Shelter Registers

[FritztheCat]

In reading about adventures on the AT, I started wondering about shelter registers. What happens to these? I imagine the various AT clubs along the trail replace them when they're full (don't know for sure but this makes sense to me) but what do they do with them? I would think they would be great reading.

[Mr HaHa]

Absolutely riveting

[Lone Wolf]

In reading about adventures on the AT, I started wondering about shelter registers. What happens to these? I imagine the various AT clubs along the trail replace them when they're full (don't know for sure but this makes sense to me) but what do they do with them? I would think they would be great reading.

used to be individual hikers would place them in there with an address to send to when full. now clubs hoard them for no reason. actually shelter registers belong no more than bibles or other stuff

[rickb]

used to be individual hikers would place them in there with an address to send to when full. now clubs hoard them for no reason. actually shelter registers belong no more than bibles or other stuff

I find a broom to be particularly offensive.

[Lone Wolf]

and LNT posters

[rickb]

Signs pointing to the spring can be rather off putting too.

[minnesotasmith]

actually shelter registers belong no more than bibles or other stuff

They're arguably a safety device, not to mention if an LD hiker has a family emergency back home, they can speed up the hiker getting notified. I can see a LOT more use to a register being left in a trail shelter than I do someone's spare copy of "Earth in the Balance", "Das Kapital", or the like.

[Lone Wolf]

They're arguably a safety device, not to mention if an LD hiker has a family emergency back home, they can speed up the hiker getting notified. I can see a LOT more use to a register being left in a trail shelter than I do someone's spare copy of "Earth in the Balance", "Das Kapital", or the like.

i disagree. they're there for entertainment and gossip

[minnesotasmith]

i disagree. they're there for entertainment and gossip

Highly useful info on trail angels, shuttlers, hostels, motels, outfitters, restaurants, etc. to go to or NOT to go to. An entry in a shelter register is arguably a lot more discreet than business cards or flyers posted to the wall of a shelter. Would you rather more hikers brought electronics (cell phones, gizmos that can access the Internet, etc.) to trail campsites & shelters to access the same information instead? I think that shelter/campsite registers are the best possible compromise between being low-key (keeping the woods experience), and making useful experience available to those who want it.

[Lone Wolf]

registers don't belong in shelters

[minnesotasmith]

registers don't belong in shelters

Please defend your position, taking into account the functions they serve (that many or most hikers consider legitimate), and the relative desirability of any substitutes.

[Kerosene]

registers don't belong in shelters

Careful, LW, this is perilously close to agreeing that shelters belong on the trail!

[Cabin Fever]

Our club uses them primarily as a safety device. We would not put them in shelters if not for that.

[max patch]

I have a couple registers that I left in GA shelters from the early 90's that are signed by LW (and WF and some other names you'd all recognize from forums.)

So I guess that means that (a) LW reads registers, and (b) LW goes into shelters to get said registers.

[Tipi Walter]

registers don't belong in shelters

OR: Shelters don't belong near registers. Here's an idea: Get rid of all of the still-warm teats of Syphilization(shelters), and on the bare spot they once stood place a ziploc bag holding a trail register. Let people cluster around the bag until it rains and then watch them scatter.

[Lone Wolf]

I have a couple registers that I left in GA shelters from the early 90's that are signed by LW (and WF and some other names you'd all recognize from forums.)

So I guess that means that (a) LW reads registers, and (b) LW goes into shelters to get said registers.

used to read 'em, used to sign 'em

[Skyline]

Shelter registers are a number of different things . . .

•Sheer information, about hiker whereabouts, nearby amenities on-trail and in towns, maybe even a warning about something or someone in the area

•Sheer entertainment. Some of our tribe can be quite creative.

•Community. For each year's "class" of thru-hikers (and section hikers, weekenders, etc.) the current register is their "yearbook" at a given shelter.

•Assistance for shelter maintainers. Hikers post notes in the register about issues they perceive (examples: leak in the roof, copperhead living in the rock wall of the firepit, privy floor needing repairs).

•Historical value. Taken as a collection, shelter registers provide a real-life year-to-year, decade-to-decade, generation-to-generation look at the most famous hiking trail on the planet.

Did I leave anything out?

The hiking club I volunteer with, PATC, doesn't "hoard" registers just to be selfish. They archive them at their offices in Vienna, VA. They are in a reasonable state of order, I understand. Anyone who wants or needs to see them needs to merely call PATC and make the proper arrangements. IMHO it serves a greater good to have the filled registers all in one place than scattered throughout the land collecting dust in folks' attics.

[max patch]

99% of the entries in a register are entertainment. sometimes directions to a hard to find water spot, sometimes bear sightings. its like a comic book. not a fact filled guide to the trail.

LW's comments are much closer to the truth than MS's.

[canoehead]

I would call them a resouce of information ( good & bad & funny sometimes) nothing more nothing less. Not a big deal, if you want to partake please do if not well then thats OK to.

[Lone Wolf]

how in the heck can anyone hike the PCT or CDT without registers and shelters every 10 miles? it must be horrifying