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Former Admin
10-19-2002, 10:21
Info, questions, comments, experiences (good or bad) regarding - Mark Noepel Lean-to

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

Future hikers - any questions?

DebW
10-21-2002, 09:21
Very nice shelter. A friend and I spend the night of September 11, 2001 there at the start of a 5 day trip, oblivious to world events. Guess we wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if we had known. Shelter has bunks and a loft. Picnic table there also.

ez-does-it
10-21-2002, 10:32
This shelter area is another nice spot for tenting out.You might have to go a long way for your water but it's there.Lots of times the first water source is dry and if you follow the water bed down stream you will come to good running water.Watch out for prokepines here.;)

Bluebearee
10-28-2002, 23:54
Big time Porcupine problem. Capital P. He moved from the shelter edge to the picnic table to the privy as the night wore on and our sleeping suffered. I couldn't believe how bold this porky was.

Hikerhead
10-29-2002, 00:09
I know this is off subject and I'll move this somewhere else, like the porcupine forum. But, what is it about these animals. Don't they just run away if you clap your hands or something. You make it sound like these things will chase you to the end of the world and bite your leg off.

As you can tell I've seen one except in a zoo.

Peaks
10-29-2002, 08:55
This is a little off topic, but porkies are bold. After all, they have their natural protection that no one is going to mess with.

Two stories about my encounters with them.

The first was decades ago at the old Peru Peak shelter. That place was infested with them. Back in those days, I carried a bar of ivory soap. The porkies even ate that.

The second was up on the northern end of the Long Trail near Jay Peak at a cabin along the trail. It was evident that porkies were abundant there also. So, at night, we closed the door (or what was left of it), and plugged the holes with fire wood. The porkies scrambled up the side of the cabin and in through crevaces in the shutters over the windows. Then the rummaged around inside all night, and whinned and whinned. I never new porkies to whine, but they sure did that night.

If you want to kill this pest, club him in the nose. They are slow moving, so you can easily out run them.

Jack Tarlin
10-29-2002, 15:33
Sure hope Peaks was kidding in his last post. Scare the animal off? Sure, if he's becoming a real annoyance or threat to your person or property. But suggestions and advice on how to kill him? Sorry. That's a bit much. Let's remember that a campsite, a shelter, and for that matter, the hiker and the Trail----all are unnatural intrusions into the land where this animal and others like him have lived for time out of mind. WE are the visitors here, WE are the intruders and interlopers in his home, WE are merely privileged guests passing thru. Whether porcupine, rattlesnake, or anything else, (except maybe the odd mosquito!) we shouldn't be thinking about killing the wild animals we're lucky enough to encounter out there, and nor should we be instructing others on how best to do so.

Peaks
10-29-2002, 17:22
As always, Jack, you have a valid point. My references are undoubtedly a carryover for days gone past when "civilization" did that to unwanted creatures, including rattle snakes, wolfs, etc.

steve hiker
05-12-2003, 19:05
Hey those are valid points, all right. Mice too. They're part of the environment. Mouse want to run across your face and poop in your mouth? OPEN WIDE!

mooseboy
07-26-2005, 10:22
After finding the mice that lived in the register box (not cute little mice but big country-sized critters), which basically gave me a heart attack when I opened the panel, I sympathize with Peaks. I'm generally against killing wildlife, but mice are another story.

I lunched here July 2005. It looked like a clean, comfy lean-to with the exception of the rodents.

While it's true that WE are the visitors to the wilderness, aren't our shelters meant to be "our little place"? Don't the rodents get the ENTIRE mountain to roam around and live on? I don't think it's too much to ask for a pest-free environment in the 0.001% of the land that we're occupying with our campsites and shelters.

cascader
09-23-2005, 12:05
While it's true that WE are the visitors to the wilderness, aren't our shelters meant to be "our little place"?

No! That's why they don't have doors. They remain open to the environment and its ordinary residents--we are just transients passing thro' their habitat, trying to minimize our impact on it. That includes not killing the local fauna!


Don't the rodents get the ENTIRE mountain to roam around and live on? I don't think it's too much to ask for a pest-free environment in the 0.001% of the land that we're occupying with our campsites and shelters.

