Trail Shelters

“walkindude -

1. I've encountered bears at every shelter east of Newfound Gap and at most of the shelters to the west, including three at once at Spence Field. August, 2000, my daughter(22) and I had eight bear encounters during the first two days going from Clingmans Dome to Double Spring Gap and then to Silers Bald, including some at each shelter. If you have the opportunity, get up there in mid-August when the bears are feasting on all the berries. Or, try Spence Field in early August when they are eating pin cherries (which are great).

2. Racoons I have seen near a couple of shelters.

3. Skunks I have not seen. But numerous hikers have told the story of one that was living in a shelter under the platforms. The name of the shelter has changed several times over the last few years, whenever I have heard the story retold. It could be fact, or just a story that has been passed on and on. Some have claimed to have stayed in the shelter while the skunk was there and they said that it really stunk.

4. I have enjoyed your pictures at Shinning Rock. I have been there, but only on some day hikes. Had I encountered TT before my October trip to GSMNP, I might have been able to join the group. Instead, I left for home early because of the approaching front, with high winds forecast. I canceled a reservation for Icewater S. - Mount LeConte - Icewater S., as I expected many trees to block the trails.

5. I am impressed very favorably with TT. From pictures, posts and sites, I feel like I already know many of the participants. I'm planning to do the Florida ECT Hike Febr. 1-3, and have even offered transportation for hikers flying to Orlando. Someday I hope we can meet. I would enjoy hearing some of your BP-ing experiences.”

“You'll like hiking with this crowd. Great buncha people. I can't make the Florida hike due to lack of enough vacation time. We'll deffinatly hook up on one of these trips soon though.
On the sudject of Bear sightings, Have you ever been to Big Frog Wilderness? I've seen more bears there than in the GSMNP.”

“walkindude -

Here is a link to four pictures from a scouting trip to ONF that I did in preparation for the TT trip. They are not much, but I got the idea to use Photopoint from your posting. (Thanks.)

A trip report is in the Florida ECT Hike string.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1809949&a=14066546&f=0

Should you take a look and possible experience trouble with the link, I am registered with photopoint as nowslimmer@cfl.rr.com”

“No, I have not been to Big Frog Wilderness. But thanks for the information.

The link above worked for me.”

“Here's ya link

Ever been to Cumberland Island?”

“1. They are doing away with the chain link fences at some of the remodeled shelters.

This is good but the fact there was ever fence there in the first place shows there is/was a problem.

2. Personally, I have enjoyed some great experences and have met lots of wonderful people at the shelters.

Ask Rad about Chip. One Chip ruins the whole shelter. LOL!

3. Mice! At Gregory Bald, CS#13, a mouse forced its way between the zippers and ran throught and around the inside of my tent while I was in it.

LOL! Sounds like fun. The concentration of mice at shelters in comparison to a backcountry tent site isn’t even debatable.

4. True, the shelters are a magnet for bears, skunks and other critters. But bears travel, too, and I have had numerous experiences with bears at my tentsites.

My guess is these were established campsites? A bear is just like a coon that lives in town…he makes the rounds where he KNOWS there is food. To varying degrees the established campsite is no better than the shelters.

5. Sleeping on those platforms is much better than some sites where roots and/or stones or acorns, nuts and pine cones projected themselves up into my back. At some sites these things cannot be avoided, unless the tent is pitched into a potential watershed or waterhole.

As above, avoid the sites that don’t have good tent sites. When LNT ethics are applied, camping out of bounds is little more than a harmless taboo that I highly encourage.

6. It sounds as though you two may be a little anti-social, at least in your backpacking.

I guess you could say that. I go to get away from people, not find more of them. I’ve done the group (READ: crowd) hikes and they just don’t do it for me. It’s nice to talk with others who have similar interests but, heck, I do that every day here. I don’t think you are being critical at all. I stated why I don’t like shelters and you merely pointed out why you DO. It’s always good to see things from other’s perspective, yes?”

