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  1. #1
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    Default Dick's Dome Shelter

    Info, questions, comments, experiences (good or bad) regarding - Dick's Dome Shelter

    Past/Present hikers - what can future hikers expect here? Have any good stories or memories from here?

    Future hikers - any questions?

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  2. #2
    GA-ME 3/5/02 -8/14/02
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    Don't get your hopes up. This place was pretty disappointing. The guide book says "geodesic dome"- it's a plywood shelter that sleeps about 3, maybe 4 small people. Good water source but the good water source puts you in the middle of the bugs. I would pass this one by if I were to do the trail again....
    "It's a dangerous business, going out your door...if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to."-The Hobbit

  3. #3
    Addicted Hiker and Donating Member Hammock Hanger's Avatar
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    Default pic of dome...

    I have a picture of Dutch Uncle, Amtrak & Sarge at this shelter if I can find it, I'll post it. As jumpstart says, buggy and not impressive. I walked quite a distance off the trail (longer then the book says) to see it. Yuck. Then hiked on. HH
    Hammock Hanger -- Life is my journey and I'm surely not rushing to the "summit"...:D

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  4. #4

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    Stayed at Dicks Dome in Feb of 1999 I believe and it was a welcome sight after hiking all day in yhe sleet/rain/snow. The only other option was the state park a few miles ahead and it lies way, way off trail!

  5. #5

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    There are plenty of other shelters in the immediate area if it isn't up to anyone's standards. I felt kinda bad reading the entries in the shelter register that were trashing the place cause from what I understand this was a father/son project not one created by a team of trailworkers.

  6. #6
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    Default Dick's Dome

    I stayed there in 01 after walking by the Denton Shelther...Big Mistake haha. The resident rat (not mouse) chewed the stabilizer off another hikers pack, shredded his boot laces and ate through my Leki Makalu's webbing. I must say looking back it's amusing but at the time was not.

    Doesn't make much sense to camp there considering you have to walk by the Denton shelter to get there, but you live and learn. If I remember correctly there is a decent campsite about 20 meters away from the shelter.

  7. #7

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    Tented there last summer so didn't experience the "Rat." Kind of liked the tent site by the stream and the privy was better than most.

  8. #8

    Thumbs up

    I like Dicks Dome, but then again I'm a dirtbagger who thrives on the more "rustic" places on the AT. I'd rather stay at the Doyle than at a Hilton. These places have a type of Hiker Class and Tradition that you will find no where else. In a world with countless malls and box buildings, you have to appreciate the unique places that still exist.

  9. #9
    Future AT Bag Lady Mini-Mosey's Avatar
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    Default

    I didn't actually stay in the shelter itself but stopped by it at least once while hiking in that area. I think the area surrounding it is beautiful. I tented there one cold night in December, amazing how different the same place looks at different times of the year!!I believe the book I had warned against using the water there, I think it had something to do with the location of the privy(?)
    mini-m.

  10. #10
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    Default Rats!

    There's actually only one rat, and he's HUGE

    When I passed thru in Oct of '02 the sign said to hang everything incl boots, for the rat would knaw on them too. Sadly he tried to knaw on my face, & I had to make a precipitous exit @ 4:00 a.m. It's cold @ 4 in October.

    I was very upset at the caretakers, not b/c the shelter was in deplorable shape (which it was), but b/c they appologized for the inconvienece until they could install a salt lick.

    A salt lick! I say Kill the bastard! Their animal loving attitude ruined my night, and potentially my health...............

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by BlackCloud
    I was very upset at the caretakers, not b/c the shelter was in deplorable shape (which it was), but b/c they appologized for the inconvienece until they could install a salt lick.

    A salt lick! I say Kill the bastard! Their animal loving attitude ruined my night, and potentially my health...............
    I wish I could have been there when they told you the salt lick line. I would have paid to see the look on your face. I am, however, very sorry they forced you to stay there.

  12. #12
    •Completed A.T. Section Hike GA to ME 1996 thru 2003 •Donating Member Skyline's Avatar
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    Default Impressions

    Haven't been to the Dome in a few years, and then it was only a stop during a couple of dayhikes, but it left these impressions:

    1) A beautiful setting.

    2) A really dumb circular design, guaranteed to use the largest number of square inches to sleep the fewest number of hikers.

    3) A privy directly uphill from the water source, again--not smart. Hopefully this has been or will be rectified.

    Two shelters south is the Hiker Hilton, Jim & Mollie Denton Shelter . . . An almost decadent creation that is often bypassed by anyone starting the morning NOBO at US522, and that's a shame.

    One shelter south is Manassas Gap Shelter--which is better than it used to be (I saw photos of two PATC volunteers wearing biohazard suits when rehabbing it a few years back!) but reportedly still has one or more resident pit vipors; it does, however have a great piped spring. There used to be a single decent tentsite along the access trail which I used once.

