Thomas Knob Shelter

[smithk3933]

Planning on a two day loop around Mt Rodgers from Massie Gap going north to Old Orchard and then looping back south to Deep Gap/Thomas Knob shelter for second night by way of the Lewis Fork/Mt Rodgers trail.

Would you recommend planning on staying at Deep gap or Thomas Knob. We will be in tents and not shelters. Is there water available near Deep Gap? Decent tent sites? How about Thomas Knob? Sounds like the water source s suspect?

Do I need to hang a food in the area from bears?

Thanks for the insights.

Keith

[Lone Wolf]

Planning on a two day loop around Mt Rodgers from Massie Gap going north to Old Orchard and then looping back south to Deep Gap/Thomas Knob shelter for second night by way of the Lewis Fork/Mt Rodgers trail.

Would you recommend planning on staying at Deep gap or Thomas Knob. We will be in tents and not shelters. Is there water available near Deep Gap? Decent tent sites? How about Thomas Knob? Sounds like the water source s suspect?

Do I need to hang a food in the area from bears?

Thanks for the insights.

Keith

you're not "supposed" to camp at deep gap. there is a blue-blaze to a piped spring there. if it were me i'd continue on about .8 past thomas knob shelter where there is excellent grassy camping. i've never hung food in the grayson highlands area

[Skyline]

Planning on a two day loop around Mt Rodgers from Massie Gap going north to Old Orchard and then looping back south to Deep Gap/Thomas Knob shelter for second night by way of the Lewis Fork/Mt Rodgers trail.

Would you recommend planning on staying at Deep gap or Thomas Knob. We will be in tents and not shelters. Is there water available near Deep Gap? Decent tent sites? How about Thomas Knob? Sounds like the water source s suspect?

Do I need to hang a food in the area from bears?

Thanks for the insights.

Keith

Like Wolf says, camping is not allowed in the immediate Deep Gap, site of a former shelter. However, about a tenth of a mile (+/-) south of the bliue-blaze to the piped spring is an informal trail leading briefly uphill to a well-used camping area that has developed over the years since the shelter was removed (and reassembled in the Damascus Town Park).

I've camped up there at least a half-dozen times. It's close enough to the trail to the spring that those camping in this area can get water there.

I almost always hang my food bag when camping. Not just because of bears (which are not much of an issue in that part of the High Country) but to protect from other critters.

The sites Wolf mentioned north of Thomas Knob Shelter are also much superior to that shelter IMHO. Water source would be a corralled piped spring about a quarter-mile away. Check out the USFS map for that area. It should be shown on that map.

[TexasEd]

Busy shelter. Lots of day trippers and a lot of people using it as a rest point after mount rogers.

I would not recommend staying here.

Water source was fenced in and just a mud puddle when I was there August 2009.

[copperjohn]

I stayed at this shelter on 7/29/2010 with 6 other people. The shelter was nice and clean. A deer did pop out of the woods right in front of the shelter. It rained hard off and on as it got dark. I found out I chose to sleep on the wrong side of the shelter. The wind blew right in and I froze all night. The view from the rocks right behind the shelter was great. The water source was barely flowing. Sometime soon it would be good to have someone dig up the small pool at the spring. It wasn't deep enough to get much water. I dug it out some but didn't want to stir up the water too much because others were needing water.

Also the privy is a composting privy. There was no duff to flush your waste. I didn't feel comfortable digging up duff in such a fragile ecosystem. It can't be good right? We discussed and didn't know.

[jimmyfunk]

Staying at Thomas Knob next Monday, are reservations required in this Mount Rogers Rec Area? I've only hiked in GSMNP and they request reservations for the shelters...

[JEBjr]

No reservation is required. Enjoy your trip.

[Hikerhead]

I never can remember the name of this shelter.
What "knob" is the one called Thomas Knob?
Who is this guy, Thomas?
Why didn't they call this Mt Rogers Shelter?
Am I stepping out of line for asking these questions?

[Ditchard]

FYI, Thomas knob will be "under construction" Oct 8th. Several rotting logs will be replaced. not sure what else. I will be one of the volunteers.

I am not a big fan of this shelter and the water source is always poor (for years). I hope I am proven wrong and it is better than I recall. Either way there are lots of great places to tent camp nearby. I personally would never stay in this shelter for these reasons, not to mention the poor location (exsposed).

Ditch

[Ditchard]

excuse my poor typing - lol

[Lone Wolf]

agree. lousy shelter. it should be torn down

[Wild Type]

Take down Thomas Knob? That's the silliest thing I've heard of. What, you want to move the old Deep Gap shelter back up from the Damascus Town Park. Have a look at that one sometime. Back in the 70s, that was state-of-the-art. I don't think there is any comparison to the current Thomas Knob Shelter; that is unless something has drastically changed from what I saw there last summer. The privy was a bit fly ridden but the spring was in great shape.

[Ditchard]

I would definitely not say it should be torn down. I just wouldn't stay there unless really necessary. And furthermore, I haven't seen it in several months but will be there next Friday so I will give a report after the repairs are done.

To be honest I avoid staying at all shelters so I am biased a little. But in really bad weather or if going really light or if really tired a shelter is a godsend. They all serve a purpose.

[scope]

agree. lousy shelter. it should be torn down

Isn't this a redundant comment from you?

[Lone Wolf]

Isn't this a redundant comment from you?

yeah. kinda

[Rick500]

Stayed there night before last. The shelter had just been worked on earlier in the day; several logs had been replaced, and there was a sign indicating that they would be back yesterday (10/10) to finish.

My experience was that it was a great shelter, nice privy, good water (there are cool little salamanders in the spring), and amazing views.

Several of us laid out on the boulders behind the shelter and watched the sunset. Later the Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon. It's nice and dark out there and you can see tons of stars.

Then a bunch of ponies walked up the trail and were apparently looking for food. They stuck around and licked the rocks on the ground in front of the shelter for a couple hours (or maybe more...they were still there when I fell asleep).

Best night of my trip, without a doubt.

[BabySue]

Sounds like no bear cables @ Thomas Knob. Lone Wolf says he doesn't hang food in this area. Do y'all agree?

[Lone Wolf]

Sounds like no bear cables @ Thomas Knob. Lone Wolf says he doesn't hang food in this area. Do y'all agree?

i don't hang food in any area. ponies are a problem in that area

[Doc Mike]

Ponies are the problem, and the highlight along with the views. I spent 4 days in there last month and did hang my food but that is my usual habit. I saw no bear sign at all. The advantage of hanging it is there is no need to worry about it. The advantage to not hanging it is will save tou about 5 minutes between putting up and taking down.

btw your right no bear cables (which by the way I think are silly anyway) People hike a lot of trails with worse and more dangerous bears than the AT and they don't have bear cables.

[Rick500]

Was out there a couple days ago. It's been wet, and there is lots of mud around the shelter. Water is running fine though.