Shelter Avoidance Strategies in GSMNP

[SOBO_Pace]

Shelters were designed to be used as shelters and anyone is entitled to use them no matter what the sleep system is. I see no problem hanging hammocks in them. In fact I've set up in them when they were full and people could still sleep under me ( actually there were 4 hammocks set up and 10-12 people sleeping on the floor). If your creative you can set up and not even be over the platform.

[rusty bumper]

I went thru the Smokies in mid-April in 2011. I stayed inside the park 3 nights and spent only one of those nights in a shelter. The night I was in the shelter was miserable weather wise, and I was really glad I was in there. It was packed with hikers sleeping on the dirt floor and one hammock hanging inside. The other 2 nights I tented outside a shelter with no problem...in both cases, the shelter was full when I arrived after 6 pm.

[SassyWindsor]

Shelters were designed to be used as shelters and anyone is entitled to use them no matter what the sleep system is. I see no problem hanging hammocks in them. In fact I've set up in them when they were full and people could still sleep under me ( actually there were 4 hammocks set up and 10-12 people sleeping on the floor). If your creative you can set up and not even be over the platform.

So it's OK to set a tent up or hang a hammock in a shelter, no matter how full. WRONG

[max patch]

Hanging in a shelter is stupid.

Hanging over someone else in a shelter is the height of arrogance.

[Crash]

A hammock vs a tent inside a shelter is NOT THE SAME! Get over it you biased ground dwellers!


Sent from my iPod touch.

[Old Hiker]

On my 2012 attempt, I talked with two ridge-runners and told them I was uncomfortable with staying in close quarters with females who were not relatives. Both times, they told me they had no authority to stop me from tenting outside (ditched my hammock after a week on the Trail), but a ranger MAY come up during the night and MAY ask me to move inside.

One time I tented outside, but the shelter was full. Second time, I decided to stay inside - shelter was not full and a HUGE t-storm came up overnight, high winds, heavy rain and dime-sized hail. I had a Wally-type closed cell pad and it worked pretty well, as I was used to the ground by then.

If I got to the shelter and it wasn't full, I usually got a wall, either topside or bottom. I preferred the wall and came to prefer the topside.

Good luck.

[Odd Man Out]

Take the BMT through the park if not thru hiking. If thru hiking arrive late in the day to the shelter and hope it is full. Other then that there is no legal way to avoid the shelters on the AT.

Or, if you are on a thru hike, use the BMT and just ignore the people who say your are not on a "real thru hiker" if you use the BMT through GSMNP.

[fredmugs]

I've got the SAME issue, and will follow this thread closely, and so far, the replies make sense. I had been actually thinking of a huge non-stop blitz from the southern end and have my wife pick me up at Clingmans dome, spend a night in town, then blitz the north end after a day of rest, something like that. Two huge days, weather and trail conditions permitting. But the full-shelter plan looks more reasonable.

I did the Smokies in 2 days two years ago SOBO. It can be done. If you're not concerned about bears you should be able to hang your food and stealth.

[mtntopper]

[QUOTE=Crash;1399054]A hammock vs a tent inside a shelter is NOT THE SAME! Get over it you biased ground dwellers!

I also hang, however if I were in a shelter and you hung over me I promise that you you would not sleep well!!

[1azarus]

hammocks and tents take up more room than a person in a sleeping bag -- and hanging above people you don't know is probably not socially acceptable --even if permission is granted, so, if there is anyone else in the shelter, putting up either tent or hammock in the sleeping area is wrong in my book. that being said ... err, typed... i don't see anything wrong with waiting for everyone to finish their meals and settle in for the night, and then hanging a hammock OUT of the sleeping platform area, say over or next to the open dining area in the SNP shelters. it does mean you have the responsiblity to get up first in the morning so you are out of everyone's way. when i hammocked in the smokies i think people preferred my sleeping OFF the limited floor space so that they would have more room. it may also have something to do with being old and ugly, but that is another thread entirely.

[Pendragon]

What HE^ said....

