View Full Version : Unusual campsites/shelters you've used
I just got to thinking about some of the unusual places I've camped while hiking. Mine are mostly all non-AT, since there are so many established camping areas/facilities on the AT. Other folks must have some too, maybe even on the AT.
The ones that come to mind for me:
The lawn across the street from "Front Street" (tourist attraction) in Dodge City, KS.
Koshare Indian Kiva and Museum in La Junta, CO.
A Cowboy Cabin in Dark Canyon in UT.
Under a pool table in a bar in Rico, CO.
On the grassy right-of-way between US Highway 50 and the Main Line of the Santa Fe Railroad in KS.
Showroom of a picture framing shop, "Small Town, VA". This was along the AT, can't remember which small town.
Abandoned Shoe Store in Greenville, KY. Complete with 1950's era shoes still on the shelves.
In a cave along the Sheltowee Trace in KY.
That will get you started, what are your unique camping spots?
Lone Wolf
11-24-2009, 11:18
underneath lonesome lake hut
in the bushes outside of madison hut
in the bushes outside of pinkham notch lodge
cornwall bridge PO loading dock
duncannon town park
amphitheater in SNP
front lawn of big meadows, SNP (got a ranger escort for that one)
I camped in downtown Goverment Camp.
The top of the washington monument
under an arch in bryce but i didnt see it untill morning
a hippi co opt in TX with hourly safety meetings at 4:20 and naked study groups and group showers and girls that liked girls, but people actualy lived there.
inside the burnt out trunk of a living tree with 2 other tents
on a island with wild hourses
next to a shelter in the mud while drunk jerks "hiked in beer" with babby joggers from the nearest road.
but I have always been way more impressed by pink blazing stories said the guy who never even took a girl home from a bar.
Many Walks
11-24-2009, 17:29
The backyard playhouse in Boiling Springs, PA
Stayed on an old dredger boat on the Mississippi
Some great stealth sites on the AT
On the floor of Mizpah Spring Hut
On the rocks of the Desolation Wilderness, Tahoe
Under a rock in the desert near Barstow, CA
The Village Inn/Relax Inn at Atkins, VA was so run down....I wish I was back out in the woods sleeping in my tent.
Behind a Bed&Breakfast that had no vacancy. They let me hang my hammock in an old apple grove. (This was along the Northville Placid Trail)
On top of a sandbagged bunker next to the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force impact area at the base of Mt. Fuji. Awesome sunrise.
Cowboy camp on top of Mt. Garfield on a massive granite slab. Saw a great sunset and sunrise (behind Mt. Washington) from the same spot.
Hammocked under the picnic shelter on Horn Mountain (Pinhoti Trail) in a pounding rain.
Slept on the Gazebo at the Church Hostel in Delaware Water Gap so I wouldn't wake any one when I got up for a 5 AM start to beat the heat wave at the moment.
One spot I won't name resulted from a failed attempt to hitch a ride or series of rides legally on an Interstate late in the day. It didn't work out as planned because I accepted a short ride in desperation to a place where there was almost no traffic at that hour.
When it became clear I wouldn't get the ride I sought, I found what seemed like a suitable place to spend the night. The neighbors apparently were not of the same mind and called local police for a 3rd opinion.
Long story short, the police and I agreed it was the best spot under the circumstances and I suggested they invite the neighbor over for reassurance. Either the police didn't extend the offer I made or the neighbor was satisfied.
I slept well and headed for the on-ramp at sunup. As predicted by the local police officer with whom I'd spoken, there was commuting traffic in the morning and I obtained a ride rather easily. The delay worked to my advantage when I caught up with friends in front of Hanover's post office who were also there to pick up a package.
Had I made Hanover the night before, I'm not certain I would have connected with my friends. We enjoyed the next several days together hiking in New Hampshire. Sometimes some of the most remarkable things come to pass.
Blissful
11-24-2009, 22:02
I know of someone who stayed in the privy at Carvers Gap in the snowstorm in '07.
Paul Bunyan has slept in strange places in '07 - like picnic table, fire tower at Glastenbury, steathed in Kent, Ct in somone's backyard in a pine forest.
Let's just say he loves his car these last few months. He really did love the AT lifestyle, can't get away from it even today.
canoehead
11-24-2009, 22:09
Nuclear Carrier USS. Dwight D Eisenhower. And a Porta Ledge on Tekoa Mt in Russell Ma.. Gotta love it
JoshStover
11-24-2009, 23:00
Darn it. Someone beat me to the Port-a-ledge. I sleep on my port-a-ledge about 100 feet off the ground on Long Point in the New River Gorge. I have also hung my hammock about 40 feet up in a huge oak tree I have on my farm. I just did that for the hell of it and it was quite an experience in the morning when I woke up.
Just the usual spots:
Behind a huge gravestone in a cemetery in Bennington Vermont along the AT
Under the bridge going out of Hot Springs NC
In several warming ski huts on the Long Trail
Underneath the ski lift at Mt Killington
In several fire towers
On top of a cell phone tower in a hammock in the pouring rain on the island of Kauai near Mt Wialeah(the wettest place in the world)
On an island in the Chatooga River in SC
On a river island in Oregon that I swam to. Made for a wet morning!
In the desert at Death Valley NP. It got up to 129 degrees F during the day, 2 degrees short of the 131 Degree F record! It was, I kid you not, 120 degrees F at 10:00 P.M It was literally an oven!
In a cave in Dark Canyon Utah
In a cave at the Grand Canyon
In a bathroom at Grand Canyon NP
Behind a waterfall on a PCT alternate
At the base, right at the base, of several waterfalls
Under ledges at Great Smokey Mountains National Park on the way up to Mt LeConte
At Paul Bunion Overlook/JumpOff in GSMNP
At Angels Landing in Zion NP
Under ledges in many sites Utah
At the summits of several mountains including some of the most memorable on top of Mt Humphreys in AZ and Mt Whitney in CA
Several beaches on coastal hikes. On one coastal hike in Hawaii a rogue wave swamped my shoreline campsite in the middle of the night!
Near a trail in Hawaii I slept in some kid's treehouse
In a volcano caldera at Haleakala NP
In a canoe in a flooded cranberry bog along the Batona Tr in NJ
Under a huge Pandanus(Screw Pine Tree) in Haleakala NP in HI
At the base of a 2000 yr old 300 ft + 30 ft + diameter Giant Redwood
In a grove of huge 25 ft + Joshua Trees in So Cal on the PCT
In a Palmdale CA windmill farm on the PCT
In a hollowed out tree
On a glacier in Rainier NP
On many a cliff
Inside huge unused stacked concrete drainage pipe along the PCT. Several other drainage pipes elsewhere.
Inside the viewing shelter at Rainbow PT in Bryce NP
In a tipee near Capitol Reef NP
Inside the bus station at White River Junction
In the warming hut in downtown Goverment Camp at the base of Mt hood
Behind a dumpster inside a dumpster corral at an abondoned Exxon/Dairy Queen in Virginia along the AT
Under one of my friend's hammocks in the pouring rain, with him sleeping in it, because I didn't have a shelter at one pt on the AT Maine
So many more! It makes hiking fun!
JoshStover
11-25-2009, 01:31
Damn Dogwood, do you ever sleep in a normal spot??? lol