"Hiking is as close to God as you can get without going to Church." - BobbyJo Sargent aka milkman Sometimes it's nice to take a long walk in THE FOG.
So wait... you are just speaking inthird person ?? i seem to remember this.....
Thats not really speaking in third person..... thats speaking as ANOTHER person....... you would think someone with 2 masters degrees would know this diff... so weird
( just for anyone not understanding this, roadside and IB are the same person using 2 different accounts)
Lots of thru hikers are technically homeless. Lots of thru hikers beg for food. Too many thru hikers steal. If you got a problem with homeless people, the AT probably isn't the place to be.
Thru hikers like Katz steal boot laces.....
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
amen brother! on more than one occasion, i've had the pleasure of sharing a shelter with a non-thru hiker homeless person. much more interesting conversation than most typical hikers, and not once did i feel in "danger". respect is a two-way street, if you give it, the chances are you'll get it: there's no need to treat someone differently in the woods just cuz they don't look like they just walked out of an REI.
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive." -TJ
Bold & color added.
I am not an English major (far from it) and not tiring to criticize the OP. Just my opinion of how
these boards can get out of control so fast. To me,It seems like the whole thing is built on pure
speculation. See the type in Red.
All he actual saw was a large tent with a clothes line, and a report of a guy at a shelter.
Try this story on for size and see if it is even possible the whole thing has been misread.
Lets see I have a huge tent(12lbs) that I can put up alone in a fairly good breeze, in about 10/15 minuets. In say a half hour I have unloaded my wet things (remember the rain last night or was it this morning?) strung some cord, hang my wet stuff. Now I am not a hiker. No I am a camper, so I don't have any of those fancy pants and shirts that I see the real hikers wearing. Oh, did I mention that the big tent is waiting for my buddy, his wife and my wife to get here latter. You see I was able to take a couple of days off. What was not evident by passer's by was I was just the first of 4 people that came out to the woods to camp for a few days. We get really tired of those State parks, and all comes that come with "camping" in a park like that. We just wanted to get away from it all (well most of it anyway). So, why am I up at the shelter? Can you think of a better landmark for the rest of the crew to aim for? Remember we are just lowly campers. Map reading and compass's are just not our thing.
I think reasonable people would be able to see how the story above "could" have been what was going on that day.
Again just my opinion, but an alternative to the speculation above ......
ljcsov, This is really not a dis on you or your post. Just the way things can get out of control on the internet.
Oh, boy! I tried going there a while back, but by that time, everyone had decided this guy was homeless. Oh, and he was going to beg food off of hikers, and possibly mug them on the trail.
I feel bad for the poor guy who pitched the tent in the first place! He was probably just out for a couple of days of camping near a trail...
Maybe I'll get up there again this weekend. My main concern was that his campsite was located near a major road and railroad, along with what other hikers had told me and the type of camp he set up made me believe that he was setting up a more permanent residence on the trail. I understand homeless people travel the trail and I think that is a place for them to find their way in life. However, I thought that many people frown upon more permanent camps set up on the trail, where these can lead to further issues. Nonetheless, I was hoping that this post might let someone know what to expect if they were going to camp at that particular site or the nearby shelter.
I'm new to the overnight stuff and have done mostly dayhiking. During my hikes I've met plenty of "different" people on the trail and enjoy the conversation with them. Conversely, if I were spending the night alone at a shelter I think I would be a bit startled by someone wandering out of the woods in the dark without any sort of equipment.
Anyway, most likely this person poses no risk to anyone passing through the area. I feel as though people blew a friendly message out of proportion. I would suppose that the ridge runner would deal with any permanent camp along the trail, since it is there duty prevent impact to the natural environment.
Seconded and thirded or something. I've got some very close friends who are "homeless" by social standards and I open my home and my table to them. I feel a hell of a lot more endangered by your average SUV driving soccer mom slaloming through parking lots than those guys. Like any other people, you have to earn trust and respect but you also have to give it. Most of the time I'd rather bump into a homeless person in the woods than someone who doesn't know how to get by without a fridge and daily shower.
Yes - I agree with this. I think that most folks' objection was that the OP, whether he meant to or not, gave a heads up because the person was homeless (information that he didn't apparently even ascertain). I don't think anyone here supports permanent encampments of any person or groups of people on the AT corridor. The objection (I think) was at the assumption that a homeless person camping near the trail merited a "heads up" because presumably dirty begging homeless people would cause problems for the good clean hikers. A homeless hiker camping (even for a couple of days in the same place) has every right to be where he is as I you or I do.
My understanding (if I may jump in) is that it is legal to camp on National Forest land for up to 14 consecutive days at one location (which is obviously pushing it). I doubt that anyone is ever "timed" though unless they cause problems or are reported (e.g. you could probably get in 15 days). You could also probably move your camp an unspecified distance (presumably some reasonable distance (a mile?) for 14 more days and then return. I have camped for about 5 days in one location in a National Forest Wilderness Area - I assure you, no one would ever find that spot - not in years of trekking.
Last edited by Papa D; 08-21-2012 at 19:20.
I focused immediately on the OP's characterization of a "homeless camp" and his belief that some individuals were "using the campsite for a residence".
Rights aside, I would not like to see anyone setting up a semi-permanent residence along the trail or at a shelter, whether they are homeless or living large in a Prevost.
What triggered me to write this post was that it appeared to me that the camp was semi-permanent. I have came across known homeless encampments in random backwoods areas at other locations and it reminded me of what I had seen there. I didn't know that the "homeless" characterization of the camp was such a touchy subject. I apologize for not simply stating it appeared as if someone was living for an extended period of time right alongside the trail.
keep building shelters and they will come