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  1. #1
    Registered User cneill13's Avatar
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    Default Hawk Mountain Shelter On Georgia AT To Be Torn Down

    I spoke with two trail maintainers this past weekend who had just finished up work on a 1/2 mile side trail on Hawk Mountain which is shelter number 3 (8.1 miles north) on the Georgia AT.

    The Hawk Mountain shelter and privy are going to be torn down later this year due to over use. There is going to be a 1/2 mile side trail from the AT that leads to a new place for tents (and hammocks of course). They said there should be room for around 30 tents. Not sure if a new privy is going to be built.

    Carl

  2. #2
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    i've been at the shelter when no less than 50 were there. gonna need more than 30 sites

  3. #3
    Registered User Tennessee Viking's Avatar
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    0.5 miles from Hightower Gap. Its too easy of an access for partiers and rotten hikers.
    ''Tennessee Viking'
    Mountains to Sea Trail Hiker & Maintainer
    Former TEHCC (AT) Maintainer

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    Remote for detachment, narrow for chosen company, winding for leisure, lonely for contemplation, the Trail beckons not merely north and south, but upward to the body, mind, and soul of man.


  5. #5

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    It would be nice if they used a font which is easier to read! It does say a moldering privy will be built at the new camping site.

    Good luck keeping people from camping at the current location unless they build a wall around it.
    Last edited by Alligator; 01-29-2016 at 02:07. Reason: Politics
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  6. #6

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    Tent sight is still going to be less attractive then a hiker box, I mean shelter. IMO I don't think there should be any shelters south of blood, (Because it is of stone), or maybe even Fontana. Its just a comfort zone for newbies and in the end destroys those spots. It enables rotten hikers to continue on a higher mental note and is a trash magnet/ bear magnet. I hiked GA sobo last year during the spring and was disgusted at the amount of not only trash, but gear as well. Thermorests, dry bags, stoves and canisters.

    My frustrations are in no way directed at volunteers, I cannot imagine the undertaking to maintain these sections during those spring months. I wish there was more pre-hike education available but in the end, your gunna have the people that I guess just pop up with no pre thought and expect to be successful in the woods.
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  7. #7
    Registered User FatMan's Avatar
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    Yep, Hawk is a mess and I agree it needs to be closed. 30 tent pads will not handle the demand and will get trashed in short order as well. There is no solution to the throngs of thru hikers other than limiting them with a permit system.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by FatMan View Post
    Yep, Hawk is a mess and I agree it needs to be closed. 30 tent pads will not handle the demand and will get trashed in short order as well. There is no solution to the throngs of thru hikers other than limiting them with a permit system.
    and a caretaker at every shelter and designated campsite

  9. #9
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
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    Not passing judgment one way or the other, but just a somewhat evil thought that comes to mind: a specially trained dog and a paddy wagon at USFS 42 would likely thin the herd substantially.
    "That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by 4eyedbuzzard View Post
    Not passing judgment one way or the other, but just a somewhat evil thought that comes to mind: a specially trained dog and a paddy wagon at USFS 42 would likely thin the herd substantially.






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  11. #11

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    Tearing down shelters because of overuse!! The logical response would be to build more shelters. Not that I like or commonly use shelters...

    The same sort of thing happened in Montana/Idaho a few years ago. The Forest Service decided to close FS roads because of "too much use" by the public. So began a human-elimination program, coupled with a new fee structure. Ah, trickle-down tyranny at it's best.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 4eyedbuzzard View Post
    Not passing judgment one way or the other, but just a somewhat evil thought that comes to mind: a specially trained dog and a paddy wagon at USFS 42 would likely thin the herd substantially.

    In slavery times, groups of young white men, sons of the plantation owners , would patrol the roads at night on horseback looking for runaways . In the dialect of the times, these groups of patrollers were called the "paddy rollers" by the slaves.

    And now you know, where the term "paddy" in paddy wagon came from. In fact, the very act of policing and patrolling as we know it, started with policing the slaves. Which carries over into the historic distrust and fear of police black people still have today. Some things change slowly.


