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SkinnyT
03-24-2009, 10:12
I am starting my NOBO solo next week and have a question. Along the way, like everyone else, I will re-up supplies like spices, hot sauce, Gold Bond...etc.

Is it kosher to leave excess stuff like that in shelters for others to use once I have replenished my container? I was thinking I would leave a note with name/date/time and reason it is sitting there for the taking so people won't think there is an "AT poisoner" lurking. Is this common?

I am sure I will meet folks to go in on and split stuff before we hit the trial again, but I hate to waste anything especially if others would consider it a score when they got to that shelter.

flemdawg1
03-24-2009, 10:20
That what hostel hiker boxes are for. Please don't leave stuff at shelters.

RememberYourZen
03-24-2009, 10:27
yeah toss em in hiker boxes along the way, someone will def come by and grab them up and you wont be trashing up the shelters!

SkinnyT
03-24-2009, 10:28
Yea, I am familiar with the hostel boxes. But I didn't intend on going to too many. Perhaps it is just better to trash em at the store instead of leaving stuff on the trail.

sliderule
03-24-2009, 10:34
Is it kosher to leave excess stuff like that in shelters for others to use

Absolutely not. It's much more likely to wind up as trash than treasure.

Lone Wolf
03-24-2009, 10:36
I am starting my NOBO solo next week and have a question. Along the way, like everyone else, I will re-up supplies like spices, hot sauce, Gold Bond...etc.

Is it kosher to leave excess stuff like that in shelters for others to use once I have replenished my container? I was thinking I would leave a note with name/date/time and reason it is sitting there for the taking so people won't think there is an "AT poisoner" lurking. Is this common?

I am sure I will meet folks to go in on and split stuff before we hit the trial again, but I hate to waste anything especially if others would consider it a score when they got to that shelter.

it wouldn't bother me if you left stuff in the shelters. they're pretty well trashed anyway :)

garlic08
03-24-2009, 11:19
One of the reasons I disliked the AT shelters was all the leftover stuff lying around.

Doc
03-24-2009, 12:10
I shoot anyone found leaving "good stuff" at the leanto that I maintain. Don't do it!

Lone Wolf
03-24-2009, 12:49
I shoot anyone found leaving "good stuff" at the leanto that I maintain. Don't do it!

maybe you shouldn't maintain a shelter if it angers you so.

Tin Man
03-24-2009, 12:52
I shoot anyone found leaving "good stuff" at the leanto that I maintain. Don't do it!

shelters and privies are a waste of good building materials... they are leavings that invite more leavings :)

peakbagger
03-24-2009, 13:49
At least a few years ago GATC and the NC maintaining clubs posted at the shelters not to leave anything and they tended to be quite agressive at getting rid of anything that people left anyhow.

Cannibal
03-24-2009, 14:03
Yea, I am familiar with the hostel boxes. But I didn't intend on going to too many. Perhaps it is just better to trash em at the store instead of leaving stuff on the trail.
Heck, it's rare for there not to be at least one other hiker shopping for supplies when you are in the store/outfitter. My bet is it won't be hard to find another hiker that's going to the very hostel that you are smart enough to bypass.

Erin
03-24-2009, 22:23
Offer the stuff to other hikers. We were section hikers with too much food and took some to share. The thrus we met were happy to get it but did not ask for it and will take it if it is offered graciously. They like extras, especially spices and packets they can use on the spot. They love cheese and summer sausage if you are sharing at lunch. They loved the dried fruit too. I had dehydrated it and had way too much of it. If they don't want it, they will say so. Then leave in town at a hiker box or similar deal.

shelterbuilder
03-25-2009, 20:36
Please don't leave anything at the shelters. Here in Pa., my maintainers are "under orders" to remove anything (ANYTHING) that's been abandoned, whether it's useful or not. Food, equipment, beer...it all goes out as trash (well, maybe the beer gets used before the trip out:D....)

Ox97GaMe
03-25-2009, 21:26
DO NOT EVER leave food or other supplies at shelters.

a) Maintainers will take all left items out. Since we dont know how long it has been there, we dont know if it is still good. All 'unauthorized' items left in the shelter are removed.

b) Food left in shelter is more likely to become animal food than hiker food. This will cause animals (not just mice) to start hanging around shelters more often. Dont feed the wildlife. Fed animals can become dead animals.

c) Hikers arent likely to add items to their packs while in the woods. Unless they are running low on food themselves. Resupplies are done in town or hostels. It will be better to find hikers at your resupply points.

Johnny Thunder
03-25-2009, 22:12
I've always felt that the only things that may be left at a shelter are a. extra fuel b. a large water carrying implement, and c. a book (in a protected register box so's a mouse doesn't tear it up). All of these things can be life savers.

