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View Full Version : Concern about out-of-place hiker



Big Dawg
10-19-2004, 12:24
A friend and I just finished a section hike last week, finishing in Hot Springs, NC,, & while on the trail, about a mile from Hot Springs, we came across a relatively friendly black man (i'm not prejudice). He said he had just gotten on the trail in Hot Springs, & was gonna be on the trail throughout the winter, making his way to Georgia,, said he needed to get right w/ God, mentioned bringing a bible, & went on to ask about what to eat on the trail, etc.. You could tell he was not prepared,, wearing Dickie brand jean overalls, had a roll of plastic for his shelter, & every piece of equipment hanging from his pack was cheap stuff, more for car camping than extended winter camping. He also had a reqular size axe attached to the outside of his pack, as well as 2 nice sized knives,, sd he was gonna live off the land, kill rodents, etc for food. When we came across him, he was filling up a small canteen from a small trickle water source coming across the trail. No water treatment. He seemed like a nice guy, but it seemed a little odd that he was coming on the trail w/ no food, said was staying for the winter, & had an axe, etc, etc, etc. We wondered whether he was on the run from the law, etc.. So, here's my question: Does this sound odd enough to alert authorities,, could he be a threat to other hikers-----hungry, cold, & possibly harming others to get food/gear???? Would love to get opinion from others on whether to react & notify authorities---& if so, who??, or just let him be?? Thanks for any input!!

A-Train
10-19-2004, 12:30
I met a few characters like that on the Trail. Not too surprising. Just check this forum and keep ur ears open so that you can be of help if you hear anything. Most likely he's harmless. Lots of people follow God up and down the AT, good thing its a long trail.

Anyway, the fact that he is a black "hiker" certainly has him stand out enough, is something were fishy, he'd most likely be easy to find.

Blue Jay
10-19-2004, 12:49
Let him be.

chknfngrs
10-19-2004, 13:00
yup, best to just let the big question mark remain, and just hope for the best.

bearbait2k4
10-19-2004, 13:01
The best thing to do in this situation is to bring up your concerns to him, directly.

Otherwise, I don't see why the authorities should be alerted. There are plenty of people that try to live off the land, and some that successfully do so. In addition to that, this man will be hitting road crossings before he starves to death, if he should run out of food.

I just don't believe in pre-emptive policing, in that respect. Besides that, there is little to nothing that the authorities can do unless the person actually does commit a crime.

Just keep in mind that you can hardly tell what a person is made of from their outside appearance.

Blue Jay
10-19-2004, 13:23
Just keep in mind that you can hardly tell what a person is made of from their outside appearance.

Very good advice.

Lone Wolf
10-19-2004, 13:25
He ain't breakin no laws. Let him alone.

Big Dawg
10-19-2004, 13:47
Thanks for the responses so far,, seem to be right in line w/ the way we felt when we 1st met him,, reason I haven't contacted authorities. I guess the axe seemed to weigh on my mind over the past week,, just wanted reassurance that I was doing the right thing by letting it be----I agree Bearbait2k4---no pre-emptive policing. Plus we were a little freaked out from the night before w/ a Hunter/hillbillie-(self proclaimed) incident,, kinda reminded us of the movie-Deliverance,, & those hunters were talking some serious ****,, so I guess we were already a little apprehnsive. Anyway,, thanks again!!

Spirit Walker
10-19-2004, 13:57
Chances are that when he gets really cold and hungry he will go find someplace warmer to live for the winter.

However, the axe is kind of a concern as he is likely to either chop down trees along the trail or chop up the shelter and/or picnic tables etc. to get wood to keep warm. Vandalizing the shelter is illegal, and cutting down trees is both dangerous and bad LNT practice. A lot of newbie campers think that is the way you are supposed to camp though.

Brushy Sage
10-19-2004, 14:15
I'm guessing that most of these strangely out-of-place people on the AT are not too far from home, and can go back when they get too cold or hungry. From your description, this guy doesn't sound particularly dangerous. My son and I met a frail looking young man, also carrying a roll of plastic for protection, who said he was just following Jesus. I guess the AT really is a sanctuary for many kinds of people, on many different missions -- including thru hikes.

grrickar
10-19-2004, 15:57
With the gear and the load he seems to be carrying, it sounds as if he has never done any hiking whatsoever. The trail will judge him for that, find him wanting, and send him home hungry and discouraged most likely. I saw a young kid hiking from Icewater Springs towards Charlie's Bunion this last week with a full canvas Army issue duffel bag that was so full his sleeping bag was on the outside. Wow, that had to have been heavy!

