Camping off trail

[rickb]

It seems many hikers prefer to camp very near the Trail. Others like to walk a ways into the woods.

This poll asks thruhikers and section hikers how often they selected campsites that were far enough into the woods that they could not be seen from the AT.

[Footslogger]

Whenever I didn't stay at/near a shelter I tried to get far enough off trail so as not to be seen by passing hikers.

'Slogger

[rickb]

That's my style as a weekender, too. I prefer finding a small stream and following it into the woods quite a distance.

That said, for a long time I felt uncomfortable walking even a couple hundred feet into the woods. Not sure why.

[Footslogger]

That said, for a long time I felt uncomfortable walking even a couple hundred feet into the woods. Not sure why.

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I've always been just the opposite. What I enjoy is getting far enough off trail so that I am within eyeshot of the trail but far enough into the woods so that everyone passing by doesn't feel the need to wander in my direction to pay a visit. What I have noticed over the years is that animals employ somewhat the same strategy.

'Slogger

[Tin Man]

On our section hike this year in VT, we camped one night out of sight of Governor Clement and the trail due to all the stories we had heard about "recreationers". Just before dark, curiousty got the better of me and I went to take a peek. Sure enough, no one was at the shelter, but it was not a shelter we would stay in anyway - too old, dark, depressing. Around 2am, we heard some ATV's cruising around, followed by gunfire down the forest road. This went on for about an hour. Apparently, our out of sight camp needed to be out of gunfire range as well. It was quite a fright night with little sleep! I will always camp away from shelters close to (un)civilization.

We reported our 2am wake-up call to the trail maintainer on Killington the next day. She filled out a report. Apparently, the local trail club or forest service (not sure which, or both) are trying to get the forest road closed. The local town has been hesitant to do so, because they fear losing out of towners coming to "recreate" and spend money in town. This kind of "recreationers" are not needed here or anywhere else.

[Footslogger]

[quote=Tin Man]On our section hike this year in VT, we camped one night out of sight of Governor Clement and the trail due to all the stories we had heard about "recreationers".
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I remember the area around that shelter well from my 2003 thru. The shelter itself was darn right scary. There were spent pistol and rifle cartridges lying around on the ground and some pretty dramatic grafiti on the walls of the shelter. I was just passing through after coming out of N. Clarendon but if I was going to overnight in that area it would be nowhere near that shelter.

'Slogger