Thanksgiving - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

Thanks to all of you that give of your time, work the trail, built the shelters, carry out trash, and rescue lost hikers, so that the rest of us can enjoy the wonderful benefits of hiking our land.

Here is just one example of the hard work that is being done.

A new Appalachian Trail shelter that can sleep 18 backpackers has been built in the Max Patch area of Haywood County.

Volunteers with the Carolina Mountain Club spent two years building the trail shelter. It will replace an old trail shelter in the same vicinity that was frequently getting trashed.

Howard McDonald, leader of the shelter construction crew and past president of the Carolina Mountain Club, said the decision to rebuild the shelter at a new site was made in 2002 when trail volunteers with the club picked up and hauled out almost 30 bags of trash over the course of one year.

The new shelter, known as the Roaring Fork Shelter, is three miles from Lemon Gap heading toward Max Patch in the Harmon Den district of the Pisgah National Forest.

The top logs inside the shelter are also set with 14 pairs of wooden pegs to hang up backpacks. The site boasts a new privy, two water sources, two side benches outside, a sheet-metal covered cooking shelf to one side of the shelter, and seven tent pads in the area. The shelter and one of the tent pads are wheel-chair accessible.

McDonald, 79, of Hendersonville, designed the shelter and led the work crew. The construction was an arduous process. After hauling 76 large logs into the woods — a process that took a few months in and of itself — each one was stripped and shaped before construction could begin.

A core group of about eight volunteers did most of the work preparing the site, digging the privy, making the tent sites and building the shelter. A total of 2,665 man-hours went into the shelter.

“The club owes a great debt of gratitude to McDonald and his team for the tremendous effort which made the completion of this shelter possible. It is a remarkable success,” said Carolina Mountain Club President Gerry McNabb.

The CMC received a grant of $3,900 from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, $400 from the Mountain Marching Mamas of Florida, and another $200 from private donors to pay for materials.

Bilko

#2

Why is the shelter and tent pad wheel chair accessible?

wolf

#3

Yeah I thunked it was A foot travel only Trail?

Rod

#4

I give thanks to all of my hiking buddies, who are better than drinking buddies anyday.

I also give thanks to Lief and Zipdrive for these wonderful sites.

Also to the many volunteers who go out of their way to keep the trail and shelters in good condition making it a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Hammock PhD

#5

All new contruction on federal lands has to be in conformity with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The new renovations to the huts in the White Mountains have made them wheelchair accessable. New regulations being debated will also force trail maintainers to make the treadway accessable “where ever feasable” when ever a major trail reroute or maintenence project is undertaken. I personally think if someone is going to make it to Galehead Hut in a wheelchair three steps to get in the building is not going to hurt him. However, once you resign youself to the fact that you need to do this the additional cost (for huts and shelters) is minimal and the wide doors and ramps are actually nice for everyone.

Big B

#6

Thats the silliest thing Ive ever heard. Theres no way a person in a wheelchair is going to go up the AT…at least not without someone crazy enough to push him and one incredibly specialized wheelchair, and even then there are sections on the AT where they wont be able to go no matter what wheelchair they have. To force trail maintainers to make a shelter at the top of a mountain wheelchair accessable when there is no way for a wheelchair to get there in the first place is rediculas.

Im all for handicapped persons getting out and trying the AT, but there comes a point when you have to draw a line. Making the AT wide enough for a wheelchair also makes it wide enough for dirt-bikes, and 4 wheelers, and we all know what happens then.

Legislature keeps writing these rediculas regulations when they obviously have absolutly NO clue as to what they are talking about or even what impact it will have.

Its almost laughable. Id like to see a solo wheelchair hiker roll his wheelchair just up Springer Mtn. Id pay money to watch that, 'cause if he/she actually made it, that would be awesome to watch.

Something else Im confused about…I thought the AT was open to FOOT traffic only…

bryan

#7

“I thought the AT was open to FOOT traffic only…”

When you’re a para or quadrapeligic, a wheelchair IS your feet.

Wild Hare

#8

yeah the “americans with disablities act” was good for many reasons, but also utterly rediculous for many reasons. the wheelchair ramp at galehead hut being an example of the latter.

the goat

#9

dont be so quick to say a person in a wheelchiar can not make it because a blind guy did. But at the same time I also dont think we need to make ramps and take out all the dam rock ether. as i always say if there is a will there is a way.

boy who wanders

#10

Just because people said it couldn’t be done a group of wheel chair bound individuals (assisted by non-wheel chair bound helpers) made it up to both Galehead Hut and Greenleaf hut. The group at Greenleaf also made it to the top of Lafayette. I saw a special on PBS about the climb to Lafayette. It was very inspiring but I don’t think you will see it repeated very often.

