Wapiti Shelter
Vandeventer Shelter
where the trail passes closest to L.Wolf's house
where the trail passes closest to Baltimore Jack's house
Do you have photos to share?
They're at home, im up at school but It doesn't take much time digging around on google to find some pictures of Dudley. Strange things seem to appear when you develop your film. I'm not a skeptic or a believer, just curious I guess.-Originally Posted by saimyoji
The creepiest place I've ever hiked is Buzzard's Den Ridge, which is a spur trail off the old Iron Mtn trail north of Damascus.
A few years ago I was hiking it from the Widener's Valley side, and from the start the whole experience was surreal....
To get to the trail head you have to hike a short distance up a dirt road from the highway. Until you get to the actual trail it's private property on both sides of the road, so I wasn't suprised to see "No Trespassing" signs nailed on the trees. I was, however, very suprised when I began to to see DEAD ANIMALS nailed to the trees!
( A fairly fresh groundhog, a deer's head, and various decomposed bits)
"**** it!" I thought, "just the local 'billies trying to freak out the hikers" , so I continued....
Now this road dead ends at a unpaved parking area that is unquestionably on NPS land, so I was further suprised to see an old fashioned truck bed camper set up in what was obviously a permanent arrangement with a well used firepit, trashpile, tools etc around it. ***?
Within a few moments an old geezer with a Yankee accent appears out of the brush with a bottle of liqour in his hand, friendly as hell, "How ya doing? Wanted to make sure ya wasn't one of them"
One one of them? To this day, I regret not asking.
Anyway, I spent a few minutes talking to the old coot, long enough to find out that his "house" was exactly 4 feet outside the NFS boundary. (he had it lined out with stones, and was very proud of his cleverness, and made a point of urinating on the NSF side) I also found out that he barricaded himself inside the camper after dark, because there were "things" in the woods.
When I asked about the dead animals, he just made some vague comment about "people just do that sometimes"
I was starting to feel like I'd wandered into an episode of X-Files or worse, so I hit the trail with no further delay.
Now it's important to stress here that I'm neither particulary impressionable nor timid. I've solo hiked for years with never a qualm. I've also lived on the street in Atlanta, which is a lot more dangerous than anything you might encounter in the woods. And, in this occasion, I happened to be armed with a .410 shotgun. (I know it's not PC...)
So I had no real reason to be nervous, but as I began the climb up Buzzard's Den, I couldn't shake the feeling that i was being watched.
Then I started smelling something funky, somewhere between feet and rotting garbage. The smell would come and go, and was almost overpowering at times. I couldn't figure where the hell it was coming from, and I can tell you, I was putting one foot in front of the other right smartly before long!
I had crested the first steep grade, and was just congratulating myself on losing the "smell", when the FEAR struck.
Totally irrational, but suddenly I just had certain knowledge that if I went any further right then something totally ****ed up was going to happen. So there I was, afraid to proceed, damn sure not about to go back.
So I sat by the trail for a while, chainsmoking and clutching my shotgun. The feeling intensified until I was almost hyperventilating.
Then it stopped.
Period. Like someone had thrown a switch. Everything was cool.
So I shouldered my pack and proceeded to the Sandy Flats shelter on the I.M., and passed a restful and untroubled night.
Again, I'm neither timid nor prone to delusion, but that whole experience still has me shaking my head. Was it really something? If so, what? Was it temporary insanity? Acid flashback? Paranormal experience, or self-induced mind****?
I guess I'll never know......
Blood Mountain shelter... or any shelter built entirely of stone. Yechh.
Unaka Mountain as noted in a couple of other posts gave me an especially uncomfortable feeling late one evening going through the section with the thick pine trees. Hillbilly
The Mohawk trail now passes where Dudleytown once was, It's a nice trail that starts at Cornwall bridge and ends at Falls Village if going north, The A.T. was moved from there after a hurricane in the 80's for a more direct route.
Oh, jesus, I'm going to be there tomorrow. Ah, damnit...
Crampton Gap is kind of dank and unwelcoming, now that you mention it. And although I like most of the Barren-Chairback range in Maine, I have to say that Chairback Gap shelter up there gives me the creeps. Just a bad vibe generally.
Buzzard Den? I ride there from time to time, never seen anything creepy. It is over on the deserted side of the mtn., lots o' critter tracks, scat. Please tell me that by a few years ago you meant 20. I won't be out there alone anytime soon.
What will probably happen is I will forget all about anything littlejon said until I'm halfway in the middle of BFBuzzarden.
???
Looks like I'm going to avoid this shelter. Anyone know if Maryland is pretty crowded during this time of year?
I haven't tried the trail in Maryland this time of year, but I will say this-- if you want to stay in a shelter, try to time it so that you get to Ed Garvey Shelter rather than Crampton at nightfall. Ed Garvey has a better view and is much nicer generally. The only drawback is that the water is a long ways down the hill. But then Crampton is usually dry anyway, and you'll end up getting water at Gathland. (And if you are going through Gathland toward Crampton, stock up. It will most likely have no water there).
Thanks, I actually just got the maps out and re-planned it that way. I'm not going to be able to start hiking until 1 or 2 in the afternoon, so making it to Crampton probably isn't feasible anyway. All I've heard is that Maryland is the easiest trail on the entire AT, so I should be able to finish by Monday without hitting Crampon tomorrow.
A couple of things to bear in mind, also: water is scarce this time of year, but there are vending machines (!) at Washington Monument Park where you can buy bottled water if the situation gets dire (so make sure you have some change or one dollar bills), and there are also machines at Gathland, nearby which there is a public water fountain (about 10 yards from the vending machines, easy to overlook if you don't know it's there).
The water is also shut off at most of the state facilities, including Dahlgren campground.
Birch Gap shelter (the first shelter in GSMNP for NOBOS) now fortunatly torn down. It just felt WRONG to be there. I wasn't planning on staying, just stopped for water, but I peeked inside "Just because" & felt dirty for the next 3 hrs.
Curse you Perry the Platypus!
Always was a ratty shelter. Bryson's account is dead-on.
Everywhere I camp on the trail, tent or shelter . . . it's those creepy barking wood spiders!
If it helps someone's next stay there, Antietam Creek Shelter is actually well UPstream from the battlefield, not even in the same state!
I'm surprised no one mentioned the old (now removed) Thelma Marks Shelter, formerly located just south of Duncannon, in the years of this particular thread. It had knife mark holes in the interior walls that I imagined (not sure if rightly) were from the thru-hiker murders.
The two places that I did not like was the area of the old Thelma Marks shelter and the place where the 2 hikers were killed some years back. The forest was gloomy, eerie, and it didn't help that the trees were defoliated from gypsy moths.
Another was the Gov Clemont shelter where I stopped for lunch.
I thought Bruno and MaryAnn were great, you just have to get to know them.
I left the shelter area and within a mile or so some dude was approaching from the opposite direction was dressed like Daniel Boone, long rifle and all. Freaked me out.
The monument to Ottie Cline Powell freaks me out a little bit. How did that little kid get up there? How did he die? How afraid must he have been?
THIS IS THE EXACT SPOT.
LITTLE OTTIE CLINE POWELL'S
BODY WAS FOUND APRIL 5, 1891, AFTER
STRAYING FROM TOWER HILL SCHOOL HOUSE
NOV. 9, A DISTANCE OF 7 MILES.
AGE 4 YEARS 11 MONTHS.
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