Date: 2016-06-26
From: Hightop Hut

To: Bearface Mountain Hut
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: few clouds

At the huts, there are 2 sleeping options. You can sleep in the mice/mosquito infested 3 walled huts (the huts/shelters are rectangular 3 sided buildings. One wall is missing and open to the great outdoors. The other option is to find a level spot and pitch a tent. I always sleep in my tent. A very large percentage of the hikers smoke a great deal of marijuana at the huts/shelters, and they make no effort to hide it. Rumer has it that there are undercover DEA agents with packpacks who hike the AT and secretly keep tabs on who is using/selling drugs of any sort. It was late in the evening. I had already retired to my tent, which was pitched in the woods, very close to the shelter. Two armed Natl. Park rangers strolled into the hut, which was very heavy with the smell of dope. It is mandatory for every person camping in Shenandoah Natl. Park (SNP) to fill out and carry with them at all times a permit, stating when they entered the park and where they plan to camp every nite. Lying in my tent, I could hear every word the rangers said. The rangers asked to see everyone's permit. One man had not filled out a free permit form, and was fined $80. The rangers then stated that the previous nite, someone staying at another shelter had complained to the rangers about a dope smoking young lady who was hiking with her dog (and the description of the dog matched the dope smoking young lady's dog perfectly.) The rangers told all the young people (ALL of who had been smoking pot, and ALL of whom had pot inside their backpacks) that they had a choice. They could either turn their dope over to the rangers and face a misdemeanor fine of $300, or they could have their packs searched, and any dope found would result in a felony charge. The young lady and one other fellow turned over their pot and got fines of $300 apiece. The other dopers decided to call the rangers' bluff and declared they had no pot. Their bluff worked, and their packs were not searched. I lay inside my tent, listening to all of this and cowering in fear. I had a permit, and I had no illegal substances of any sort, so in theory, I had nothing to worry about, However, a few years ago, I was a victim of a Natl. Park Ranger fine, and my fear was that the rangers would come to my tent, announce that I was illegally camped in a no camping zone (even though there was no sign of any sort stating that I was in a no camping zone) and levy a steep fine against me. I had this fear because a few years ago, I obtained a permit to camp right next to the ocean in Canaveral Natl. Seashores Park. When I arrived at the park headquarters, I asked a uniformed park ranger where I was allowed to camp. He replied that it would be very obvious where my camping area was. He said look for a sign that said "camping area" and camp there. I found the sign, and pitched my tent right under the sign. I knew I was in the right spot, because although the area was heavily vegitated, there was no vegetation where I pitched my tent, plus there was a very obvious path, indicating several other people had camped there in the past. I was fined $150 and screamed at for 20 minutes by a ranger, who told me I was camping in an off limits area. The fact that there was a sign right next to my tent saying "camping area" made no difference to the ranger. I appealed the fine to the director of Natl. Parks in Washington DC, who upheld the fine because "I should have known I was in an ofgf-limits area." In my letter appealing my fine, I asked that the sign saying "camping area" be removed to prevent further campers from using this area. This issue was not even addressed in the response I got. My guess is that the sign is still there, and park rangers are still collecting fines from people who "should know better" than to camp underneath a sign that says "camping area." By the time the rangers finished with the pot smokers, it was completely dark, and my tent was very tough to spot. I don't want to be cynical, but perhaps it was darkness that saved me from another fine from park rangers "double secret rules" that you are never told, but nevertheless expected to follow. As for the undetected pot smokers who did not have their pot confiscated, they learned their lesson and got rid of their pot the next morning. They got rid of their pot by smoking it as I ate breakfast with them the next morning.