over my head and prayed that he wouldn't fall on me

Well what have you people got

Cool AT Breeze
01-30-2009, 03:29
My son and I stayed in Deep Gap shelter in GA. Woke up in the morning to a bird stuck in the window. SOB was raising all kinds of hell trying to get through that plexiglass.

Manwich
01-30-2009, 08:11
Teabag

Wanna take a guess as to where he got his trailname?


I would refuse to stay in a shelter with anybody calling themselves teabag on principle.

daddytwosticks
01-30-2009, 08:37
Met the infamous Baltimore Jack and his hiking partner Mtn. Dew at Brown Fork Gap (or was it Cable Gap?) shelter one very early May Saturday night in 2005. Mtn. Dew and I had a deep philosophical discussion about milk and cookies (I like my milk very very cold) that evening. B. Jack arouse early the next morning and left solo right at sunup humping a big azz Osprey pack and puffing away on a Camel. It was a great experience and made this weekend-dirtbag-section-hiking-fools day. Thanks guys. :)

Tin Man
01-30-2009, 09:07
...

your wiki could prove interesting. good luck.

tiptoe
01-30-2009, 14:22
I met Teabag (fully clothed) on the trail a couple of years ago. Boy, was he chatty. He's put a lot of miles on that 80-year-old body. True to his Brit roots, he was in the habit of stopping for afternoon tea, that's how he got his trail name.

bigmac_in
01-30-2009, 14:26
Never spent a night in a shelter, never will. Shelters suck.

The End.

ki0eh
01-30-2009, 15:33
I stayed at Rausch Gap shelter once when the area between the shelter and the spring trough was glare melting ice. Trying to go from one to the other, I lost my footing and quickly accelerated off the edge, tumbling down the rocky slope below. Man did my knee hurt for the hike out and weeks afterward. Taught me the need to make room in the pack for a bottle full of Vitamin I.

Valmet
01-30-2009, 16:06
Way back in 1975 at Spence Field, late one night when a couple thought everyone was sleeping they got to well you know. Back then the bunks were made out of wire and they got to squeaking really loud. The guy under them announced that if anything drips on him they are dead. The whole shelter busted out laughing. The girl then said I thought you said everyone was sleeping. The next morning, the joke was "Is that a mouse I hear squeaking".

Lilred
01-30-2009, 16:48
The first night I spent in a shelter was the one just north of Neel Gap. It was november and cold. I was with Rain Man and some other guy. All night, a mouse kept biting at my hair, trying to get nesting material I guess. About 4am I was abruptly awakened by the other person in the shelter. He had taken his hiking pole and slammed it on the shelter floor. I was sitting up before I realized I was awake. He said "almost got him". He was trying to kill a mouse. Just as I was dozing back off to sleep, he did it again. I told him in no uncertain if it happened again where I was going to shove that pole.

I was also at a shelter with a foreign couple that spent 10 minutes looking for a garbage can. When they asked me where to put their garbage, they were quite surprised when I told them to put it in their packs.

Kanati
01-30-2009, 18:13
Fester, Stovie and I spent a cold, sleepless night their on 3/2/08. I swear the wind was 50 miles per hour and the temp in the teens. Those boulders must have a funnel effect or something on the wind. We tried putting tyvek over the window and securing it with a broom, but the wind made it pop like a tarp on an 18 wheeler. That was my first experience with shelter mice also. I must have had my head too close to the wall as I was awakened by a mouse scratching in my hair. I knocked myself silly slapping at him.

elmotoots
01-30-2009, 19:15
We were staying at the old Ice Water Springs shelter. Had our mostly empty packs hanging on nails out front. All night long i hear a mouse running in and out of a pack close to where i have mine hung. But I am just to lazy to get up and see if it is mine.

the next morning i get up and check my pack and find that the mouse had gotten into my toilet paper. I tear off all the chewed on paper and look deeper into to my pack and find a big ball of that very same paper. I reach down and grab the ball and toss it onto the ground close to the fireplace to use as a firestarter. It no sooner hits the ground than the squeaking starts. There were five little baby mice in the ball.

