Originally Posted by
Jack Tarlin
Actually, tho Bronco's initial post (on the other thread) could have been handled/written better, it now appears he had a perfectly legit reason to be curious as to this guy's whereabouts.
There have been several threads lately about how one should deal with suspicious/sketchy people one encouters on the Trail, and what I see time and time again is folks at Whiteblaze telling these concerned people to chill, lighten up, not be paranoid, etc.
In point of fact, there are unusual,sketchy, odd-behaving people on the Trail more often than you might think, and there's nothing wrong with people being concerned about this, and carrying thru with their suspicions or worries, i.e. going to the authorities with their concerns, etc., reporting unusual people or incidents, etc.
The recent history of the Trail includes more than a few folks who committed horrible crimes on or near the Trail, and in almost every case, it was revealed later on that these folks acted, spoke, dressed, or behaved in such a way that other people were concerned about them and their possible future interactions with other hikers.....they they neither told anyone about this or reported their encounters to authorities.
One can only wonder how many incidents or tragedies could have been prevented if people acted on their gut instinct and doubts and made a simple phone call.
In short, there's nothing wrong with staying alert in the backcountry and looking out for yourself and other hikers, and there's nothing paranoid or wrong about acting on your instincts.