September 3rd, 2018
The emergency shelter at Camp Muir is a welcome resource to climbers and hikers who find themselves at Camp Muir and need a brief respite from difficult weather conditions. However, as with any convenient shelter resource, it tends to be treated like a vacation rental by some users, where after you use it, there is a cleaning staff to come in and clean up after you, do the laundry, dishes, and change the sheets.
This, of course, is not the case.
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| Half eaten dehydrated meals, burritos and bagels left in the public shelter. On this particular day, there was probably 15 lbs of food left for others to clean up and carry out. All had to be thrown out after sitting there for 2 days. Beneath it all: granola encrusted to the counter. |
- Emergency Use. The primary use of this shelter is as an emergency shelter. On a space-available basis, users are welcome to sleep in it. Please remember the sad stories over the years where climbers who were in need of shelter, found their way to the hut during a storm, discovered it was full, and decided to descend and never made it back to Paradise. If you are occupying the shelter, you are the host. Please welcome all folks into the hut, especially when the weather is poor or the condition of the folks look like they need it.
- BYOB. Bring your own bivy or tent. There are no reservations for the public shelter, so park employees can't guarantee you a spot. It fits about 25 people comfortably, and even more during a storm. Make sure you are conscious about how much space your stuff is taking up when there are a lot of people who want to stay in the public shelter.
- Leave the shelter nicer than you found it. That means leaving none of your trash, half eaten food, and/or untouched food. People seem to think they are doing others a favor by leaving food, but people don't eat things when they have no idea where it came from. At best it all gets thrown out and it's a terrible waste. At worst, it starts a habituated wildlife problem and attracts mice who then learn to eat through packs to get all those tasty energy bars. Think about giving the hut a quick sweep before you go and wiping down the counter after you use it.
- Label your food and put it in the bear boxes next to the shelter if you are stashing it for a climb. Be sure to have your name and the date you are due out on your bag of food. And when you head down from camp, bring everything with you. Leave nothing.
- Be courteous to other public shelter users. Many are climbers that go to bed early to wake up very early. Please keep things quiet in the evenings. If you are a light sleeper, bring earplugs so you don't get woken up as easily and get grouchy. Pack out ALL your trash, food, food scraps, clothes, and gear. Double check the shelter and outside it so you don't forget anything.
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| Trash swept off the beds and floor of the Public Shelter at Camp Muir. |
The public shelter is a wonderful amenity. Most mountains in North America don't have something like this half way up them. Please respect the use of this shelter and don't leave messes for others to clean. Again, use the mantra "pack it in; pack it out."
