Shelter annoyances

[ramdino]

So I'm at a Ga shelter and about 145 am two dudes come in with white lights banging their stuff onto the shelter floor,talking loud, making a racket with their gear then putting out loud mylar sheets for ground cloths.then at 7 am one of them wakes up says good morning walking us all up and then says sorry he was so late last night but he had to resupply in town and brought back moonshine and weed. Don't be that guy or guys yall. Kinda ruins it the others that just want to enjoy the AT.

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[Lone Wolf]

shouldn't stay in shelters

[MuddyWaters]

Yup. You dont ride greyhound , and then complain about the people you had to ride with.

[franky]

Yup. You dont ride greyhound , and then complain about the people you had to ride with.

That was pretty funny. But the behavior described was a little over the top.

[goatee]

If you have any experience on the AT you already know the answer,can't pick who you share a sleeping space with unless you only share it with yourself.

[cneill13]

I wish someone would bring in weed and moonshine when I am at a shelter. Some people have all the luck.

[Tipi Walter]

You can still fully enjoy backpacking the AT and not spend a single night in the human eyesore called A Shelter. It'll never be your personal apartment---a place to squat that's all your own.

There are usually plenty of level places to put a tent before or after any shelter---just stop at the shelter to rest and get water and move on.

[DownYonder]

You can still fully enjoy backpacking the AT and not spend a single night in the human eyesore called A Shelter. It'll never be your personal apartment---a place to squat that's all your own.

There are usually plenty of level places to put a tent before or after any shelter---just stop at the shelter to rest and get water and move on.

Interesting that you say that. How do you handle GSMNP without long hikes on side trails to designated tent sites? I truly dislike staying in shelters in the GSMNP.

[Gambit McCrae]

So I'm at a Ga shelter and about 145 am two dudes come in with white lights banging their stuff onto the shelter floor,talking loud, making a racket with their gear then putting out loud mylar sheets for ground cloths.then at 7 am one of them wakes up says good morning walking us all up and then says sorry he was so late last night but he had to resupply in town and brought back moonshine and weed. Don't be that guy or guys yall. Kinda ruins it the others that just want to enjoy the AT.

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Welcome to the AT shelter life! I personally can treat others how I would like to be treated while staying in AT shelters, but that does not earn me the same treatment back. If you want the perfect AT camping buddy, sleep alone in your tent.

shouldn't stay in shelters

^^ Step 1 in tenting along the AT ^^

Yup. You dont ride greyhound , and then complain about the people you had to ride with.

+2 on funny

I wish someone would bring in moonshine when I am at a shelter. Some people have all the luck.

That's what I was thinkin'!

You can still fully enjoy backpacking the AT and not spend a single night in the human eyesore called A Shelter. It'll never be your personal apartment---a place to squat that's all your own.

There are usually plenty of level places to put a tent before or after any shelter---just stop at the shelter to rest and get water and move on.

Considering that shelters are about every 8-10 miles on the AT, if they are an eyesore to you a better suggestion would be to do what Tipi Walter does, and that is hike elsewhere. Which I am kinda surprised he did not suggest!

Interesting that you say that. How do you handle GSMNP without long hikes on side trails to designated tent sites? I truly dislike staying in shelters in the GSMNP.

An awesome way to handle this is to:
A-Start at Winding Stair Gap, NC and hike NoBo to Allen Gap. This allows you the freedom to obtain a thru hikers permit, as well as wait until dark for the shelter to fill up, and if full at that time you can tent!

B-Start at Fontana and get a walk in the woods to shuttle you to Davenport Gap, the northern boundary of the Smokies, this way you wont have to deal with any of the parks rules and regulations, which I have conveniently placed here

[HooKooDooKu]

Interesting that you say that. How do you handle GSMNP without long hikes on side trails to designated tent sites? I truly dislike staying in shelters in the GSMNP.

