Originally Posted by
Tipi Walter
To each his (or her) own. I myself never stayed at a shelter no matter the conditions. I have alot of positive things to say about backpackers carrying their own tents or tarps or hammocks and not using AT shelters, ever. Even in the worst of weather. Especially in the worst of weather. Why?
** It's good training to set up your camp in all conditions, from a 0F blizzard with high winds to a 150 hour rainstorm to a hot clear summer day and everything in between. You get so good at it you can do it in your sleep without thought.
** By humping your own camp all the shelter negatories are avoided: Mice, dope smokers, drunks, filth, sleeping next to strange men butt to butt, bonfires, surprise new arrivals at 2am, muddy dogs etc. Harmonicas!!
** Oh and in terrible conditions AT shelters are too exposed to wind and cold when compared to a decent four season tent.
** Laziness is a negative human trait, and I believe AT shelter use highlights human laziness, i.e. the unwillingness to 1 carry the extra weight of a personal shelter and 2 the lazy unwillingness to set up your shelter every night. Ergo the glomming onto the AT shelter system.
Which brings me to my bold highlight from LittleRock's post: Apparently, they'd all gotten bunched up in town waiting out 10 straight days of rain.
This I find completely deranged but then I'm making a personal judgment call on the behavior. I keep thinking hiking the AT is an actual backpacking trip but I'm always reminded how town-oriented the experience becomes. In your quote case, minimal forest time, maximum town time. (And to me, AT shelters represent indirectly the lure of the town---the clever man-made boxes stuck in the woods).
So many times I hear AT backpackers using towns to escape weather events from blizzards to severe cold to rainstorms, when instead they could use their tents and pull zero days in the woods and away from towns. Even in a 10 day rainstorm there are short windows for the opportunity of movement---go 2 or 3 miles each day and set up camp again. But 10 days in a town?