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  1. #21
    Registered User Coosa's Avatar
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    Youngblood, you sound like a GATC member.

    As long as the 'excitement' on the Trail is provided by the Trail and not by a Hiker (or a non-hiker who happens to be on the Trail) I can live with that.

    And I can avoid Blue Mountain Shelter since I live here in the North Georgia Mountains.

    Coosa
    My blog, dedicated to my Dad: Chasing the Trail
    Proverbs 4:26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
    Hike Your Own Hike

  2. #22
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    Originally posted by Coosa
    Youngblood, you sound like a GATC member.

    Coosa
    Nope. I just think the AT in Georgia is one of the best marked and maintained trails that I have been on. I can't think of any section that has anything more than a 'moderate danger factor' to it. Certainly nothing like Albert Mountain (NC), Dragon's Tooth (VA), etc. And I don't recall having any problems staying on the trail, like I did in parts of PA and NH. I just made my statements because I very much disagreed with your assessment of the AT in Georgia, respectfully disagreed.

    Now, in bad weather it can be bad news in the outdoors... that's when it is time to consider 'setting it out' in a shelter or better yet, in town. If the lady you rescued at Hog Pen Gap got a 'do over', I wonder if she would opt for the 1.2 mile sidetrail to Whitley Gap Shelter to get out of the wind and warm up. I can think of a least one incident I had that I would opt for the safe-but-slow choice if I had a 'do over'.

    Youngblood

  3. #23
    Section Hiker 500 miles smokymtnsteve's Avatar
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    .....
    Last edited by smokymtnsteve; 08-13-2003 at 20:50.
    "I'd rather kill a man than a snake. Not because I love snakes or hate men. It is a question, rather, of proportion." Edward Abbey

  4. #24

    Default Re: Re: Getting the Shelter oriented

    Originally posted by Youngblood

    I have always thought the GATC did a great job maintaining and marking the trail. I don't feel that way about all the trail clubs along the AT. It is unfortunate that the hiker missed the turn. There are times that the visibility drops drastically at Hog Pen Gap and when that happens it can be difficult to see 10 feet in front of you. When it is cold and wet, it is a struggle out there. I too had to stop a couple of thru-hikers on my AT thru-hike that were becoming hypothermal. This was at noon in Maine in August and trail blazes had nothing to do with it (their waterproof jackets weren't and they didn't have anything for their legs or hands). I had to make them stop at the first shelter, get them quickly into their bags and then start a fire with wet wood (yes, it can USUALLY be done if you know how) for them to warm up/dry out by. Hot drinks/food works wonders too. The problem is that when a person gets hypothermal, they sometimes don't makerational decisions and if they are alone they can get in serious trouble.

    Youngblood [/B]
    [U]start a fire with wet wood (yes, it can USUALLY be done if you know how)

    Tell us, what's your secret.

  5. #25
    Section Hiker 500 miles smokymtnsteve's Avatar
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    back in feb 2000 I found a guy in the 2nd part of hyothermia.....he was cold and wet and sitting down and not shivering any more..

    I had been hiking the GA section sobo and it had been nasty weather cold rain and ice...

    so things were pretty wet....Now I needed a fire and I needed for the guy then fast ....I found a old drink bottle that some one had left at the shelter and filled it about quarter of the way up with stove fuel ...around this I piled just lots and lots of really small twiggy branches...stuff no bigger than a pencil...and I had lots of it ready to add...well I lite the end of the coke bottle and the stove fuel vapor burnt like a Torch you could see the coleman fuel a boiling in that coke bottle and it a burning on the top....well the coke bottle started to melt but kinda slow and I keep adding really small stuff to the fire and just kept putting small stuff on ...you really need a lot of smaller wood more than you need big logs...the smaller stuff is drier esp if it hadn't been laying directly on the ground...and lightered pine knot is good too..if you can find some
    Thar ain't as much lightered pine around as they use to be...

    well i got the fire to going and we dried that guy and his sleeping bag and clothes out and got some hot food in to him...and he got alright...hot tea and honey is good ..gives quick sugar
    "I'd rather kill a man than a snake. Not because I love snakes or hate men. It is a question, rather, of proportion." Edward Abbey

  6. #26
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    Default Burning wet wood.

    Yeah, what SmokyMtnSteve said about getting a fire started- alcohol and TP is what I usually use for a fire starter. The other tricks in emergencies is to use the lower dead limbs/branches on pine trees and some wet sticks are dry enough if you shave off the bark with a knife. You have to look around and see what/if you have anything to work with. The point is, it is not always hopeless if it is wet and you really need to start a fire. And of course, there will always be situations where you can't. In those situations you have to figure out something else.

    Youngblood

  7. #27

    Default

    Good thinking Smokeymtnsteve,

    Had you done that or seen it done before? Would just pouring some fuel on the wet wood get it going?

    I bet that guy was glad you were around.

  8. #28

    Default Being prepared

    No doubt that blazes, and double blazes can help keep hikers on the trail.

    Maps can also help. It is quite obvious on the official AT map that the trail takes a jog to the left at the road crossing at Hogpen Gap before re-entering the woods. My guess is that only 5-10% of thru-hikers carry maps.

    But even a flashing light every ten feet isn't going to help a hiker who doesn't take note of and act accordingly when weather conditions and/or their own body is screaming HYPOTHERMIA.

    Hikers, especially solo hikers, are responsible for their own safety on the trail (any trail), regardless of trail conditions or markings (or lack thereof). It isn't right to suggest that the GATC is responsible when a hiker become hypothermic.