Tinker
03-25-2009, 22:50
I am starting my NOBO solo next week and have a question. Along the way, like everyone else, I will re-up supplies like spices, hot sauce, Gold Bond...etc.

Is it kosher to leave excess stuff like that in shelters for others to use once I have replenished my container? I was thinking I would leave a note with name/date/time and reason it is sitting there for the taking so people won't think there is an "AT poisoner" lurking. Is this common?

I am sure I will meet folks to go in on and split stuff before we hit the trial again, but I hate to waste anything especially if others would consider it a score when they got to that shelter.

It would be an especially good idea to label the Gold Bond powder. Someone might try to stick it up their nose.:rolleyes:

emerald
03-25-2009, 23:09
shelters and privies are a waste of good building materials... they are leavings that invite more leavings :)

Spare us.:)

Skyline
03-25-2009, 23:39
Another maintainer here asking hikers to please not leave unwanted gear, food, expendibles, etc. behind at shelters.

As others here have said, we just have to pack it out. It is rare that a hiker will ever take any of this stuff. Left-behinds also send a message to others that they can leave all their unwanted stuff too, and they add it to the pile. Then we have to carry out even more stuff. What the critters haven't shredded, of course.

Hiker boxes at hostels, outfitters, etc. are the proper place to leave stuff for other hikers. If you can't get there, please just carry it out and put it in the next trash can you come to, or offer it to hikers you meet in the woods.

Skyline
Hut maintainer in SNP

Tin Man
03-25-2009, 23:59
I can never understand why someone who goes to the trouble of carrying stuff in, can't figure out that they need to carry it out. Pretty simple really.

Blue Jay
03-26-2009, 07:57
Please don't leave anything at the shelters. Here in Pa., my maintainers are "under orders" to remove anything (ANYTHING) that's been abandoned, whether it's useful or not. Food, equipment, beer...it all goes out as trash (well, maybe the beer gets used before the trip out:D....)

That's odd, going through PA last year I found more good stuff than ever before, including beer. At one shelter I found a can of beans that was the best nonhomemade I've ever had and at another one an LED Headlamp (that was most likely inadvertant). I also did not find any shelter "trashed". Your maintainers are great.

SunnyWalker
03-30-2009, 22:14
When I was section hiking it was always fun to go to each shelter and "shop". I did not stay any shelter though.

Blissful
03-30-2009, 22:29
Best bet is when you pick up the new, throw out the old unless you get a taker right then and there. Some hostels are also overflowing with needless junk in hiker boxes too. And I wouldn't take stuff that is partially used anyway. Or in ziploc bags.

Blissful
03-30-2009, 22:31
When I was section hiking it was always fun to go to each shelter and "shop". I did not stay any shelter though.


The only shopping I saw was stuff the mice left from books. Empty fuel canisters or ones that had three drops in them. And at Darlington shelter, four shoes of different sizes and styles. Not pretty.

shelterbuilder
03-31-2009, 13:04
That's odd, going through PA last year I found more good stuff than ever before, including beer. At one shelter I found a can of beans that was the best nonhomemade I've ever had and at another one an LED Headlamp (that was most likely inadvertant). I also did not find any shelter "trashed". Your maintainers are great.

Like everythng else, "left stuff" tends to run in cycles. Sometimes, it'll be months before somebody leaves something, and other times, it seems like week after week.

Once, we found 4 surplus Army mummy bags (cold weather, down/feather filled) that had (presumably) been left by a juvenile detention camp that was using the AT as an "overnight punishment" for misbehavior at the camp. (...bad use of a good outdoor resource, IMHO) Yep - the bags disappeared...so did the detention camp, eventually! :D

Skyline
03-31-2009, 21:43
Like everythng else, "left stuff" tends to run in cycles. Sometimes, it'll be months before somebody leaves something, and other times, it seems like week after week.

Once, we found 4 surplus Army mummy bags (cold weather, down/feather filled) that had (presumably) been left by a juvenile detention camp that was using the AT as an "overnight punishment" for misbehavior at the camp. (...bad use of a good outdoor resource, IMHO) Yep - the bags disappeared...so did the detention camp, eventually! :D


Unwanted stuff left behind at shelters, allegedly for other hikers to take as a generous "gift," is self-perpetuating. Kinda like graffiti or litter in urban areas—it just spreads. You see some junk lying around a shelter that belongs to nobody, and wanted by practically nobody, and it's like a permission slip to unburden yourself of weight you don't want to carry any longer.

'Tis far better to burden oneself for a few more miles and dispose of it properly. Because a volunteer maintainer will have to carry it all out if you don't.

Maintainers who visit their shelters often can sometimes get a handle on things by removing temptation before it piles up, and then the next hikers don't add to the rummage because there isn't any. That may account for why "it'll be months before somebody leaves something, and other times, it seems like week after week."