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WIAPilot
05-18-2012, 10:49
Is one that you have always remembered or thought was the funniest?

Also, what is shelter etiquette about the logs/journals? If you just want to sign in and write a sentence and someone is writing a dissertation like 1/2 hr., is it OK to ask for it to just sign your name? Are you suppose to sign in at most of the shelters or just whenever?

Sorry!! Meant to write "Journal Entry!"

wookinpanub
05-18-2012, 11:24
From a journal kept in the privy at a Vermont shelter, can't remember which one. It's been 20+ years and this still sticks with me:

"I've been here half an hour, which is longer than I oughta
but I must have drank a gallon of some giarida-tainted water.
I think I need a doctor and I must get into town,
but I know that when I get there that my pants will be all brown."

7th-grade humor, but I still laugh at that.

garlic08
05-18-2012, 11:38
Somehow I managed to complete an AT hike without ever touching a shelter log. After witnessing the typical hand hygiene of many AT hikers, I just stayed away from anything touched by so many. I'm no Howard Hughes obsessive type (I don't even carry soap), just careful. Witness the poem above--funny as it is, it's true. And where are the giardia spores now?

WIAPilot
05-18-2012, 12:09
LOL Yeah, Purell is going to be my new best friend.

Don H
05-18-2012, 12:24
Well the one I'll always remember is the one I wrote in the Katahdin Stream Ranger Station log on September 7, 2011.
"summited today, weather was cold, windy and raining on top, I am done."

Sarcasm the elf
05-18-2012, 12:25
My vote would go the entries discussed here:http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?74523-comics-on-the-trail&highlight=Comic

max patch
05-18-2012, 12:40
Somehow I managed to complete an AT hike without ever touching a shelter log. After witnessing the typical hand hygiene of many AT hikers, I just stayed away from anything touched by so many. I'm no Howard Hughes obsessive type (I don't even carry soap), just careful. Witness the poem above--funny as it is, it's true. And where are the giardia spores now?

I'm a germ freak and I never thot about the shelter journals - thanks for the heads up. I'll still read them but I'll Purell afterwards.

You don't have to "sign in" anywhere, but it used to be said that it would make you easier to find in case of an emergency back home. But with everyone carrying cells that makes that less important.

WIAPilot
05-18-2012, 13:08
OMG LOL The cartoons are hilarious!! I just bet that they made everyone's day.

Sevsa
05-18-2012, 13:16
Through the years whenever I have stopped at a shelter I always read at least some of the journal. I look for three things in them, information about what is ahead, entries from people I know and finally some of the writers are quite entertaining so they can be fun to read. I usually write something although more than a few lines is a lot for me. Occasionally someone will be reading it when I arrive but it isn't often that I've found someone keeping it for a very long time. If you just want to sign in and make a short comment just ask.

Bati
05-18-2012, 13:28
Registers may be pulled by park and other search and rescue personnel and used to track down missing hikers or potentially missing hikers. It was strange when I hiked though the Smokies as there were no registers left in the park, since the rangers had retrieved them all in an effort to track down all hikers. Having a cell phone may help and is certainly faster, but don't count on having service or even being capable of dialing whenever disaster strikes.

Registers are also used by other hikers to track down hikers, which can be good (Oh- I can catch up to him if I hike 3 more miles today) or bad (you can easily see the potential problem here if you don't want to be followed by someone whom you didn't trust, don't state the time of day or your plans in the register if you don't feel comfortable). Registers are a good way to keep up with friends you've made on the way but are no longer hiking with, and often contain very useful information about spring locations or places in towns.

There's no need to sign if you don't want to do so, but you shouldn't feel bad about asking for a quick check in a register if someone is "hogging" it. Just be polite and be quick.

As for germs, I've signed many registers, never used purell on the trail, and not gotten sick from a single register or anything else on the AT- but I always filter my water if it comes from a source I can't sue, like the town water supply.

birchy
05-19-2012, 09:11
LOL Yeah, Purell is going to be my new best friend.
Alcohol gels and hand sanitizers do not kill Cryptosporidium. And one article I found questions its effectiveness for giarda http://www.backpacker.com/community/ask_buck/362

garlic08
05-19-2012, 10:20
I've heard there is evidence that effective hand washing is mainly due to friction, and the main value of soap is that it gets you to rub your hands more to get rid of the soapy feeling. I'm skeptical of that, but it's out there.

Another Kevin
05-19-2012, 20:07
I've heard there is evidence that effective hand washing is mainly due to friction, and the main value of soap is that it gets you to rub your hands more to get rid of the soapy feeling. I'm skeptical of that, but it's out there.

That's likely true, but soap is a surfactant and disrupts the cell walls of many microorganisms. It also cuts your skin oils, which is how a lot of crud sticks to you. So by all means wash with plain water if you don't have soap, but use soap when you have it - and try to have it.

Bronk
05-20-2012, 01:17
The register entries that really stick out in my mind are the drawings of outhouses Heald put in every register.There are no rules regarding shelter registers...you don't have to ever sign one if you don't want to. They are useful if you want to pass messages to people behind you or want to create a record of when and where you are in case someone is trying to locate you or may try to locate you in the future. They are also good sources of information about trail conditions, water sources and services up ahead. I've seen some people that have had a stamp made and just stamp their name in the register...it would probably be really easy to stamp your name somewhere on the page while someone else was writing a book type entry. Really though, if putting your name in the register is that important to you then just wait your turn...it will be rare that you'd have to wait more than a minute or two.

rocketsocks
05-20-2012, 02:08
Is one that you have always remembered or thought was the funniest?

