Photos in this post are courtesy of Stehekin Outfitters
Stehekin Outfitters has a unique business model: tent-to-tent hiking in a U.S. National Park. This unique form of “hut-to-hut” seems like a great way to support hikers who want to go out for several days and don’t have the gear or experience to do full-on backpacking.
Larig Leacach Bothy Courtesy Wikipedia
Is Scotland missing out on a key mountain tourism niche?
The Ramblers in Scotland think this may be true, and are proposing a pilot project to test this assumption.
While the Scots have “Bothies” — unimproved backpacker shelters — European-style huts are not part of the accommodations infrastructure for walkers in Scotland, Wales, England. They rely on a robust network of B&B’s and hostels. This leaves gaps in mountainous regions.
Mathias Eichler, outdoors advocate and editor of the Outdoor Society blog, grew up in the foothills of the Alps. He can’t understand why there are not more huts in USA, his beloved adopted land. He is a great fan of our National Parks and advocate for recreational use of public land. {Featured image courtesy Mathias Eichler}
In two posts (click on titles in excerpts below) he discusses his ideas. In an editorial “Whats next for America’s Public Lands?” he presents a case for more huts on public lands. A separate piece “Eight Huts we need in the Mountains of the American West” presents brief profiles, accompanied by great pictures, of some huts he admires.
Hut to hut in the USA: situation and outlook
by Sam Demas and Wilson Josephson
[Note: This 2015 post is out of date. See our book for more recent analysis of huts in USA. Will update later.]
Sam August 2021
This is a preliminary overview of the 15 hut-to-hut systems in the USA. There are a number of systems under development or expanding, and I’m hoping readers will tip me off to others that should be included. Currently these 15 systems comprise 107 huts, yurts, and cabins, and offer 1,496 beds for long distance hut-to-hut hikers, bikers and skiers. This sketch of hut-to-hut infrastructure in the USA provides an overview by region, and very briefly discusses: business models, recreational uses, staffing, and some. Based on the data presented, it concludes with some musings about the future of hut systems supporting long distance human-powered travelers in the USA. hut to hut in usa
Featured Huts: A tale of two Mt Tahoma Huts
by Sam Demas
by Sam Demas
Creating more opportunities for people to use huts to support long distance hiking, biking, skiing is a complex undertaking. If not done well, the potential for doing environmental harm is as great as the potential for doing educational and recreational good.
Part 1 of this article outlined the potential benefits. Part 2 outlines the challenges in thoughtfully regulating, siting, creating, and operating hut systems. Future posts will provide greater detail in many of these areas, and the operational profiles on this site provide information on how specific hut systems handle these challenges. The audience for this piece is young people planning or dreaming of starting a hut system; it may also interest recreation planners and land managers.
More hut-to-hut hiking in USA?
Part 1: Benefits
By Sam Demas, hut2hut.info
Lets have a national conversation about huts
Americans love to hike their 167,00 miles of trails located on federal and state lands. We are building new trails to meet demand, and trail use is projected to continue increasing. But how do Americans feel about placing hut systems on some fraction of their trails? How do we feel as a nation about hut-to-hut hiking, skiing and biking? No one knows. It’s worth talking about.
by Sam Demas
This glittering, crystalline structure changes the aesthetic paradigm and technical concept of Alpine lodging. A technologically sophisticated building, the New Monte Rosa Hut sets a new standard for hut design and is an exemplar of design for self-sufficiency in remote places. It is located at an altitude of 2,883 meters, above the Gorner glacier and near the the Matterhorn and Dufourspitze, Switzerland’s highest peak. It is at least 90% self-sufficient in meeting its energy needs and is said to be 65% self-sufficient overall (alas, it cannot grow its own food!).
A few people around the nation know a great deal about how hut systems operate. But in the U.S. there is very little written about how hut systems are designed, built, and operated. Almost nothing is known about the economics and demographics of hut systems. And, other than the Colorado Hut and Yurt Alliance, there are no formal mechanisms for information exchange among those who do know. This will need to change if we are to learn from each other, develop “best practices” and ensure that hut systems are operating optimally for their clients, for their owners, and for environmental protection.
h2h aims to stimulate activity in filling this gap in the nation’s knowledge base by publishing “operational profiles”. We are at the beginning of this process and have three so far:
Planning is underway for an integrated trails and lodging system in the nation’s largest park and largest state-level protected area . The Adirondack Community-based Trails and Lodging System (ACTLS) has received a $220,000 grant from the New York State Department of State, with funds provided under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund Act. This grant will be matched by ACTLS’s. ALCTS home page states:
the unique assets and amenities of the Adirondack Park can be leveraged to attract a global marked of outdoor recreators and provide recreation opportunities that improve the quality of life for Adirondack residents. We hope you will join us in planning a world-class trail and lodging system.