Garfield Ridge tent site - shelter being replaced

Saturday night (9/10) the AMC dropped in the supplies to replace the shelter at the Garfield Ridge tent site. The caretaker informed the folks who were staying there that night that they would be the last in the old shelter, so it's possible it's already gone.

The new shelter is supposed to be very similar to the new Kinsman Pond shelter -- arched entry, with a loft for sleeping. The main beams were quite impressive - at 250 to 300 pounds apiece, the chopper brought them in 2 at a time.

They also dropped in 2 Bear Boxes, which the caretaker said the AMC is installing at all the shelters and tentsites, since apparently they've been having "issues" at Guyot, and they want to stop it before it spreads.

Lumber delivery






they came over to say hello !!!

some more info. on the shelter project here:
http://trailsblog.outdoors.org/2011...lvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=blogs

bryan

Shelter pre-fabricated like the Eliza Brook shelter. Here are some pictures of the new shelter in pre-fabrication stage (from AMC News):








article:
http://news.outdoors.org/2011/09/photos-garfield-ridge-shelter-closed.html

Cool entryway. Will there be a loft in there similar to Kinsman, Imp, etc? I assume, yes.

Are these shelters (that have a caretaker/fee during the season) just open during the winter, like a lean-to or tent site ?

The will need a significantly larger helicopter than the one pictured if they plan to helo the shelter into place.

Chip said:

Are these shelters (that have a caretaker/fee during the season) just open during the winter, like a lean-to or tent site ?

Click to expand...

Yes, caretakers usually are out sometime after Columbus Day. Definitely by the end of October.

MadRiver said:

The will need a significantly larger helicopter than the one pictured if they plan to helo the shelter into place.

Click to expand...

It's prefabricated, taken apart, helo'd and rebuilt on site. Note markings on the log in the first picture.

This blog entry talks about the process.

http://trailsblog.outdoors.org/2010/10/new-eliza-brook-shelter-with-slideshow.html

Here's a picture of the shelter parts being brought in

A few pictures from below:

I think the sign on the Twinway says the shelter will be closed until October 1.

Is the shelter open?

I'm going to try to check it out this weekend. I'm sure someone will be there sooner, though.

Here's a link to pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42110

I too was thinking of staying there this weekend. I called the AMC today and they said that they still need to put the shingles on the roof so they are "discouraging people from staying in the shelter unless there is an emergency." I believe there is a caretaker there this weekend, so that might be enforced. I was hoping to tentless backpack this weekend so I am not sure if it would be wise to make this destination, unless I want to cowboy camp on a platform which given the current forcast doesn't seem out of the question.

There are new signs out on Franconia and at Greenleaf that say its still closed. I talked to the Croo today at Greenleaf and they said the recent rains delayed the completion. Should be any time now. I love that tentsite

I stayed there on Tuesday night,10/4. Looks like it's done except for the roof shingles. It has tar paper and is dry. It is a work of art. Very stylish.
There is a loft about 4 feet off the floor.

The AMC posted to Facebook today that the shelter is now officially reopened. They will be doing a writeup on their trails blog next week.

I talked to three groups coming down on Sunday morning. They said that the new shelter is great. One man wondered if it was in the same location as the former shelter. Guess it was pretty noisy there Saturday night with the wind and rain.