Rausch Gap Shelter

[swift]

lot of memories of this place. Of the few 30 miles days i've done on the AT, two of them were out of Duncannon after a hard night's drinking at the Doyle and plugging to or past Rausch. GOSH, what great times!!!

[shelterbuilder]

I've been reading some of the old posts about this shelter, so I thought I'd share some info on the area. The shelter is located on a 28,000 acre tract of Pa. State Game Land which adjoins the Fort Indiantown Gap Military Reservation (used for Pa. Air National Guard training/deployment). Pa. Game Commission rules apply here. Over the last 34 years, the shelter has become a popular destination for hikers, horsemen, mountain bikers, and hunters (all activities sanctioned by the PGC). Unfortunately, it has also become a destination for the "party-hearty" crowd, so the PGC devloped special regulations for this area. Thru-hikers are allowed to use the shelter overnight (PGC: a thru-hiker enters and leaves the Trail at two points separated by at least 25 miles!), but all others can be fined for illegal camping. Most of this site is outside of the PGC's 250' camping zone for AT users ("within 250' of footpath, but 500' away from springs, streams, trailheads and parking lots"). If you're camped "illegally" and have a campfire, you get 2 fines! (I think that the fines are currently $300/person/offense!) This may sound harsh, but there are not nearly as many problems here now as there were 20 years ago.

[emerald]

Just in case someone wonders, I assure you the person who posted above knows of what he speaks.

[shelterbuilder]

Just in case someone wonders, I assure you the person who posted above knows of what he speaks.

Thank you - are you sure that we know the same people??

[Lyle]

Stayed at Rausch Gap shelter last June at the height of the flooding. The trail just south of the Shelter (the steep, erroded, ditch-like section) was knee and at times waist deep with swiftly running water - very much like the flume ride at an amusement park. The steps leading down to the shelter were literally a waterfall, the area surrounding the table was a lake, and the spring was shooting out of the pipe with the force of a fire hose, completely missing the long aluminum trough - had to really hang on to your platypus or pan while filling. All this, but it was still a VERY welcome home that night!

[emerald]

I thought it might be desirable to link the applicable code for those who plan to camp along the A.T. in Saint Anthony's Wilderness, but do not intend to stay at Rausch Gap Shelter. I've searched for this information more than once before and it will be easier for me and others to locate it here than to search for it.

[emerald]

Those desiring to learn what specific acts are prohibited or permitted on State Game Lands can go here to view a 1-page document compiled by PGC.

[Lellers]

Spent the night at Rausch Gap Shelter 11/17. Snug and neat. Spring was running and trough was full. Packed out some trash left behind by previous folks. Woke up to snow this morning and had snow all the way down to Rt 443/72 parking lot. Made everything slippery and had my head down, so missed the sharp turn where the AT was rerouted a few years ago. Easy to miss! Found ourselves following the old blazes, but didn't figure it out until halfway down the mountain. Duh! Just the night before I was laughing over a story someone had written in the register about this very same situation. Oh, well. It all worked out in the end.

[Gaiter]

received a wolf spider bite at rausch gap privy, didn't see the spider, but pretty sure based on the bite that it was a wolf spider, at least it wasn't anything worse
also received trail magic from weekend hikers in the shelter, and from illegally camped hikers near-by.

[ki0eh]

I stayed there once on a loop hike (not then knowing that was a "prohibited act" in the Pa.Code ) in January. The area between the shelter and the spring was glare ice. Note that it's sloping out to the steep rocky side of the gap. Did a whoops! zip!!! pow! tumble! bang! and then was fortunate only to have quite a swollen knee. The 14 miles out the next day is how I learned to carry vitamin I.

Also, the 1998 KTA map shows that then-"future relocation" slabbing the ridge to the south instead of going right over it, as it does and as the 2004 edition KTA map now shows. Grrr... That's how I learned not to show "future relocations" when making hiking maps!

[tree junkie]

when i walk on the trail from the parking area, i go past the springs and all the way down to the creek, from there where is the shelter?

[shelterbuilder]

when i walk on the trail from the parking area, i go past the springs and all the way down to the creek, from there where is the shelter?