“nigal - a good post, I agree with you all the way.

There have been times when I hoped to find a shelter or a CS empty. And sometimes, I hoped for a crowd. A crowd may already have a good campfire going. October, 2000, I had some rough going. I have two knees that the orthopedic surgeon wanted to replace, 5 bypasses, a heart that pumps 85%, and a few problems. I set record long lengths of time in getting from shelter to shelter along a trail that I have traveled many times. It took me 12 hours from Icewater Spring to Pecks Corner. Arriving at least an hour after full darkness, exhausted, etc., I was really happy to see a fire going. Not only that, several who had been at Ice Water S. the previous night and passed me along the trail during the day, had collected extra water for me to drink and for cooking. (Saved me a trip for water down that hill.) I really appreciated their thoughtfulness, and after chow I gave them some treats and a tomatoe that I had planned to eat. They really made me feel good about the "fellowship of backpackers."

Remember, I agree with you. But here is an experience. On a hike including 19 nights, moving from Elkmont in a large circle around Cades Cove, I did not make it to CS#13(below Gregory Bald) before dark after starting from CS#14. Earlier in the day I had to wait for some bears to leave the trail, where they were walking slowly and eating berries, just like I was. I was about half way up the hill from Parson's Branch Road, when I pitched my tent by the trail. Just dosing off about 9:30, I heard a growl followed by the sound of a bear charging along the trail. It ran right past and I felt some relief. I decided that the bear was real considerate. There was rough terrain on each side, so the bear decided to stay on the trail and gave me a warning.
Now, this bear was moving downtrail and was about two miles down from the nearest CS, which was uptrail.

I have read that bears can recognize 26 or 27 separate odors in minute quantities from miles away. So the smell of food is one reason that they travel. And I have heard that they might check several shelters or CS's in one night.

(Incidently, I had a fantastic experience with two, great horned owls later that night.)

I'm rambling, sleepy, and going to retire. Good night.”

“I've never slept in a shelter, and probably never will (I don't think we have shelters here anyway). SnowDude and I will hike the extra mile to camp away from others. We try to get away from people in the backcountry, unless its a planned group trip (I occasionally lead trips for the club at work, and I go on forum hikes).”

“The nicest one I have seen is Skyline/Skylight Cabin/Pond on Bread Loaf Mountain on The Long Trail in Vermont...can't remember which name goes to which thing.

The cabin has a porch and platform space for 14-16 and a stove.

It looks like it was built by a buncha chainsaw maniacs....quite nice.

I too prefer to sleep on the ground.
Sleeping in shelters on a slab, even with good padding, has been the start of back spasms for me more than once.”

“The only place I've ever been with shelters is Isle Royale. You have to camp in the designated campgrounds; your choice wether you take a shelter or not. There's usually four or more at all the lakeside camps, big enough for ten people at least but people don't share. You'll find two people in a shelter and all the campsites full. Folks will move their tent so you can set up in their camp site but no one will offer you room in a shelter! They're nice every once in a while. Never had any mice problems but have encountered a pushy otter, a mad duck and a crazed red squirrel!”

““I have two knees that the orthopedic surgeon wanted to replace, 5 bypasses, a heart that pumps 85%, and a few problems.”

You have my utmost respect for overcoming these problems in a relatively short period of time and not allowing it to keep you from what you love to do. My father received his first zipper about 15 years ago (sextuple bypass) and these bypasses lasted him those 15 years until last year when he needed one more done. This should be a good motivator for me to take better care of myself than I do. Shame shame Nigal! I have always said the greatest thing about backpacking is that you can over come just about any physical problem and still do it. Over weight? Slow down. Bad knees? Slow down. Bad heart? Slow down. Many people think you have to be some 4 MPH hiking hard body to do what we do but you don’t have to. Ya just go at the pace your body tells you is good for it.

