This might be a silly question but what are peoples attitudes about snoring. Does anyone know of any serious issues resulting from the like?
Hikerdude
Snoring - The Long Trail - Vermont
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#2
serious issues? When you’re tired and the person next to you in the shelter or one tent site over snores loud, yeah, that can be a serious issue!
Bring earplugs. You’ll need them for on the trail and when sharing motel rooms.
And if you know for a fact that you snore loud, sleep away from others. I know this sounds petty, but I’ve seen people get pretty pissed off at the snorers. Meanwhile, I smile, put my earplugs in, roll over, and go to sleep.
On the CDT in 2004, I was camped near a road with three other hikers. We’d planned on hitching into town the next morning. Because one of the guys snored so loudly, the other two got up and went into town around 4am :mad. The story is here: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=72018
Be prepared.
yogi
yogi
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#3
At Partnership, on the AT, I got up at midnight and slept behind the privy to get away from the two chainsaws in the shelter. My wife was looking all over for me for an hour the next morning. Turns out that was a choice move as the concrete as warm as toast all night from the sun heating it during the day.
I told the guys snoring that I hoped the methane would take me in my sleep to kill the noise and I’d sleep well after I was dead.
Bushwhack
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#4
snoring can be a big issue. i recently went on a section hike on the southern AT and the 2 guys i went with were both soring. 2 of the 5 mornings i was up by aprox 4:30am cooking myself some hot cocoa and oatmeal and this took place after i was awoken almost every hour or so through the night.i used my hiking poles to hit these guys in the legs as they slept so they would temp wake up and then i would try to fall asleep before they snored again[not 2 succesfull]… luckily we were the only 3 in the shelter the 2 nights we stayed in the shelters and the other 3 nights we stayed on the trail so i was able to get far enough away to at least get some sleep. all in all i should proabably take some advice here and buy myself some ear plugs… plugs…:cheers
nitewalker
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#5
Man, I for one cannot stand listening to snoring after a long day of hiking. It is almost as bad as a celphone(in Fact, written on the side of my Sierra Design tent in black marker is “Snorers Suck”.)
Im with Yogi, if you know you snore a lot and loud (Especially those old guys with the midnight Deathrattle thing happening) then please for the sake of sanity and a good nights sleep, put up your tent.
Now, those who snore will say, if it bothers you, you should put up Your tent…well…maybe, but if you have 8 people trying to sleep, and you are aware that you are a horrendous snorer, and it makes 7 people toss and turn all night, maybe even angering some of them enough to toss the shelter register at you, maybe you should rethink it.
It is the wilderness, it is about getting along and being chill to others, but it is hard to do if you have been kept up for hours and hours because one person. and it does happen, and I know from experiance you will run into some hikers who snore so loud and …oddly…that even with earplugs you wont get sleep.
I bring beer and food to shelters a lot, I guess it is to balance my disdain for snorers.
I always get very nervous when I see an older man with a beergut and a beard coming in…the thing is, in a few years, thatll be me. Oh the irony.
LionKing
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#6
I am a champion snorer… more like apnea… I look at shelters as fair game… you sleep in a shelter you are sleeping in a public place. If you do not like snorers DO NOT sleep in a shelter. It is so simple. I suggest buying a tent or tarp and sleeping in the woods. I for one snore and I for one NEVER sleep in a shelter. Personally I do not like shelters because when we live in a communal place we have to deal with communal issues… snoring, coughing, loud talking, people that go to sleep early, people that rise early.
aswah
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#7
It’s funny about people’s attitudes in this subject because we all preach tolerance towards certain things… some people smokes, some don’t, some people drink, some don’t, some people play radios, some don’t, some talk loud, some people do not stop talking, ever, others get up at 5am and start cooking breakfast without regards to others, some people get up thirty times a night to pee, some people cough, some people stay up till midnight reading… there are so many things people do that can piss you off. If you want to control your environment in a very public place than you need to sleep in your tent or tarp. I sleep in my tarp because I like to stay up till 12 or 1 reading, writing and drawing… I also make coffee and tea till late at night… I do not like to be bothered by hikers that want to get going at the crack of dawn. Ain’t my cup of joe… I find that actually more obnoxious than someone sleeping. You can control making noise in the morning YOU CANNOT control whether you snore or not.
BTW if you tap me with your poles that will be the last time you use those. The main thing here is SHELTERS are communal places…
Aswah
aswah
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#8
IF you don’t like snoring, farting, excess noise, mice, people coming in late, getting up early, etc/ then don’t stay in a shelter. Simple.
It is public space, and as such, you must put up with the public.
When I did the AT, my own personal rule is that I would not stay in a shelter if there were more than 4 people (myself included). Would tent out most of the time. I suspect I would tent out even more now if I was to do the AT again.
Shelters are convenient in a storm, otherwise I try to avoid them for the reasons I listed above.
If you choose to use shelters, then you choose to have have everything that comes with it.
If you want a good nights sleep…then why stay in a shelter? Eat dinner with everyone if you want a social experience, but just before night, walk a few minutes up the trail, put your tent down and call it good.
I find it is far easier to modify my behavior then to expect others to act in a certain way.
YMMV.