Well I do not like mice or rats so i raise my hiking boot high off the ground to rid the world of the little rodents, when almost everybody in the shelter let out a big gasp at the same time. I turned to look and said WHAT!!!. I swear six people said at the same time don't kill them.... I think to myself to bad so sad, and start lowering my foot. When all of a sudden off to my left i hear a little squeak. I look over on the rock wall and there sets the momma mouse on her hind legs begging for her babys lives. So being the killer i am, i picked one of the little fellows up and held it in front of her saying if you want it, get it out of here. Much to my supprise she took it out of my fingers and went outside someplace, she then came back for another until she had gotten them all.

When it was over I had gone from a zero to a hero

I still hate mice and rats.

Manwich
01-30-2009, 19:23
Never spent a night in a shelter, never will. Shelters suck.

The End.

yeah yeah yeah and I can pee further than you.

Oh, Look! Some hammocking threads! Let's go post in them about how we don't hammock and that they suck, because they'll obviously care.

Jim Adams
01-30-2009, 19:25
...did I ever tell you about the night at the Carl Newhall Shelter where the Phat Rat kept singing to me.." spill the wine, eat that squirrel" !:)

geek

Dances with Mice
01-30-2009, 19:35
This is copied from an old trip report from March 2000. Me and some Venture Scouts bicycled FS42 from Cooper Gap to Springer Mtn, climbed Springer and set up a tarp. I had a bike wreck on the way to Springer and injured my hand. The weather turns into a March storm and since the upper level of the Springer shelter was unoccupied we moved in there for the night. As the night went on other hikers showed up and moved in with us. That's the background....

This wasn't an official Venture trip, just two boys and myself scouting out the trip for a future activity.

Paul is my son, Nathan is his friend.

On with the story....



After supper everyone goes to bed but we stay up playing dominoes by flashlight until the late hour of 8 PM before we turn in. At 8:30 there’s suddenly an incredibly loud blood-curdling scream that instantly turns on every flashlight in the place. It looked like a WWII movie with the anti-aircraft lights searching tje slu for enemy war planes. Didn't bother me at all; I always wake up with my arms wrapped around a roof rafter. One of the guests upstairs, in fact the one sleeping right next to me, has developed leg cramps. Evidently quite painful leg cramps.

Now it’s a group project to get him to stretch and drink water and I dig out some Advil tablets. The cramps leave. All lights go back off. Half an hour later there’s another blood curdling scream in the dark right next to my elbow, but this time I only jump 3 feet high when it starts. After much moaning and groaning the cramps leave. But an hour later I woke up in the dark to yet another blood curdling scream. I start to think that sleeping on the ground under a tarp in winds with near hurricane-strength gusts and freezing rain is sounding like a really good idea.

Everyone survives the night. Our cramping partner has decided to call his AT quest quits. He wants to go back home to Las Vegas. I tell him we’d be glad to drop in off at the Greyhound station in Gainesville but first we have to bike back to the van. We pack up after breakfast and head down while I’m trying to figure out our schedule. 2 or 3 hours back to the van, slow going because of fog, wet conditions, and new found respect for rocky downhill roads. Half an hour drive back to Springer to pick up the victim. Half hour again to get back to paved roads in Dahlonega. Then a drive to Gainesville. This is going to make for a long day.

In the parking lot someone has just dropped off two hikers and is heading out. Putting on all the charm a man dressed in muddy nylon with a day-old beard and a bandaged hand can, I wrangle a hitch to my van. Our schedule is starting to look better. The boys agree to stay at the parking lot to guard the bikes and the backpacks of hikers going up to the Springer summit. Half an hour later I’m at my van and half an hour after that I’m back at the Springer parking lot. Which is now a crime scene. Someone had slashed two tires of each car in the lot that night. I hadn’t noticed when we walked down, I was more interested in the car that was leaving.

So when I pull into the parking lot there’s a county deputy police car with its blue lights flashing. And Nathan’s sitting in the back seat of the police car. Oh, good. That’s exactly what I always expect to find when I leave them alone for any length of time. Paul's faster, they've probably sent the dogs out after him. Nathan was just keeping warm, I find out later, just keeping warm and chatting with the deputy.

So I walk back up to the Springer summit to tell the evacuee that his chariot has arrived and to find Jason to tell him that if his truck is in the parking lot maybe he oughta walk down there and check on it.