Also, what is shelter etiquette about the logs/journals? If you just want to sign in and write a sentence and someone is writing a dissertation like 1/2 hr., is it OK to ask for it to just sign your name? Are you suppose to sign in at most of the shelters or just whenever?

Sorry!! Meant to write "Journal Entry!"I think(in a pleasant manner)asking "hey would you mind if I just sign the book,cause I'm pushing on" would do the trick.If not then a "Yo buddy,S--T or get off the pot",might get it done,tough it may get thrown at you.

I miss Mtns.
05-20-2012, 22:29
What you have heard is true. I work in a college microbiology lab and one of our experiments for the students is testing the efficacy of various household products that "kill 99% of germs". Long story short: Only bleach kills everything!! Purell and other hand sanitizers will kill most of the bacteria, but therein lies the problem. Only the strongest are left to reproduce (every 20 min. - hour). Now what is left on your hands is worse than what you started with. Friction from washing is the key to removing the nasties. Not to mention giardia and organisms like it are protozoa, not bacteria, and are generally much harder to kill.

Blue Jay
05-22-2012, 13:45
I've heard there is evidence that effective hand washing is mainly due to friction, and the main value of soap is that it gets you to rub your hands more to get rid of the soapy feeling. I'm skeptical of that, but it's out there.

Journals in shelters are much more informative to what is actually going on than hiking forums on line. It only took 12 posts till this one drifted into the Twilight Zone.

Blue Jay
05-22-2012, 13:51
Somehow I managed to complete an AT hike without ever touching a shelter log. After witnessing the typical hand hygiene of many AT hikers, I just stayed away from anything touched by so many. I'm no Howard Hughes obsessive type (I don't even carry soap), just careful. Witness the poem above--funny as it is, it's true. And where are the giardia spores now?

You missed a lot. Quite often shelter journals give more useful information and humor than data books and cyber combined, to say nothing of the wonderful artwork and cartoons. At least you know the writer actually walked at least to the shelter.

Gray Blazer
05-22-2012, 16:55
The paper makes good kindling (just kidding folks).

ChinMusic
05-22-2012, 17:22
Hiked with Stumpknocker last week and he reminded me of washing my hands after reviewing the shelter journals. Stumpknocker even brings his own pen (red) for that reason.

Pony
05-22-2012, 17:35
9/6/2010

"Today, I had an experience that no words on earth can describe. I was thinking of words to describe my feelings, but I failed, because it's not possible. So I will make it short and every NOBO thruhiker will know what I mean.

TODAY, I SAW KATAHDIN!"
-Cheeseburger 2010

This was from the shelter just north of Whitecap mountain. It may not seem that funny, but I'm sure anyone who hiked with Cheeseburger laughed as hard as I did. And after months of hiking it also captured the sentiment of how I and most hikers around me felt.

WIAPilot
05-22-2012, 17:38
Is this Pony who did the great cartoons??? OMG but they were hilarious!!!

rocketsocks
05-22-2012, 18:03
9/6/2010

"Today, I had an experience that no words on earth can describe. I was thinking of words to describe my feelings, but I failed, because it's not possible. So I will make it short and every NOBO thruhiker will know what I mean.

TODAY, I SAW KATAHDIN!"
-Cheeseburger 2010

This was from the shelter just north of Whitecap mountain. It may not seem that funny, but I'm sure anyone who hiked with Cheeseburger laughed as hard as I did. And after months of hiking it also captured the sentiment of how I and most hikers around me felt.Now I don't know a cheese burger from a Pony,but I do love a Poignant one liner ....good one Pony

Pony
05-22-2012, 18:13
Is this Pony who did the great cartoons??? OMG but they were hilarious!!!

Nah, but I did capture a rather provacative video in the Grayson highlands, which is how I got my trail name. It preceded me up the trail, but I shortened it because I couldn't imagine introducing myself as pony p**n. Oh, but word travels fast on the trail.

Old Hiker
05-22-2012, 21:42
Journal entry: where someone had equated the difference between instant oatmeal and poptarts in a religious warfare format. As for me, I've seen the light and have become a born-again poptartian. Oatmeal is e-e-e-e-e-ville !!

Side trail: inside a privy somewhere, can't remember the shelter, someone put up a Nestle's Hot Chocolate sticker: "making warm chocolate memories". I was crying, I was laughing so hard. Didn't see it until I was seated and ready for business.

SCRUB HIKER
05-22-2012, 22:19
I love the shelter logs and I thought they were one of my favorite things about the AT. Plenty of drivel, plenty of humdrum entries, but often there was enough genuine wit or artistic talent to make for good entertainment. For the record, I flipped through logbooks more than once a day for 5 months, carried no soap, and didn't get sick once.

My favorite thing was in Maine, where someone had written an incredibly earnest 1.8-page exposition on why he was quitting the trail after 1000 miles of his flip-flop attempt. It was long, wrenching, heartfelt, and had sentences like "although there are white blazes all around me, I feel totally lost." I really felt sorry for the guy, whoever he was; he was obviously going through a tough time. But the next thing, the only thing, that somebody else had written on the page was, "Hot dogs for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch ... Eatin' up my Caratunk resupply!!!" The juxtaposition was too much ... me and my trail buddies who were there still send each other "Hot dogs for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch!" text messages every now and then.

SCRUB HIKER
05-22-2012, 22:22
I should clarify that ... I used Purell after I took dumps. I did NOT go straight from the privy to flipping through the logbooks. But I didn't use any hand sanitation after handling the logbooks either.