Originally Posted by
Slo-go'en
Shelter space is at a premium early in the season when everyone is bunched up. There is always a group who like shelters and quickly learn that to score space, they have to leave early and then stop early at the next shelter. If you arrive at a shelter much past noon, it will probably be full already. If it is raining, some won't even leave the shelter or those who might have been in a tent that night will move into the shelter instead of moving on.
So, unless you become one of the shelter hoppers, chances are good you'll spend most of your nights in the tent near the shelter. The situation will slowly change as you get farther north and the bubble becomes more spread out and there are fewer of you as others drop out. Eventually you will likely start to spend more nights in shelters then in your tent. The exception will be when a camp group shows up and takes over the shelter or someone you know you don't want to sleep next to shows up.