Big B

#11

Big B, the goat, and boy who wanders are right. Structures on Federal Land must be wheel-chair accessible. Goal setting is wonderful motivation. If they can believe it, they can achieve it. Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, our world has changed for the better.

Back to the people we are thankful for on the trail.
Thankful for Elmer, Uncle Johnnie, Miss Janet, Bob Peoples and shuttle drivers. :cheers

Bilko

#12

Big B, How’d they do it? Did they carry them up the steeper sections or did they have some kind of special wheelchair? Im all for them doing it if they can, but I still think its silly to remodel every shelter on the AT to cater to a wheelchair when you’ll probably never see one up there.

I went to Anna Ruby Falls a couple of weeks ago, and watched as a lady in a wheelchair and her husband struggled to get that wheelchair up to the top of the falls…and that was on a nice wide paved path. Unfortunatly I was completely toast after hiking all day on the AT, so I could barely get myself to the top, otherwise I would have helped push her up. I cant imagine trying to push someone up Blood Mtn or something. Not only would that be difficult, but also extremely dangerous for both the person in the wheelchair and the person pushing it.

bryan

#13

Sounds like a fantastic new shelter. Was this the construction I could see from the trail? The new location is better at splitting the distance from Standing Bear to Hot Springs.

I would like to thank all those who supported the old Roaring Fork Shelter, especially the Mountain Marching Mamas. This shelter was not that old, and looked good to me in both '04 and '05.

Rambler

#14

Get real you gullible bleeding heart liberals, wheelchairs don’t belong on the AT. They belong on pavement.

You’re being suckered by a misunderstandign of the ADA. If there’s a requirement that all new construction on federal lands be made wheelchair accessible “whenever feasible,” then it’s obvious that backwoods hiking shelters which are miles from the nearest road cannot “feasibly” be wheelchair accessible.

Get it? You don’t have to change the purpose of the construction just to make it wheelchair accessible. Building trail shelters near roads would defeat the purpose of the construction of backcountry hiking shelters, away from the weekend beer keg and partier crowds.

If some tough guy in a wheelchair can bull his way along for a couple miles on the AT in a chair, over rocks and roots and 45 degree grades, more power to him. But USE YOUR BRAIN and don’t build new AT shelters near paved roads where they’ll be frequented by drunks and gun toting weekenders.

Foots425

#15

Foots, the ATC did not build the ramp because they are bleeding hearts. FYI, the Executive Director of ATC probably has more knowledge of the ADA than any other trail person across the USA. This was not done willy nilly.

Jeffrey Hunter

#16

Tell us why this shelter was built next to a road. It’s “wheelchair accessible”? That means it was build next to a road, right? With a graded and paved path leading from the parking lot to the shelter, right?

Which means it’s a prime target for weekend boozers and other types who will trash it and disturb the peace found in older, more remote shelters, right?

Foots425

#17

And a happy Thanksgiving to you dorks, too. It’s a new shelter, you pinheads! Give thanks for it and also for the Trail community (then go take your medications).

For crying out loud. Psychos.

Thanksgiving Turkeys

#18

Foots, the shelter was NOT built next to a road. The new shelter is several miles closer to Max Patch than the old shelter. I walked past the construction site in July during the ATC Biennial Conference. I was with my daughter doing a 31-mile section. In fact, we ate dinner in the “old” Roaring Fork Shelter before pushing on to Walnut Mountain Shelter for the evening.

Give the Carolina Mtn Club and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy some credit. They do a heckuva job.

Jeffrey Hunter

#19

If this shelter is both “wheelchair accessible” and several miles from the nearest road, there must be a graded and paved wheelchair superhighway running from the nearest road to the shelter, right?

Do we want a “wheelchair accessible” superhighway running to Max Patch and every new shelter that is built from now on? Can you see Newfound Gap on Sunday?

Foots425

#20

If this new shelter is “wheelchair accessible” it is also bicycle accessible, moped accessible, golfcart accessible, and touron accessible.

This is nuts. Did it really happen because some bonehead at the ATC mistakenly thought that the ADA required backcountry hiking shelters to be accessible to wheelchairs?

Foots425