Smoky Mountains shelter reservations question

[Rain Man]

Okay, here's a dumb question from me. And perhaps I'll call the reservations ranger and ask him tomorrow, but for tonight....

Section hikers have to call ahead and reserve spots in the GSMNP shelters. We cannot do that more than 30 days ahead. I want to hike the AT through the Park the first week of April, so I expect it to be pretty crowded.

As I plan to take six days, can I make all six reservations on the 30th day before my first planned night in the Park, or am I gonna have to call back each day for six days, and HOPE I get each successive reservation I need to make the whole thing work?

An alternative is to wait until 30 days before my LAST night in the Park, but I may find some or all of the shelter spots for the earlier four or five nights all booked by then.

Clear as mud?

Rain Man

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[bigcat2]

It is my understanding that you can reserve consecutive nights as long as you start the first one w/in the 30 window. I've made some 30 days prior and they always ask me where my second night will be. I can only assume from this that you'll be fine to reserve your six nights when you call in.

[Freeze]

if you are thru-hiking, you do not need reservations. I think that for GSMNP purposes, a thru-hiker is someone who starts the hike 30 miles or more from the park, and hikes the length of the park and hikes out another determined mileage. You may want to check up on that, and just hike a few extra days.
then you don't need reservations.

[aaronthebugbuffet]

If I was in that situation I would just fill out a permit when I got there and state that I was thru-hiking. As long as you do that no ranger is going give you the 3rd degree about it, that is if you even see a ranger. You will not have a spot "reserved" in the shelter but it will keep you "legal". Take a tent and if the shelter is full it won't matter.

[cutman11]

I hiked exactly as you are planning, and I called 30 days before the start of the smokies. Got reservations at all spots for the 6 days. When I did the hike, I ended up changing one of them as I arrived earlier in the day than I planned. I called on a cell and changed the reservation that day to the next shelter. As was posted, I have since wondered why I went to all that trouble, when I could have just claimed I was a Thru, and then tented if the shelter was full. Guess I was just trying to be honest. I dont think there is any way for the rangers (who do show up some times) to determine if you are a thru or not. All they can do is see if you have the self registration ticket, and if you claim you are not a thru, then you should have the reservation...but if you dont and you claim you are a thru, then they wouldnt do anything anyway, so the whole thing is predicated on the honor system...which probably means it would make more sense for them to just say the first X number of people have to stay in the shelter, and any extras have to tent nearby.

[Lone Wolf]

What aaron said. Just show up at The Fontana Hilton shelter and self-register as a thru-hiker. No big deal.

[Uncle Wayne]

As I plan to take six days, can I make all six reservations on the 30th day before my first planned night in the Park?

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Rainman,
Here's what happened when I called for reservations. The ranger asked for our itinerary day by day and then told me if there was room in that shelter or not. He would not tell me how many others were there, just if there was enough room for my needs. A word of warning; most of the people who shared shelters with us didn't have reservations. So it was still first come, first served, reservations or not.

[Youngblood]

Rainman,
Here's what happened when I called for reservations. The ranger asked for our itinerary day by day and then told me if there was room in that shelter or not. He would not tell me how many others were there, just if there was enough room for my needs. A word of warning; most of the people who shared shelters with us didn't have reservations. So it was still first come, first served, reservations or not.

That was the experience I had this summer... and the ranger(s) ensured me on two seperate conversations that I wouldn't need to carry a tent because there wouldn't be anyone in the shelters that didn't have reservations and that I couldn't use a tent even if I had it. They told me wrong and I saw folks who got to a shelter that they had reservations for but there wasn't room for them (because folks were staying that didn't have reservations) so they pushed on to another shelter late. This was a group of about 6 or 8 people and it was cold, wet and almost dark.

I would recommend going by the rules and taking a tent (or hammock) with me for just in case there is no room in the shelter you have a reservation for. I think it is a bad idea to encourage folks to just claim they are thru-hiking the Smokies (hiking 50 miles before, hiking through the Smokies and hiking 50 miles after the Smokies)... surely that will mess it up for thru-hikers later on if it becomes common practice to abort the reservation system. The Smokies gets lots of hikers and they have a reservation system (even though it may be flawed) to try and make it work.

Youngblood