Hiking: Wiley Shelter maintained with pride, passion
On July 31, we visited Ralph's Peak Hikers' Cabin Appalachian Trail (AT) shelter, near Hortontown Road, the southernmost of four AT shelters in Dutchess County. Aug. 28, we advanced nine Trail miles north to the Morgan Stewart Memorial Shelter, north of Interstate 84, then on Sept. 4, visited the Telephone Pioneers Shelter, 7.2 miles north of the Stewart. Now, we head to the northernmost, the venerable Wiley Shelter, nine miles north of the Pioneers, and 25.2 Trail miles north of the Cabin.
Read: AT shelters are unsung havens
Read: Ralph's Peak Hikers' Cabin
Read: Materials airlifted for Pioneers Shelter
Read: Morgan Stewart Memorial Shelter
A June 5 email from Jim Haggett, Chair of the Dutchess/Putnam Appalachian Trail Committee, and long-time AT volunteer maintainer/monitor, inspired this shelter-series. Attached to the email was an electronic copy of a March 22, 1980, typewritten letter from AT-legend Elizabeth Levers to Ken Lutters detailing some of the now-almost-75-years-old Wiley's history. The local AT was about 90 percent on roads at the time, and Ken and Bob Leone were heading up the long, labor-intensive (and imminently successful) efforts to have it moved off the roads and into the woods. Jim noted that Elizabeth "was probably 'the' prime mover for acquiring the AT corridor as we know it today.'' Here's an excerpt from the letter:
Dear Ken,
"Confirming our recent conversation, the Wiley Shelter on the BSA Camp Siwanoy property ... belongs to the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference ... it was built in 1940 with funds provided by Mr. Wiley, President of the John Ogden Wiley Publishing Co. About two years ago, the TC paid for materials so that a volunteer could put in a new floor. (By the way, I know that Mr. Wiley also provided funds for both construction and permanent upkeep of a shelter on the Long Trail in Vermont, by gift to the New York Section of the Green Mountain Club)."
Here's what my 1991 AT New York-New Jersey guidebook (Twelfth Edition. Seventeenth Edition, 2011 available), and the 1996 Thru-Hikers Handbook had to say about the Wiley:
AT Guide: "Built in 1940, with assistance from William O. Wiley of the Tramp and Trail Club of New York, on property of Camp Siwanoy, Westchester Council, Boy Scouts of America ... accommodates 6; water from cistern on Trail 0.1 mile north of the shelter."
The Handbook: "water from cistern 100 feet down path in front of the shelter. Be glad that manhole covers are round since round ones cannot be dropped in the hole. Caretaker often brings bottled water for thru-hikers in dry years. 'The Hokie' of '95 questions, 'Is this really a good place to have a party?' "
Back in 1978 I maintained the AT from Dog Tail Corners to the Harlem Valley Hospital dump road. The Wiley was pretty much in the middle of this section, accessible by a half-mile blue-blazed AT side trail, but a short ways up from Duell Hollow Road on an unmarked trail. Amazingly, I used to bicycle from Old Hopewell Road in Wappingers Falls (over daunting Blueberry Hill) to work on the Trail. The original Wiley floor was old-fashioned wire "bunks,'' similar to those in some (really) old shelters in the Smokies. Speaking from experience, they were not known for comfort, but were notorious for ripping/tearing expensive modern sleeping bags.
I'm "the volunteer" Elizabeth referred to who, as legend and lore has it, with an "all-girl" trail crew, lugged numerous heavy 4x8 sheets of a material called "homasote" from the road up to the shelter, and installed them over the from-another-era ghastly wire bunks. Alas, there are no known photographs of this event...
Currently maintained, with pride and passion, by AT volunteers Donna Chapman and Martin Hunley, the Wiley has been upgraded over the years: a hand pump atop the "cistern,'' two wooden tent platforms, a "modern" privy, and a picnic table. And, this fall Pawling Troop 34 Boy Scout Hunter Esposito, assisted by members of his troop, Donna, Martin, Pete Sanders and passing hikers installed a brand-new cedar floor.
Ralph Ferrusi writes Hike of the Week each week for the Poughkeepsie Journal. Send email to rjferrusi@frontiernet.net