For nearly 40 years, Mick Charowsky has lived in a converted wooden barn in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Charowsky is the caretaker of the Eckville shelter, a historic bunkhouse built in 1880, which sits at mile 1,235 of the Appalachian Trail (AT).
The AT consists of about 2,200 miles of rocky footpaths, rugged hill climbs, and historic shelters like Eckville. Scattered roughly a day’s hike apart along the trail, these simple structures—from rough wooden lean-tos to fully enclosed cabins—are more than a place to rest. To a tired hiker who’s just pushed through hours of relentless rain, freezing winds, or blistering summer heat, these shelters are sanctuaries, a place to drop a heavy pack, cook a warm meal, and kick up a pair of aching feet.
Now, the National Park Service (NPS), which manages the AT alongside the National Forest Service and multiple state agencies, is preparing to tear down both the Eckville shelter and another nearby structure, called the 501 shelter. An NPS spokesperson told Outside that the shelters aren’t up to its safety standards and should be removed.
But a vocal chorus of AT hikers and locals are outraged by the plans for demolition. They have launched a campaign, called Save Our Shelters, to push back on the plan. The campaign includes a website and petition.
“The NPS may own and safeguard the existence of the AT on paper, but this place is ours,” Dan Nash, a 2017 AT hiker who was born and raised nearby the shelters, told Outside. “It is our heritage. If it can’t be operated as a shelter, at least let us take possession of it rather than see another iconic piece of our community needlessly destroyed.”
Darree Sicher, a local advocate who co-chairs Save Our Shelters, puts it more succinctly.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Sicher told Outside. “People use these shelters and want them there.”
Why the NPS Wants to Tear Down the Two Structures
The NPS announced plans to tear down the shelters in April 2025. The 501 shelter has already been closed pending the demolition, but the Eckville shetler is still open.
A spokesman for the NPS told Outside that tearing down the shelters as part of a larger effort to rewild the trail, promoting primitive camping over permanent structures.
“The removal of the nonconforming 501 and Eckville shelters is intended to restore this section of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail to a more natural backcountry setting, while also addressing ongoing safety, maintenance, and repair concerns associated with the structures,” an NPS spokesperson told Outside.
The NPS says both shelters are “nonconforming” because agency policy requires all shelters to be more than two miles from a road or other motorized access point, and the Eckville and 501 shelters are nearer than that to the nearest roads.
Shelters built close to a road—like Eckville and 501—frequently attract non-hikers looking to party, leading to litter, property damage, and overcrowded bunks.
The NPS spokesperson did not specify when the shelters would be torn down.
“Before any removal activities occur, the project will undergo environmental and historic preservation reviews over the coming year,” the spokesperson said.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), the national nonprofit dedicated to maintaining the trail, supports demolishing the shelters, saying the removal is part of a long-term plan to help the AT’s camping system—which currently includes more than 250 permanent shelters—impacts nature as little as possible.
Luke Weir, a spokesperson for the ATC, told Outside that the logic behind removing shelters like Eckville comes from the trail’s Comprehensive Plan, drafted by the NPS and Forest Service in 1981. While the structures are cherished, “use of the trail should not depend on them,” the plan states.
Morgan Sommerville, the ATC’s director of visitor use management, told Outside that some shelters pose concerns to environmental and archeological areas.
“A lot of shelters are really old, and put in places that we now wouldn’t put them, because we have more knowledge,” he said. “Some are in places where maybe there are rare plants or artifacts.”
Sommerville added: “Plenty of shelters are placed at appropriate sites, and some aren’t.”
Why Hikers and Locals Want the Shelters to Stay
Multiple hikers and locals told Outside about the trail luxuries that both shelters provide. At both shelters hikers can enjoy solar showers, flush toilets, and electricity. At the 501 shelter, hikers can order pizza delivery.
“Not everyone is physically able to hike 27 miles in a day,” said Bernadette Leibensperger, who owns a hostel called the Lookout House nearby. “Nor does every hiker have the proper gear, enough water, or the ability to keep their devices charged for a long stretch between safe stopping points.”
Chuck Eckenroth, who lives in nearby Kempton, hiked the AT in 1999, and said over the years, he’s stopped by the shelter to see if any hikers need a ride. Sometimes he brings pizza and snacks to the shelter to share.
“Eckville is the closest spot in the Appalachian Trail for me to meet up with current hikers,” Eckenroth, 51, told Outside.
Billy Ciccino, a hiker who recently completed a 130-mile section of the AT in Pennsylvania, said he stayed at the Eckville shelter.
“From its flush toilet and shower to Mick the mercurial caretaker, the Eckville shelter has long been considered an icon to both thru hikers and section hikers alike,” Ciccino said. “I challenge you to find one hiker who agrees with the decision.”
Ciccino and other sources who spoke to Outside for this story praised Charowsky’s dedicated caretaking of the Eckville shelter. Caretakers like Charowsky live in and manage the shelters for free, and volunteer organizations like the BMECC raise the funds and manpower to maintain them.
“If the trail volunteers, local community members, and hikers, the people actually connected to and affected by the Eckville Shelter, have no problem with the shelter as it exists, then why does a detached and distant federal agency have a problem?” Nash said.
A Plan to Build Support
Save Our Shelters was launched by the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club (BMECC), a Pennsylvania nonprofit that helps manage the 65-mile stretch of AT on which both shelters sit.
In September, Save Our Shelters began distributing an online petition to save the shelter. Sicher told Outside that the BMECC hopes to get 2,000 signatures on the current petition. A previous petition circulated in 2025 got nearly 1,500 she said.
The group has also reached out to local municipalities and regional wildlife sanctuaries and watershed associations seeking letters of support.
She plans to present the signatures and letters to the National Park Service and Appalachian Trail Conservancy to prove the local support for the two shelters.
“It’s a historic property,” she added. “It’s a part of old mountain culture.”
The post “This Place Is Ours.” Why Appalachian Trail Hikers Are Fighting to Save Two Shelters. appeared first on Outside Online.