I assume from your rather general description that you're walking in from the Gold Mine Rd. parking lot headed WEST on the old railroad grade (now a one-lane access road/rail-trail). When you get to the bridge where Trout Unlimited has the stream reclaimation project (the 2 concrete empoundments directly upstream from the bridge), the AT comes in from the left just before the bridge, turns left onto the railroad grade over the bridge, and stays on the railroad grade for about 1/10 mile. At the first intersection, the AT turns to the right. Follow the AT for no more than 1/2 mile and keep looking for the trail signs that direct you to the shelter.

Please note that this shelter is on State Game lands and OUTSIDE of the 200' AT corridor, so PGC regulations apply. PGC has had problems with over-use and abuse at this site since the shelter was built, so they have designated the shelter "for use by persons entering the the AT at point A, leaving at point B, and hiking at least 25 miles between the two points" (paraphrase of the site regulations). This allows their LEOs to issue citations to anyone who parks in the parking lot, hikes in to camp, and hikes back out to the same parking lot afterward. The fines are not cheap, and the LEOs are usually able to find multiple violations per offender (ie - illegal fires, camping outside of the 200' AT corridor, etc.), and the fines are per person, not per group. So unless you just won the lottery and money is no object, please use common sense when staying here.

"I don't make the news, I just report it."

[rafe]

It felt a bit dark and gloomy when I was there (alone) last summer. Had a subterranean feel to it.. There was water in the trough (yay!). No picnic table (boo!) The place had a faint odor of kerosene that was disconcerting.

[shelterbuilder]

It felt a bit dark and gloomy when I was there (alone) last summer. Had a subterranean feel to it.. There was water in the trough (yay!). No picnic table (boo!) The place had a faint odor of kerosene that was disconcerting.

The shelter was built in the foundation of an old "steam genny" (generator) building that was used during the coal-mining operations that took place in the area in the 19th century. The table is the stainless steel circular thingy in front of the shelter (we had a picnic table at one time, but I think that the locals used it for firewood during deer season one year). The kerosene smell could have been from the "logs" themselves (recycled utility poles from the 70's), or from the modern waterproofing on the exterior.

[Blissful]

It also has very large mice - ie rats.

[emerald]

Maybe you saw an opossum.

[emerald]

It's a nice shelter. The spring is directly in front about 15 feet away that pours in to a metal trough. Though the privy is getting quite full. It's in a beautiful spot with no 'outside world' noise. and your cell phones won't work there!

Years ago, this shelter built by BMECC was known as The Halfway Hilton.

I hammocked just to the left of the shelter. But if you like the sounds of the creek then you'll find even more spots along the creek. Get there during daylight and you'll find a great many places there and past the shelter. In case there are partiers there you can go past the privy or stay by the creek.

This post advises practices in violation of PGC regulations. I've underlined the violations for hikers unfamiliar with these regulations.

Camping is not permitted on SGLs outside a 200 foot corridor on each side of the A.T. (Rausch Gap Shelter is .3 from the A.T.) or within 500 feet of a spring or stream.

See my posts and shelterbuilder's above for more information.

[Pedaling Fool]

received a wolf spider bite at rausch gap privy, didn't see the spider, but pretty sure based on the bite that it was a wolf spider, at least it wasn't anything worse
also received trail magic from weekend hikers in the shelter, and from illegally camped hikers near-by.

What does a Wolf-spider bite look like? I got bit by something in March 2006, I think near Gooch Mnt Shelter. Never felt the bite, but woke up one morning with a large lump in my mid to lower back, directly over my spine. Kind of freaked me out because I thought I had slipped a disc or something, because it was so hard and stuck out about an inch. It never came to a "head" where that stuff could seap out, just kind of went away over time. Also what was weird is that it was very cold, not an environment you would normally be concerned about insect bites.

[Blissful]

Maybe you saw an opossum.

I didn't see it, Paul Bunyan did. He and Dethmarch chased them all night. I was sleeping rather blissfully in my tent.

But I did see a rat at Overmountain shelter.

[Blissful]

Camping is not permitted on SGLs outside a 200 foot corridor on each side of the A.T. (Rausch Gap Shelter is .3 from the A.T.) or within 500 feet of a spring or stream.

See my posts and shelterbuilder's above for more information.

I don't recall any post about this, in fact, had no idea about the regulation when I was in PA (whereas everyone knows about the Smokies regulations, etc). Is it posted on signs, etc? Might be good for hikers this year to know about it.