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Re: [AT-L] Favorite Shelter



Dan Grossman wrote:
> 
> This is one of the questions most frequently asked of me.  I really like
> my (now memorized) answer:
> 
> Moreland Gap Shelter, 15 miles South of Hampton, TN.  It's small, no
> privy, duct tape all over the roof, water is 150 yards steep downhill, no
> view.  It's 30 years old and the floor shows it.  But on Day 31, I arrived
> in a huge thunderstorm, put on dry long-sleeve clothes and crouched in the
> back while the swirling wind soaked 2/3 of the shelter.  My sheltermate
> and I laid our sleeping bags sideways across the back and each huddled
> over hot dinners.  As I sat there eating I said, "Do you feel as totally
> content and comfortable as I do right now?" He understood. I felt more
> comfortable in that shelter than I have in any other.
> 
> |Dan Grossman       

I remember pulling into moreland gap just before dark in February '92. I 
had hiked on snow-covered trails with fresh motorcycle tracks and found 
eye-high fishhooks across the trail near the old Nelan S. I got to 
moreland as the sun faded, only to find the shelter floor covered with 8 
inches of snow. Someone had left a paperback book on the ledge and I used 
it for a snow shovel. I layed there, sleepless most of the night, and 
talked to a Screech Owl sitting on a low limb of the big Oak tree out 
front. I scarcely remember feeling that lonely. Ain't life great?


FElix


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