Back at the van the boys have already packed the bikes and we’re ready to go. We re-trace yesterday’s ride, get back to civilization, stop for burgers in Dahlonega, then I drop the kids off before going to Gainesville to hunt down the Greyhound station I get home about 4:30.

So that was our trip. Just pretty much the same old stuff we always do.

Magic Man
01-30-2009, 19:41
And excerpt from Boo-Boo's TJ
“So here is my first great animal story (the dead moose in the Mahoosuc Notch was great but had been over hyped at least for us southbounders).
We try to do all our camp chores before going to bed so we can get going in the morning. This includes collecting and treating the water for the following morning's breakfast and hiking (at least for the first section of the day's hike). I use a Platypus water tank which is like a heavy duty ziplock bag with handles that holds 4 Liters of water and can stand upright. Most of the time it stands up on the ground and does not tip over (if it does the ziplock closure at the top does not hold and all the water spills out - it has happened once and got a lot of stuff wet).
Music Man was on water duty and had hung the water tank on a branch in a tree because there was no super flat space to stand it up. So I was the first up in the morning (not too surprising) and I was going to get water to make coffee. The walls of the water tank are clear and as I walked up to it I could see that the top had opened up and it looked like a leaf had fallen in, ok no big deal. I got closer and found that it was not a leaf but a dead mouse floating in the tank (not upside down, though). I announced loudly to Music Man that there was a mouse in my water tank. I don't think he totally believed me until he finally got out of his tent to check it out.
And after that, all three of us were up for the day, despite the very chilly weather. It did not help that the campsite was somehow placed in a sizeable ravine and thus prone to settling cold air at night. But it was town day and we were motivated. Needless to say, the water tank was placed on permanent decommission status, emptied by Hedgehog and he also volunteered to pack it out to town (I had wanted to bury it).”
Boo-Boo (ME>GA ’07)
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=200636 (http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=200636)
Here's a photo of that mouse?
http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=251854

superman
01-30-2009, 20:14
And excerpt from Boo-Boo's TJ
“So here is my first great animal story (the dead moose in the Mahoosuc Notch was great but had been over hyped at least for us southbounders).
We try to do all our camp chores before going to bed so we can get going in the morning. This includes collecting and treating the water for the following morning's breakfast and hiking (at least for the first section of the day's hike). I use a Platypus water tank which is like a heavy duty ziplock bag with handles that holds 4 Liters of water and can stand upright. Most of the time it stands up on the ground and does not tip over (if it does the ziplock closure at the top does not hold and all the water spills out - it has happened once and got a lot of stuff wet).
Music Man was on water duty and had hung the water tank on a branch in a tree because there was no super flat space to stand it up. So I was the first up in the morning (not too surprising) and I was going to get water to make coffee. The walls of the water tank are clear and as I walked up to it I could see that the top had opened up and it looked like a leaf had fallen in, ok no big deal. I got closer and found that it was not a leaf but a dead mouse floating in the tank (not upside down, though). I announced loudly to Music Man that there was a mouse in my water tank. I don't think he totally believed me until he finally got out of his tent to check it out.
And after that, all three of us were up for the day, despite the very chilly weather. It did not help that the campsite was somehow placed in a sizeable ravine and thus prone to settling cold air at night. But it was town day and we were motivated. Needless to say, the water tank was placed on permanent decommission status, emptied by Hedgehog and he also volunteered to pack it out to town (I had wanted to bury it).”
Boo-Boo (ME>GA ’07)
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=200636 (http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=200636)
Here's a photo of that mouse?
http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=251854

So no one tried to resuscitate the mouse? A little mouth to mouse might have done it.:D