Mags
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#9
I totally agree with Aswah’s communal living point of view of the shelters. There will be other people around. It’s sort of like the people who go out to eat in a restaurant and then get pissed because there is a crying baby two tables away. If you want peace and quiet, stay home.
HOWEVER, denying someone sleep is a totally different issue. It’s a question of common courtesy. If you KNOW you snore LOUD and A LOT, please be courteous and sleep away from the six other people who do not snore. When a loud snorer chooses to sleep in the shelter, he is fully aware that he will deny the other shelter inhabitants a good nights sleep.
Yeah, I know nobody is forcing anyone to sleep in the shelter. I just think common courtesy should come into play here.
BTW, whenever I’m about to share a motel room with a hiker for the first time, the first question I ask is DO YOU SNORE?
yogi
yogi
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#10
I feel comfortable saying this because I consider Mags and Aswah to be good friends-----
I’ve never camped with Aswah, but he clearly stated that he’s a loud snorer.
I have camped with Mags, and I can tell you he saws some large logs.
That said, I find it very interesting that the snorers are the ones who don’t have a problem with snorers in shelters. Perhaps they have never been denied a good nights sleep by one of their own! :tongue
okay, I’m off to work now!
yogi
yogi
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#11
Hey…I also said I camp away from shelters, too. 
Seriously though…if you don’t like excess noise (partying, snoring, farting, mice scampering in shelters)…then don’t stay in shelters.
I find people coming in late, getting up early, partying,etc. to make it hard to get a good nights sleep. ANY communal situation makes it hard to get a good nights sleep. So I stay away from shelters because I’ve been denied a good nights sleep by partiers, late comers, people using head lamps at 2AM in the morning, and yes snorers.
YMMV
See you at the KOP Yogi!
Mags
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#13
if you ever meet a hiker named ‘mud elephant’ you’d better run. he warned us but he didn’t tell us that he could cause the nails to disengauge from the timbers.
ps. the first five or so shelters in Pa are two smaller shelters side by side. one is labeled ‘snoring’ and the other ‘non-snoring’
frozenstiff
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#14
that is one of many reasons why I choose to sleep in the woods… I really do prefer sleeping on the ground smelling pines…
Yogi:
actually snorers bother me too. I had someone complain about my snoring… actually they were laughing… anyways three out of six snored.
peace and love… I really meant no hostility towards anyone… just do not expect serenity when you live in a three sided commune…
aswah
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#15
For other consideration, many of you know the Constitution assures us of, among other things, the pursuit of happiness. However, can snorers be considered to infringe on this right? What about national parks, such as the Smokies, that force one to stay in a shelter, possibly riddled with snoring fellows, while on the AT? What do you guys think.
Stephen
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#16
I do not mind people who snore and keep the entire shelter up all night. I also really like when smokers blow smoke in my face. And I really love it when people talk with their mouth full of food. Oh…and I really love it when people pick their nose and flip it across the shelter. And I cheer when people spill their food in shelters but do not clean it up…more food the mice. And I also love it when…
Eric
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#17
Long distance hikers (those hiking from 50 miles on any side of the park) are allowed to tent per regs. [1]
Problem solved.
Really…shelters are lousy, why stay in them? ESP the ones in the Smokies !!! Those are easily the worse on the trail.
PArtiers, snorers, inconsiderate people who make noise late/early in the morning, smokers, mice, etc…etc. Really…why even use them? You are carrying a shelter…use it!
[1] And, if you hike out west in National Parks, you will learn about the pleasures of stealth camping.
Mags
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#18
LionKing–your post cracked me up. I am clearly headed in the same direction.
I tried to keep my stuff packed up as much as possible in the shelter so I could sneak out in situations like these.
It isn’t always easy to tell if somebody in the shelter is going to snore. Once they do, I found it to be better to cut my losses, collect up my stuff, and go a couple of minutes down the trail and set up my tent. Losing a half hour of sleep is better than suffering all night.
Happy Trails.
:lol
Clodhopper
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#19
Wow. I am surprised how many are sticking up for the snoreres.
There was a guy hiking in 2001 that had snored like you wouldn’t believe. He also refused to carry a tent. So every night he had the shelter to himself. And if not at night, then certainly by morning. People went out of their way to get ahead of or behind him. I realize that it is unfortunate that he snored, but I also think it was pretty selfish that he essentially hogged the whole shelter every night because no one could stand how loud he slept.
Charley Horse
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#20
Bring EAR PLUGS!!! I admit I sometimes snore, not loudly, wife is a light sleeper. Generally she wakes me up and tells me to roll over as I only snore on my back. I tend to prefer tenting to shelters, but it is so easy to stop at your neighborhood Home Depot and pick up a cheap pair of ear plugs. I think people stick up for snorers because they cannot help it. It’s not like the people who party or are loud moving around while others sleep. Now I grant you if you do snore, you should be kind and let others know, for me it’s simple, wake me up and tell me to roll over, I don’t snore every night, and I am not super loud, mouth breather with enormous tonsils. I agree with Aswah, though, if you hit me with your poles in a dead sleep be prepared to take your life in your own hands. But like some on here, shelters to me are for storms, otherwise, I’m carrying a 6lb tent for comfort, so you bet I’m gonna use it!
Professor