Shelters - Who needs them

[meBrad]

I have come to understand that my participation in this forum is counter productive. In an attempt to ammend this I am deleting my posts and have requested to have my account deleted

[DebW]

If you arrive at a shelter late in the day and it's empty, do you sleep in it or tent? Add some weather modifiers to the choices (raining, windy, buggy). The answer to this might gives one's truer opinion of shelters, minus the solcial aspect. Some will prefer shelters when others are around, others will prefer shelters only when they have it to themselves. This poll needs more choices. Personally, I'll usually choose to tent or hammock if the shelter is occupied already by more than a couple of people or if there is a group in the shelter who'se likely to stay up late talking. But I prefer shelters to tents except in bug season because of the more open airy feeling and the fact that my tent will often be lighter the next day.

[Whiteblaze]

I like to stop at shelter to socialize. But I don't like to stay in them.

[Jaybird]

if the shelters are FULL....the decision is an easy one...


i like to shelter when i can...for the camraderie, the tall trail tales...& meeting the people...


but when its overflowing....i'll enjoy shelter conversation & set up the tent nearby!







see ya'll UP the trail in 2004!

[Lone Wolf]

I like the first 5 or 6 shelters in Georgia cuz that's where hikers leave canned goods such as Spam. Goes great with eggs which I usually carry. Other than that, shelters do suck. Mostly dirty, overcrowded, noisy, etc., etc.

[Bonehead]

I like shelters for the mice.

[Brushy Sage]

I remember arriving at a shelter in Georgia totally exhausted after a long, hard (for me) day's hike. A group of college students was already there. When I practically collapsed on the floor of the shelter and let out a loud "Whew!" one of the students observed, "That's your reward." On that occasion, I was extremely glad to be able to stay in the shelter. There were a few times when I stayed in a shelter that I wished I had tented instead (excessive mouse infestation, loud snoring, etc), but I always look at the shelters with appreciation, knowing something of the work that goes into constructing and maintaining them.

[gravityman]

It's interesting, and maybe it is the "forget the bad stuff" syndrom, but I don't remember a bad night in a shelter. The worst experience was the shelter after Albert Mt in 2001. It was raining HARD and it was fairly full. We had put in a long day for that part of our hike (15 miles) and were very tired after the climb. The people there said "So, where do you think you are going to stay?" That really pissed me off. There was still room. I slept on the end of the very deep platform and my wife was able to squeeze into the back with everyone else. Someone else showed up and slept on the picnick table. That really put a bad taste in my mouth. What happened to the "there's always room in the shelter when it is raining" edict?

Anyway, when I wanted to sleep in a shelter, I did. When I wanted more peaceful surroundings, or more comfortable miles, we tented. I never felt like I had a "bad night" and some of the best nights were in fact in shelters.

Maybe its because I shared a room my whole life up until 20 (home and then college)?

Gravity Man

[SGT Rock]

The choice I want really isn't there. I like to go to them for visiting and a nice flat spot to make dinner, but I hate sleeping in them. I will somethime use them in extreme weather though.

[Kerosene]

Over time I have moved from a dependency on shelters to a view similar to Sgt. Rock: nice spots for meals and perhaps on extreme weather, but my hammock is much more comfy and I avoid the snoring and shifting.

[Pencil Pusher]

I love reading meBrad's posts all over the place... What a wacky guy, changing all his posts to read the same thing.

[eyahiker]

meBrad. What's up? Why are you leaving?

I know how you feel though.


As for the shelters, I dig them for the social thing/company at night, always fun to see who "comes in" as the evening wears on.

Don't like super late arrivals when I'm woken up by folks who make no effort to respect the sleeping/exhausted fellow hikers already there.

Don't like super late 'talks' when every word and whisper can be heard in every tent in the area - WOW! Folks would be surprised if they knew how sound carries, I've been pretty far away from a shelter, and can hear everything from a pee to a whisper about things I REALLY DIDN"T NEED TO hear, which keeps me awake.........hard to sleep once woken up, and human nature to listen in till you fall asleep again, harder if it's actually interesting.

I always carry an alternative, and move as far away as possible.