    Actually, the first time I did the section Harpers Ferry>US522 (SOBO), I did go way off the trail and spent a day and a half at Sky Meadows State Park at one of their walk-in tentsites. It was a great experience, with a visitor center about a mile further, some trails of its own that featured historic overviews, and more.

    While admittedly the miles between Harpers Ferry and Front Royal are not the A.T.'s most exciting, Sky Meadows, plus Bears Den Hostel and Blackburn Trail Center, add enough to the experience to break up any boredom that might drift in, and help to offset that Rollercoaster thing.

  13. #13
    Registered User Steve W's Avatar
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    Default

    I stopped in briefly in 2001 and it didn't seem that bad. I just had ate and moved on but if the timing was different I would have stayed. It might not be the fanciest shelter on the trail but it's not as bad as everyone says. I've seen worse. As for the rat though, that's a totally different story.

  14. #14

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    I hiked in here from Front Royal largely after dark in May '03. I got in at around 10 pm and was soaked due to pooring rain and a trailway full of standing water. There were two gentlemen asleep in one half the shelter and a girl sprawled at an angle taking up most of the second half. Still, I found room between her and the wall, but I had to step over her to get there. I was as quiet as reasonably possible to avoid tarping in the rain and I shielded my headlamp with my fingers.

    At 5 am the next morning-before first light-the female hiker got up and made her exit as loud as possible, including dropping boots or pack or something heavy on the floor several times and letting her Lekis drop a few times from some height (I presume all for my benefit). It didn't phase me and I slept on only slightly disturbed, but the other two hikers were laughing about her when we three were up a couple hours later.

    One of those hikers was an 80-year old gentlemen on his fifth 2,000 mile trek. He was phenomenal, and he gave me a terrific confidence-boosting compliment by saying that I looked like I would surely finish my thru-hike.

  15. #15

    Default small place...

    having just been there a few weeks ago, i found it small. not much tent space around - don't count on tenting if its raining, some of the sites downhill from the shelter get really wet

    --megabite
    Megabite, GA->ME 2004, http://www.walkingnorth.com

  16. #16
    Registered User A-Train's Avatar
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    Default

    I loved this place, maybe my fav shelter on the AT. Got there after a long day expecting to be tenting in the rain. No one was there, spent the night just me and my 2 buds. Slept in the next morning while the rain came down and didnt get hiking till close to noon.

    Beautiful stream/flooded trail right outside the shelter. Can't put my finger on it, just one of those special places.

    The one before it south is nasty
    Anything's within walking distance if you've got the time.
    GA-ME 03, LT 04/06, PCT 07'

  17. #17
    Is it raining yet?
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    Red face Chicken or the egg

    Quote Originally Posted by Blue Jay
    I wish I could have been there when they told you the salt lick line. I would have paid to see the look on your face. I am, however, very sorry they forced you to stay there.
    Yea you're right. Caretakers have no responsibility to keep a shelter sanitary; hikers be damned.

    Rat + outhouse directly above water source = bad place to hang. Raining & 15 miles in, I was out of options and HUNGRY.

    I have hiked 1/4 of the AT, stayed in some shady places, but this one is my personal loser. Sorry.
    Last edited by BlackCloud; 07-16-2004 at 19:01. Reason: Add a line

  18. #18
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    Default Dick's Dome

    I spent a night here in Oct 95 during a section hike from HF to Front Royal. So happens that Tropical Storm (formerly Hurricane) Opal passed thru the area that night. It was a tight fit, with 4 additional hikers, but I was glad to be under a roof that evening. Many, many limbs were blown down during the storm, which made for a scary night, as they crashed off of the shelter; not a good night to be tenting!

    Toofarafoot

  19. #19

    Default

    First newbie post-here goes. I passed through about 2 years ago on an overnighter from Manassas Gap North to Sky Meadows SP. The latrine was well above the stream and I didn't feel good about the water. I followed the stream 200 yds or so upstream and found a pool or 2 in the rocks with a fair flow, and collected a couple of quarts to filter. If memory serves, it was abit of a hassle getting to it as the stream bed was very rocky and offered some pretty good chances to twist an ankle. Up hill from the shelter and behind the latrine there's a fire road of sorts. At the time there were several large trees down across the road (either deadfalls or cut to block ORV passage). It struck me as a decent place to pitch a tent if there wasn't too much rain.

  20. #20
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    Default nasty

    I stopped in this summer for a little afternoon nap on my way to bigger and better things for the day. I was quite disturbed by the privy situation but the scenery and location were beautiful. However, it was probably the most poorly designed shelter that I saw...big but can only sleep 3 or 4 people comfortably. Heck, even 2 with gear is pushing in when I stopped in for nap time with someone I was hiking with. What was the designer thinking? Plus it was dirty.

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