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	Photo by Bill Green Ranger Tammy McCorkle, assistant manager of South Mountain Recreation Area, which includes Greenbrier, Gathland, South Mountain and Washington Monument state parks, stands in front of the newly constructed shelter that sleeps 16 at Rocky Run, near Reno Monument Road.

They are among the first hikers to spend the night in the restored log shelter, which was built in 1940 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and completed in 1941 by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. It's one of only 15 remaining CCC shelters on the entire AT. Most are built of stone and the Rocky Run shelter is one of the few remaining built of logs.

"It's pretty nice. It kept us nice and warm," said Lynne Miller, 19, of Oberlin, Ohio.

"It fit all six of us," said Sophia Weinmann, 19, of Oberlin. The young women were on fall break from Oberlin College and took a few days to hike the 41 miles of AT in Maryland.

The log shelter is one of two shelter projects recently completed by the PATC, one of 30 trail clubs, linked together by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, that maintain sections of the 2,175-mile trail that runs from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia.

Headquartered in Vienna, Va., PATC maintains 240 miles of the AT, from Pine Grove Furnace, Pa., to the southern end of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, according to Lee Sheaffer, PATC president. The club was founded in 1927 and also maintains an additional 1,000 miles of other regional trails in Maryland, southern Pennsylvania, Northern Virginia, the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

In addition to restoring the CCC log shelter, volunteer crews also built a new log shelter and moldering privy nearby. The semi-enclosed privy sits on a raised platform and uses wood shavings and red wriggler worms to work the waste into compost. "It's better for the environment than traditional outhouses," said Sheaffer. "They eat it all up and recycle it into organic material." Worms will be added annually in the spring, after the last freeze.

Trail 'magic'

Originally, the club planned to take down the old log shelter and replace it with a larger one. But, noting its historic significance, Preservation Maryland provided funding for materials to restore the CCC-built shelter and PATC volunteers did the work.

Built of chestnut, several of the bottom logs had deteriorated. Workers jacked the shelter up and replaced them with round white oak logs, rechinked it, put on a new wood shake roof and installed a new wood floor.

Sheaffer said the shelter site was chosen probably because the hillside offers protection and Rocky Run spring bubbles forth nearby. Over the years, two decks, a grill pit, porch swing and a flower bed have been added, making it a homey sight for weary hikers.

The site for the new shelter, just a few hundred yards from the old one, was chosen because it's flat. Built of new half logs, it has three full sides, a wood floor and a plywood-floored loft, and sleeps 16 people. The roof extends over a large wood-deck porch, which could double as sleeping space. Large clerestory windows flood the shelter with natural light. Most AT shelters are dark inside, said Sheaffer.

New shelters typically cost $7,000 to $9,000 and take eight to 12 months of volunteer labor to build, he said. PATC is also building new shelters at Devils Racecourse in Maryland and at Rod Hollow in Virginia. "Every shelter is a little different," he said. "But basically they are three-sided structures."

The Rocky Run shelters are on state property in the South Mountain Recreation Area, which includes Greenbrier, Gathland, South Mountain and Washington Monument state parks. SMRA has about 400,000 visitors annually; most visiting Greenbrier.

"The peak season for (thru-hikers) using the shelters in this area is June; then there's the weekend people," said Ranger Tammy McCorkle, assistant manager of SMRA. "On weekdays, there may be 10 to 15 people wanting to use the shelters." McCorkle said she regularly hikes the AT in Maryland, from Harpers Ferry, W.Va., to Pen Mar, Pa.

"We get a lot of use because it's a doable section. You can do it in a long weekend," she said, noting people from around the country who are planning to hike the AT will come here to train. "People who hike the AT say it's easy. Most of the trail is on old logging roads. It has beautiful overlooks, and the trail goes through Civil War battlefield areas," and PATC keeps the trail well maintained and marked, she said.

The Maryland AT also has six shelters and three campgrounds for hikers, including one with flush toilets and showers. "I think there's only one other spot on the (entire) trail where you can do that," said McCorkle.

There are three more CCC-constructed shelters on the AT in Maryland -- at Pine Knob, Cramptons Gap and Devils Racecourse, said McCorkle. The Ed Garvey Shelter was built in 2001 and is named for the man who thru-hiked the trail many times and is the author of "Appalachian Hiker: Adventure of a Lifetime" (1971) and "The New Appalachian Trail (Appalachian Hiker)" (1997). It's located between Gathland and Weverton Cliffs and is a two-story log shelter. The Ensign Cowall Shelter was built in the '90s, said McCorkle, and was funded by Cowall's family. It's near Smithsburg.

In the logbook provided for visitors to the new Rocky Run shelter, comments include "great job," "beautiful shelter and privy," "magic" and "The Palace."

One visitor wrote: "It has to be the nicest shelter on the trail."

Another recognized the efforts of PATC: "We appreciate the work and see the difference a club can make."