While I may not like shelters I am glad they serve a purpose for those who either need them or just like them. If they were out there and not serving a purpose I’d personally burn every one I came across. As long as they are being used I’ll just bite my tongue and hike on by them. 8)”

“well WD... looks like you got a nice long-term debate going here.. lots of good points.. lots of good discussion.. heh..”

“Nowslimmer I'm impressed.
You go!”

“My only problem with shelters is when they are close to roads they attract the worst sort of "campers."”

“I'd rather camp outside with the grizzly bears than in a shelter with mice runing all over the place.

Plus, I have never even seen a shelter out west. There was two times we found a place to so the #2. One was in a outfitters huntung camp. They had all kinds of neat stuff stashed in the woods. Table, chairs, Diesel. The other place was near an old log cabin. The cabin was in the middle of a field and the stool was on the edge of some trees overlooking the meadow and creek.”

“"scooby? scooby do? where are you lil dog?"

TownDawg
09:25:13 AM
12/10/01”

“Just for the record, I have seen a three-sided shelter Out West.

It is near a tent campsite overlooking a tiny "lake" about half way between the Hoh River and Glacier Meadows campsite in the Olympic Natl Park.

This one looks old enough to have been built by the C.C.C.”

“Gomers........I like that!”

“A Gomer© is anyone that should not be in the woods for any reason.”

“OMFG!! Somebody here knows whut a GOMER is! LOL, well that's whut I thought at first. A GOMER stands for Get Outa My Emergency Room, and generally means that they're wicked old and just needs to sprout they're wings instead of getting pumped full of meds, hookin up to a respirator, and gittin their hearts shocked five times......”

“i thought he meant gomer pyle!”

“Shelters are often built where unrestricted public use would cause excessive site degradation. Some areas are so environmentally sensitive tents would cause damage. The shelter puts people in a more stable location. Camping outside the designated boundaries may damage the soils, plants, or other resources.

The modest restrictions are enacted for a reason. The land management agencies primary mission is resource protection. Camping restrictions are designed around that purpose.”

“

Can you answer YES to any of these Questions?

Does the name "Goretex" help you to justify spending too much cash on hiking gear?
Did you buy those ski poles for snowshoing because the decal on the poles says "snowshoe poles"?
Do you claim LL Bean as a dependent on your tax return?
Did you buy glacier goggles even though you'll never walk on a glacier?
Do you wear Stetson cologne in the woods?
Have you ever drank Zima?
Do you watch fishing on TV?
Do you own backpacking wine glasses?
Is there more than one compass in you pack?
Have you ever had expresso while on the trail?
Did you have to read the instructions before you put on those snow pants?
Does you jackknife weigh more than your boots?
Have you ever been standing in REI or EMS and pictured yourself in that $600 neon green parka?
Do you own a $1200 mountain bike and ride on the street?
Do you wash your Range Rover twice a week?


Stolen from the outdoor satire site: HAE”

“Hmmm...gomer has a completely different meaning in Eastern Kentucky.”

“Violin: That is the BEST ever. You win.”

“OK skullcap - what other meaning is it you are referring to?”

“"generally means that they're wicked old and just needs to sprout they're wings instead of getting pumped full of meds, hookin up to a respirator, and gittin their hearts shocked five times......"

I was always fond of "CTD". "He's CTD doctor, what now?" (Circling The Drain)”

“yeah Skully please do tell........”

“That's Fu*kin Hysterical!!!!
Good job Violin!!!!”

“I agree with Sassafras. My experience on Isle Royale was that though restricted to where you can camp, shelters were not shared, and often, because of the bugs, people would set up their tent inside the screened shelters!”

“expresso?”

“The only place I have used em is Isle Royale also.

They are nice to spread out and dry/clean junk on a long trip. If I plan a "rest" day I try to get a shelter for the convenience.

I prefer a tarp and small secluded site with a couple friends anyday!”

“Yeah, gooood friends...Sam Adams and Samuel Smith.”

“hmmm...it's fast, a lot of people have it...apparently, coffee with loose morals, Tilt.”