Nearly every shelter I come upon has some food some well meaning hiker has left behind. Usually it has degraded such I wouldn't feed it to a dog.
Bad idea to leave food of any kind in the shelters.
Nearly every shelter I come upon has some food some well meaning hiker has left behind. Usually it has degraded such I wouldn't feed it to a dog.
Bad idea to leave food of any kind in the shelters.
I don't know about bears, but I do know from first-hand experience that rodents will gladly chew through the foil to eat the contents.
The local conservation group at a pond near me says that feeding the ducks can cause problems, so I don't feed the ducks. Feeding the ducks would be cool and might make me happy, but I find other things to do. The ATC has clearly outlined the difference in harmful and harmless "magic" and explained the effects, if you feel like you want to practice the harmful type of magic, please just find something else to do.
Calm down and re-read critically and in context, you'll discover that I was speaking in the terms of being a bear attractant - not of the correctness or incorrectness. The point evidently went over your head, despite standing on your soap box.
As to the propriety of leaving unopened, unexpired food items for other hikers is concerned, I'll leave that for one of the famous unending WB debates - but an unopened, unexpired food item in a bear box beats a cooler full of trash left randomly on the side of the trail.
I'll consider that observation should I ever be inclined to leave a Mountain House meal in a shelter. To date, I have not done so.
I'll assume you're preaching to the choir here. If you review the thread (a daunting task, for sure) you'll see that I'm in agreement with the ATC policy. I guess I'm lucky to have done most of my AT miles at times and places where these hiker feeds aren't happening.The local conservation group at a pond near me says that feeding the ducks can cause problems, so I don't feed the ducks. Feeding the ducks would be cool and might make me happy, but I find other things to do. The ATC has clearly outlined the difference in harmful and harmless "magic" and explained the effects, if you feel like you want to practice the harmful type of magic, please just find something else to do.
Yea, the second part of my post was just rambling, not aimed at anyone in particular.
First part was based off an instance where I was setting up to boil water, but the wife and I decided to hang out and catch a sunset in the middle of the river(giant pool on Ethan Pond trail/AT in the White's) first. Our sealed meals got left out, and 30 minutes later we came back and mine had been pretty well ransacked, no large footprints and many squirrel/chipmunks in the area though. They did leave my wife's Mango Sticky Rice meal alone, though, I guess they prefer Jerk Chicken.
Some things even a mutant chipmunk/squirrel hybrid won't eat, even it is trail magic.
"Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whisky
He can call for his tea
Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan
Whiteblaze.net User Agreement.
There was a hungry dog nosing around the campfire begging for food. A guy asked the dog owner if he could feed his left over Knorr loaded mashed potatoes to the dog. The dog owner said "sure!" He dumped the potatoes on a rock for the dog to eat. The dog wanted nothing whatsoever to do do with those potatoes. I kind of looked back and forth between the potato donor and the dog owner, looking to see which of them would take responsibility for the clump of potatoes on the rock. It was still sitting there when I went to sleep. It's probably still there.
I'm not a thru hiker, and probably will not ever be one, but I have read stories. The two that stand out are. They have nothing to do with food.
Can't recall his name, but he thru hiked the AT by two complete day hikes. He was driving in back country and one of his tires gave out. Someone came by and had two sets of tire repair kits and just gave them to him.
Another was someone who hiked the very harsh Grand Enchantment Trail (Albuquerque to Phoenix). He was quite dehydrated and looking for a water cache. He goes by a house and asks if there is water in some tank. 15-20 minutes later, a lady drives by with a huge container of ice water and hands it to him. She said, "I thought you might like it cold."
I guess you can pick and choose your magic if you want. I skipped a major hiker feed in PA on a section hike of 300 miles because I didn't want to hang around for an extra day in order to attend. On the other hand I caught a trail angel in the act of setting up a magic spot and enjoyed speaking with him for over an hour. Hike your own hike, and if you're hungry, eat if it's offered.
Long-distance aspirations with short-distance feet.... :jump
BIG difference between Trail Magic and Hiker Feeds!
We had a ranger stop in at our "Trail Magic" this year to check it out because he said that the ATC was getting concerned about thru hikers relying on "feeds" to hike. We were only giving out hot dogs and beer,and only beer to over 21, under 21 got soft drinks. The ranger told us that it was no problem. We were only giving out hot dogs and drinks. They were mostly concerned with feeds. He said that we were giving trail magic, not having a feed.
Updates to the ATC web page today (10/24). I think it clarifies things a bit more. http://appalachiantrail.org/home/exp...ng/trail-magic
"Keep It Small and Leave No Trace"
Cosmo
I have to admit that a pair of innersoles left in a shelter saved my feet. I was hiking with massive blisters after changing shoes. Every step was pain. In a shelter someone left a pair of innersoles with a very unusual cut in them. I put them in and tried and none of the sore spots were activated. Next day I used them, and while not zero pain, it was much better and got be through the next few days till I can get to a outfitter and get another pair of shoes.
After that I am torn about leaving potentially useful stuff in shelters. yes innersoles, yuck! but yes it worked magic. Is there room for leaving helpful stuff behind? I am thankful that there is.
This is true, but I can't express the thankfulness of this. And have to question if it's really garbage, or something beyond what we can understand. I inner knowing, which will continue despite LNT. Now what I said is exactly that. some things, gestures of good will, will always be there and they don't have to be codified because people doing such things will do so on the basis of a inner knowing which is beyond understanding and above worldly things.
But if allowed, it breaks down, so yes one should not lave such things.
However in this case I would not consider this left as trash, but as a inner knowing intentional offering. It would be way too easy to leave them hidden in some brush, but there they were, and actually seemed glowing, not really glowing, but there was something there about them, and again, getting over the yuck factor, did work very well.