As mentioned in the other thread on whether a 17 yo should be allowed to hike alone, the young man was resupplied by his dad and continued on his hike.
igne et ferrum est potentas
"In the beginning, all America was Virginia." -William Byrd
...yet another reason why NOT to frequent shelters.
this is good news - thanks Tuckahoe64As mentioned in the other thread on whether a 17 yo should be allowed to hike alone, the young man was resupplied by his dad and continued on his hike.
Because thieves -- not being totally dumb -- go where there are easy things to steal. They don't walk miles through the woods and up and down mountains to find victims.Originally Posted by Tuckahoe64
The kid was robbed because he camped at a shelter in an area that thousands of tourists go to every year. I suspect his stuff was probably taken by a couple of teenagers tired of looking at rhododendrums with their parents. They probably claimed the stuff was found abandoned on the trail. Or maybe their parents were also thieves.
Or do like I do. Only carry beat up gear that no one would bother stealing.
I hear what you say Weary - most thieves worth their salt would not consider the Appalachian Trail a good place to "ply their trade" - those "professional thieves" go for high value things like ladies purses at nice hotel pools or jewelry or whatnot. The real deal is that the AT is a rural place for the most part where "our hiking community" - serious backpackers that is are "outsiders." The people who live in rural areas have been largely disenfranchised due to education and jobs being moved to bigger cities - usually, unfortunately, along with the smarter members of their community. Therefore, there is a small contingent of less than smart "locals" in these rural areas that hang-out and sometimes "party" at shelters or near roads that the trail crosses. These are what one might consider an "opportunistic redneck thief" - he or she is a poorly educated local dumb-dumb with a few beers in them maybe. They see the pack and just grab it hoping for some quick cash for its contents - maybe they are not really a "bad person" - just someone in a bad situation. This situation is a sad fact of the trail and of course we need to have our radar up at all times for these sorts of characters. Avoiding shelters within one mile of roads is always a good practice, if possible.
But Weary the mistake that you make and so many others makes is to assume that hikers can not be thieves.
And your assumption about it being teenagers is also incorrect as the thief has been reported by the victim to be a man about the age of 35.
igne et ferrum est potentas
"In the beginning, all America was Virginia." -William Byrd
I think that when someone is termed a "hiker" on WB, the assumption is that they are a more or less well intentioned person walking or backpacking on the trail. If someone who is carrying a pack and walking on the trail is stealing, I would not term them a "hiker" -- this is purely semantics, of course. I believe serious backpackers who steal other backpackers gear would be rare in the extreme. The "35 year old man" was most likely a "local" that lives on or near the nearest road to that shelter.
He should be ckeckin ebay to see if his stuff comes up.
....or old gear that stinks so bad that not even the pawn shop would take it.
doubtful - I'd say a local pawn shop or yard sale - doubt the type of thief I believe this to be would have the where-withall to be a seller on e-bay
The dude will eat the food, keep the sleeping bag for a blanket for his bed. "pawn shop" the pack, sell the stove and clothes at a yard-sale and throw everything else in the dumpster behind the gas station.
Astounding bit of chance, I smell troll.
It does seem rather odd. There had to be other people around to witness this and for them to say or do nothing is astounding as someone walking off with anothers pack.
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Does it smell anything like paranoia?
We have had two acts of random assault in recent months, reports of more sketch people on the trail, and now more theft. There's nothing we can do about any of it.
"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do."
-Bob Dylan
Take the following steps to avoid sketchy people:
1) Use your instincts - if it doesn't feel right, it's not
2) Avoid shelters close to roads - especially on Friday and Saturday nights
3) Hitch with a partner or trusted friend if possible - try to get a ride with a family of day hikers or other like-minded person - see #1
4) Do not tell people (other than your people) of your exact plans - be nice but be a bit vague
5) Do not leave your pack unattended when others might be around - stash it out of sight if you need to
6) Keep money, id, credit card zipped in the pocket of the shorts you are wearing if possible
7) Be willing to move on down the trail or even pack up camp and move on if strange people are around - see #8
8) If you are a hiker, you are probably faster than they are
9) Report strange behavior however (see #10)
10) Turn on your BS meter - if someone says things that just don't add up, then that's a little suspicious, right?
11) We are all mis-fits of one sort or the other - don't be uber-quick to judge - lots of different good folks are out there
To me honest, I'm thinking the same thing. Who knows?
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
You'll hear some BS on the trail - for example, let's say I've hiked 100 miles and someone comes up from behind me and tells me that they are "thru-hiking" - hmm, that means that they caught me (but wait, they don't look to be in particularly good shape) and maybe they are clean shaved - this means that either they are really fast or got off in a town to shower and shave but then I notice that their camping methods are not "thru-hiker like" and they don't seem to know much about the trail - all of a sudden, I realize that this person is lying to me - why? This is when I might say, "wow, I'm really behind schedule - think I'll hike another couple of hours this evening," or whatever - and get out of there. Be careful though not to actually "throw the flag of doubtage" at someone - you don't want to piss off some weird person - just be nice and move along. One time I came upon a tent that had obviously been empty for several days (this was on another trail) -- I peeked inside and it was filled with porno magazines and enough canned food to live for weeks - super weird - I reported this to a park ranger. This sort of thing weirds me out much more than just a down and out quasi - homeless type guy sleeping in shelters - I've see lots of this sort of person - these types are a little more benign, usually.
so wait a minute - you guys are saying that maybe this whole story was b.s.? Or are you saying someone set the kid up? I don't get it?
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