I think everyone has lessons to learn - I had the privilege of listening to the people on this fine message board so I learned a lot before I ever stepped foot on the trail, and it made my experience a more enjoyable one. Others I met along the way did not appear to be so enlightened...

Singletrack
10-19-2004, 16:27
I hiked out of Katahdin Stream CG with two guys that were carrying big sheath knives, and axes. Their intentions were to live off the land, on their way to Georgia. This is a fairly common sight on the AT. I saw a hiker this weekend with a large sheath knife on the AT. This is typical of campers, and hunters that never have hiked, but want to get out in nature, and hike the trail. It does'nt take them long to learn. I'm sure he is harmless. I bet if you were to get to know him, you would like him.

Peter Mossberg
10-27-2004, 17:30
Making mistakes is sometimes the best way to learn.

Jaybird
10-27-2004, 17:36
like the others have said before...he will quickly learn how ill prepared he is....with November in a few days...the NC & TN & GA Mtns will show him some strong winds, freezing rain, sleet & SNOW!

he'll find out quickly what he needs....warmer clothes, equipment & maybe a wait for warmer weather to breakin the spring!


Leave him be...seems harmless...just on his own journey!

smokymtnsteve
10-27-2004, 18:21
The best thing to do in this situation is to bring up your concerns to him, directly.



Ok you take it up with ax man directly..let me know what happens.. ;)

rambunny
10-27-2004, 19:12
I'm sure i'm missquoting this but -be kind to strangers therefore you will be entertaining angels unaware.If you live in the woods long enough you are as the chipmunk,able to disern between distraction,perhaps visitor not inhabitant-not danger however blatently visitor-and true tell the squirrels and birds to sound the alarm,capital D danger,let us not take the judgemental ways of babylon to heaven.However let's not give the dark side opprotunity-if the hairs on your neck go up and you move on and then are concerned for those who pass behind you by all means spread the word-You cannot fart sideways on the AT without it being told about two hundred miles away. Just tell someone going the opposite direction- I'm not or i am sure this is something to be concerned about. A hatchet? excuse me eveyone who went into the woods before LL bean came along had one-remember cotton and wool were the norm.

Kozmic Zian
10-28-2004, 00:37
Yea......Let him pass........Not everyone has a computer in this fine land. Guess who else had an ax with them at the start? Yours truly, who else. Live and learn, and if it gets too hard or cold, he'll come down and seek an easier path. KZ@

bearbait2k4
10-28-2004, 00:39
Well, I've asked people worse questions before.

Youngblood
10-28-2004, 06:30
... Guess who else had an ax with them at the start? Yours truly, who else. ... KZ@

The guy that posed for the GATC plaques had an axe: http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1120/password/0/sort/1/cat/all/page/1 .

Youngblood

squirrel bait
10-28-2004, 08:52
Hopefully he'll get to where he needs to go safely.

Lint
10-28-2004, 11:44
When I was working as a wilderness ranger for the USFS a few years ago, I came across I guy with all that car camping crap. He had no food, no map and was totally lost. Of course, he was out there "lookin fer jesus". So I lent him my map. Now before you assume I was just being nice, let me say the only reason I gave it to him was so that we wouldn't have to pull his dead body out of the wilderness. Anyone that wacked out on god deserves whatever misfortune they get.

Well the flucker never sent me back my map. Jesus Christ!!!

JP
10-28-2004, 12:33
Whatever equipment works for you is the right equipment to have. Ive slept in the middle of winter with no shelter, just a tree to block the wind. I dont pack an ax but I still carry my K-Bar, it works good for choping sticks if I want a fire.So far Ive not needed it to slice meat. I tend to live and let live. If he had evil intentions, you wouldnt have seen his weapons.

Chappy
10-28-2004, 21:30
When I was working as a wilderness ranger for the USFS a few years ago, I came across I guy with all that car camping crap. He had no food, no map and was totally lost. Of course, he was out there "lookin fer jesus". So I lent him my map. Now before you assume I was just being nice, let me say the only reason I gave it to him was so that we wouldn't have to pull his dead body out of the wilderness. Anyone that wacked out on god deserves whatever misfortune they get.

Well the flucker never sent me back my map. Jesus Christ!!!
Further evidence of the caring community of long distance hikers. Your attitude makes us all proud! :rolleyes: Hope I never have to encounter your type on the trail. Of course, you could just be a computer hiker and don't get out in the woods very often.

weary
10-28-2004, 22:12
The guy that posed for the GATC plaques had an axe: Youngblood

Margaret & Bump Smith, pioneer southbound thru hikers, hiked with an axe in 1970. Bump and his wife gave a two hour slide show at the University of Maine when they returned from Georgia. It was by far the best trail slide show, I've ever seen -- either before or since.

