TIL the Appalachian Trail has over 250 shelters but most hikers avoid the ones near road crossings

I was reading a thru-hiker survey from 2023 and it said shelters close to roads get way more trash and noise issues, so experienced hikers skip them. I always thought shelters were the safe bet for planning a route, but now I'm rethinking my whole approach for this summer. How do you guys decide which shelters are worth stopping at?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph52913d ago

Man that sucks, I totally get why you'd be rethinking everything. It's rough when you realize the "safe" option isn't always the best one, especially for something like planning a long hike. Honestly I'd rather walk an extra mile to a quieter spot than deal with trash and noise all night.

alex_hall9112d ago

My buddy had a similar thing happen on the Appalachian Trail last year. Picked a popular campsite thinking it’d be safer, ended up listening to drunk guys argue till 2 AM. He said the extra mile to a quieter spot was worth every step.