Latecomers
Original post
I'm interested to hear the group's comments regarding latecomers to huts.
As we all know, our backcountry huts are special and unique assets to New Zealand. They are, for the most part, available to the public at a minimal cost on a first-come, first-served basis.
All are welcome and I believe most of us act in good faith and welcome fellow travelers when they arrive, sometimes wet and cold and in need of warmth and shelter.
However, when does that good-natured, backcountry Kiwi welcome get worn thin? And how do people respond to fellow trampers who do not share our backcountry principles?
My patience was spread thin this past weekend at Wharfedale Hut in the Oxford Forest Conservation Area. Me and 5 young German women were peacefully sleeping away when at 12:40am a clamorous group of 5 (4 Czechs and 1 Scot) showed up, ready to party. They made no attempt to quietly approach the hut. It sounded like the aliens had landed and we were all about to be probed. I greeted them at the door and asked incredulously, "Are you all just now arriving at the hut?"
The answer was a resounding, "Yes!".
"Well, there's 5 of us in the hut."
"Hey! That's how many of us there are!"
"...and we're all sleeping!"
Well, that shut them up a bit and they skulked into the hut and went to bed, their bladders and plastic bottles still filled with rum.
These guy were completely clueless that their would-be party house would be occupied by others. They were obtusely rude to approach the hut in full throat at nearly 1am. They were not in the bush to enjoy nature: they were there to par-tay! The kicker was the next morning, when a young man lit a fire outside, only to wander off a short time later. I told him squarely to fully extinguish that fire before leaving the area and that huts often burn down with such ill-thought, unattended fires. "Really?" he asked in disbelief. "Yes... really."
Since I haven't heard about Wharfedale Hut burning down in the last day, I'll assume he followed through and extinguished the fire.
Have you experienced latecomers to huts? Have you experienced clueless, inconsiderate types who don't care about the people already soundly asleep? How did you handle it?
29 comments
Worked with a lad ... shall remain nameless. With him sleeping in a cabin at one end of Kurow campground you could still hear him inside the bunkroom 100 yards away.
With earplugs.
There's snorers, and then there's SNORERS.
Yeah, that's the level of noise I'm talking about - earplugs don't cut it.
I was staying in a hostel in France many years ago. 2 guys came in late and were quickly into bunks. One guy was asleep almost immediately and started snoring like previously mentioned chainsaws - 6 other people could get no sleep - went on for 2 hours before I finally grabbed my bedding and headed for the common room - could still hear him (with earplugs, through 3 doors and 2 long corridors with right angled bends).
They 'snuck' out at 5am through the common room, woke me again, and took off - not happy!
These days, I'd just wake the guy up (repeatedly, if necessary).
i had foreign a guy in a bunk room who had a cold, he was rasping and bringing up flem all night, the niose was worse than snoring it was so eratic, I have slept through snoring a fair bit.
i had to go and sleep in the main area outside the bunk room, there was another foreign guy in there with his head torch on shining it straight at me, i looked daggers at him to get him to stop.
friday nights arent so bad, its your first night and you can cope with the loss of sleep, but further in on multi days you really want to consider whether you really want to stay in huts depending on where you go to and how busy they'll be if you need a good nights sleep.
on great walks, i'm only good for one night then after that i'm over the crowd and massive bunk rooms.
Unfortuanatly Im a snorer so although I sympathize with you there is not much I can do about it. Maybe sleep in a different hut in a different valley but still some of you would complain
I won't stay in the big McMansion huts any more - too many nights ruined by inconsiderate boofheads. Give me a nice little backcountry 4 or 6 bunker, or a tent. Perfect.
That's very considerate of you @Kreig, handing out earplugs... My husband uses Snorex, works a treat.
Sleep deprivation can mean clumsy walking which goes largely unrecognised but increases possible injury.
Rather than suffer it, pitch the tent or sleep somewhere else.
Yeah ok, I'm not THAT bad Madpom, not anymore; hey, I sometimes even get told I didn't snore. But I plan for the worst (from me).
As for 'pitching a tent as a norm', in a word..... No.
I am considerate to a fault, but I deserve to sleep in a bed just as much as the next person.
Like many of the people on here, I religiously update my annual backcountry hut pass. So no, I'm not going to tent it at all times. If people don't want to deal with snorers, then THEY can sleep in their tent.
Or go and get a hotel room.
Oh, and if you poke me while I'm sleeping, ESPECIALLY if you turned down my offer of free earplugs, you better be ready to run! ;)
Fortunately we're unlikely to put it to the test, kreig, as I do prefer a tent. I only sleep in a hut if the weather is seriously bad.
However, I do carry earplugs but, whilst plugs diminish sound, they don't eliminate it. For me, with plugs in place, I can't sleep with very loud snoring nearby.
Perhaps not with a stick, but I have woken a very loud snorer, as a last resort, after an hour of the rest of us not sleeping - not an easy thing to do but, hey, everyone else needs some sleep, too !
As a snorer, I'm gonna have to check out this snorex. I've been known to sleep in the woodshed if I realize it's going to be one of those nights where I'm going to snore. I stayed off my back the other night in a full hut and woke up with a very sore shoulder instead and had to miss my gym session early this week. All good now. I think we all had a crap night in that hut except for the young male beside me who snored consistently all night. His poor g/f said she only got 2 hours sleep!
"Breakfast cooked early on an MSR Dragonfly". That wouldn't bother me as to me it's white noise masking the other noises people are making.
We've had a bit of a problem here in Canterbury with 'rebuild' workers using the back country huts as party houses. Apparently in some of their accommodations there is no facility for party-type gatherings. I'm afraid this brings out the ranter in me as it's been happening too frequently for my tastes.
If I see a pack of cards in a hut they go straight into the wood burner as playing cards is very noisy with the banging on the table. It's like they are obliged to display how much fun they are having with their raucous pastime. I've played like this too but only when we were the sole occupants of the hut.
This winter we stayed at the Mt Somers Hut where there were about 40 souls ensconced. How I wish I'd followed Gaiter's advice. Around 10.30 pm I told the foreign-born workers that it was time for bed so they sloped off within half an hour. If they hadn't, I would have chucked a couple of litres of water in the woodbox and that would have been the end of the party as there was snow outside where we were tenting BTW due to it's being too noisy to stay inside.
I told them I was sick of meeting this kind of behaviour in the back country and that if they want to party, they should party in a venue dedicated for that function, not a public back country hut. The next morning one of them thanked me for enlightening them with this perspective. Big surprise for me to see such a gracious response.
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| Forum | The campfire |
|---|---|
| Started by | Gregor |
| On | 17 October 2017 |
| Replies | 28 |
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