Fireplaces in shelters?

[Gambit McCrae]

Might be a dumb question but im guessing since they are starting to be bricked up that there has been problems to arise with having fireplaces in shelter.
is this the case? is seems that shelters would be much more cozy on winter nights with a nice fire goin inside it lol

[Old Hiker]

Only fireplaces I've seen are in the Smokies. It was rather humorous to watch two young pups trying to start a fire with wet, large wood. We older guys knew it wasn't going to happen. Shelters are too large to really warm with a fire, in my opinion. There are large tarps across the front that would catch and retain the smoke as well maybe.

[FarmerChef]

As an avid wood burner at home, it's tough enough to heat a large open style home with a well sealed chimney and properly operated wood stove. Open that up to a drafty fireplace in a wide open shelter and all you'll get is a tidbit of radiant heat from the coal bed once it sets up. With the tarp across the front, the next thing you could have to worry about would be carbon monoxide poisoning assuming the chimney couldn't draw real well or the fire got cold enough that it stopped going up the chimney. Then you'd also have a smoke problem as well.

That said, I have enjoyed some of the high back, reflector style firepits in the Shennies. If you laid in the shelter with your feet pointed toward the pit your toes were toasty warm

[RED-DOG]

The only time a fireplace is good is when your wet and need to dry your cloths such as Socks, but other than that their basically useless, there is a few shelters other than all of the ones in the Smokies that has fireplaces, such as Trimpi shelter and a couple others in VA.

[HooKooDooKu]

The only shelter in the Smokies I know of that was bricked up is the one at atop Mt. LeConte. It's not an AT shelter (its about 4 miles +/- off the AT), but is a very popular GSMNP shelter. As a result, so many campfires were built that all the dead wood on the ground got used up and people started cutting live wood to build fires with. The result is that the Mt. LeConte shelter is the only campsite in GSMNP that campfires are now banned... and bricking up the fireplace is just one of the steps to enforce that ban.

[TNhiker]

yup on the leconte shelter...

and yup on the trying to heat up a shelter using the fireplace...\

i stayed at davenport a couple of winters ago, with tarp in place and a raging fire indoors, and it barely rose the temperature up........

[max patch]

Fireplace in the Blood Mountain shelter was sealed off after the Blood Mountain Wildnerness Area was designated (fires prohibited). Should have been done sooner - no dead wood on Blood so people were to burn the live stuff.

[The Ace]

Fireplace in the Blood Mountain shelter was sealed off after the Blood Mountain Wildnerness Area was designated (fires prohibited). Should have been done sooner - no dead wood on Blood so people were to burn the live stuff.

There was also a story of someone removing the wooden shutters and burning those, too.

[The Cleaner]

Here's a nice one...IMG_3693.JPGIMG_3766.JPG

[peakbagger]

Harriman State Park NY had a couple of shelters with integral fireplaces

[hikerboy57]

both fingerboard and west mtn shelters in harriman have 2 fireplaces each.

[Deco]

Back in 87 when I did Springer to Bland, va I remember a couple of very nice cozy comfortable fires inside the SMNP shelters. Very sad to hear about the Blood Mtn Shelter those old shutters were beautiful.

[Slo-go'en]

All the shelters with fireplaces I've seen have been listed above and all of them are in shelters made of stone. There is one shelter left on the AT/LT which still has a wood burning stove in it. Many of the "lodges" along the Long trail used to have wood burning stoves in them.

I think all the fireplaces in the Smokies should be bricked over. First off, there isn't much wood left with in a 1/2 mile of the shelter to burn and more often then not, the only thing the fireplace does is fill the shelter with smoke, making it difficult to breath. And when there isn't a fire, the whole place stinks of wood smoke. Trimpi was really bad in that respect.

[Studlintsean]

The shelter at Blackburn trail center has a nice wood stove. Stayed there in the mid 20s last winter and it was nice to have at night.

[Malto]

All the shelters with fireplaces I've seen have been listed above and all of them are in shelters made of stone. There is one shelter left on the AT/LT which still has a wood burning stove in it. Many of the "lodges" along the Long trail used to have wood burning stoves in them.

I think all the fireplaces in the Smokies should be bricked over. First off, there isn't much wood left with in a 1/2 mile of the shelter to burn and more often then not, the only thing the fireplace does is fill the shelter with smoke, making it difficult to breath. And when there isn't a fire, the whole place stinks of wood smoke. Trimpi was really bad in that respect.

I think the shelter you are referring to in Vermont that had a fireplace is the Spruce Peak Shelter. That is one sweet shelter but it is more of a cabin than a typical AT shelter.

[1234]

All the shelters with fireplaces I've seen have been listed above and all of them are in shelters made of stone. There is one shelter left on the AT/LT which still has a wood burning stove in it. Many of the "lodges" along the Long trail used to have wood burning stoves in them.

I think all the fireplaces in the Smokies should be bricked over. First off, there isn't much wood left with in a 1/2 mile of the shelter to burn and more often then not, the only thing the fireplace does is fill the shelter with smoke, making it difficult to breath. And when there isn't a fire, the whole place stinks of wood smoke. Trimpi was really bad in that respect.

Had a nice roaring fire in every SMNP shelter and was toasty warm and they all drafted fine no smoke issue at all. Trampi sure does smell of wood smoke it was nice to keep the bogs away, well at least some of them. Dampness and fire places do create an old burn odor.

[Traffic Jam]

I've had a fire in the shelter fireplace several times with no smoke problems. It didn't heat the shelter up but it did warm us up and lifted our spirits before going to bed.

[yellowsirocco]

Tarps over the front do much more for warmth than a fire. I always have a tarp in addition to my tent so I can have a nice living space when I camp, but then when I stay in shelters it can do double duty to seal things off from the wind.

[MamaBear]

All the shelters with fireplaces I've seen have been listed above and all of them are in shelters made of stone. There is one shelter left on the AT/LT which still has a wood burning stove in it. Many of the "lodges" along the Long trail used to have wood burning stoves in them.

I think all the fireplaces in the Smokies should be bricked over. First off, there isn't much wood left with in a 1/2 mile of the shelter to burn and more often then not, the only thing the fireplace does is fill the shelter with smoke, making it difficult to breath. And when there isn't a fire, the whole place stinks of wood smoke. Trimpi was really bad in that respect.

Which shelter were you thinking of on the LT/AT, Slo-go'en? Gov. Clement has a fireplace built into the side of it, we had a fire when we stayed there in June. On the LT, it looked like Corliss Camp might have had a stove at one time. There is now a table in that space, but there is still a metal rectangle on the floor where it might have been.

[Deacon]

I remember seeing the stove in the shelter this July, but darned if I can remember which shelter that was.