  9. #29
    Section Hiker 500 miles smokymtnsteve's Avatar
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    just pouring the fuel on the wood and lighting it would just flash out quick...the fuel in the bottle burns like a little torch for a while with the bottle and the plastics melts and burns ..kinda like how you can boil water in paper cup..
    you shouldn't burn plastics in a fire pit on the trail...but this guy was really freezing to death..so I did it ....wouldn't burn palstic just for a friendly campfire....but this guy had gotten wet the night before and didn't have the proper equipment to be out there and the weather was horrible...a ice storm came in that night that shut the city of atlanta down for three days,,,,
    and this guy was in the second stage of hypothermia ..in hypothermia the first thing that happens is you start to shake ..and not just small shivers...sooner or later if you don't get warma and dry your body runs out of energy and you sit down and stop shaking,,,you act stupid( very easy for some of us) and as this guy put it.."I had just given into the cold"...after a while your skin starts to freeze and you take your clothes off and throw your gear away cause you feel like your skin is burning but it's not it's freezzing ...at this stage you probably won't make it...even if someone comes along and starts a fire..


    I also use TP and olive oil as fire starter ..two things I always have with me in my pack ....just make a wad of TP and lightly soak it with oilive oil and you have something that will burn like a wick and burn hot.
    "I'd rather kill a man than a snake. Not because I love snakes or hate men. It is a question, rather, of proportion." Edward Abbey

  10. #30

    Default

    Thanks for the tip on the Olive Oil, I've never tried it or would have thought of it. I'm going to try it out now to see how that works.

  11. #31

    Default

    Another trick to be used only in an emergency is White Birch Bark. This stuff will burn even after being under water. Strip it of a live tree and you kill the tree so only use it to keep something else alive.

  12. #32
    Registered User bretb's Avatar
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    I spent the night there this week and the shelter was pretty clean. The winds were very bad so we set up our bivys in the shelter. During the night I could see the mice clawling over my bivy. One even got face to face with me through the mesh. This didn't keep us from sleeping however. My hiking partner's food bag was assaulted while bear bagged on the supplied cables during the night.

    Bret

  13. #33
    Twisted Walkingstick Chip's Avatar
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    WOW !!!! Mice everywhere at this shelter. The darn things even come out before sundown. BEWARE !!! We slept in our tent away from this place !

  14. #34
    LT '79; AT '73-'14 in sections; Donating Member Kerosene's Avatar
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    I used this shelter in mid-April 2004. Fortunately, the wind wasn't very strong, but what little there was (from behind the shelter) seemed to come up through the floorboards. At least one mouse was out at dusk, but they didn't bother me.
    GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014

  15. #35
    Is it raining yet?
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    Smile I Was!

    Quote Originally Posted by Moose2001
    Has anyone EVER been at Blue Mountain when the wind wasn't blowing??
    I stopped in for lunch on a cloudy October day (2004) & had a fine time. With a reported mouse kill in excess of twenty on the wall, I was delighted to be moving on....

  16. #36
    Registered User Dances with Mice's Avatar
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    Default If I'd known then what I know now...

    I tarped behind Blue Mtn a few years ago one rainy Spring (that's redundant, I know) and the next morning work up to find a big patch of funny looking mushrooms had sprung up right at the edge of my tarp. They were distinctive enough that I remembered and looked them up later.

    They were morels! A huge patch. Wish I'd taken a picture.
    You never turned around to see the frowns
    On the jugglers and the clowns
    When they all did tricks for you.

  17. #37
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    Default Privy

    I camped with 6 or 8 GATC members on Memorial Day weekend in the Cumberland Gap. They said that they will be building a privy at Blue Mtn Shelter soon, said the materials were flown in a couple of weeks ago.

  18. #38
    Registered User TurboDog's Avatar
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    I'm planning a quick hike from Deep Gap,NC to Hogpen Gap,GA in the next couple of weeks with one night being at Blue Mtn shelter. After reading many of the comments in this thread, I'm wondering if I should possibly seek an alternative site. Has any work been done on the shelter? Privy constructed, shelter orientation changed, mice eradicated?
    I gather that this is a cold shelter to begin with, so I can only imagine what it would be like in the winter. Brrrrr
    Any suggestions or recommendations would certainly be welcome.
    TurboDog

  19. #39

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    1 mile south of Blue Mtn Shelter is where the old shelter was at Rocky Knob before it was dismanted when Blue was built. Its flat w/water close by so you can easily camp there if you don't like Blue. Much better views from Blue, though.

  20. #40
    Registered User Dances with Mice's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TurboDog
    I'm planning a quick hike from Deep Gap,NC to Hogpen Gap,GA in the next couple of weeks with one night being at Blue Mtn shelter. After reading many of the comments in this thread, I'm wondering if I should possibly seek an alternative site. Has any work been done on the shelter? Privy constructed, shelter orientation changed, mice eradicated?
    I gather that this is a cold shelter to begin with, so I can only imagine what it would be like in the winter. Brrrrr
    Any suggestions or recommendations would certainly be welcome.
    TurboDog
    There are always alternatives to shelters. Continue south, downhill, past Blue Mtn Shelter and in about 1/2 mile, maybe less, you'll arrive at a beautiful camping area in a sheltered cove. Can't miss it, the Trail makes a big turn right through it. Campsites are clearly visible on either side of the trail and water is from a stream nearby in the Trail West direction.

    It's an old shelter site, it's out of the wind, and has better campsites and water supply than the mountaintop location.

    Edited to add: Max says it's a mile from Blue, I didn't think it was that far. But we're thinking of the same place.
    Last edited by Dances with Mice; 01-02-2006 at 13:41.
    You never turned around to see the frowns
    On the jugglers and the clowns
    When they all did tricks for you.

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