Dick's Dome

[Olde School]

spent one rainy night last July on SOBO section hike - the setting is awesome with a beautiful fast running stream just a few feet from shelter - great night's sleep with a NOBO thru hiker as companion - not the nicest shelter on trail but it is my understanding that it will be enlarged and rebuilt in the near future with a grant from REI.

Better to burnout than it is to rust. (Neil Young)

[DeerPath]

spent one rainy night last July on SOBO section hike - the setting is awesome with a beautiful fast running stream just a few feet from shelter - great night's sleep with a NOBO thru hiker as companion - not the nicest shelter on trail but it is my understanding that it will be enlarged and rebuilt in the near future with a grant from REI.

Better to burnout than it is to rust. (Neil Young)

I lived about 1/2 mile up the mountain from Dick's Dome, 12074 DeerPath Ln.. On hot days we would sit in the pools created just below the falls from this spring, about 20 yards below Dick's Dome. Loved living up there.
Enjoy
Happy Trails

PS
The man who built Dick's Dome, Richard something, bought the 5 acre lot, I think about 1975 and donated it to Appalachian Trail Hikers. Later, after 1990 the lower lots of Appalachian Estates were secured to protect the right-of-way for the Trail.

[notabear13]

From my understanding, the Dome won't be touched. They are just going to build another shelter to increase capacity (at least that's what it said in the register when I stayed there). Good thing. The shape is a novel idea, but all the corners and cracks make it look like mouse paradise.

[bamboo bob]

Worst shelter on the AT. The poor design was a hip cool thing when it was built but the shape allows for minimum occupancy. I have slept there three times and it was full though under filled. You just can't use the space efficiently. An additional space would be nice. Also rain comes in the opening so If I get a vote it would be to start over. My wife made me stay there the third time. I wanted to push on. She agreed finally that it sucked. It is a nice location though. Better to tent, if you keep climbing there is a nice camp site up higher.

[shelterbuilder]

Five-sided geometry is tough to work with. You have to REALLY think about what you're doing BEFORE you do it. It IS possible to re-design this one, using "over-length" 2x6's and certain structural "beef-ups", then add bunks and ladders around the perimeter, and STILL have the center of the structure be unsupported. But the biggest problem is the siding - you absolutely cannot use asphalt shingles on the exterior. The shingles on the outward-sloping walls will not lay down, they look like the devil, and eventually they will get ripped and torn. Traditional wooden siding is a good choice, if done correctly. Cedar shingles will work too - or better yet, get someone up there who knows how to make hand-split shakes with a froe and a mallet and use native materials (like oak) right from the site. (If it sounds like I've been playing with this type of construction - you're right - I have, and some of MY plans have taken this 5-sided design to some wild conclusions that are far beyond the limits envisioned by the designer of the joining plates that make this construction possible.)

[Grampie]

Dick"s Dome was a bad shelter when I stopped there in 2001. By now it must be a real dump. It reminded me of the stuff, as a kid, we used to build in the woods from scrap lumber.

[shelterbuilder]

All that it really needs is some TLC...alright, it needs a LOT of TLC. But this type of construction actually uses about 30% less material than conventional building techniques to enclose the same square footage. (THAT was the reason that this technique was developed...but, as I said before, you have to really THINK about what you want to do BEFORE you begin construction.) I've never liked the "square door" option: it weakens the dome's overall structural integrity and doesn't really serve a useful purpose in this particular application. A better option would have been to increase the length of the 5 sides beyond the manufacturer's suggested dimensions in order to allow the installation of a conventional door-frame (sans door) and maybe a vestibule, and add a few well-placed Lexan windows for light. Then, the 5 sides would have been long enough to add stacked bunks against the walls, and STILL have enough room for a small table. But...everyone has a different vision....

[bfayer]

I have stayed there and I was grateful it was there.

Yes there are better shelters on the AT, but it kept me dry when I needed it, and I didn't pay for the materials, give up my time to build it, or lug the wood to the building site. I have no complaints about it at all.

[Starchild]

It is a very big success as it is the most talked about shelter on the trail. I am personally fond of the Love Shack, though I have not been able to use it in that capacity, and the hexishelter (with the pentiprivi), which made sensible use of the geometry for human needs. Dick's dome, well Splash and I tented instead, 'nough said, hike on...

[WingedMonkey]

I've built two of them. One is my turtle pen and another is a Hanuman temple on an ashram.

https://www.strombergschickens.com/s...uilding_system

[Happy44]

i was grateful also, loved teh sound of that creek all night long, mosquitos were bad though

[shelterbuilder]

Man, the joining plates have REALLY gone up in price since I bought my last set - I think that I only paid about $50 a set. I first saw this system at the NY State Fair in - I believe - 1980. There was a group that was constructing a small unit on the fairgrounds, and I was fascinated by what I saw. I bought a set of the plates, and started "playing" with smaller-scale units in my spare time. Being somewhat of a "mad genius"-type, one thing led to another,,,,