[Youngblood]

Over time I have moved from a dependency on shelters to a view similar to Sgt. Rock: nice spots for meals and perhaps on extreme weather, but my hammock is much more comfy and I avoid the snoring and shifting.

That's pretty much my take on shelters too. I depend on them less the more experienced I get, but I do like the social aspect of them for dinner, lunch and breaks... especially in inclement weather. It is always nice to see ones with covered cooking area and sky-lights. It also helps that a good water water source is usually near by.

I have hiked other multi-day trails that don't have shelters and didn't miss them too much except in bad weather. On all day rains or cold windy days, a shelter is a real blessing. I remember one time in flooding and unexpectedly cooling conditions not being able to find a camp site that looked like it would stay dry and deciding to abort to the road, hike well into the night and cover two days of trail to get to our vehicle... a shelter would have looked mighty nice on that day.

Youngblood

[Peaks]

Like Young Blood posted, hard to beat a shelter on after a wet raining day. You don't see too many people looking to spend the night elsewhere when the weather has been miserable.

[Buckingham]

The first time I section hiked, me and my buddies tented next to a shelter on our third night out. Being our first time, we were idiots, and had no clue what we were doing. We had packed and carried nothing but canned goods, probably about 7-10 pounds apiece. Knowing we had brought way more food than we could possibly eat in our short time out, we decided to offer up some grub to the other hikers in and around the shelter. The thru hikers who ate with us were greatly appreciative of the Dinty Moore beef stew and canned peaches, and the rest of the plethora of food we had at hand to offer. In return they shared their trail stories with us, and we listened intently late into the night, our attention rapt in awe. Listening to the stories the thru hikers at the shelter gave me a greater respect for the trail, and it's community.

So yeah, I think shelters are pretty cool

[TrailSweeper]

I hike the AT mostly in the cold months and go shelter to shelter, so I think they are important. Some of my best times have been in shelters listening to stories.

[kyhipo]

i like them when its raining and cold ky

[Tin Man]

Shelters are good for cooking, socializing and bad weather, otherwise I leave the mice alone. On the rare occassion the shelter is empty, I will sleep there after checking the register for mice or varmint issues.

[Patrick]

Most of my week or so trips have been on Spring Break from school (I'm one of those seven year graduaters), so the trail has usually been very lonely in MD/VA that time of year. In that case, I like the shelters because it's nice to have them to myself and to get to read the journals for company at night. Also, they make a nice goal for daily mileage. I try to average fifteen miles a day or so and that usually means a shelter stop for lunch and then ending up at the next one at night.

I did a trip a couple of summers ago that was my first real trip in hot weather. The first shelter I stayed at was pretty full. It was okay, though. It had an attic sort of thing that I slept in to get up out of the way. Dinner was really fun. There was a thru-hiker there who was cracking us up with some pretty funny stories (he adapted the Bible story of Elisha and the fuel to his Coleman stove).

I think that would get old for me pretty quick, though. There was a couple there who were a little icy. The woman especially seemed like a real drag. They were carrying a TON of gear and were very "We're strong for carrying these big packs". I don't like most people and I think if there was someone like that there every night it would get old fast.

My best shelter experiences have either been with kids or with thru-hikers. I spent a night in Virginia with a thru-hiker called Yellow Jacket and his dog Cherry that was cool. Got to hike with them the next day.

What's that shelter a couple days south of Pearisburg that's like an old fire-watcher's cabin or something? It's up on a bald. It's a real cabin with a door and chimney and a roof that's held down with big cables because the wind up there is ferocious. I was there alone one night and a huge group of teenagers piled in. They were from the midwest on some kind of religious retreat with three or four adults. I hate religion like poison, but that was one of my best nights on the trail ever, hanging out with a bunch of kids on their first camping trip and listening to them talk all night.

I've got a hammock now that I'm dying to try out. I'm taking a week trip in Massachusetts starting next week. I've been trying to decide what I want to do about shelters. Maybe hit them at the beginning just to talk to hikers again, then head out on my own. Either way, I see myself sleeping in the hammock not the shelter.

[neo]

i prefer stealth caming in my hammock neo