On the AT, as I got to a shelter, just before dark on a rainy day, someone inside yelled “we’re full“. I said, “I’ll just get some water and hike on then”. I filled up with water, put on my pack, and as I walked past the shelter, with all the beady little eyes of the LED headlamps looking back at me, one of the hikers, a guy that looked to be about 50, started to bark.
Barking shelter rat.
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Hi Crow,
Just catching up again on your blog.
Hope it is all going as you wished it would…
DSD
“Summit Stones & Adventure Musings”
John Gaylor & I ran into some similar rude (and worse) folks at a shelter in VA in ’72…they threatened us with guns, and all we did was say “hi, nice evening”. I’m glad that they didn’t shoot us in the back as we got the heckouta there. That was the first of two times that i encountered guns pointed at me on that through-hike. Very, very upsetting. I am infinitely grateful that i didn’t get shot.
Always interesting with the added bonus of valuable info….
Wow, that would be really scary.
I never liked the shelters and thought they attracted an element that wouldn’t otherwise be out there.
I always felt safer in my tent where I had a perceived area that was mine. If anyone stepped into it, I would be able to react. In the shelters you have no space; anyone at anytime can just walk in and lay down beside you. If it’s a person up to no good you don’t have any time to react.
The AT has a lot of people stress involved in it. A far cry from the PCT were it would seem like the whole world was mine.
Barking as in cat calling? What a creep. That would totally freak me out. I take it you found a spot way away from the shelter that night.
No, barking like a dog. I think he was doing it to scare me away, like I was a bear or something. I think he was just a weird guy. I wasn’t a bit scared, it just seemed sort of a mean thing to do, and made the rainy, cold night seem sort of lonely.
The shelters seem like a good idea when it is raining but in truth they are full most of the time and if even if they’re not full, no one is happy to see another person arrive. The competition for a space in the shelters is steep and not really worth the effort. To stay happiest on the AT, I would recommend just pretending the shelters don’t exist and keep hiking. I didn’t stay at a shelter until I had been on the trail at least a month, maybe two.
Some people have no manners at all. How rude.
Cool link to that DSD!