Vermont Pico Camp Shelter heads up

[peakbagger]

Unless he has a warrant on him, I expect the challenge will be what to do to keep him out of there. I think Pico camp is on private property. The AT was relocated downslope away from ski area property when a prior owner of Killington bought Pico and had grand plans to substantially increase the size of the resort by expanding Killington over to Pico. The ATC made the best of it and ran the relocation down slope on the west side through a nice but not particularly interesting patch of woods (green tunnel) ended up downslope from the Inn on the Long Trail leaving a big PUD. Many folks still hike the old AT route along the ridge line to Pico Camp and I expect the current owner of Killington and Pico could care less as long as they have control over the property. The prior owner with the grand plan, Les Otten is now focused on the Balsams in NH and planning to build the "biggest ski resort in the northeast" (by acreage as the local peaks in Dixville NH are much lower).

I am not aware of GMC having any rules on occupancy of their shelters and do not have any way of enforcing them even if they did. Most small towns in that area have zero law enforcement and depend on the state police and they are understaffed and tend to stay near their cruisers, Coincidentally I spent a night at Pico one night with a thruhiker who the day before had found a dead hiker in his tent at a shelter site south of Killington and he was quite surprised as to how long it took state police to respond to the site. He called 911 and reported it and was told to stay there until the state police responded and they kept asking him for an address. Eventually he borrowed a map and got a road name for the closest AT crossing and basically had to lead them to the shelter site. About 4 hours later a state trooper shows up in full state trooper gear with a smoky bear hat obviously out of his element. He interviewed the thru hiker and asked him for contact info which he did not have as he had used the dead hikers cell phone to make the call (this was 20 years ago when cell phones and towers were far rarer). VT did not even have any agency in charge of S&R until about 15 years ago when the state was sued for not responding to a lost skier who I think died. Up until then, the state depended on ski areas employees rescuing lost skiers, giving the ski areas the option to bill out of bounds skiers.

My guess is the GMC or the state will eventually apply enough pressure that he will move on to a spot with less resistance. Unless things have changed, there is or were shuttles up from Rutland and Rutland is a known town large enough to have social services to support voluntary and involuntary homeless individuals. Therefore, this individual may find Pico Camp to be a good spot to hang out, out in the woods but not that far away from services and possibly good picking from car parked in the former AT lot across from the Inn at the Long Trail. In most of VT, people with issues tend to gravitate towards the larger cities with services. In Burlington, the city elected to "defund the police" and the result is shoplifting, property crimes and minor offenses like this individual may be doing are effectively ignored.

[LoneStranger]

I'm guessing they have formally "trespassed" him with whomever is the rightful owner invoking their right to have him not there.

The incident across from the Inn @ the LT recently with another vagrant type camper attacking someone may have highlighted the dangers of ignoring problem people until someone gets hurt.

[somers515]

I'm guessing they have formally "trespassed" him with whomever is the rightful owner invoking their right to have him not there. . . .

As a retired assistant prosecutor, I agree with your guess LoneStranger. Formally close the shelter and area to camping and post notice, so when he is found camping there it is a criminal trespass. A condition of a conviction could be to no longer returning to that spot and/or mandated mental health counseling etc. At least that's how it could work in NJ.

And sorry my attempted copy and paste job of GMC's message was garbled. Here it is again in an easier to read format:

Be Advised: The Green Mountain Club is closing Pico Camp until unauthorized occupancy of the shelter can be resolved by local authorities.
This is a matter of public safety and hikers should find an alternate overnight site or accommodation.
We appreciate the concern and patience of the hiking community as we work to resolve this matter.
Alternative Overnight Suggestions:

• Churchill Scott Shelter or Tucker Johnson Shelter on the Long Trail North
• Cooper Lodge or Governor Clement Shelter on the Long Trail South
• The Inn at the Long Trail on U.S. Route 4

More information on this and other trail updates: https://www.greenmountainclub.org/hiking/trail-updates/

[IrishBASTARD]

Has this issue been handled, I am asking as I would like to do fall hiking in the general area. Thank you...

[peakbagger]

With the flooding in VT, my guess is there are far more pressing issues out there.

[IrishBASTARD]

The issue has existed since prior to last July, the person in question regardless of situation, should have been removed if need be by arrest and committed. There exists no excuse, especially after 2019 to ignore threatening hikers or verbal intimidation of any sort, we all have bad days but when someone makes threats or tries to scare someone else, that causes a breakdown in overall trust for the trail and all groups involved. Had a situation in 2012 of a man with a gun tying up hikers as well a red truck and a man who drove you into the woods to dump you, if you didn't pay him "fifty bucks" that year a hiker outside of Franklin made them drop them off at the bus station or there about, their trail name was "Wandering Moose". We're not dealing with stable people obviously, however we are dealing with dangerous people. The flood has nothing to do with the issue, it had been going on for over a year I was reading and hearing about it from North Adams to Maine, days after it occurred to weeks later.

[wornoutboots]

There's another one at the Wildcat shelter in NY that threatens, plays loud music at night and generally makes a rukis.

Yeah, when I Lashed that section last Fall, it was all over FarOut how he was threatening to kill hikers and would sign the register saying he was there with his bowie knife wanting to hunt down hikers. Apparently it's the same ole same ole, the authorities say they cannot do anything until until he actually "does" something, (hurts someone)?? I ended up in Greenwood Lake and slack-packed around the area.
The hard truth is that in American politics there's no money for politicians to launder off of the top of the mental health industry like other tangible situations, (Big Pharma, etc,) so I don't see anything happening until we have term limits to stop the blatant corruption in Our congressional "servants"

[BillyGr]

The issue has existed since prior to last July, the person in question regardless of situation, should have been removed if need be by arrest and committed. There exists no excuse, especially after 2019 to ignore threatening hikers or verbal intimidation of any sort, we all have bad days but when someone makes threats or tries to scare someone else, that causes a breakdown in overall trust for the trail and all groups involved. Had a situation in 2012 of a man with a gun tying up hikers as well a red truck and a man who drove you into the woods to dump you, if you didn't pay him "fifty bucks" that year a hiker outside of Franklin made them drop them off at the bus station or there about, their trail name was "Wandering Moose". We're not dealing with stable people obviously, however we are dealing with dangerous people. The flood has nothing to do with the issue, it had been going on for over a year I was reading and hearing about it from North Adams to Maine, days after it occurred to weeks later.

I think the point was that, due to the flooding now, there were other things that were taking precedence over worrying about this person at this particular time.

[ezdoesit]

Hi everyone ,
A copy and paste from the Long Tail/Greenmountain Club
Pico Camp Closure Notice

The Green Mountain Club is closing Pico Camp until unauthorized occupancy of the shelter can be resolved by local authorities. This is a matter of public safety and hikers should find an alternate overnight site or accommodation.

We appreciate the concern and patience of the hiking community as we work to resolve this matter.

Alternative Overnight Suggestions:

Churchill Scott Shelter or Tucker Johnson Shelter on the Long Trail North
Cooper Lodge or Governor Clement Shelter on the Long Trail South
The Inn at the Long Trail on U.S. Route 4