Everyone is a thru hiker until December 31.
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
I believe the thought is most groups planning to party are more likely to hike 1/2 mile from road and have a party at a fire ring. you see a lot of fire rings close to roads. But there are some shelters close to roads where this could also be a problem.
Except they are all on the AT at pretty much the same time.Originally Posted by Lone Wolf
Just as the ATC encourages alternative thru hike itineraries to avoid over crowding, weekenders can help by avoiding AT shelters during periods of high use.
Its fine to suggest everyone has equal claim, but that is just common sense.
why not thru hikers can avoid using shelters on weekends?
its just common sense...
Seems that if there are rules for usage of shelters they should be posted at the shelter. Don't ever remember seeing any. Maybe rules would clarify things. People go to the woods to get away from rules, and signs. But going down the AT with a lot of other people around is not really going to the woods, it's just travelling to villages with more primitive structures and smaller thoroughfares than a town. If there are people there needs to be rules. And rules need to be posted so everyone knows what is acceptable behavior.
i agree, there should be some rules posted. sometimes there are, but the only place ive ever seen the rule i'm talking about printed is, i think, on the back of the maps for SNP.
it is definitely printed there, but if ive seen it anywhere else i dont know where it was.
i do know if there was something i could point to in the case of the people at the hemlocks i would have done so in as polite a manner as i could have mustered.
For those too lazy to use google...
https://www.hikingupward.com/GWNF/ThreeRidges/
It sucks to be a shelter baby...
Lonehiker (MRT '22)
Give me my hammock and tarp any day of the week.
Blackheart
Thru hikers are not on a week/weekend schedule, that is for people who are off trail. Many thru hikers don't even know what day of the week it is when asked, the only time they really need to know is when theiy visit the rest of the world for a town day.
One should look at the history and reason for the shelters as well as the common use today as to why they are still there and replaced and added to.
and whats a "weekender's" problem how exactly?
overnighters have equal rights to shelters
overnighters who are actually hiking, yes.
overnighters who are looking for a free place to hang out in the woods all weekend? no, sorry, i disagree.
Every thru hiker is really just a section hiker taking smaller breaks between their sections.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I am not young enough to know everything.
Part of the reason for shelters is for bad weather situations. Weekenders should be much more able to plan ahead and prepare (and not come), as such leaving them for thru hikers is more in line with LNT.
nope.........
What's a shelter?
Load. Of. Crap.
That's because everyone does have equal clam. As LW said, thru-hikers aren't special. They're actually in a fairly small minority of AT users.
"If you play a Nicleback song backwards, you'll hear messages from the devil. Even worse, if you play it forward, you'll hear Nickleback." - Dave Grohl
Section hikers typically have jobs and are either squeezing a hike into a weekend or perhaps taking a little time off work to enjoy a slightly longer period of time on the trail.
Thru-hikers are either jobless, or have taken a leave of absence and have temporarily checked out of normal society.
The idea that just because someone quit their job to hike somehow elevates their privilege for the use of the trail (and facilities) doesn't even sound right, and it is clearly not part of the rules.
I should point out that I've rarely (if ever) met a thru-hiker that claimed they had more right to a shelter than another hiker.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote