To Shelter or Not To Shelter

[RED-DOG]

I don't usually stay at shelters only when the weather is crappy, but i use them for their water sources some times the privy, and to Socialize shelters are a great place to catch up on all the AT gossip and to see where all your trail friends are, and just too Socialize in general with Whom ever might be their.

[Pootz]

From looking at my TJ, I can say that I stay in shelters 90 percent of the time. I plan my trips so that I end up at shelters.
I sleep better in shelters.
I like picnic tables.
I like having a crapper.
I like bear boxes and bear cables.
I like that I don't have to take up time and energy to set up or pack up a camp.
I like to be able to have a dry place to gather myself in the morning.
I like to carry only a very light. cheezy emergency tent.
I like the friendship of other hikers in shelters.
So far I have avoided hiking with the so called bubble. I would like more, bigger and better shelters on the Appalachian Trail

I used the shelters 90% of the time during my Thru-hike for all of the above reasons. Remember its call a thru-HIKE not a thru-tent camping. Everyone gets to choose where they sleep at night while hiking, none of the choices make you a better hiker or person. HYOH

[coach lou]

I can't put a % on it...stuff happens.....I carry the Hooch. Some shelters are nice, clean maybe empty, nice view, bad weather....I'm in. A dump, dirty, buggy, mousey, nice night to cowboy, too many stinky thrus....I'm tarpin' it!

[Bucketfoot]

If its not thru hiker season or a weekend, shelters can be pleasant to stay in. Mice aren't even much of a problem then I have often had a shelter to myself or shared with just the person I happen to be hiking with. Depends what part of the trail you are hiking I guess.

[illabelle]

We sleep in shelters about half the time. Here's a few of the reasons:

1. Because all the trail guides give a mileage to shelters, they serve well as distance markers or waypoints, as opposed to some nameless place "about a mile past the place where the trail kinda meandered over the hill."
2. Shelters also make better pictures than a random spot between the trees.
3. Nearly all shelters have water. If you sleep there (or in the vicinity) you'll have water for supper, cleanup, breakfast, cleanup, and whatever you need to carry the next day.
4. The bunks generally don't have rock, roots, or briers on them. Most of the time they're level and dry. If we choose to bypass a flat smooth sleeping platform to try and find a comparable tentsite further on, we sometimes end up having to walk further than we wanted to, or settle for an unpleasant site.
5. Hanging around shelters gives us the opportunity to share our superior hiking wisdom with less experienced adventurers. And since all the "real" hikers are in their tents, we get to be the ones everybody looks up to. (I'm kidding! I know y'all are real.)
6. If the shelter isn't crowded, it's real nice to have a table to cook at, and a place to spread things out a bit.
7. Mice are cute. So are bears.

Sometimes we prefer our tent. Here's a few of those reasons:

1. We don't care for crowds, especially if they're loud or partying. That's not what we went to the woods for.
2. If it's REALLY cold, it's easy to stay warm in a tent.
3. Sometimes we reach a shelter well before we're ready to quit, so we just take a break and push on.
4. Often a shelter is down in a dip between two ridges (cuz that's where the water is). Sometimes, especially in warmer weather, it's nice to get the climb up the hill out of the way in the evening, and have a pleasant ridgewalk or downhill the next morning.
5. Once in a while the shelter is occupied by obnoxious know-it-alls who think everybody looks up to them because they've hiked "a lot." Who wants to be around that?
6. We've spent a lot of money on our gear. If we don't use the tent now and then, it will be harder to justify upgrading to the next great model.
7. Some locations have mice that have evolved into bears. We don't want to see what the bears have become.

[Malto]

I often will hike in the off season and will stay in the shelters only if I have them solo. The negatives of other hikers in close proximity far out weigh the convenience factor.

[Luddite]

I never much liked the sound of zippers being zipped and synthetic fabrics being stuffed away first thing in the morning.

[Coffee]

Can you ever really know if you will have a shelter to yourself? I guess the odds are pretty good if it is already dark and it is out of season but anyone can come in at any time, including a group of drunks at midnight. I feel more secure in a tent than I would in a three sided wooden structure where anyone can come or go at any time.

[Conure]

I haven't slept in a lean-to type structure since I was a Boy Scout, and that was only at summer camp. Didn't prefer it then, doubt I'd prefer it now.

I will be thru-hiking the AT starting later this year and will be avoiding the shelters at all costs. I like the fact that the trail guides place such great importance on using the shelters as mile markers, this way I know, approximately, when I'm between them. I'm also a hammock user so I have little concern for level ground. Now, if only I can figure out what to do in the GSMNP : )

[Teacher & Snacktime]

I slept in my first shelter at Harriman, and it was great! I suspect however it was because we were there with a group and there was no question about the "trust" factor. Also, it was winter so the beasties were at bay (at least I saw no evidence of them).

I have to say it was a strange, though very nice experience, and likely to be as close to sleeping out under the stars as I'm likely to brave.

I plan to check out a "loft" shelter experience at some point, as well as the Overmountain barn, but I suspect that unless it's another group situation, I'll tent.

Lazy factor? Oh yeah....I hate setting it up the tent at the end of a hike...that's Snacktime's job.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

I never much liked the sound of zippers being zipped and synthetic fabrics being stuffed away first thing in the morning.

First thing in the morning? Is that when we're supposed to get up? Yuk.

[colorado_rob]

Probably already been said, and if so to repeat, I sure like the amenities at a shelter (table, crapper, water source, chit-chat with others), but for sleeping, I prefer to pitch my tent somewhere either right next to the shelter or nearby, for all the negative reasons already stated.

[XTrekker]

I haven't slept in a lean-to type structure since I was a Boy Scout, and that was only at summer camp. Didn't prefer it then, doubt I'd prefer it now.

