rat droppings, hikers who don’t clean themselves after peeing and pooping, et al. That doesn’t include the hikers who hygeine themselves in drinking water sources and such.
Are staying in sheleters asking for diseases?
I think most of them are.
Newbie
Who’s concerned? They should start tearing down skyscrapers first. That’s where the disease is. Hang your food.
THA WOOKIE
I assume you meant mouse droppings. Make no mistake, mice=disease as any health department will tell you. I think it should be a hikers choice to stay in them or not, thus not be torn down. I prefer not to use them because a lot of them are filthy, the snoring is incredible and yes, they stink when full (or even empty)and I never really get a good night sleep in them. I also value privacy and solitude. I sleep much better in a tent. I think hikers who are into the social scene prefer staying in them. But again, I think it is a personal choice of the hiker.
The second part of your question is very legit, I’ve seen people wash their hands in water sources or right at them, many of them not using soap because they don’t want the weight of carrying it. I also remember a horrible stomach virus going around from hiker to hiker and nearly all of them stayed in shelters most of the time.
schikerbiker
Think what they’d be like without the privies. Mice are all over the woods in super abundance, not only just at the shelters. Be thankful the shelters are there, that someone cares—very nice when it rains and rains and rains, even if you have a tent. Personal hygiene and cleaniness is an individual thing. Perhaps all who attempt a thru hike should have to attend a Leave No Trace (LNT) course, where such things like washing up well away from water sources and other important things are taught. Just food for thought…
Maintain
Hi Maintain,
I agree but mice are a lot more of a problem in a shelter then in your own tent. You don’t have to worry about mice droppings in your own tent nor about mice running across your face inside a tent, never happened to me in I say overall, 200 days of section or weekend hiking. In almost every shelter, mice droppings can be found. One time though, I had a snake make a home between my tent and my tarp, nice surprise when I was packing up in the morning! Shelters are good for when it rains but even then, I prefer the tent, if I have been hiking for 15 miles in the rain, spending another 10 minutes setting up my tent in it is no big deal. Of course, the exception is really nasty weather like hail or hard t-storms. Then I use a shelter if I can get into one but considering two hikers were killed while being a shelter during a t-storm a few years ago by lightning even makes me think about not doing that. I like to see more LNT but let us face the facts, many wouldn’t follow it anyhow and a lot of that is from the day or weekend hikers don’t doing LNT. I always make sure my hands are washed before eating food and I try to boil most of my water and when I can’t do that, I’ll treat the water with bleach or iodine and use sugar-free kool aid to kill the aftertaste (sugar-free koolaid is really light to carry compared to sugared kool aid).
It is just my perference to not use shelters as I like solitude. It’s just my preference that’s all. You’re mileage and conditions my vary.
Peace,
schikerbiker
I work for the Health Department. Believe me the food you have eaten in one day of your life is far more dangerous, and contains far more mouse dropping than are contained in an average AT shelter. You eat insects every single day. Driving to the trail should be of far more concern to you.
Blue Jay
So, HYOH. If you aren’t worried about mouse scat in your bed, sleep in the shelter. If you are more comfortable…and define that in any terms you like…staying in you tent/hammock/tarp/whatever, do it. HYOH. Now, Blue Jay, about those food products full of bugs and poop…
Jim2
I slept in shelters of half the nights of my thru-hike and only had mouse problems in a dozen shelters. Yes, mice are in the shelters but I also had problems with mice in my tent/ tarp. On more than one occasion mice came through our camp during the night. Unless you stay in a new site where no one has camped before your going to have mice or other rodents. The AT is a hiker super highway in the woods so you can’t escape human problems. Hang your food and practice LNT as much as possible. Mice add character to the hike. What about the beaver in all the ponds? They carry various diseases.
Darth pacman
Skeemer, I think oatmeal is the bug parts. Mouse poop is probably in the noodle dinner packets. That little clot of “flavor” at the bottom of the bag? That’s it. All that stuff isn’t herbs and spices and chicken by-products. That, and ramen. Mmm-mmm, good!
Jim2
One of my bosses is the President of one of the Trail maintaing clubs (out of his privacy I won’t mention which one). He has told me if all clubs had their wish all shelters would be torn down. Not that the clubs don’t see the shelters as a benefit to the hikers, but the shelters are a major financial burden to the clubs. If ,God forbid, something very tragic were to occur at a shelter, the club that maintains that shelter could be sued and dissolved. The environmental issues also come into play. The immediate area around the shelters cause the most erosion of any areas on the trail.
Thing is, it is not the thru-hikers or regular day hikers that are the problem. It is the people who come to the shelters to party, drink, and end up leaving trash and food thrown around. Piss right behind, or right in front of the shelter and generally cause problems for the area. The hikers and users who are low impact are also low on the totem pole in the grand scheme of things. Millions of people get on the trail every year if only one step. ThruHikers make up such a small percentage the clubs can’t afford to cater only to them. There is an ATC meeting coming up where one of the issues discussed will be maturing the trail as a national park like we have matured Yellowstone and Yosemite, and Glacier. I’m not sure exactly what that means, and niether does my boss. He just knows that the next step is to try and begin to cater to those day hikers and “step-ons.” He said not to worry, the shelters arn’t going anywhere for a long time. They are to much a part of the Trail’s history and funtion to remove them. For what it’s worth.
svgklingon
My point was to stop worrying. You’ve all been eating a certain percentage of filth your whole lives, and it has not hurt you. People in other countries look for bugs in their food, because if it’s safe for bugs, it’s safe for them. Americans are sooo fearful of everything. Now, beavers are another story. I think it is healthy to see as many beavers as possible. No scientific data on this one, just my opinion. There are just not enough beaver along the AT. Please feel free to bring as many as you like, no one will complain.
Blue Jay
Is there anything that a through-hiker can do to improve the condition of the shelters he stays at? Reasonably speaking, there are a couple of hours of daylight either at the end of the hiking day, or before heading out in the morning, when it might be possible to do something to clean up the shelter.
I for one would be willing to put in some work at a couple of lean-to’s along the way, and perhaps even dedicate a zero day if there were a bigger project. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble to Tom Sawyer other hikers into helping out, too.
So to you experienced trail maintainers out there, any suggestions?
Teddy Roosevelt
Run astro turf around the shelters! What’s that cheese in the cracks in the shelter floor? Raindog got a nasty fungal infection that we, and the docter think was from a shelter in Geogia. He remembers it, the floor was nasty with that black gooy stuff, he got up with his knuckles down on the floor. A few days later the itch started. Lasted a year after the trip. We called it Shelter Mange. His hand looked like a dog’s butt.
Bushwhack