inconsiderate vs ignorant

[theinfamousj]

So I'm guessing they had their tents set up in the shelter in an attempt to dry them out? It was a rainy day as the OP stated. I only saw this once on my thru-hike and it was a small half dome style tent that didn't take up more room than a foot print...the shelter filled but no one said anything because it didn't take up any extra room.

But a tent can be dried without being pitched and shelters have ways to hang things. That a tent needs to be pitched to be dried is confusing to me.

When I return from trips and dry (or as I like to say "dehydrate") my tent before putting it away, I hang it from the shower curtain rod in my bathroom, unpitched, and it dries a treat.

Are the rest of you pitching your tents to dry them? Is there some advantage to pitching a tent dry?

Or is this simply the excuse that shelter tenters are giving themselves for a lack of consideration? Because I continue to see no reason why someone needs to be in a shelter in a shelter.

If the goal was simply to keep a tent dry that hadn't yet gotten wet, then not using the tent at all would have done. Or keeping the poles out and using the tent as inefficient bug netting, suspended from the shelter roof, if bugs are that much of a concern. But if it was raining, then naturally, bugs aren't a concern. Bugs don't swarm in the rain.

Surely there is something that I am failing to understand, here.

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[Leo L.]

Yes, my regular ways to dry the tent is (1) so shake and wipe it as good as possible, and (2) to pitch it in a sheltered area, back home, this means the roofed terrace, and I'll leave it pitched for days, moving and tumbling it around every now and then (easy to do as all my tents are freestanding).
During a hike I would seldom bother to pitch the tent just for the purpose to dry it, more often I spread it in the sun (rainfly and inner separately), spreading folds and turning faces several times.
Takes maybe 1/2hr to get it dry enough to go on.

[Hangfire]

But a tent can be dried without being pitched and shelters have ways to hang things. That a tent needs to be pitched to be dried is confusing to me.

When I return from trips and dry (or as I like to say "dehydrate") my tent before putting it away, I hang it from the shower curtain rod in my bathroom, unpitched, and it dries a treat.

Are the rest of you pitching your tents to dry them? Is there some advantage to pitching a tent dry?

Or is this simply the excuse that shelter tenters are giving themselves for a lack of consideration? Because I continue to see no reason why someone needs to be in a shelter in a shelter.

If the goal was simply to keep a tent dry that hadn't yet gotten wet, then not using the tent at all would have done. Or keeping the poles out and using the tent as inefficient bug netting, suspended from the shelter roof, if bugs are that much of a concern. But if it was raining, then naturally, bugs aren't a concern. Bugs don't swarm in the rain.

Surely there is something that I am failing to understand, here.

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Well, I don't have a free standing tent so I couldn't set up my tent in a shelter even if I wanted to, but i would guess the reasons for sheltering inside a shelter would be.
1. Mosquitos
2. Extreme cold
3. Trying to dry out a wet tent (from the night before)
4. The shelter has a leaky roof
5. being inconsiderate of others (if your tent takes up more than a single footprint)
6. Technically speaking it could keep the mice off of you, but as we all know if mice want to get into your tent they will chew in...

What'd I miss and/or get wrong...I'm sure there are plenty of theories out there.

[theinfamousj]

Well, I don't have a free standing tent so I couldn't set up my tent in a shelter even if I wanted to, but i would guess the reasons for sheltering inside a shelter would be.
1. Mosquitos
2. Extreme cold
3. Trying to dry out a wet tent (from the night before)
4. The shelter has a leaky roof
5. being inconsiderate of others (if your tent takes up more than a single footprint)
6. Technically speaking it could keep the mice off of you, but as we all know if mice want to get into your tent they will chew in...

What'd I miss and/or get wrong...I'm sure there are plenty of theories out there.

Oh, I understand why a tent would add value to a shelter. But the value it adds is the same value as not even having a shelter around it at all. So my question is what value does the shelter add to the tent? Because otherwise it makes the most sense to just use the tent on its own and ignore the shelter entirely.

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[Sandy of PA]

The only value I can think of is the shelter floor is more likely to be flat than the dirt.

[Bronk]

Second, what's the problem with rinsing out cookware or dishes as long as it is downstream from where a hiker would fill their water bladders or bottles? This rinsing is done with no soap.

You never know if someone is filling up their bottle further downstream. The trail (or a different trail) may cross that spring or stream in another place that you can't see or know about. That is why many people carry a collapsible bucket they can scoop water and carry to a different location. There is nothing more disgusting than going to a spring to get some drinking water or water to cook with and you see bits of macaroni in it from someone who decided to clean their pot there.

[Hangfire]

In my experience pitching a tent is by far the best way to dry it out, at lunchtime, in the sun, it will dry in minutes. Even in tough weather conditions, if you are setting up a sopping wet tent (from the night before) if you can get it set up and open the vestibules with a little time and hopefully some breeze you can get it manageable in an hour or so before putting your pad and sleeping bag down.

The most surfaces exposed to open air is the most efficient way to dry anything out.

[Bronk]

One of the first things I did when I started hiking was deliberately burn a used Mountain House bag at a shelter fire pit to inspect whether it would burn in its entirety. The next morning the fire was out and the ashes cold. I stirred the ashes and looked for any trace of the bag remains and could find none. I even removed the ashes and sifted through them. Nothing.

I probably have only burned bags a half dozen times in a little less than two months and over 500 miles of hiking the AT. The rest of the time I carried them out. In those half dozen time I always looked to see if there were remains, but never as thoroughly as the first time. I have never found remains.

A lot depends upon how how the fire is. But usually if you've got a half dozen or more people throwing plastic and aluminum in the fire pit the fire doesn't burn hot enough or long enough to dispose of everything in there, and by morning you can find a lump of melted plastic at the bottom of the ashes.