In the lower 48 states, and esp. in the East, just what percentage of the environment have we left its orginal non-human inhabitants to roam around and live on? Habitat loss is a major issue--one of the major environmental issues of our time. We have this narrow corridor (broken in many places) around the AT for endangered species to migrate up and down on--we claim most everything else for our own human uses. It's up to us to keep shelters clean, not leave food scraps around campsites, hang food well, do whatever we can not to encourage the wildlife to hang out in shelters. If they do hang out in shelters, we co-exist, convenient or not--that's part of what "leave no trace" means.

stupe
09-23-2005, 20:34
I killed a whole day last August at Mark Noepal lean to, and found that it ( and I reckon any leanto ) is a perfect bird blind. I saw my first Scarlet Tanager there. Just sit in the shelter quietly, and you see plenty of avian action.

canoehead
09-24-2005, 15:20
don't forget the PORQYS:eek:

JJB
01-12-2006, 13:34
I was at the shelter last monday the 9th. It's one of the best in the area. I usualy use it as my jumping off spot for that area. I take the train to Pittsfield and then it's a short bus ride to Cheshire. I thought that I was going to be the first to one there for the new year, but somebody beat me there on skis. Snow was manageable with out snow shoes. Always enjoy my stay there. But in the winter there is no critters so even better.

Lucyh
10-08-2016, 07:26
I'm thinking about staying in this shelter next weekend. Any one got any more up to date info? Looking forward to meeting the resident porcupine!

Cosmo
10-11-2016, 20:16
I'm thinking about staying in this shelter next weekend. Any one got any more up to date info? Looking forward to meeting the resident porcupine!

Haven't seen the porky in a while. Water is still good, but you'll need to walk downstream to find a reasonable pool to dip from.

Cosmo

Just Tom
10-12-2016, 08:45
I stayed overnight there in mid September, wasn't bothered by any critters. It was a typical Massachusetts style shelter with a loft. Water was good, but a bit of a walk. Met a couple of south bound thru hikers. Good times.

Lucyh
11-06-2016, 14:26
Thanks for the messages Just Tom and Cosmo. I went to the shelter a couple of weeks ago and got TOTALLY FREAKED OUT by a big old grizzly porcupine, which I originally mistook for a young bear cub and got very freaked out until it came closer and I realised it obviously wasn't! He/she was very much not scared of humans, and enjoyed nosing about near my tent!

Cosmo
11-07-2016, 10:32
Thanks for the messages Just Tom and Cosmo. I went to the shelter a couple of weeks ago and got TOTALLY FREAKED OUT by a big old grizzly porcupine, which I originally mistook for a young bear cub and got very freaked out until it came closer and I realised it obviously wasn't! He/she was very much not scared of humans, and enjoyed nosing about near my tent!

That will get your blood moving! The porky's been an off and on visitor for several years. Hopefully he did not spend the evening munching on the shelter.

Cosmo

Deacon
11-07-2016, 12:21
This was at Bake Oven Knob shelter last June.....

https://vimeo.com/190580157

Cosmo
10-09-2017, 07:52
Looking for some info. Sometime this summer, the posting in the shelter with some details about Mark Nopel's life and contribution to the Trail was removed by someone. We'd like to put it back up, but of course when the shelter was built, no one thought we'd need another copy someday. At our named shelters (Kay Wood, being another), we try and provide some connection for today's hikers to the person the shelter was named for. Wondering if anyone out there has a picture of the posting that's legible enough to read so we can make and install a new posting. You can reply here or PM me.

Thanks!


Cosmo

Patrickjd9
10-13-2017, 21:14
I take it is the white typed document on the right-hand wall. Tried to search for it on Flickr and looked here as well, but didn't come up with a legible copy.

Tried searching as Noepel, since his name appears with that spelling elsewhere.

TD55
10-14-2017, 11:23
Looking for some info. Sometime this summer, the posting in the shelter with some details about Mark Nopel's life and contribution to the Trail was removed by someone. We'd like to put it back up, but of course when the shelter was built, no one thought we'd need another copy someday. At our named shelters (Kay Wood, being another), we try and provide some connection for today's hikers to the person the shelter was named for. Wondering if anyone out there has a picture of the posting that's legible enough to read so we can make and install a new posting. You can reply here or PM me.

Thanks!


Cosmo
Sorry, I can't help you with your request, but if you need to find info on Mark, I was on the trail when he went missing in 1987 in Virginia. Pretty sure he was a Parks employee in Shenandoah. I remember it because there were large numbers of Army guys helping in the search and it was the only time I ever saw that on the trail. I know they found his remains but have no information on the cause of his death. Hope this might help you find further information.