windex
01-30-2009, 23:43
My husband and I went on a 4 day trip from Sam's Gap SOBO during spring break. We had our dog with us and tented that night near Flint Mtn. Shelter. There were a lot of boyscouts there and a few thru-hikers. We located our tenting spot about 30 feet from the shelter and started to chat with folks. I met "The General" who told us that he had found a food bag a few shelters back that someone had left and he was hoping to find the owner. We told him it wasn't ours.
We go ahead and head to bed in the tent. At around one in the morning, my dog starts growling and I hear someone rustling around outside our tent, since we were forced to tent near the trail. It is raining and the dude is shining his headlamp directly on our tent. I holler out, "who is it" The guy says something about a foodbag and if I have it. I say, no, you want the General... he is a couple tents down. This guy goes on to cuss his way down to the General, get him out of his tent to drop the foodbag from the bearbag that has everyone's food on it in the middle of the rainy night. By the time it was over, everyone in camp was up, even the boyscouts who had taken over the shelter. I found out that the guy's trailname is "The Jerk" and he only hikes at night. Thus, The General found his foodbag hanging on a tincan string thing in the previous shelter while The Jerk was sleeping behind the shelter during the day.
It was quite bizarre..... I hated for that to be one of my husband's first trail experiences with thru-hikers... but what can you do?

Sarge
01-31-2009, 11:05
I normally don't like shelters either, but I would stay in them occasionally under certain conditions such as if it was a decent shelter, it wasn't crowded, and the weather was real bad. Other than that I liked my tent much better. Here are a few interesting experiences either in shelters or around them.
- My wife and I were tenting by the Gooch Mtn shelter a couple of years ago and there was a group of about a dozen kids and adults in the shelter. In the middle of the night we heard a loud crash. One of the teenage boys had rolled off the loft and landed on the edge of the shelter floor. He was OK, but had a nice big bruise on his ribs.
- In the Smokies I was staying at the Russell Field shelter and someone tried to start a fire in the stone fireplace. The only problem was that the wind was blowing very fierce outside and the entire shelter got filled with smoke.
- At Brink Rd shelter in NJ some young kid came in with a full pack saying he had just been dropped off by his dad at Delaware Water Gap that morning. He was feeling sick, had bent hiking poles already, and a dead cell phone. He borrowed my phone, called his dad, and walked off to meet him. He had walked all day with a full pack and never even camped. Tough lesson learned.
- Was at the Mt Algo shelter in Conn during Tropical Storm Barry in 2007. About 5:00 in the morning we heard a loud crash behind the shelter. Three trees had crashed down around the privy, but never hit it. I'm glad nobody was in it or it would have scared the crap out of them - literally.
- At Hurd Brook shelter I was cleaning up after dinner. I was sitting in the middle of the floor and had my food bag by my leg. A mouse walked right over and stuck his head in my food bag! I normally leave them alone, but this one crossed the line. I grabbed my cookpot and whacked him!

Manwich
01-31-2009, 13:25
At Brink Rd shelter in NJ some young kid came in with a full pack saying he had just been dropped off by his dad at Delaware Water Gap that morning.

sucks for him. that's a 24mi day.

phishpapond
01-31-2009, 20:28
I met Teabag (fully clothed) on the trail a couple of years ago. Boy, was he chatty. He's put a lot of miles on that 80-year-old body. True to his Brit roots, he was in the habit of stopping for afternoon tea, that's how he got his trail name.


Yeah That sounds like him. He was great company. I like to listen to poeple talk. I am a poeple watcher.
Do you happen to remember his first name

bigmac_in
01-31-2009, 23:38
yeah yeah yeah and I can pee further than you.

Oh, Look! Some hammocking threads! Let's go post in them about how we don't hammock and that they suck, because they'll obviously care.


Let me explain. It is called humor. Get it? Maybe I should have added one of these - :D. Better?

Now back to the stories. I'm enjoying them. Some of them are funny also.

Nest
02-01-2009, 03:57
Do you happen to remember his first name

Tea?:D

SouthMark
02-01-2009, 09:45
One warm Thanksgiving night at Mollies Ridge Shelter in Smokies, sleeping bag unzipped at foot, sleeping on lower end bunk, skunk crawled in bag, sniffed around, then left. Apparently my feet overwhelmed him.

Rambler
02-01-2009, 10:07
Double Springs Shelter GSMNP. A hiker full of himself talks loudly till midnight, about an hour past him saying, "I guess you would all like me to shut up". The other couple kept him going with occasional responses. Finally, I doze off, only to be awakened around 2AM. The guy is snoring loudly. He kept me awake when he was awake, then, he keeps me awake when he is asleep. I had to get out of there. He had also wrapped the chain around the chain link fence that enclosed the shelter. I took great pleasure in rattling that chain as loud as I could, hoping those three would hear it. Of course, as I was setting up my tarp, it started to rain. I was counting on waking up around dawn before they awoke, so I could make some more noise, but we all sort of woke up together. I high-tailed it out of there without even saying good morning.
Best night ever in a shelter was when one guy was setting up his tent nearby. "Hey, we got plenty of room in here," I said. "No," he answered, "I snore. Do not want to keep you guys awake."