    Many people wont go 1/2 mile off the AT for a shelter, darn sure not a campsite.
    Sometimes I think trail clubs....just like to build new trail and change things


    The concept of the shelters IS to overuse them. Its called concentrated impact. You preserve other areas, by sacrificing some.
    Last edited by MuddyWaters; 01-19-2016 at 22:57.

  13. #13

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    The area around Springer is interlaced with roads. This makes it easy to get to shelters and not have to hike to them. On a side note, the term Paddy comes from the Irish. Paddy wagons were the police wagons who were mainly Irish in many towns in the late 1800's (and later).

  14. #14

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    Gambit.......................I am in your camp................NO WOOD SHELTERS less than 50 years old south of Franklin would ease some of the crowding and get less of the weekend party folks.
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    Just great. Another AT "facility" being shut down/dismantled because of overcrowding, trash, and "hikers" with bad attitudes. I try to avoid sleeping in shelters anyway, so I'm glad they're making a big tentsite, but still...

    Modern partiers and "rotten hikers" are ruining things for everyone who hasn't seen the whole trail. Hawk Mtn Shelter, the jailhouse in Palmerton, maybe Katahdin? Geez.
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    Quote Originally Posted by excuses View Post
    The area around Springer is interlaced with roads. This makes it easy to get to shelters and not have to hike to them. On a side note, the term Paddy comes from the Irish. Paddy wagons were the police wagons who were mainly Irish in many towns in the late 1800's (and later).
    The police in the US evolved out of slave / minority patrollers, that were called Paddy rollers , long before the irish terminology came into being in the 20th century. As far back as 1704. The term paddy used for police patrols here predates any references to irish policemen or immigrants by about 150- 200 years.
    Last edited by MuddyWaters; 01-19-2016 at 23:42.

  17. #17
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    The concept of the shelters IS to overuse them. Its called concentrated impact. You preserve other areas, by sacrificing some.
    This......

    Besides Hawk Mountain doesn't exactly feel like wilderness when you're being lulled to sleep by nearby suppressive fire. (Not that I minded, I was perfectly happy to know that Army Rangers are nearby)
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  18. #18

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    Eliminating shelters will not reduce over crowding. Shelters only hold a limited number of people. (15 at Hawk?) By eliminating the shelter, those 15 people will now have to disperse and each one will have a much bigger footprint then if they were all in the structure. So, I don't see where anything is gained.

    Now they are going to dig 30 tent platforms into the side of a hill and how is that less of an impact then leaving things stand as they are? Makes no sense. Since this new camping area is half mile off the trail, no doubt Stover Creek and Gooch will see increased usage, along with camping along the trail between them.

    It would make more sense to leave Hawk the way it is and make the new site the overflow camping area to try and reduce the impact in the immediate area around the shelter due to tenting.
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  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm the elf View Post
    This......

    Besides Hawk Mountain doesn't exactly feel like wilderness when you're being lulled to sleep by nearby suppressive fire. (Not that I minded, I was perfectly happy to know that Army Rangers are nearby)
    Sometime in May 1976 I made my first visit to North Georgia, I remember the patrol to scope out the Hawk Mountain shelter one night. Didn't make it to the shelter, I was out on security somewhere. Definitely didn't have UL gear.
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  20. #20
    •Completed A.T. Section Hike GA to ME 1996 thru 2003 •Donating Member Skyline's Avatar
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    If the new tentsites that will replace Hawk Mt. Shelter are cut into hillsides, dispersed and not in a tent ghetto, this could be a good thing. Jeff Marion ... https://profile.usgs.gov/jeff_marion ... pioneered this approach by leading rehab efforts at overused places like Annapolis Rock.

    The idea is to make individual tentsites in a kind of "campus," near a water source, and in a truly popular location include a privy.

    Shelters encourage partying by non-hikers and hikers alike who abuse both the entire area plus legit hikers trying to get some sleep. They can be filthy and full of mice, disease, and in poor repair despite the ongoing efforts of maintainers and trail clubs.

    Many trails of 50 miles or more have zero shelters, and people seem to do well without them. A good example is the Foothills Trail, which does have pre-hardened tentsites in a "campus" arrangement a near water source.

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