Shelter ethics.

[Pedaling Fool]

I knew someone that snored really loud and he hated shelters. So he would set his tent up right next to the shelter and keep everyone up with his snoring. That's kind of rude, but also kind of funny. Does that violate shelter etiquette?

[dragonfeet]

tent in a shelter? now thats just stupid. Its like going to a motel 6 and sleeping on a cot beside the bed

[dragonfeet]

I like to hike with two tents and sometimes i put up one tent inside the other you know for extra protection.

[mosquito ninja]

double bag it.

[Tin Man]

Snoring is breathing. Don't belittle the snorer, he cannot stop breathing.

The best shelter etiquette is to expect the worst behavior from those sharing the shelter. If you cannot tolerate it, etiquette says tent elsewhere.

[max patch]

The best shelter etiquette is to expect the worst behavior from those sharing the shelter. If you cannot tolerate it, etiquette says tent elsewhere.

No no no...If someone has a snoring problem -- and they know it -- common courtesy dictates that the snorer tent outside the shelter.

Unfortunately, common courtesy is rarely the rule in these cases.

I almost always tent as I don't want to listen to someones snoring and farting and getting up at 2 am to pee and the bozo who sets his alarm for 5:30 and on and on.

[Tin Man]

No no no...If someone has a snoring problem -- and they know it -- common courtesy dictates that the snorer tent outside the shelter.

Unfortunately, common courtesy is rarely the rule in these cases.

I almost always tent as I don't want to listen to someones snoring and farting and getting up at 2 am to pee and the bozo who sets his alarm for 5:30 and on and on.

One person's common courtesy is another person's inconvenience. Too much much of a "me" world today. Besides, no matter how courteous a fellow hiker might be, the mice have their own ideas for what courtesy is in their home. I always tent.

[zoidfu]

I must be the only person who's never, ever had a problem with mice. I must smell like a cat.

[Marta]

I must be the only person who's never, ever had a problem with mice. I must smell like a cat.

I could give you my cat. He'll make everything you own smell like cat PDQ. He especially likes to spray tents; and finds anything made of down irresistable.

Come to think of it...I haven't had as much mouse trouble as most hikers. That, and my penchant for off-season hiking, must be why I like shelters. Then there's the laziness thing, too.

[rafe]

One person's common courtesy is another person's inconvenience. Too much much of a "me" world today. Besides, no matter how courteous a fellow hiker might be, the mice have their own ideas for what courtesy is in their home. I always tent.

Cuts both ways. I mean, step back and listen to yourself. When you say, "I always tent," it could be taken to mean that you place your own prerogatives and interests etc. above all else -- and would forgo the possibility of interesting (and mutually rewarding) social interaction in order to have things your way.

I usually look forward to a night at a shelter as a sort of social adventure. It doesn't always pan out to my liking, but them's the breaks.

I like solitude, but one can have too much of a good thing. Night after night alone in the woods gets old pretty fast, IMO.

[AT-HITMAN2005]

do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

don't take more space then your sleeping bag needs on the shelter floor. and try not to hog the wall space hanging stuff either.

[Tin Man]

Cuts both ways. I mean, step back and listen to yourself. When you say, "I always tent," it could be taken to mean that you place your own prerogatives and interests etc. above all else -- and would forgo the possibility of interesting (and mutually rewarding) social interaction in order to have things your way.

I usually look forward to a night at a shelter as a sort of social adventure. It doesn't always pan out to my liking, but them's the breaks.

I like solitude, but one can have too much of a good thing. Night after night alone in the woods gets old pretty fast, IMO.

You do like to make a lot of assumptions, so let me clarify things for you. I always hike with a friend, usually my brother. I always tent, sometimes near a shelter and sometimes stealth. I do find social interactions interesting around a campfire, but that does not mean I have to sleep with other people. In fact, the etiquette police say I cannot since I snore and am not welcome. I guess shelters are for an exclusive club of the non-snoring public, but that's okay because I view sleeping as a private matter and prefer my own space.