[Bronk]

I have slept in shelters. I have slept in tents. I still cannot wrap my mind around what a tenter is thinking, setting up in a shelter. The shelter adds nothing to the tent. The tent takes much away from the shelter. And for every shelter I have seen, there are always plenty of tent sites nearby.

Seriously, though, the only thing a shelter is, is a replacement for a rainfly, at best.

Those of you who tent in shelters or under the behavior... What *is* it that the shelter adds to the tent that I am failing to realize?

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It is additional protection from wind and rain. Maybe its raining and the person doesn't want to pack up a wet tent in the morning. And putting the tent up in the shelter affords protection from bugs, allows for privacy, and to a small degree will trap heat.

[Venchka]

In my view, most people who show up late to shelters have a pretty good system to unpack and stay out of peoples ways, having tents in a shelter is just plain stupid, and to give a quote about that, "“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” - Mark Twain

Followed by, "You can't fix stupid."
Wayne


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[Puddlefish]

I saw a lot of inconsiderate and ignorant behavior on the trail. I made the decision before the hike, not to attempt to become the trail police, for my own sanity. Few people enjoy being called out on their behavior, no matter how gently.

A lot of the complaints I read about the trail, often seem to ignore their own behavior. Like the classic stupid old men waking up early, being loud and ruining my hike, as opposed to the stupid young girl shrieking in laughter late into the night and ruining my hike rebuttal.

Even when people annoyed me, I made a point not to retaliate in kind. It's easy enough to go along on your own way and find a quieter, more serene campsite the following night.

[tdoczi]

Oh, I understand why a tent would add value to a shelter. But the value it adds is the same value as not even having a shelter around it at all. So my question is what value does the shelter add to the tent? Because otherwise it makes the most sense to just use the tent on its own and ignore the shelter entirely.

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been asking this question on and off for years every time this issue comes up in a thread. people just dont get it. which makes sense, because if they did, no one would ever do something so pointless. like many irrational acts, ive just come to guess that somehow, for some reason that cant be articulated yet alone understood, it just "feels" better to the people who do it.

i mean mosquitos? really? being inside a tent inside a shelter does a better job of keeping away mosquitos then just being in a tent out in the woods?

you can't make this stuff up.

[Hangfire]

been asking this question on and off for years every time this issue comes up in a thread. people just dont get it. which makes sense, because if they did, no one would ever do something so pointless. like many irrational acts, ive just come to guess that somehow, for some reason that cant be articulated yet alone understood, it just "feels" better to the people who do it.

i mean mosquitos? really? being inside a tent inside a shelter does a better job of keeping away mosquitos then just being in a tent out in the woods?

you can't make this stuff up.

Hexacuba Shelter in Virginia, pouring rain, the creek in front of the shelter is at flood stage, no way in the world I'm going to try and wade out to set up my tent in the mud, as dark falls the rain lets up and the mosquitoes are absolutely thick. Needless to say I got eaten alive that night, I didn't set up my tent inside the shelter because it's not free standing. That's about the only time out of my 6 month hike that I would have done it if I could, and outside of that I saw one guy set up in a (full) shelter and there were no issues.

[Hangfire]

Caught red handed...from the 2014 DDodd AT series. I can remember watching this video prior to my departure and wondering why they are setting up their tents in the shelter, "just because"...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuu9w8dUSCw

[Furlough]

My point was that perhaps I need to be more considerate of where others might be coming from when they do things that I think are inconsiderate. Good grief, how is it that I write a post acknowledging that I may have been wrong to judge someone else's intentions, yet I end up being scolded? lol

Because while reading is said to be fundamental clearly in this case comprehension was not.

[Sarcasm the elf]

I saw a lot of inconsiderate and ignorant behavior on the trail. I made the decision before the hike, not to attempt to become the trail police, for my own sanity. Few people enjoy being called out on their behavior, no matter how gently.

A lot of the complaints I read about the trail, often seem to ignore their own behavior. Like the classic stupid old men waking up early, being loud and ruining my hike, as opposed to the stupid young girl shrieking in laughter late into the night and ruining my hike rebuttal.

Even when people annoyed me, I made a point not to retaliate in kind. It's easy enough to go along on your own way and find a quieter, more serene campsite the following night.

This may be the best post in the thread.

[Rain Man]

This may be the best post in the thread.

I concur. Very good post.

[Rain Man]

Hexacuba Shelter in Virginia....

Did I miss something?

[MuddyWaters]

I concur. Very good post.

Yes
If you are truly bothered by shelter activities, you really have wrong expectations . They are what they are, your not gonna change them to be what you want them to be.

Roll with it, or stay away.

Applies to most things in life

Many, many people are misrrable and stressed because they want to control everything around them. The secret to happiness, is basically opposite....because....you...cant.

[Skyline]

One of the first things I did when I started hiking was deliberately burn a used Mountain House bag at a shelter fire pit to inspect whether it would burn in its entirety. The next morning the fire was out and the ashes cold. I stirred the ashes and looked for any trace of the bag remains and could find none. I even removed the ashes and sifted through them. Nothing.

I probably have only burned bags a half dozen times in a little less than two months and over 500 miles of hiking the AT. The rest of the time I carried them out. In those half dozen time I always looked to see if there were remains, but never as thoroughly as the first time. I have never found remains.

If the fire is a really huge intense inferno, burning many hours, almost like a crematory -- it is conceivable that items that would not usually burn to ashes might. But most of us know enough to keep campfires small so if we do that, most times, not so much. It's not supposed to be a bonfire, it's a little campfire -- large enough to produce some coals to cook over, warm your hands, etc. Besides, it takes way too much effort to gather enough wood and continue feeding a bonfire. It's also selfish as you consume a lot more wood, leaving little or nothing for those who come along days/weeks/months later.