TrippinBTM
02-02-2009, 22:45
There were five little baby mice in the ball.

Well I do not like mice or rats so i raise my hiking boot high off the ground to rid the world of the little rodents, when almost everybody in the shelter let out a big gasp at the same time. I turned to look and said WHAT!!!. I swear six people said at the same time don't kill them.... I think to myself to bad so sad, and start lowering my foot. When all of a sudden off to my left i hear a little squeak. I look over on the rock wall and there sets the momma mouse on her hind legs begging for her babys lives. So being the killer i am, i picked one of the little fellows up and held it in front of her saying if you want it, get it out of here. Much to my supprise she took it out of my fingers and went outside someplace, she then came back for another until she had gotten them all.

When it was over I had gone from a zero to a hero


dude, that's awesome. Remember, the mice are wildlife too.

But I agree sometimes it gets out of hand, the PETA people. At the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter in PA, there was a wasp just starting to build a nest under the eaves. I, just to be polite, asked if anyone mided if I kill it and destroy the (thus far still tiny) nest, so later on there's no problem. Preventative measuers... I wasn't personally bothered by it, but was looking out for future hikers.

I couldn't believe it when everyone said I should leave it! In a month it's going to be a swarming ball of wasps, and people won't be able to use the shelter. Or may not want to. Someone with allergies could be in trouble. But I left it alone.

Rambler, I had a night like that once; only, it was that when I got to the shelter at maybe 5 pm, the guy was already in his sleeping bag (mind you, this was summertime, long days and all). Felt I had to tiptoe around all evening and whisper, though in general I was kinda irritated by that so I was less quiet than I could have been. Then, the guy snored to wake the dead all night. People were leaving the shelter to set up their tents in the middle of the night, it was so bad.

I suffered thru it, and it seems I later learned to sleep like a rock. One time I slept through a really bad thunderstorm that was just getting going as I was drifting off. Well, I guess I just fell asleep in a lull in the storm, thinking it was over. I woke up refreshed and happy the next morning, and everyone was talking about this huge thunderstorm all night. I was like, what thunderstorm? They couldn't believe it.

garlic08
02-02-2009, 23:54
Does a hut story count? I walked into Lakes of the Clouds hut at 9 am, hoping to score some leftover breakfast goodies, maybe a pancake or two. They gave me a huge serving bowl full of green scrambled eggs! It was a raid from another hut's croo, put food coloring in the eggs and nobody noticed it until they were cooked and served. The 90 or so guests weren't hungry enough to eat green eggs. I think I ate the equivalent of two dozen eggs in one sitting, buttery, salty, still warm, and delicious.

mbanja
02-03-2009, 00:59
I was in a comfortably full shelter in the GSMNP last year with the infamous Col. Chaco, several thrus, and a pair named Rocko and Beaker. I think Beaker got off later but Rocko finished.. Anyway. There were two Korean guys (one named gas mask) and one of these guys started snoring so loud I worried that the shelter might come off the foundation and the rafters would come down on my head. First round of hard sawing and everybody let out a couple chuckles and "oh, boy"s. Second round either Rocko or Beaker voiced her discontent politely. I think his buddy nudged him because it stopped for a whopping 30 seconds. Third round she hollered out and achieved a whole minute of silence.

All the while, I'm just lying up above them enjoying the show. Finally-she can't take it anymore. I still don't know if it was Rocko or Beaker, but she goes over to this guy cussing a storm. On the floor right next to the guys head she unleashes a drum roll with her boots in her hand while hurling expletives. I wouldn't doubt that the guy crapped himself and jumped out of the bag at the same time. Unfortunately, he had limited English abilities, so I'm not sure he really understood what the heck was going on. The entire shelter erupted in laughter. Couple seconds later, he's right back at it. And it was good for a second round of laughter. She gave up.

