Duncannon Shelter

“Does anybody have any information about this shelter being out of commission?

What's wrong? How long will it be closed?

Thanks!
last edited: 4/21/05 9:45:20 AM”

“ask over on whiteblaze.net - you are much more likely to get a knowledgeable answer instead of a wise ass remark that you will get here.”

“I did consider that. Thanks Hog.”

“From the Appalachian Trail Conference website, no mention of Duncannon Shelter, but there was this note:

Date Posted: 07/12/2004
Subject: SHELTER REMOVED - Darlington Shelter Removed
Trail Information:

Darlington Shelter has been removed; associated spring is dry. Tenting is still allowed. A replacement shelter is planned but probably will not be completed until 2005.”

“Duncannon shelter was alive and well last Oct when I was there. In great shape, piped spring about 150 yards away running fine, and the composting privvy is fab. Several good tenting sites nearby. And best of all, a fun hike from the river, over 600 feet of vertical in 3 miles.
http://www.pasda.psu.edu/summary.cgi/drg24k/duncannon_pa.xml”

“I picked up 3 thru-hikers heading north and they said they was a shelter just went down in Duncannon, but I didn't get any more details. I think they were going to help repair it somehow.”

“Now that I've had some lunch, I just remembered it was at Clark's Ferry shelter that I was at last fall with all of the ammenities. Didn't go to Duncannon, sorry.”

“Thanks for the info.

I'm still trying to figure out the shelter name. There is one north and one south of Duncannon.

Some friends were going to stay there one night fairly soon, so I thought this might be good information to have.”

“The Clark's Ferry shelter is East of the river. After about 2 - 2.5 miles of switchback climbing, there are some rock scrambles across the top of Peter's Mountain, with great views of the confluence of the Juniata with the Susquehana. You can avoid much of the climb, the scramble, and the view by following the blue blazes to the left after just under 1 mile from the bottom of the climb. Takes you almost directly to the shelter.”

“South of Duncannon, the shelters are Thelma Marks and Darlington in that order. Darlington is the one that is closed and the spring dried up. They are rebuilding Darlington and expect to finish sometime this year. They decided to build a larger shelter rather than try to repair the old one.”

“Reference: http://www.mcomd.org/mcmalert.html”

“You can find detailed info re: shelters in the ALDHA Thru Hiker's Companion. The e-version is here -

http://www.aldha.org/comp_pdf.htm”

“duncannon shelter? u mean the doyle?

seriously, i dont remember any shelter called duncannon shelter. geos right about the darlington shelter. its a goner. seems like that was part of a long stretch of no camping allowed and no shelters cuz it went thru alot of farmland”

“Mile 1122.2 (from Springer)
Darlington Shelter (under construction)

Mile 1129.5
Cove Mtn Shelter, Under construction)

Mile 1133.5
Duncannon, Pa

Mile 1138.1
Clarks Ferry Shelter

Mile 1144.9
Peters Mtn Shelter


...From the Thru-hikers Handbook 2005
No mention of Duncannon Shelter.

Later man...
~Tim”

“CB and BWMT - Like I previously said, I was trying to find out the name of the shelter.”

“Found the name of the shelter. It's the Cove Mountain Shelter, formally the Thelma Marks. Interestingly, there seems to be a Cove Mountain Shelter in Virginia also.

Anyways, it would seem that Darlington and Cove Mtn are both under construction according to THH-05.

If anybody has any up to date information about the Cove Mtn Shelter (formally Thelma Marks) it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!”

“according to wingfoot, cove mt shelter is 4 miles south of duncannon on the AT. i have it marked in my book that i was there the 30th of june. go right .2 miles (for northbounders), spring 400 feet downhill.”

“unfortuneately, the day i went into cove mt shelter was one of the least memorable of my whole thru-hike. i think it was the only day i had nothing to write in my journal, as alot of the day was still thru farmland”

“http://community.webshots.com/photo/156641307/156679086aaPOhJ

Sarge,
I stayed at Cove Mt. Shelter on June 3rd of last year. At that time, I felt that it was one of the nicer shelters on the PA/AT. It's possible that it's under some type of contruction but I can't figure why.
Above is a picture of the shelter and you can see that it's really nice. It's worth the stay.”

“Actually, a few days after I was at the Darlington Shelter, it was scheduled for demolition. A sign said you could tent in the area but the new shelter wouldn't be completed until fall of this year.”

“nj, that looks like the shelter i remember in my minds eye as being cove mt shelter, yet wingfoot states that it is off to the right (for northbounders) .2 miles, while the shelter i remember as being cove mt was immediately to the left on a very small loop trail, but the shelter was still just a stones throw from the trail. could wingfoot be wrong? NAH! or maybe the shelter im remembering isnt cove mt?”

“crash bang,
I no nothing about wingfoot or his book, but I'm quite certain the picture is of Cove Mt. Shelter. I only know that it was 4 miles south of Duncannon.”

“that 18 mile stretch from alec kennedy to darlington shelter with no camping allowed was kind of annoying. it forced us(me, beagle, moo juice and slowpoke) to choose between going only about 8 miles to alec kennedy shelter, or 20 miles and having to pay for a motel, or 26.5 miles to where we would be allowed to camp again at darlington shelter.
last edited: 4/23/05 5:35:54 PM”

“nj

im sure the pic is right, im just wondering am i correct in remembering the shelter as being on the west side of the trail, with a small loop trail?”

“i didnt mind hiking 20 miles, although i was tired at the end of it, but i would have rather just spent the night in the woods. i didnt need to re-supply, so it was kind of a worthless side-trip

come to think of it, i think that is where i left my debit card behind, because im pretty sure i used the card at the motel on hyway 11, but i first noticed it missing when i got to duncannon”

“http://community.webshots.com/photo/156641307/156677431JtLsnd

Sarge...this is the old Darlington Shelter.”

“cb,
I believe you're right about the loop trail to the shelter. The shelter (if I remember correctly)was very close to the AT.
I remember you talking about losing your debit card around that area.”

“about halfway between duncannon and clarks ferry shelter, i damn near stepped on a rattlesnake. that was pretty cool. and then i seem to remember a wasps nest or hornets nest in the shelter. scawy cwitters

and then the next day i did 24 hell-miles over that rock quarry they call the AT.
last edited: 4/23/05 6:00:56 PM”

“sarge, by far the best shelter on the penn AT and one of the best on the AT period is birch run shelter. it would be about a 10 mile hike from caledonia state park, but there are lots of little podunk roads in between. the trail south of birch run is some of the nicest trail in penn, not so much pain in the ass rocks”

“cb....agreed. What a great shelter!”

“i like the picnic table underneath the overhang and the lacquered floor”

“Agreed, Birch Run Shelter is really nice. There's nice stream out front, too.”