Sometimes I would like to camp around a shelter to hang with the folks that would be around them. But sometimes I would just want to get away from everyone. I would try to hit a shelter and get a spot if I thought it was going to rain. We didnt have a lot of rain last year,so it wasnt so bad. This years a different story. Besides laughing with others about the mice can be fun!!
Virginian
I think most thruhikers use shelters less and less as their hike continues. As others have said, they are good for socializing, but terrible if you actually want to sleep. The thing with this year’s journalists is they have had a really wet year to hike - that makes the shelters much more appealing. You can sleep dry, cook dry and talk to people -
One thing we have found with more experience is that we don’t even really require water at a campsite any more. PCT broke us of that habit. We’ll collect water where it’s available and either cook there or just carry it until we are ready to stop and eat, and then move one a few more miles to find a place to camp. AT hikers tend to be fairly inexperienced, and so are more likely to stick to ‘safe’ and certain campsites - shelters or places listed in the guidebooks rather than trust that they will find a place to set up their tents when the time is right. It affects mileage in a big way. If you reach a shelter at 2:00, do you stop or move on? In the beginning of a thruhike, most hikers will stop. By the end, most of us keep hiking until sundown - and don’t worry so much about whether or not there is a shelter. And if you hike anyplace besides the AT (which most people who really love hiking will do eventually) there are no shelters - so better to get used to it.
Spirit Walker
On my 10 day section hike this spring I stayed in my Tarptent every night except for when I stayed in the Walasi Yi Hostel and Hiawassee Inn. The rest of the time I either camped near a shelter or when the mileage didn’t work out I stealth camped. As mentioned before, the shelters are nice to have a place to cook supper, wait out a short thunder storm or socialize by a camp fire, but when it was time to go to bed I headed 100-200 yards away to my Tarptent for a good nights sleep.
Nooga
Who is forcing any of you to use a Shelter? Most of them are not even on the trail and you have to actually hike extra to get to them, so don’t go. I like mouse holes in my stuff, less weight. Now that I’m in a city (oh the horror), I miss the snoring and the smell of a shelter full of wet thruhikers on a hot summer night. Shelters are the AT, you don’t like it go someplace else.
Blue Jay
Who peed in your corn flakes, Blue Jay? Shelters are a part of the AT only if you choose to use them. Hike your own hike, and let others do the same.
Solo
I’m going to start section hiking the AT the summer of '04. After reading some journals, I tend to agree with getting rid of shelters. I can see where using them would impact the environment less, but having them only encourages some locals to use some of them as a party pad. I’ve already bought my tent and plan to use it as much as possible.
Lilredmg
Anyone familiar with the Brinks shelter in Jersey? The place is located in a swamp area which as you know can be a haven for masquitoes. You either had to tent it or move on.
Shelters aren’t all that they are cracked up to be. The only good thing is some have bear boxes.
Novaximus
well - don’t see this reason for staying in shelters, but i’m not nuts about digging a “cathole” and somethings won’t wait a couple of hours until i get to a shelter from “stealth camping” but i am increasingly dissatisfied with shelters, so may go back to my roots of it with Stumpknocker’s encouragement. 
frogcaller
Getting rid of the shelters will get rid of a lot of the low-lifes, party-hardies, a–holes, who do nothing but cause trouble along the trail. Take away their little wooden “security blankets” that are available every ten miles or so, and you will see them drop off the trail in short time. That’s why the PCT is so great…no shelters!
Hound dog
I agree that shelters were almost always my second option during my '02 hike, the ground is softer than the wooden floor and I always got a more sound sleep. However, the AT is certainly the most popular and commonly hiked trail in the world, and due to that the impact is incredible. Shelters provide a place where the masses can stay and seriously reduce their impact. Imagine the AT without shelters where every campsite is reduced to a 1/4 acre parcel of trampled ground where nothing will ever grow for decades with 5 fire rings scattered about. I saw enough sites last year that were close to that. Without shelters it would be a whole lot worse. Generally the only place where I found the partying locals or what they left behind were shelters within a half mile of a road (Governor Clement in VT for instance). If you decide not to stay at a shelter, choose an impacted site and do your best to leave no trace and let those who follow enjoy it as much as you did.
Cap’n
Good point, Cap’n! It makes sense. Contain the damage in a small area, rather than spread it all along the Trail.
Hound dog
Shelters represent a safe harbor after a long day of wet hiking. This spring on the AT most shelters were full because of constant rain. We looked foward to a cherished spot in a shelter but most times we were left outside in the mud, rain or snow. I set up my tent in shelters area and made do isolated the privacy of my tent… not all that bad. I do miss the stories and trail talk at the end of a difficult day. Hiking may be a solitary and peaceful but I am a social being so I do enjoy interacting with other hikers while at the shelter. I do not condem the folks who shun the shelters but shelters are a vital part of the trail and the people who travel its path. SWAMP DAWG
Swamp Dawg
In the SNP,the designated campsites are not dugout very well. My crew set up our tents after a hike one day and then rain came. All our gear was floating in our tents by morning. In my opinion the shelters are convenient except for the bugs. Just wear a mosquito net and stay in the shelters.
screech