Montana Mac
02-03-2009, 08:32
They gave me a huge serving bowl full of green scrambled eggs! It was a raid from another hut's croo, put food coloring in the eggs and nobweren't hungry enough to eat green eggs.

Are you sure it wasn't Saint Paddy's Day:-?

earlyriser26
02-03-2009, 08:55
I don't stay in shelters any more and here are two reasons. 1) In the shelter I woke up to see a skunk looking at me about a foot away. Fortunately, he just walked away. 2) In the Smokies when they had wire bunks one guy got so mad at the guy snoring above him pushes him with his feet from below so hard he almost feel out of the bunk. Boy was it hard to pretend to sleep after that.

MOWGLI
02-03-2009, 09:23
I was in a comfortably full shelter in the GSMNP last year with the infamous Col. Chaco, several thrus, and a pair named Rocko and Beaker. I think Beaker got off later but Rocko finished.. Anyway. There were two Korean guys (one named gas mask) and one of these guys started snoring so loud I worried that the shelter might come off the foundation and the rafters would come down on my head. First round of hard sawing and everybody let out a couple chuckles and "oh, boy"s. Second round either Rocko or Beaker voiced her discontent politely. I think his buddy nudged him because it stopped for a whopping 30 seconds. Third round she hollered out and achieved a whole minute of silence.

All the while, I'm just lying up above them enjoying the show. Finally-she can't take it anymore. I still don't know if it was Rocko or Beaker, but she goes over to this guy cussing a storm. On the floor right next to the guys head she unleashes a drum roll with her boots in her hand while hurling expletives. I wouldn't doubt that the guy crapped himself and jumped out of the bag at the same time. Unfortunately, he had limited English abilities, so I'm not sure he really understood what the heck was going on. The entire shelter erupted in laughter. Couple seconds later, he's right back at it. And it was good for a second round of laughter. She gave up.

Childish behavior. Trying to control the involuntary behavior of another hiker. A non-English speaker, no less. As described - that was an assault. This is one reason I have almost zero interest to hangout with selfish thru-hikers. They are a minority, but one that tarnishes the bunch at times.

Lone Wolf
02-03-2009, 09:49
Childish behavior.This is one reason I have almost zero interest to hangout with selfish thru-hikers. They are a minority

hmmm. not so sure about that

ofthearth
02-03-2009, 09:55
hmmm. not so sure about that



good call

sheepdog
02-03-2009, 10:27
Childish behavior. Trying to control the involuntary behavior of another hiker. A non-English speaker, no less. As described - that was an assault. This is one reason I have almost zero interest to hangout with selfish thru-hikers. They are a minority, but one that tarnishes the bunch at times.
I was in a shelter just south of Erwin. Written on the wall was a thru's complaint that section hikers would not get out of the shelter and give it to them on a rainy night.

Lone Wolf
02-03-2009, 10:29
I was in a shelter just south of Erwin. Written on the wall was a thru's complaint that section hikers would not get out of the shelter and give it to them on a rainy night.

typical elitist attitude of thru-hikers

cravj1988
02-03-2009, 10:42
I was at a shelter in PA when about 15 school kids came rolling in. The chaperone wanted to know what I was going to cook for dinner and when I told him Hamburger Helper Microwavable Singles, he said "you have a microwave?" No kidding...

Tinker
02-03-2009, 13:52
I was in a shelter just south of Erwin. Written on the wall was a thru's complaint that section hikers would not get out of the shelter and give it to them on a rainy night.

Another good reason to bring, and use, your own shelter. Visit with the folks in the shelter and cook there, maybe, but give yourself the option to leave if you don't like what's going on there.

I snore. I won't subject others to it.

Rain Man
02-03-2009, 17:16
Childish behavior. Trying to control the involuntary behavior of another hiker. A non-English speaker, no less. As described - that was an assault. This is one reason I have almost zero interest to hangout with selfish thru-hikers. They are a minority, but one that tarnishes the bunch at times.

Yep, childish ... and hypocritical. Might as well dash soapy water on a smelly thru-hiker who you don't think bathes enough and is stinking up the shelter.

