Why Is the National Park Service Tearing Down Two Historic Appalachian Trail Shelters?

For hikers who have made the trek through Pennsylvania’s notoriously rough section of the Appalachian Trail, the 501 shelter and the Eckville shelter are notable landmarks. Unlike most of the AT’s spartan lean-tos, both of the two shelters are fully enclosed and feature on-site caretakers; hikers stopping at the 501 can order pizza directly to their door, while visitors to the Eckville shelter can avail themselves of its solar shower. But by the time the bubble reaches them in 2027, both may be gone.

Earlier this year, the National Park Service announced it planned to demolish both the 501 and Eckville, which it considers “non-conforming” due to their design and close proximity to roads. As Backpacker news correspondent Mary Beth “Mouse” Skylis wrote this month, a local hiking club that’s long been involved in their management now plans to rally hikers in an attempt to change the park service’s mind before it’s too late. I spoke with Mary Beth about the future of two of the AT’s most unusual shelters, and where the community goes from here.

Transcript

Adam Roy: Earlier this year, news broke that the National Park Service was planning on demolishing two well-known shelters on the Pennsylvania section of the Appalachian Trail, the Eckville shelter and the 501 shelter. Well, last week we found out that a Pennsylvania hiking club, the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club, was forming a committee to look at ways they could save them. I’m here with Mary Beth Skylis, a Backpacker correspondent who’s covered the attempt to save these two shelters. Mary Beth, how are you doing today?

Mary Beth Skylis: I’m good. How are you?

Adam: I’m doing pretty well. So tell me a little bit about these two shelters in question, the Eckville shelter and the 501. What makes them so memorable?

Mary Beth: Yeah, they have a lot of qualities that make them really unique. The 501 shelter is known as the ‘Pizza shelter,’ because you can order pizza almost directly to the shelter. And the Eckville shelter, they’re both four-walled structures, which is a little bit unique on the Appalachian Trail—a lot of the time they’re just three walls, but they’re very protective. I believe the Eckville shelter also has solar toilets and things like that. They’re very luxurious shelters for Appalachian Trail goers.

Adam: So these two shelters, are they in disrepair? Why is the National Park Service trying to demolish them?

Mary Beth: My understanding is that they’re considered non-conforming, which doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the structures themselves, it’s more like a bureaucratic label. Back in the day when the Appalachian Trail was designated as a national park site, the Park Service started purchasing land on either side of the trail to kind of create a buffer. And sometimes when that happens, they also purchase structures that are associated with that land, and that’s what happened with the Eckville and the 501 shelters.

Non-conforming, in this case, really refers to their proximity to the roads. They’re both basically right on a road, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, their guidelines basically say that shelters should be two miles or further away from roads, so that’s one way in which they’re non-conforming. They’re also kind of unique in terms of their actual structures, where they’re really buildings, full-on buildings.

Adam: Do you have any sense of why it might be important to the National Park Service that these are non-conforming? Is this literally just checking a box, or is there some kind of larger concern with them?

Mary Beth: Honestly, I think that it’s a matter of liability. I think that it’s probably very expensive and challenging to upkeep structures like that. These structures are, I’m not sure about in the 501 shelter’s case, but in Eckville’s case, it’s at least 100 years old. The building itself is really old, and they face issues like, porcupines have been known to chew through the wood. Just the basic upkeep of these structures can be kind of challenging. And then if you have people sleeping in these shelters all the time and there’s something that goes wrong, the Park Service could be held liable for that.

Adam: Tell me a little bit about the effort to save these structures. This local hiking club in Pennsylvania has stepped up over the past few weeks and says they’re going to attempt to look at solutions.

Mary Beth: I think that there is a lot of energy. Hikers in general are just really sad to hear that these shelters are potentially going to be demolished. Because they’re iconic. They’re cultural places, they create opportunities for people to gather together. The caretaker element makes them really unique in that you can chat with a local legend to learn about what’s going on in the area. And then they’re also located in a part of Pennsylvania where there are limited amenities, so without the use of these shelters, hikers would have to travel further distances to get to water and access points and things like that.

The Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club has been a land manager in the area for a long time, and they have already been responsible for maintaining the properties and making some of the upgrades there. They established a committee to look at saving those shelters because they recognize the cultural, historical, and logistical value that those structures have for Appalachian Trail hikers. I will say, I spoke with the acting president with BMECC, and he said not everybody on the committee is in favor of saving the shelter. Some people think that it’s kind of a futile effort and that they should spend their time and resources establishing new campsites instead of trying to save the shelters.

Adam: Can you tell me about some of the ideas that people have floated to save these shelters? I take it that just buying the land outright is not an option.

Mary Beth: Barnett, the acting president for the BMECC, said that you can’t just purchase it outright because it’s national park land. There could be the opportunity to do a structure swap, but that’s a really time-consuming and kind of impractical strategy. So they’re really just looking at a grassroots effort to pressure the National Park Service to change their decision and allow management efforts to continue as they’ve already been existing.

Adam: You yourself are an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker. Do you want to tell me a little bit about your experience with these shelters?

Mary Beth: Yeah, sure. I remember the 501 shelter vividly because, well, pizza. There are a few sections of trail in Pennsylvania in particular where you go for a long distance without any amenities, so they’re kind of just like this beacon of hope in the distance. The 501 is, I think, in large part because of the pizza, but also because the structure itself was very nice, at least 10 years ago when I hiked the Appalachian Trail. So it’s a big community hub. It’s like a bucket list stop on everybody’s list, so they’re really great locations for a congregation.

The Eckville shelter, I didn’t stay at personally, but I did stop to see it, and it’s similar. It’s like a community place of historical significance. That’s really one of the reasons that people hike the Appalachian Trail. They’re these beautiful destinations with unique properties to them. So yeah, I think that the Appalachian Trail is full of these amazing destinations with unique stories, and the Eckville and 501 shelters are a piece of that history.

Adam: Mary Beth, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today and thank you for your reporting on this. We’ll look forward to seeing how the campaign shakes out.

Mary Beth: Thank you.