Maybe the same person who felt compelled to vandalize the Mason/Dixon line...Originally Posted by veteran
every time i hear the name ed garvey im reminded of dan ackroyd's character on saturday night live.. "Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute!"
I broke a mirror in my house. I'm supposed to get seven years bad luck but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.
Didn't want to deal with the 1/2 mile downhill trek for water so I cooked dinner at Gathland SP picnic ground to minimize the water I had to carry. I had visited the shelter several times on day hikes but never overnighted until last week.
I liked the tight high-strung wire between trees that served as a bearbag line.
I liked the early morning sun streaming into the shelter owing to its Eastern exposure.
But I didn't like the light pollution from the valley littered with more and more housing developments.
LOL! You pulled that out of your hat! Tat's what'yall get for livung in Dineedin! LOl!
Oh stop complaning about the walk to water!
Ed Garvey Shelter: one of the largest and nicely constructed and well maintained AT shelters
2006, full shelter, top level was full too, couple of tents set up near shelter, 2 a.m., voices in the night, suddenly several flashlights, hikers start arousing from their slumber, more flashlights, patches on shoulders, shiny badges are flashed, hikers reach to secure personal belongings and herbal supplements, every hiker is awakened with a flashlight poked into their face, some ID's are checked, what the heck is going on?
Authorities were looking for young male who may have headed to the AT to possibly commit suicide. Authorities are finally convinced that the young man is not any of us. Authorities leave.
Awake now. Time for a safety meeting!
Young man is found next day. Depressed but alive. Came out to the AT to think about things!, Sort things out! I understand!
Howdy,
Names Rockfish I first thru-hiked the AT in 1999. Spent a rainy night at Gathland Park and after passin on Crampton Shelter found a trail witht a cardboard sign tied to a tree that said shelter. Went to check it out and what i thoufgt might be Rock Run Shelter was an old shelter built in 1940-41 and on the log over the opening was Carved Ed B Garvey shelter. This is not the new one with a loft if hiking North you had to venture a solid .15 or so to reach the Ed. very rustic , very cool I have to send a copy of my slide photo to the ATC in Harpers Ferry
You thruhiked when you were 2 years old? And took slides?
We were there this past Sunday on a dayhike from Gathland to Harpers Ferry. We chatted with a backpacker headed nobo before we got there and I asked him if he had stayed at Garvey. He said "No! It was like Woodstock there!" So we get there around 11 am...there was 2 person Big Agnes tent set up INSIDE the shelter. The owner was nowhere in sight. Pack was there, so we figured he/she was down getting water. Still..if it was so crowded there the night before how extraordinarily rude, unthinking, thick headed, inconsiderate and more to have set up that tent IN the shelter. Another thing we noticed...we've stayed there before and hiked past it many times. The sign that was up on the front of it that called it out as the "Ed Garvey" shelter was gone. So some stinking thief vandal stole it. There used to be 3 benches around the fire pit. Now there is only one. The sign pointing out the trail to the spring is gone.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
When I was there it was early March 2006.....should have listened to my partner and gone much further South
Got over 32 degrees one time in a week
Snow, ice and cold.............52lb winter pack (stupid).............got to this shelter, had enough water, ate, had a drink of great whisky, rode out a nice storm, slept in the loft, super nice shelter. Never thought about or had to go for water.
Started early in the am walking on ice and snow............all the way to PA
Not one of my best section hikes on the AT
That's a damn shame
If going further South meant Florida instead of the AT, then you're right.
If you meant further south on the AT, it would have been just as cold or colder.
So someone moved the Ed Garvey sign from the actual Garvey shelter to the old Rocky Run shelter in '99? Because it was on it's rightful shelter in 2003 and it was still there in Feb 2012 when I took a group there on a day hike. It shows up in the photos that I took that day. Apparently someone thinks it's funny to move the sign around? Or this time maybe they just flat out stole it.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Not sure how they Winter but while this thread is on the first page I figure I'll mention that there were black widows in the back left corner of Ed Garvey last Fall.
Other than that it's a great shelter. Seems like there's always a couple nice folks staying there on any given night.
Yes the black widows were there last year. Not sure about this year.
No water issues in this section that i need to worry about correct? Thanks in advance
Despite being a self-proclaimed arachnophobe I actually slept directly under that corner with no issues one night. I was tired and the shelter was full so I just went for it. They don't seem to move around a lot. I actually kind of appreciated getting to see them.
Nope, not right now. With a little planning you could get through Maryland only drinking from spigots. Good water sources listed below (that I've drank from without treatment within the last two months.) When we get into late July some of the sources may start drying up.
Pen-Mar Park (Bathroom)
Thurston Griggs Spring (POGO Memorial Campground)
Annapolis Rocks
Washington Monument (Spigot)
Dahlgren Backpacker's Campground (Full Bath House)
Rocky Run Shelter
Crampton's Gap (This was dry by mid July last year)
Gathland State Park (Spigot)
Ed Garvey Shelter
I don't like the two springs North of POGO, because they are box style so the water is sitting stagnant... I would treat those if I drank from them but usually I just skip over them.
How busy/occupied is this shelter during summer nights? Do weekend campers ever stay here? I only visited one time as I passed through, ate lunch here, but never stayed a night.
When hiking in bear country one does not need to be the fastest runner in the party, just not the slowest - TalusMonkey
It's probably the nicest shelter in the MD section and is fairly accessible. Expect it to be crowded with weekend warriors/scout groups/etc. on Fri/Sat nights.
you left to walk the appalachian trail
you can feel your heart as smooth as a snail
the mountains your darlings
but better to love than have something to scale
-Girlyman, "Hold It All At Bay"
Nice shelter, I was there years ago in the freezing cold of early March. Slept upstairs. Did not need to get water.........
MD not my favorite part of the AT
Last time through we stayed in the Bear Creek Cabin, just south of Lamb's Knoll (a few hours north of EG shelter). We had to rent it from the PATC. Not too far out of the way, 0.5 mi or so. Peaceful, with a pretty good spring.
Not to bad.
. Very nice shelter, the bear cable was broken and the stink bugs had taken over. I was there Wednesday and Friday night. I camped at the tent platform north of the shelter, Wednesday there was only two of us so the other gentleman opted for the shelter. He set his tent up in the shelter to avoid the bugs but did mention if it got crowded he would take it down. I saw a trail maintainer Thursday and he asked if there were any problems, I completely forgot about the bear cable but reported a tree across the trail, he said he had just taken care of that. I like that the shelter is close to the trail and it looks beautiful. The water source although a little walk has a nice picture pipe outlet to fill bags and bottles.
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