While you can't guarantee you'll be able to avoid shelters in GSMNP, if you try to follow the NOBO hiker bubble near the beginning of the season and hike on a thru hiker permit, you will be able to tent camp near the shelters if the shelter is already full when you get there.

[DownYonder]

While you can't guarantee you'll be able to avoid shelters in GSMNP, if you try to follow the NOBO hiker bubble near the beginning of the season and hike on a thru hiker permit, you will be able to tent camp near the shelters if the shelter is already full when you get there.

That thought has been in the back of my mind. Thanks!

Someone had posted an excellent interactive chart that showed shelter usage throughout the year and how the bubble moves along the trail. Thought that I had saved it but can't find it now.

[Cobble]

That said...shelters exist to minimize the impact of overuse of the trail. Shelters are good for the trail and using them is good too...especially for those who are "LNT ignorant." Careful LNT tenting is good for those who know where and where not to camp. I shelter whenever I can and I hike off peak...but those are my choices. Happy trails everyone!

[Slo-go'en]

How about the guy who gets up at 4 am, then proceeds to crinkle plastic bags at the picnic table 2 feet from the shelter non stop for the next 3 hours, all the while shining his headlamp into the shelter? Somedays you just can't win.

I've also been in shelters and never heard the person next to me packing up and leaving they did it so stealthily. Waking up and finding the person who was next to you when you went to sleep is gone, is kind of spooky.

[Puddlefish]

I stayed in my first shelter in GSMNP. It was snowing and a lot of people squeezed in, everyone was really good about it. Except for...

One old guy who was earlier lecturing about his massive hiking experience and all the mountains he'd climbed and as Tipi Walter is wont to say, "was holding court"... He decided that since he was a section hiker with reservations, he was going to spread his gear out and take as much space as he wanted, despite the other 18ish people trying to get out of the snow. Eventually, everyone settled in, and he only delayed us by 15 minutes or so.

This guy had a medical device that warns of impending death by beeping. The device fell off his wrist at around 11 p.m. and beeped loudly every fifteen minutes, and he was too deaf to actually hear his audio warning device. After the third beep, someone flicked on a white light, hunted down the device, realized it was medical in nature and not a cell phone, and woke everyone in the immediate area trying to find out who owned it. The last one to wake up and actually figure out the device was his, was "holding court guy." No biggy, it's just another 45 minutes less sleep.

Next, was about two a.m. and "holding court guy," woke us all up, he couldn't find his light, because despite his massive experience, he apparently had no method to store his red light in a place he could find it. He loudly fumbles around, swearing loudly and asking his buddy to borrow his light, at full voice. A fifteen minute process. His buddy can't find his light either. He decides to get up anyway and go pee in the dark... sitting up, and hammering his head into the top bunk of the shelter, apparently bleeding all over the place. At this point everyone is awake and about six headlamps come on to help this guy out. Fortunately, there was a nurse in the tent, she starts cleaning the wound, and he starts swearing at her, and telling her to just slap a bandaid on it. She of course remained awesomely calm and explained that shelters were filthy places for open wounds. He eventually gets out in the snow to pee, and stumbles back in chatting with his buddy. It's only another hour of lost sleep!

6:00 a.m., you guessed it, same guy is awake and chatting at full voice with his friend two feet away from him. I typically wake by 7:00 anyway, so only another hour of lost sleep!

18 awesome hikers, and all it takes is one selfish/thoughtless idiot to screw things up for everyone.

[MuddyWaters]

That said...shelters exist to minimize the impact of overuse of the trail. Shelters are good for the trail and using them is good too...especially for those who are "LNT ignorant." Careful LNT tenting is good for those who know where and where not to camp. I shelter whenever I can and I hike off peak...but those are my choices. Happy trails everyone!

Sounds like a good line........except that shelters existed when there was virtually no use of trail, much less overuse. They do create a sacrifial impact area, but this is actually by accident, it was never their intent. They are a relic of an earlier low use era, that is actually creating issues at some places by concentrating too much activity.

