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Thread: Shaker Campsite

  1. #1
    Section Hiker 350 miles DebW's Avatar
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    Default Shaker Campsite

    The Shaker Campsite about 10 miles south of Upper Goose Pond now has a bear cable for hanging food. I don't believe there have been bear problems there, but bears have been sighted there. Anyway, if you camp there you can save youself the trouble of hanging your own bear bag.

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    Stopped by Shaker campsite last weekend on my way back from Mt Wilcox N shelter to MA 20, where I'd parked.

    Campsite is in great condition--better than last yr, when there was a fair amount of trash there.

    The bear cable was jammed when I got there, but it's now working again.

    Nice campsite, except for the noise you get from the farms down in the valley--cars, dogs, cows!

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    Registered User whcobbs's Avatar
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    :banana Shaker campsite GPS coordinates

    This campsite isn't noted in the companion MA-CT maps of 8th edition of the AT Trail Guide. Can someone please supply the GPS coordinates? The various lists of Shelter way points do not include independent campsites, as far as I can tell.
    Thanks,
    Walt

    Quote Originally Posted by cascader
    Stopped by Shaker campsite last weekend on my way back from Mt Wilcox N shelter to MA 20, where I'd parked.

    Campsite is in great condition--better than last yr, when there was a fair amount of trash there.

    The bear cable was jammed when I got there, but it's now working again.

    Nice campsite, except for the noise you get from the farms down in the valley--cars, dogs, cows!

  4. #4

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    OK spot, but folks should be aware that in recent years, this has been (except for maybe Tom Leonard shelter near Great Barrington) about the most bug-ridden place on the whole Trail. If you're in mid-summer, bring MAXIMUM strength Deet or you'll be using the new bear cables to hang yourself.

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    Jack-- Thanks for the advice. Actually I was interested for winter use. I was unaware of the existence of this campsite when I planned an intended Great Barrington -- N Adams NoBo section hike, which aborted 16 Jan when I saw I couldn't make shelter to shelter distances on snowshoes in daylight on the stretch from Mt Wilcox to Upper Goose Pond. (Thread on Straight Forward). I wanted GPS coords because I found I had to bushwack in places.
    Walt

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    I stayed there on 9/10. There is a bear box, privy, 2 tent platforms, and enough open space for ground tents also. Stream is about 1 minute north on the trail. It was running even though the dry weather. Not any mosquitoes, also probably because of the dry weather. The place was clean and maintained. My thanks to the trail crews. Mark S.

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    Nice spot. Well maintained and quite popular the nite I stayed last summer. The skeeters weren't too bad, but I retreated to the hammock early that night. Some neat old rusty farm equipment abandoned among the underbrush next to the cleared campsite. http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...?i=23813&c=570
    Mobilis in Mobili

  8. #8

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    stayed here with 2 SOBO friday sept. 12th. nice spot! but beware of the mouse family in the register box!

    all the streams were running well in this section - this late summer/fall in NE has seen a lot of rain!
    ~Christy

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    Woke up here Monday Morning.

    Coordinates are approximately 42.25213, -73.22431

    A sign on a tree points "Shaker Campsite Privy." It should read "Shaker Campsite And Privy" because we walked right past it thinking it was only the privy and that the campsite would be denoted a little better.

    Two platforms are roughly 7.5'x7.5'. Bear box is still in good condition. Looked like some genius was hanging bear-bags directly in between the two platforms.

    If you're going Northbound, try not to get water from the streams just after North Mt. Wilcox shelter, the streams were loaded with nitrates. There are some small streams a couple hundred feet northbound on the trail.

    up over the hills, theres nothing to fear
    theres a pub across the way with whisky and beer
    its a lengthy journey on the way up to the top
    but it ain't so bad if you have a great big bottle o'scotch

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    Registered User whcobbs's Avatar
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    Default coordinates of Shaker Campsite

    Totem,

    Thanks so much for the GPS data. It's taken more than 3 years for someone to happen by the site in a GPS sort of mood. In blizzard conditions on snowshoes the information can be pretty handy. And thanks for the image.

    Happy Trails,
    Walt

    Quote Originally Posted by Totem View Post
    Woke up here Monday Morning.

    Coordinates are approximately 42.25213, -73.22431

    A sign on a tree points "Shaker Campsite Privy." It should read "Shaker Campsite And Privy" because we walked right past it thinking it was only the privy and that the campsite would be denoted a little better.

