Gooch Mt. Shelter

[Singletrack]

I want say this is my favorite shelter, but it is one of the newest on the Trail. Located about 100 yds. from the Trail (new relocation) it is a well designed double decker, with plenty of head room on the second deck. It has a covered gravel deck with cooking counters. The best part of this new shelter are the beautiful woods surrounding this area.The spring is close, and was putting out nice cool water last week. The privy is something else, for the South, it is the compost type, located in a quiet area, great place to contemplate your days hike. There are several nice tenting pads, and of course the new Bear Bag Cables. Gooch Mt. Shelter, replaced the old Gooch Gap Shelter, that was located close to FSR 42. The new Snelter is 1.8 miles South of Gooch Gap.

[stevec]

Great place with great tent sites, was there umm 2 nights ago... Best shelter on the AT for me so far.

[Jumpstart]

They had just put the finishing touches on this shelter when we stayed there, and it was great. It had a covered picnic table and eating area, and enough room with two levels to really pack people in. Also had a nice water source, the only downfall about this shelter that I can remember is that the trail leading to it (in 2002) was covered with about 8 inches of sloppy, sticky mud, we almost lost our shoes a few times! Otherwise it's a great place if you can make it past the excellent camping spots at Justus Creek.

[windwalker]

Very nice shelter. Heads up coming from Woody Gap. The only sign after FSR42 is to the old shelter. You can follow that blue blaze all the way back around to the AT. Otherwise after crossing the FSR stay on AT for another 1.8 miles then you'll see a sign to the new shelter.

[jojo0425]

I have to agree. I brought a tent, but on the day we arrived at Gooch Gap it was pouring rain so we climbed into the shelter. It was great and the tent area is fantastic. I really appreciated having bear cables installed. Thanks to all who dedicated their time. This is a nice shelter, hope I'm too spoiled as I continue my section hiking.

S.G.
(Smiley Gonzalez)

[Youngblood]

http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...papass=&sort=1

http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...php?photo=1258

http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...papass=&sort=1

http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...papass=&sort=1

[bretb]

Great shelter ! A great improvement over the old one.

Bret

[DebW]

I just met the project manager who led the efforts in building this shelter and its composting privy at the ATC meeting. Wish I had her email to pass along your complements.

[bretb]

Well they did a great job - The composting privy was in good shape except the vermin had managed to chew thier way into the wooden box containing the wood shavings. Another hiker had his dog's pack gone through while it was bearbagged. The shelter journal mentioned that there was a problem with flying squirrels.

Bret

[Baldy]

I like the shelter as well. There was a big problem with mice, though... And another thing worried me while I was there, did you notice that the privy was just uphill from the spring?

[Youngblood]

Originally posted by Baldy
I like the shelter as well. There was a big problem with mice, though... And another thing worried me while I was there, did you notice that the privy was just uphill from the spring?

Yeah, I noticed the location of the privy. I HOPE they knew what they were doing... it sure doesn't look right.

About the mice and the bear bag cables. I had heard that mice were sometimes climbing the cables and getting to the food bags. I noticed that some of the sliding collars were frozen and did not rotate. I expect that these collars were suppose to keep small critters from climbing up the cables, so I tried to find cables were the collars rotated. Don't really know if this is the problem or not.

Also, some of the bear cables have simple 'S' hooks to attach your pack. I had also heard that some of the bears would shake the cables until your food bad jumped off the 'S' hook. I used the 'S' hood and tied my food bag to the cable loop for good measure. Nothing happened to my stuff, but that doen't mean I 'foiled' any attempts... there may not have been any critters about.

Youngblood

[snowhoe]

if you liked this shelter wait until you get to plumb orchard shelter.

[jamie313]

I agree, beautiful shelter! Nice water source not too far away (water "hole" just behind the shelter and a decent stream just before on the trail) and great tent sites too. Saw a bear about 3/4 mi south of here, just off the trail. I didn't think to get a picture, though, was too scared!

[Berserker]

One thing of note that is not documented in any of the previous posts is that the tent sites near the shelter are actually "groomed" tent pads. They are very nice, as someone (the maintainers of that section I presume) actually took the time to grade them and make them nice and flat.

During my stay near this shelter (6/2/08) I tented, but hung out with some other hikers in the shelter before I went to sleep. There are definitely mice in there as I saw them myself.

[Dances with Mice]

One thing of note that is not documented in any of the previous posts is that the tent sites near the shelter are actually "groomed" tent pads. They are very nice, as someone (the maintainers of that section I presume) actually took the time to grade them and make them nice and flat.

During my stay near this shelter (6/2/08) I tented, but hung out with some other hikers in the shelter before I went to sleep. There are definitely mice in there as I saw them myself.

The tent pads are a design feature installed to reduce impact on the surrounding area. The shelter was purposely located on a hillside to discourage tenting directly beside the shelter.

It's good to hear the mice we placed there are still doing well.

[jaywalke]

I stayed in this shelter alone (my mouse-phobic partner hammocked) on a section hike in 2003. In the middle of the night I was awakened by what sounded like mouse Ultimate Fighting in the corner on the first floor. A little while later the whole place started to vibrate, and I remember thinking that there must be train tracks nearby. It lasted a minute or two, then I fell back to sleep.

I forgot all about it until the next day when we hit a road crossing, and a dayhiker asked us if we'd felt the earthquake.