Are people still staying in shelters?

[Bluegrass]

When I attempted a SOBO through-hike way back when, I stayed about 80% of nights in shelters, using my tent when needed for various reasons. Watching various YouTubers do their through-hikes this year and last, as well as comments I have seen here, it seems like a lot of people's default is tenting near shelters. It seems like people are spending 90% of their nights in tents, if not more.

Is this just a skewed view of reality? It might just be that the YouTubers I am watching are solo hikers, who are more likely to stay in tents, and who need the privacy of a tent to do video editing at night?

[chknfngrs]

Shelters are nasty, but, still used frequently. They serve a purpose, and are appreciated by so many of the thru crowd still.

[HankIV]

Love shelters. I used them about the same ratio as you on my SOBO in 21. 4 times hit full shelters, Hurd Brook, Gov Clement, Little Rock Pond and Upper Goose Pond. Otherwise just tented if my stopping place wasn’t a shelter or town. I do get the impression that the SOBO shelter experience is quite different than NOBO. Fewer Noro stories. It is a little funky staying in one solo though.

[Slugg]

If you’re just asking for anecdotal experience, I recently went for an 8 day section hike in VA and didn’t even camp at a shelter, much less sleep in one, the entire trip.

[HankIV]

For me a shelter represents just a little less chore time, little more hiking time. And never had a mouse issue, oddly enough.

And maybe it’s a southern thing (didn’t grow up in IL) but I love the sound of rain on a tin roof shelter.

[wornoutboots]

I only use a shelter if I walk into it in inclement weather, if it's nice, I always tent and get much, much better sleep.

[ScottTrip]

On my hike I stayed in shelters the majority of the time. Easier less setup/take down time just more relaxing for me.

[Gambit McCrae]

I stopped using the shelters about 1000 miles into my AT completion. For me personally I repeatedly got terrible sleep in the shelters for 1 of many reasons depending on the night....Mice, dogs in the shelter barking randomly in the night at something out in the darkness, hikers crashing in at midnight, my pad or others pad making all kinds of racket, snoring, early packers, people getting up during the night, people rolling over in my space....My tent eliminated all of that and I now get great sleep in my tent, rain or shine

[Traveler]

FWIW - Some areas of the AT do not allow discreet camping (aka "stealth camping") outside of these camping areas, which often have a shelter, so the choices with these is primarily two, use the shelter or set up a tent in the area. Shelters have a value that can be difficult to see on the sunny days and starlit nights. Periodically we read of a small group of two or a troop of scouts that gets pinned down in heavy, unforecasted snow and manages to get to a shelter to survive the event. Though I would like to think differently, I believe shelters have saved my bacon at least three times over the past 50 years.

I tend to use shelters as a known place to meet when hiking with others who are faster/slower so the group stays together. Having been caught well into the forest by a windstorm that starts snapping treetops and limbs off, the value of a hard shelter is quite a beacon that I will head to ride things out. They also provide a decent place to dry out wet gear (presuming no one is around who wants to share the space). However, I typically do not sleep in them due to the issues Gambit McCrae points out, which can be very irritating and in opposition to a good rest that are easily escaped with a tent.

[garlic08]

I wonder if Covid caused a shift?

I also wondered what value people saw in shelters. Other than three times in really raw weather, I avoided them on my thru hike. In the Smokies, I hiked until late in the day so the shelters would fill up, and I could legally pitch a tent.

[One Half]

last year when I was sectioning the shelters were always full and the overflow of tents was tremendous. Of course, this was in the bubble I was hiking.

[LittleRock]

I stayed in the shelters almost exclusively when I started section hiking the AT 12 years ago. That's slowly changed over time and now I mostly sleep in my tent.

Why? Several reasons:
- Snorers, people coming in late/getting up super early and making noise, mice, etc.
- I like the privacy that comes with having your own sleeping space
- I sleep with my food in my tent vs. having to hang when staying in a shelter
- Far Out and other sources which didn't exist 10 years ago provide better info on stealth camping options

I still sleep in the shelters occasionally, usually when the weather is nasty.

[RockDoc]

- I sleep with my food in my tent vs. having to hang when staying in a shelter

Had a bad shelter experience one day in NC. A group of students from Florida filled the shelter but made room for us since weather was bad. So we had our dry food all sealed in plastic and didn't want to hang. The students noticed this and some were going to forcibly take our food to hang it, "to protect themselves from bear attacks because of our food in the shelter". Yes it was going to be a fight about food in shelters, between strong 20 year old novice hikers and senior trail hands in their 60's...

So to avoid mayhem with crazy idiots we handed over our food, and they took it out of sight, ostensibly to hang it "safely" and avoid murder by bears.

So we got up first in the morning and went out back to get our food bag, and I found a huge bunch of foodbags all hanging, but within 3 ft of the ground. Pretty easy pickings there beginner dudes.
Yes, there's insanity going on in shelters. We generally aim for one, get water there, then walk on and camp.

We have also met certifiably insane people who show up at shelters and make a scene. One with a machete...

[LazyLightning]

It takes a lot for me to use a shelter. I'll never forgot the look I got when I got to Siler Bald shelter in a snow storm and these 3 guys that had just passed me are like "we got it all tarped up plenty of room" and I'm like "I think I'm gonna set up my tent". They were like "What?" "Your gonna set up your tent?, we got plenty of room for you in here".

Later that night the shelter was so packed people were setting up tents because they had to, I made the choice when it wasn't even half full. I had to hold up my tent frame from a gust that surely would have crushed my tent to the ground more then once that night, and snow was blowing in through the screen like nobody's business. Still I have 0 regrets not staying in the shelter that night.

[HankIV]

I’m usually so whipped I’d sleep thru a brass band. For mice I just put up a “Free toe cheese” sign and they leave my stuff alone.

[Mikerfixit]

I've been section hiking for the past several years. I've only once stayed in a shelter.

The weather was predicted for light rain in the morning warming up into the mid sixties and cloudy for the afternoon. Night time temperatures were expected in the upper forties to low fifties, usual stuff for us.

About a hour into the hike the rain started dumping and the temperatures plummeted into the low to mid thirties with a strong wind heading up the mountain side. My hiking buddy and I decided that our gear wouldn't be enough to handle the wind that would be blowing up under our tarps and we would need to stay in the shelter because it acted as a wind break.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Personally, the steady increase in reports of Noro outbreaks during the 2010's has made me more hesitant to use shelters and common areas in general and I suspect it's played a role with the general popularity of shelters among other hikers as well.

I still commonly use and enjoy them in the winter when they see less use.

[HankIV]

The good thing is there are plenty of shelters and plenty of good tent sites. Enjoy as you see fit.

[Tennessee Viking]

With how much traffic is on the AT now compared to say just 10 years ago, its grown dramatically in numbers.

Shelters are nice if you are needing to get out of bad weather. Heard stories of late April snows above the 3500' mark in TN/NC/VA areas and hikers bundling up in shelters. But they do tend to attract the mice, bears, and party crowds.

Personally I would rather tent on good nights.

[CalebJ]

I'll gladly stay in a shelter if I get to one late in the evening and it's empty or nearly so. That's not terribly unusual in the offseason, particularly mid week. When they're crowded the appeal goes away very quickly.