[at-l] Is this true?

[dennis@bcontech.com (Dennis Gass)]

Jan Leitschuh wrote:
Snip...
>>Don't forget that, hiker manners states that thru hikers have first
dibs 
>>at shelters and, if you are in one, you really are expected to give up

>>your spot for the thruhikers.
Snip...

Quite the opposite in the Smokies.  Permits are required for the
shelters and if all space is used in a shelter it is the thru hiker that
must tent just outside the shelter.  Non thru hikers are not permitted
to stay outside the shelter by FS policy.

The following is a quote from the GSMNP regulations:
www.nps.gov/grsm/gsmsite/compendium99.html
"The use of tents at shelters is prohibited except by persons qualifying
as thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail (by definition an Appalachian
thru-hiker is a backpacker who is using the Appalachian Trail
exclusively while in the Park and whose trip begins and ends a minimum
of fifty miles outside the Park). Thru-hikers may pitch tents outside
shelters only when all bunks are otherwise occupied."

I believe it is first come first serve at non managed shelters.