Bumps native wisdom and humor was amazing. But I heard the college kids muttering in the corridors after Bump's talk, "that guy doesn't know anything about how to hike."

Well he made it all the way to Georgia. After getting lost in the Whites, he said people he met told him of a shortcut that would get him back on the trail. But he refused, explaining, I was only going to do this once and I was going to it all, or words to that effect.

Bump hadn't read any hiking manuals, but he had made his living as a farmer, school janitor and as a breeder and driver of harness race horses. He knew enough when he started and he learned what else he needed from the trail, just as every hiker before or since has learned from the trail.

Weary

Skeemer
10-29-2004, 07:56
Chappy wrote:

Your attitude makes us all proud! Hope I never have to encounter your type on the trail.

Not everybody out there is a "Jesus Freak." My read on the question was about what to do when you encoutner someone whose obviously "whacked out."

Let's not turn this thread into another religious debate. Bearbait2k4 had a sensible response.

The scariest person I met on the Trail was a young man openly carrying a pistol. Which one's more frightning...the guy carrying the bible or the one carrying the gun? It's close.

smokymtnsteve
10-29-2004, 08:40
Further evidence of the caring community of long distance hikers. Your attitude makes us all proud! :rolleyes: Hope I never have to encounter your type on the trail. Of course, you could just be a computer hiker and don't get out in the woods very often.

well LINT's attitude makes me proud! maybe you don't want to encounter LINT (or me eithier) but I can assure you that if you thru hike the AT you will encounter both of us by walking on trail the we have built and by staying in shelters that I have cared for, I have encountered LINT on the trail and worked with him building trail, so if this type of hardworking, honest, thinking,contributing person is not the type you want to encounter might be best for you to not come to trail maintenance activities as "this type" will be there working hard.

Peter Mossberg
10-29-2004, 08:51
Lighten up on Lint, at least he gave him a map.

Sometimes you have to let people make their own mistakes.

As someone who hikes with old worn-out, out-of-style gear, I often get comments from the lycra crowd that I am in danger, because I don't have adequate gear.

I also happen to like cotton.

Lone Wolf
10-29-2004, 08:55
Most of those Go-lite wearing, Leki pole using weenies never make it. You can't buy a thru-hike. :)

JP
10-29-2004, 12:39
I thought I was the only dummy that still uses cotton. A plastic sheet is a lot less expensive that a Go-Lite tarp. Sgt Rock probably has stats on the weight. What ever makes your trip comfortable for you ( and fits your budget) is right for you.

Sierra
10-30-2004, 13:44
I say live and let live, without knowing anything about him or his background who knows what he is up to. Everyone desearves to soul search in thier own way, the woods is proboly one of the better places to get away from things and "find" yourself. I wish him all the luck in the world, sometimes the journey within ourselves, is the most difficult journey of them all.

jim DeLong
11-04-2004, 06:41
My concern is this: if anyone appears out of place on the AT, they very well may be. Not because he is black, but because of his other manifestations. Get a good look at them including clothing, tatoos, etc. and report it to the authorities. I guess I'm just a bit sensitive right now, because my Nissan Pathfinder was stolen at the trail head near Erwin, TN. by a man fitting a similar profile, except he was white. Wouldn't it be something if it was the same guy - just colered his skin. My vehicle was recovered in Cleveland, TN. Steering column, ignition switch and passenger door lock totally destroyed. Idon't mean to be paranoid, just cautious.

grandview
11-05-2004, 18:12
[

Just keep in mind that you can hardly tell what a person is made of from their outside appearance.[/QUOTE]

a 12 pound axe strapped to a backpack could be a good indicator though....(messing around)

Rocks 'n Roots
11-05-2004, 22:46
Good luck to anyone who is foolish enough to set out with and axe and knives in the winter thinking they will live off the land. As a former Trail overseer I would try to gently explain to this wayward person that the AT isn't a place to "live off the land" and that there's an LNT ethic up there of minimal impact.

I'm surprised how many people I see who show close interest in the AT and follow it closely on internet sites, but then come off completely clueless when it comes to ATC-type responsibility and protecting the Trail. The guy has a wacky bad idea. He should be told so.


The man will obviously be chased by cold and hunger before he gets too far. Maybe that will be the Jesus coming to him. He probably just needs a few nights in a few shelters and some friendly talk with people who know the Trail. If not we'll read about him as another Trail lunatic...

Rosco
12-01-2004, 01:34
Ok you take it up with ax man directly..let me know what happens.. ;)
Maybe you should have "axed" a few questions to see if he understood the danger to himself, unprepared, uninformed, un-equipped, on the Trail.
:-?
Rosco