Rain:sunMan

.

phishpapond
03-27-2009, 01:50
typical elitist attitude of thru-hikers
Holy crap you said something I completely agree with!!

mtnkngxt
03-28-2009, 09:37
Thomas Knob shelter 06. Storm rolled through, and this girl assuming she was a thru, screamed every time a bolt of lightning would strike. It took me 45 minutes to eat my dinner because I couldn't stop laughing. Around 7 we headed back down to our tent spots, and could still hear her screaming for another 2 hours as the storm front pushed through. It was one of the funniest days of my life.

middle to middle
03-29-2009, 12:49
The History Channel has a show on mice and rats in the city and they are the ultimate survivors. We should learn from them. Doesn't mean you can't wack the the pushy ones.

Doctari
03-30-2009, 10:50
I was in a shelter just south of Erwin. Written on the wall was a thru's complaint that section hikers would not get out of the shelter and give it to them on a rainy night.

I can't remember when, or which shelter, but we had about 8 people in a 6 person shelter on a RAINY night, when a hiker came in & said (I swear he did, and was serious): "Someone HAS to leave & set up their tent so I can have a space, I don't have a tent!" In a tone of voice that was anything but pleasant or as if he was asking, he was ORDERING us.
We all laughed at him.
For some reason he was surprised and mad about it. Never saw him again.
The conversation the next AM was: Had he asked nicely instead of ordering us to vacate, most of us would have done so. I was actually thinking of it anyway, can't remember why I was in a crowded shelter as I had a tent. :confused:
I suspect he didn't learn tho.

tolkien
05-07-2011, 14:22
I would like to hear the aforementioned dead moose story.

gunner76
05-08-2011, 20:08
When I was in the Scouts in the 60's we were staying at a shelter ( I do not remember where). During the night a big rain storm hit. One of the scouts told the Scout Master he was sick and need to throw up. Scout Master told to go throw up then. Kid threw up alright, all over the Scout Master.

mweinstone
05-08-2011, 20:23
shelters killed everyone and everything i ever loved.

harryfred
05-08-2011, 21:07
It was my first multi overnight on the AT. I was at Peters Mountain shelter With Jerryatric, we weren't hiking together just stop at the same shelter. I got up in the middle of the night to do the tree watering thing. It was a clear bright night so I elected not to use my head lamp and risk flashing and waking Jerryatric. I forgot there was a step down to the porch area of the shelter fell flat on my face with a boom Jerryatric must have levitated 6" off the floor. So much for trying not to wake him up.

earlyriser26
05-08-2011, 21:09
Way back in 1975 at Spence Field, late one night when a couple thought everyone was sleeping they got to well you know. Back then the bunks were made out of wire and they got to squeaking really loud. The guy under them announced that if anything drips on him they are dead. The whole shelter busted out laughing. The girl then said I thought you said everyone was sleeping. The next morning, the joke was "Is that a mouse I hear squeaking".
Also at spence, circa 1985, one of my less tolerant hiking partners was so mad at the guy above him snoring that he kicked the wire in the bunk above him with both feet so hard that the guy bounced a foot in the air. He never figured out what happened, but my laughter almost gave it away.

One Half
05-08-2011, 21:41
I was always under the impression that thru hikers got first shot at shelters and others were expected to tent if the shelter filled up. Personally, I always tent. My tent is the comfort item I won't give up.

brian039
05-08-2011, 21:51
I was always under the impression that thru hikers got first shot at shelters and others were expected to tent if the shelter filled up. Personally, I always tent. My tent is the comfort item I won't give up.

Yeah, that's what we tell section hikers. Never trust a thru-hiker.

Deadeye
05-08-2011, 21:51
I was always under the impression that thru hikers got first shot at shelters and others were expected to tent if the shelter filled up. Personally, I always tent. My tent is the comfort item I won't give up.

Wrong impression! Shelters are first come, first served. Doesn't matter if you're a thru, a section, a weekender, a dork, nerd, jerk, girl, guy, or if you're smelly, dirty, tired, wet, rich, gorgeous (well... that helps), ugly.....

soulrebel
05-09-2011, 08:27
shelters would be so much better if they'd cover them with outdated wallpaper inside and out...

mweinstone
05-09-2011, 08:33
i know im boreing but i invented another thing.......lucite shelters. clear as glass. it solves a myrid of problems.