[Pendragon]

I think it's obvious that setting up a TENT in a shelter is kinda ludicrous, since floor space is at a premium to begin with and if you can set up a tent, you can set it up OUTSIDE, if it's allowed at all. I HAVE seen pics of hangers in shelters, not taking up that valuable floor space, with no one there shooting the hangers dirty looks, so comparing tents to hammocks is apples and oranges. And no, I would not have the "arrogance" to hang above other hikers who for whatever reason felt intruded upon by my presence, which is why I was asking for ways to avoid the shelters altogether. I appreciate the CONSTRUCTIVE responses given me here so far and would ask those of you who were for some reason threatened by the subject to at least read my posts before being so nasty towards me or others who have pitched in here. You can take your attitude out on those who DO hang over your heads, rather than those of us who have the good graces to at least ASK about it before hand. And have a nice day.

[Hitchin' Post]

I don't think it would allow you to avoid shelters entirely, but you could legally avoid a couple by staying at the official campsites on or near the AT that don't have shelters. As an added bonus, those campsites are less likely to draw crowds.

[Karma13]

I don't think it would allow you to avoid shelters entirely, but you could legally avoid a couple by staying at the official campsites on or near the AT that don't have shelters. As an added bonus, those campsites are less likely to draw crowds.

Aren't they at really inconvenient distances from the trail? (I hope that's not a stupid question. I've never camped there, but that's how it seemed to me from looking at the park map.)

[flemdawg1]

I hike thru the Smokies last summer, on more 4 occasions hammockers set up in the shelter, out in front away from the sleeping platform. It didn't bother anyone. But they did it after dark, after everyone had already finished cooking/eating and were settled in.

[Mags]

A hammock vs a tent inside a shelter is NOT THE SAME! Get over it you biased ground dwellers!

Probably not the same, but in a full shelter it is probably still not too kosher to most.

[Slo-go'en]

Because of the double bunk system in GSMNP shelters which don't have much head room (top or bottom, I can't sit up without banging my head on something), hanging over the sleeping platform is out of the question. Hanging in the area in front of the platform would have people crashing into you as they tried to go outside to pee in the middle of the night. No buddy is going to be happy with you if they have to get on thier hands and knees to crawl under you to get outside. Either sleep where your suppost to or set up outside.

[flemdawg1]

Because of the double bunk system in GSMNP shelters which don't have much head room (top or bottom, I can't sit up without banging my head on something), hanging over the sleeping platform is out of the question. Hanging in the area in front of the platform would have people crashing into you as they tried to go outside to pee in the middle of the night. No buddy is going to be happy with you if they have to get on thier hands and knees to crawl under you to get outside. Either sleep where your suppost to or set up outside.

No one had to crawl to get outside when they hung while I was there. Hanging inline with traffic is how to avoid that. However they did hang pretty high also (around 5.5 ft off the ground), and there were in 2 lines under Tricorner Knob. Its not hard to figure out how to do things without bothering others IF you take a moment to think about it.

[colorado_rob]

Aren't they at really inconvenient distances from the trail? (I hope that's not a stupid question. I've never camped there, but that's how it seemed to me from looking at the park map.)

I just checked... there's one on the trail and just inside the southern end, the Birch Spring Gap CG, and there's one close to the NE end, just down the Snake Den Ridge trail, Ottercreek CG. From that 1st one to Clingmans dome is 27 miles, and from Clingmans to the latter one is about 28 miles. Those are the only non-shelter CG's I see near the AT in the park, looking at the std. NPS map. So, if you can arrange a pickup/dropoff from Clingmans Dome (for a sleep in town somewhere), two 27/28 mile days will avoid having to use those shelters. Just thinkin' out loud here; I'll probably still do the "full shelter, camp just outside" technique.

[Rain Man]

Do these rangers track you down somehow if you are stealth camping a mile off the trail halfway between shelters?

Although the adage generally is "hike your own hike," here on WB there is this rule from the User Agreement that applies to to such discussions:

4. Discussions involving how to commit illegal acts ... are forbidden.

Just sayin'.

Rain Man

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