Nastiest Shelter

[lush242000]

So, being bored and all..what is the nastiest shelter / site you have seen on the trail?

For me, it was Roan Mtn last May. There was toilet paper piles everywhere, trash left in and around the fire pit. Old gear left in the shelter etc. I stayed for about 30 minutes and kept on moving.

[Lone Wolf]

ALL of them really but the ones in the smokys are pig stys. all georgia shelters too

[ChinMusic]

For me, it was Roan Mtn last May. There was toilet paper piles everywhere, trash left in and around the fire pit. Old gear left in the shelter etc. I stayed for about 30 minutes and kept on moving.

I was there a few days before Trail Days and didn't see any of that. I only went in the shelter to look around as I tented. Crazy Hair was there too. Oh yeah, that was the night of the monster storms that came thru knocking out power to a lot of local towns. It was a hell of a light show that night.....great stuff.

When did you go by?

[coach lou]

Wiley Shelter in NY, smells really bad, and the fireplace is full of halfburned garbage!

[Rasty]

Fontana Hilton. Some guy named Lone Wolf wrote his name on the wall. Kept me up all night like it was staring at me.

[Lone Wolf]

Fontana Hilton. Some guy named Lone Wolf wrote his name on the wall. Kept me up all night like it was staring at me.

twasn't I

[Rasty]

Fontana Hilton. Some guy named Lone Wolf wrote his name on the wall. Kept me up all night like it was staring at me.

twasn't I

Must be a 100 Lone Wolf possers out there. I feel better know and will sleep better.

[Rasty]

Now. Not know. I really need remedial spelling help!

[max patch]

All shelters are nasty, its just a matter of degree.

The worst of the worst are the ones in the GSMNP - *****t piles everywhere - and some of the shelters in PA that were way too close to a road. 20 years since I've been in PA, I would hope that those have been relocated by now.

[Saint Alfonzo]

Hello All, I remember "JOE'S HOLE" as being high on this list..

[max patch]

Must be a 100 Lone Wolf possers out there.

They are not poseurs, most of them have never even heard of the WB LW. Wolf, Lone Wolf, Bear, and characters from whatever movie is hot at the time (thank God Lord of Rings is gone and forgotten) are really common names.

[Tennessee Viking]

So, being bored and all..what is the nastiest shelter / site you have seen on the trail?

For me, it was Roan Mtn last May. There was toilet paper piles everywhere, trash left in and around the fire pit. Old gear left in the shelter etc. I stayed for about 30 minutes and kept on moving.

If you ever find a shelter looking messy, you can contact the ATC, local trail club, or leave word with nearby hostels.

Around May time, a lot of Trail Day riff-raff will come and visit the Roans.

[bamboo bob]

They are not poseurs, most of them have never even heard of the WB LW. Wolf, Lone Wolf, Bear, and characters from whatever movie is hot at the time (thank God Lord of Rings is gone and forgotten) are really common names.

That is really my PET Peeve. Taking name from a movie or TV show is my least favorite of all. I know some people get named by their grand children, thus all the Poppa Smurfs, etc, but how many Skywalkers and Stryders do we need?

[Emily Harper]

You don't really think about it much if you've been hiking all day and want a place out of the weather. I'd say the one in New York was pretty bad. (I think it was already mentioned) The second one after the lemon squeeze going Nobo.

[Northern Lights]

ALL of them really but the ones in the smokys are pig stys. all georgia shelters too

hmm, I thought all the ones in Ga were better than NC. Cold Spring was the worst. If there had been a torrential storm that night I still would have slept in my tent.

[Lyle]

For me, so far, Rufus Morgan. Sits in a side gully, steeply sloping down to the water source a few yards in front of the shelter. No Privy, so most folks go a few feet behind the shelter to make their deposits. Any kind of rain will wash right down the hill, under the shelter and into the stream (water source) in front of the shelter.

[Blissful]

Any shelter can "look" bad with trash in it.

There are a couple in NY that leave much to be desired. Some look like caves.

[GrassyNoel]

You don't really think about it much if you've been hiking all day and want a place out of the weather. I'd say the one in New York was pretty bad. (I think it was already mentioned) The second one after the lemon squeeze going Nobo.

You're thinking of the Brien Memorial shelter. From what I understand, it's a hotspot for weekend partiers from the surrounding areas. They probably do more damage than AT hikers as they rarely adhere to the LNT policy.

[Berserker]

I’ve only done about 820 miles of the trail so far, but a few that struck me as nasty from my memory were:

• Springer – primarily due to trash.
• Cold Spring – old and run down.
• Rufus Morgan – small, run down, and too much fecal matter/TP spread all around it.
• Jerry Cabin – this is actually a kinda neat shelter, but because of the fire place in it it’s totally trashed.
• Watauga – actually this shelter wasn’t that bad, but I stepped on a turd that looked like it came from something the size of an elephant (it was human) right near the shelter…so points get docked for that.
• Queens Knob (emergency shelter) – old, looks like it’s about to fall over, and not much room on the miniscule platform…eek.
• Wise – this is one of the few shelters I have actually slept inside of due to the weather. Although not necessarily nasty all the time, the sheer number of rodents that were running around inside of it the night I stayed there got it on this list.
• William Brien – the condition when I passed through there last year was pretty bad in that most of the floor was caved in, and there was mold and fungus growing all over it.

[Jack Tarlin]

Governor Clement is on the list because it attracts creepy locals. Laurel Fork and William Brien are indeed dark and dumpy. And tho the design is unique, I never much cared for Dick's Dome. Oh, and Apple House is on the list because there's often someone sketchy actually living in it, but this will be corrected later in the year when it's torn down. Oh, and of course there's Manassas Gap, which if memory serves, was erected not merely nearby, but ABOVE a rather vibrant copperhead community. And before it was improved, I always disliked Mt. Collins in the Smokies......muddy, dark, depressing, as well as being 1/2 a mile off the Trail.