I will be thru-hiking the AT starting later this year and will be avoiding the shelters at all costs. I like the fact that the trail guides place such great importance on using the shelters as mile markers, this way I know, approximately, when I'm between them. I'm also a hammock user so I have little concern for level ground. Now, if only I can figure out what to do in the GSMNP : )

Never been to GSMNP, can you not use hammocks there?

[elray]

I've hated them (crowded and full of commando type mice) and I've loved them (rain 9 of the last 11 days) and even if you're tenting it's a nice place to stop for supper (picnic table) and catch up on all the gossip. Also wonderful for that occasional mid day siesta if you're into that sort of thing.

[RCBear]

Best response so far. And funny to boot

We sleep in shelters about half the time. Here's a few of the reasons:

1. Because all the trail guides give a mileage to shelters, they serve well as distance markers or waypoints, as opposed to some nameless place "about a mile past the place where the trail kinda meandered over the hill."
2. Shelters also make better pictures than a random spot between the trees.
3. Nearly all shelters have water. If you sleep there (or in the vicinity) you'll have water for supper, cleanup, breakfast, cleanup, and whatever you need to carry the next day.
4. The bunks generally don't have rock, roots, or briers on them. Most of the time they're level and dry. If we choose to bypass a flat smooth sleeping platform to try and find a comparable tentsite further on, we sometimes end up having to walk further than we wanted to, or settle for an unpleasant site.
5. Hanging around shelters gives us the opportunity to share our superior hiking wisdom with less experienced adventurers. And since all the "real" hikers are in their tents, we get to be the ones everybody looks up to. (I'm kidding! I know y'all are real.)
6. If the shelter isn't crowded, it's real nice to have a table to cook at, and a place to spread things out a bit.
7. Mice are cute. So are bears.

Sometimes we prefer our tent. Here's a few of those reasons:

1. We don't care for crowds, especially if they're loud or partying. That's not what we went to the woods for.
2. If it's REALLY cold, it's easy to stay warm in a tent.
3. Sometimes we reach a shelter well before we're ready to quit, so we just take a break and push on.
4. Often a shelter is down in a dip between two ridges (cuz that's where the water is). Sometimes, especially in warmer weather, it's nice to get the climb up the hill out of the way in the evening, and have a pleasant ridgewalk or downhill the next morning.
5. Once in a while the shelter is occupied by obnoxious know-it-alls who think everybody looks up to them because they've hiked "a lot." Who wants to be around that?
6. We've spent a lot of money on our gear. If we don't use the tent now and then, it will be harder to justify upgrading to the next great model.
7. Some locations have mice that have evolved into bears. We don't want to see what the bears have become.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk 2

[Conure]

Never been to GSMNP, can you not use hammocks there?

Only if the shelter is full, and then you're camping right next to it, more or less--no primitive camp sites further on down the trail. Otherwise, you're forced to use the shelters. This applies to the AT only; i.e., their are primitive camp sites available on other trails within the park.

[1234]

From looking at my TJ, I can say that I stay in shelters 90 percent of the time. I plan my trips so that I end up at shelters.
I sleep better in shelters.
I like picnic tables.
I like having a crapper.
I like bear boxes and bear cables.
I like that I don't have to take up time and energy to set up or pack up a camp.
I like to be able to have a dry place to gather myself in the morning.
I like to carry only a very light. cheezy emergency tent.
I like the friendship of other hikers in shelters.
So far I have avoided hiking with the so called bubble. I would like more, bigger and better shelters on the Appalachian Trail

all the above times 2, I wish they all had the tables covered so I could eat out of the rain. I like the setup of woods hole and muskrat and hurricane all are log cabin type, big and table is covered and there is plenty of sitting, can cook sitting or standing, I can hang my 6liter tank and use what I need and give away the rest. They do not have many places for mice to hide. I would like to build and improve the shelters when I retire. The Virginia boxes have got to go.

[Mumbles_2014]

I was planning to stay in shelters most of the time for my thru-hike....you guys really changed my mind

[aficion]

I was planning to stay in shelters most of the time for my thru-hike....you guys really changed my mind

Not trying to put people off of shelters so much as hoping they think through their alternative arrangements. A solid lightweight tent can be a great investment which can be used near or far away from shelters as one chooses.

[Just Bill]

Illabelle- nice work young lady!

As a mid-westerner- shelters are a novelty that I enjoy. Since I rarely encounter, let alone get a chance to stay in one I don't mind em, and for you crust buckets, if Benton got his way it would be much worse.
Since I camp wherever and whenever more often than not, I don't feel insecure about using a shelter if I choose.
I think the shelter experience is tremendously different for those in the typical herd verses off season travel or less popular stretches of trail.
Weekday versus weekender is different too.
I was shocked to find the southern shelters were not mouse invested pits of filth if you visit them in the off season.
(A bit controversial)- I find the northern shelters to generally be nicer than the southern ones.
Let's be honest- we all have crappy days and want to take a 1000mg pill of ****itol (made by Merck) and a shelter is just what the doctor ordered.

One of the best and most unique things about the AT are it's community and social aspects- part of which center around the shelter system and newspaper (registers). I've had more than a few dozen unique, small crowd if not one on one stays with amazing people I would never have met from all over the world. I've stayed solo in a shelter dozens of times. Even if I just poke in for dinner, a wash up, a little chatting and move on- I'm rarely if ever unhappy I did. There are plenty of places to go and ways to travel without seeing a soul- but that place is not the AT- and the shelters are a big reason for that.

I will say one thing- perhaps the most important- Choosing to stay in a shelter is one thing. Having to stay in a shelter is another.
I never look down on someone who chooses to stay, but often find myself looking down on someone who has to.