[at-l] Trail Ettiquite was Technology....And IntrusiveDiscourtesy

[thornel@attglobal.net (W F Thorneloe)]

If you have a feeling that the situation is not "welcoming", you ought to 
listen to that message and walk further. In general, there should be no 
sense that a campsite is private property when there is plenty of room and 
light is dimming. Safety is part of the equation, and your street smarts 
can save you trouble even if it results in a little night walking.

I've not seen the rule that shelters are for long-distance hikers. That was 
once the general rule of a implied reservation of a certain number of spots 
per shelter in the Smokies, but more recent years, long distant hikers are 
encouraged to camp and allow weekenders and newbies the shelter, assuming 
it is full. The thought is this allows us to demonstrate good camping 
techniques and to model etiquette. The rule is that large groups should not 
impose themselves on the shelters, and should be prepared for camping. The 
other rule is that the shelter is never full, especially when it is raining.

OrangeBug

At 04:25 PM 5/29/2002 -0400, AHuthmaker@aol.com wrote:
> > In regards to this, what about camp sites?  I was on a section of the 
> trail
> > between Neels Gap and Hog Pen, and the campsites are quite large with 
> sites
> > for several tents.  However, when coming up to one that already had a
> > father and son at it, I wasn't sure if it was cool to assume we could 
> share
> > it.  Is it?  (We hiked on to the next one)  Anna