[NICKTHEGREEK]

Cigarette butts thrown into a fire often do not get burned, ending up at the perimeter or the base. No one fishes them out if they don't. If you smoke, field strip your butt and pack out the filter.

As for paper in a fire, a lot of paper has toxic chemicals in the ink which are released by burning, and a lot of "paper" packaging isn't paper but plastic film, which is also toxic when burnt. Even true "paper" that has been food packaging shouldn't be burned, since trace food odors from the paper can be released during combustion, helping to draw animals to the shelter area.

Paper can be removed from 90% of packaging before a hike, with repackaging in ziplocs that can be used to pack garbage/trash out. NO trash or garbage should be put in fires, even paper.

TW

Did you actually read what you typed before you hit submit reply?
Oh yeah replace paper with plastic, just what every environmentalist supports, more plastics.
And animals are drawn to shelters by trace food odors from burnt paper???? WHAT ABOUT THE REGULAR ODORS???????

[Lone Wolf]

shelters, fire rings and the 300 yard radius around them suck. gotta be a fool to stay in a shelter

[Tin Man]

Did you actually read what you typed before you hit submit reply?
Oh yeah replace paper with plastic, just what every environmentalist supports, more plastics.
And animals are drawn to shelters by trace food odors from burnt paper???? WHAT ABOUT THE REGULAR ODORS???????

I thought Weasel's post was a little strange too, but not worth the effort to respond as it takes at least a page of posts to explain things and all you get is rebuttals.

[Tin Man]

shelters, fire rings and the 300 yard radius around them suck. gotta be a fool to stay in a shelter

"Fool" might not be the right term. Especially since many areas have regulations that you need to camp in designated campsites. I like to have a fire, so I mostly stay near a fire ring. I suppose I could build a stealth fire pit, but again many areas have regulations that frown on this. I don't want to think what the trail corridor might look like if everyone followed their own rules and stealthed wherever they pleased - today's 300 yard denuded shelter area might look trivial compared to what could happen.

[Wise Old Owl]

Yes, you're right, Max. But everything is cumulative, and in other places that aren't as heavily used as a shelter, burning waste paper in fires can draw animals that wouldn't otherwise appear, particularly noxious varmints like 'coons, 'possums and skunks.

TW

Ok, I am not going to pick this apart too much. Skunks & coons are not draw to the smells in a well made fire pit. They are drawn by smells associated by animal fats breaking down. Pour off any chicken fat off any griddle and you will have skunks for miles sniffing your tent and any other object that was close to where you dropped the fat. They are scavengers - Not fire pit honey's - If it is toast in a fire pit you have nothing to worry about. I made this mistake only once in a campground.

[rafe]

Come to think of it...I haven't had as much mouse trouble as most hikers. That, and my penchant for off-season hiking, must be why I like shelters. Then there's the laziness thing, too.

We're in the same boat, apparently. I think maybe the mice are worst when the shelters are heavily used (eg., during the early part of the nobo wave.) I only had "critter" problems once last summer, and that was at Calf Mtn. Shelter (SNP) just after Labor Day weekend.

Once humans stop visiting (and their crumbs & spills have all been consumed) there's no real reason for the mice to hang around.

[Wise Old Owl]

and you accuse me of negative posts? tellin' marta to "grow a pair"? dooood!

I am halfway through this tread and busting out with a belly laugh, LW I am starting to like you! Woow!

[Wise Old Owl]

No no no...If someone has a snoring problem -- and they know it -- common courtesy dictates that the snorer tent outside the shelter.

Unfortunately, common courtesy is rarely the rule in these cases.

I almost always tent as I don't want to listen to someones snoring and farting and getting up at 2 am to pee and the bozo who sets his alarm for 5:30 and on and on.

Ok that is just wrong. They don't know it unless someone tells them. Quite a few people snore, some have terrible apnia like I did, I now help those that I can. I share my experiences, and my several surguries. but you don't know untill you have been tested by a professional or someone tells you busted the Richter Scale of snoring.