    Two platforms are roughly 7.5'x7.5'. Bear box is still in good condition. Looked like some genius was hanging bear-bags directly in between the two platforms.

    If you're going Northbound, try not to get water from the streams just after North Mt. Wilcox shelter, the streams were loaded with nitrates. There are some small streams a couple hundred feet northbound on the trail.


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    Formerly "Totem"
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    Not a problem. Also verified the location using, satellite imagry, which clearly shows the Shaker Farmhouse wall (in the background of my pic) on the satellite shots.







    The privy is the white dot touching the top of the red ring.
    up over the hills, theres nothing to fear
    theres a pub across the way with whisky and beer
    its a lengthy journey on the way up to the top
    but it ain't so bad if you have a great big bottle o'scotch

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    Hey how much of a hike is this from teh road?

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    it just looks like on the map that there is a road, jerusalem road which is right near this shaker campsite. just curious how much of a hike it is from the road and if there's parking there... i just need a quick night away in front of a fire...

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    Quote Originally Posted by k-n View Post
    How does this fit into the topic discussion?
    Looks like a cute little white-footed-I-carry-Lyme-disease-ticks mouse (common shelter mouse).
    As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11

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    Stayed here Saturday Sept 17 and it was nice and quiet. Well kept.

    A

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    Registered User rainmaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prettywoman0172 View Post
    Stayed here Saturday Sept 17 and it was nice and quiet. Well kept.

    A
    Glad to hear it is still there. The week before you were there my wife and I stopped for a brief lunch and were entertained by about twenty freshmen college students trying to figure out how to rig a tarp for the lot of them. They were on some sort of Ivy League freshmen orientation. While the coed tarp was being assembled, one fellow was gathering firewood and breaking the larger branches against the old wall, loosening some of the stones. As we proceeded north, we ran into two additional groups of ten also on the way to Shaker.

  18. #18

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    Yes, the "College Season" laid waste to a number of overnight sites in Mass this season. At Wilbur Clearing a group from Yale washed their dishes in the water source (which is pretty feeble since we are down about 7" in rain this year). They used diswashing liquid 'tho, so the water wasn't greasy.

    Regretfully, there is little we can do to punish and/or educate these groups, short of having caretakers at every site the last week in August through Labor Day. And in truth, most of the groups are pretty well behaved (as well as a dozen over-privileged post adolescents can be on their first big hike)--and lest you think I'm overgeneralizing, I teach at one of those schools.

    The Yale organizers did get a terse letter, but hey, it's not like we can guard all the trailheads and send them back to New Haven.

    Cosmo

    Quote Originally Posted by rainmaker View Post
    Glad to hear it is still there. The week before you were there my wife and I stopped for a brief lunch and were entertained by about twenty freshmen college students trying to figure out how to rig a tarp for the lot of them. They were on some sort of Ivy League freshmen orientation. While the coed tarp was being assembled, one fellow was gathering firewood and breaking the larger branches against the old wall, loosening some of the stones. As we proceeded north, we ran into two additional groups of ten also on the way to Shaker.

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    If you're going Northbound, try not to get water from the streams just after North Mt. Wilcox shelter,the streams were loaded with nitrates. There are some small streams a couple hundred feet northbound on the trail.

    Manwich, enlighten me, I don't feel like researching nitrates, is it bad or good and how do you know?

  20. #20
    Registered User rainmaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cosmo View Post
    Yes, the "College Season" laid waste to a number of overnight sites in Mass this season. At Wilbur Clearing a group from Yale washed their dishes in the water source (which is pretty feeble since we are down about 7" in rain this year). They used diswashing liquid 'tho, so the water wasn't greasy.

    Regretfully, there is little we can do to punish and/or educate these groups, short of having caretakers at every site the last week in August through Labor Day. And in truth, most of the groups are pretty well behaved (as well as a dozen over-privileged post adolescents can be on their first big hike)--and lest you think I'm overgeneralizing, I teach at one of those schools.

    The Yale organizers did get a terse letter, but hey, it's not like we can guard all the trailheads and send them back to New Haven.

    Cosmo
    Cosmo,
    Most of the groups were pretty well behaved and more or less polite though ignorant of trail manners. The crowd from Amherst and Princeton though were definitely rude and loud. BTW, I loved your town and will be back there next year to finish my walkabout to Baxter. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed Massachusetts. Great state and friendly people.

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