Tent pads do same thing to focus impact in sacrificial or durable area. , like new hawk mtn area. Shelter got too much use. Tear it down. Discourage the shelter-dweller crowd from hiking, or encourage to spread out.

Even when no bad apples in shelters, still lots of nocturnal snoring, tossing/turning, getting up to pee, late arrivals, early departures, farting, coughing, sneezing. Mice scampering, spilled food. Its just the nature of it.

[Tipi Walter]

Interesting that you say that. How do you handle GSMNP without long hikes on side trails to designated tent sites? I truly dislike staying in shelters in the GSMNP.

I avoid the GSMNP for many reasons---can't bring a dog and I spent 15 years backpacking with a . . .uh . . . backpacking dog. Second, the Tent Cops gotta know where I'll be camping every night (only at designated spots) and there's no way to know where I'll be on Day 12 of a 21 day trip. Third, to plan a 21 day trip in the Smokies requires I pay the Tent Cops $60 in three 7-day increments---with all campsites determined beforehand. It's an impossible and unworkable system.

Considering that shelters are about every 8-10 miles on the AT, if they are an eyesore to you a better suggestion would be to do what Tipi Walter does, and that is hike elsewhere. Which I am kinda surprised he did not suggest!

Yes, I can backpack elsewhere---From Georgia all the way north to Fontana and above the Smokies up into Virginia---Cohutta/Big Frog, Little Frog wilderness, Bald River/Upper Bald, Citico/Slickrock, Brushy Ridge area, Snowbird backcountry, and my beloved Pisgah NF---Upper Creek, Harper/North Harper Creek, Lost Cove Creek, Gragg Prong etc.

But I can also use the AT as a connector trail to various backpacking routes---In Mt Rogers to connect to Lewis Fork and Little Wilson Creek wilderness areas---or the Yellow Creek Mt trail to Walker Gap on the AT, or the BMT almost anywhere, or the Bartram trail and its western extension.

[Gambit McCrae]

It's an impossible and unworkable system.

You think by mistake or by design?

Yes, I can backpack elsewhere---From Georgia all the way north to Fontana and above the Smokies up into Virginia---Cohutta/Big Frog, Little Frog wilderness, Bald River/Upper Bald, Citico/Slickrock, Brushy Ridge area, Snowbird backcountry, and my beloved Pisgah NF---Upper Creek, Harper/North Harper Creek, Lost Cove Creek, Gragg Prong etc.

But I can also use the AT as a connector trail to various backpacking routes---In Mt Rogers to connect to Lewis Fork and Little Wilson Creek wilderness areas---or the Yellow Creek Mt trail to Walker Gap on the AT, or the BMT almost anywhere, or the Bartram trail and its western extension.

I enjoyed this very much Brings back memories prior to getting sucked into the AT matrix

[QiWiz]

You can still fully enjoy backpacking the AT and not spend a single night in the human eyesore called A Shelter. It'll never be your personal apartment---a place to squat that's all your own.

There are usually plenty of level places to put a tent before or after any shelter---just stop at the shelter to rest and get water and move on.

+1 Amen brother

[Traffic Jam]

Sometimes you’ve just gotta accept what you’re given and not be so critical. Who knows? That annoying fella might end up your best friend.

One of the most fun times i ever had at a shelter was with a group of guys from Ohio who didn’t have a clue and were so out of shape, they only hiked a few miles a day. They were doin’ it all wrong but sure made it a memorable hike for me.

[Traffic Jam]

Sometimes you’ve just gotta accept what you’re given and not be so critical. Who knows? That annoying fella might end up your best friend.

One of the most fun times i ever had at a shelter was with a group of guys from Ohio who didn’t have a clue and were so out of shape, they only hiked a few miles a day. They were doin’ it all wrong but sure made it a memorable hike for me.