View Full Version : Where do you put your pack?
So, I am curious, when you stay at a hostel, and you decide to go out to eat, etc, do you leave your pack at the hostel? Is it safe there? I am not thinking there are any places you could "lock it up" there right?
And when you go in a store, do you have to leave it outside? What if you are alone, etc?
Has anyone ever had any issues with pack related theft? And I would LIKE to guess that theft between other hikers would not be a problem, it would be with the non-hikers (in towns)...I hope I am not wrong.
The Gambler
03-20-2013, 15:40
at hostel i always take cash, credit card and other valuables in small stuff sack...never leave pack alone when on the trail or in town..rip offs happen...mostly by non hikers but i have seen and heard of from hikers as well...though not very often from other hikers
wornoutboots
03-20-2013, 15:41
Just leave it at the hostel, theft happens but it's rare at a hostel. When you go into town or whenever you leave your pack unattended, take you ID & financial items with you. At a store, it depends on the store, some are ok with you putting the pack in to cart while pushing it around the store, but 9 x's out of 10 you'll leave it outside.
I've never had anything stolen, but the locals as well as other hikers can be thieves use your gut feeling after assessing your surroundings.
The Gambler
03-20-2013, 15:41
when i shop in a grocery i put pack in shopping cart...never been a problem
FarmerChef
03-20-2013, 15:42
I have not thrued (sp?) but have sectioned just shy of half the trail. We have stayed at several hostels from church basements to "professionally managed" and have never given a second thought to leaving our gear behind. I'm not sure what anyone would honestly want out of it. We carry nothing of truly significant value and what we have that might be worth something also stinks with hiker funk.
When we go to a store or restaurant we just leave our packs outside. When we can, we like to sit within view of the gear though it's more about our dog who is with the gear than it is about the gear. Everywhere we've been people have been friendly and accommodating and I've never had a hint that someone might be interested in my stuff.
That's not to say that it hasn't happened and perhaps some here can share. But as they say, the best deterrent to this or even physical attacks on the trail (rare) is trusting your instincts. So far it has worked for us.
I have not thrued (sp?) but have sectioned just shy of half the trail. We have stayed at several hostels from church basements to "professionally managed" and have never given a second thought to leaving our gear behind. I'm not sure what anyone would honestly want out of it. We carry nothing of truly significant value and what we have that might be worth something also stinks with hiker funk.
When we go to a store or restaurant we just leave our packs outside. When we can, we like to sit within view of the gear though it's more about our dog who is with the gear than it is about the gear. Everywhere we've been people have been friendly and accommodating and I've never had a hint that someone might be interested in my stuff.
That's not to say that it hasn't happened and perhaps some here can share. But as they say, the best deterrent to this or even physical attacks on the trail (rare) is trusting your instincts. So far it has worked for us.
I'm sure the dog guarding the pack helps a bit also ;)
FarmerChef
03-20-2013, 15:54
True. But she's a Husky and about as harmless (to humans) a dog as ever lived. Worst guard dog ever. She gives one half "bark" to strangers in the night and then she just waits for them to walk up and pet her. During the day you don't even get the "bark." Pet me, pet meeeeeee.
Slo-go'en
03-20-2013, 16:23
Last year a woman posted that someone walked off with a zip lock which had her prescription meds and some other stuff (a camara maybe) in it while leaving it unattended at a hostel. But it sounded like it was left in plain sight on the bunk, making it easy for a spur of the moment grab and run kinda thing.
So, leave valuables on your person or at the bottom of your pack. The chances of someone rummaging through your pack to see if there is anything worth taking is small to non-existant. The risk of you coming back or someone who knows you and your pack coming in while thier doing that is pretty high. All bets are off for valuables left in plain sight.
If you're an AT thru-hiker you NEVER leave your backpack unguarded/unattended or in an unsafe location. You're just asking for someone to walk off with it. Just imaging if someone walked off with your backpack that had your tent, sleeping bag, money, pad, camera, trail maps and guidebooks. How would you continue your AT thru-hike after that kind of situation? Here you've left a job, spent a bunch of money and now you can't complete your thru-hike, all because you weren't being smart.
On my AT thru-hike I took along with me a small chain lock (tumbler type - pack weight = 4oz) that I used to secure my backpack to a post or a tree for only a few times. Not exactly completely secure to some who's targeted my backpack and could just use sharp scissors to cut pack straps or cut the pull cord but it is much better than, say, leaving your backpack out on a sidewalk in front of a gear store or restaurant or grocery store. Don't make it easy for a thief!
This is particularly true when if you go to Trail Days. It's a great event and Damascus is a terrific town for an AT thru-hiker. I've mentioned this before but after Trail Days on my AT thru-hike I was up at Thomas Knob shelter on a very cold night -- there were maybe six hikers in the shelter that night. A friend of mine in Trail Days had her belongings stolen while I was at Trail Days. One of the hikers in Thomas Knob shelter that night was some guy trying to impress a girl after sundown and I'd listened into the conversation. He was telling the girl how he and a few of his buddies would steal backpacks and gear from hiker tents in Damascus and then get money or other things in exchange for the gear. He description indicated it was an organized operation -- centered around Trail Days as the keystone event. I would have bet that he was the guy who'd stolen my friends belongings at Trail Days.
Additionally, in the year I thru-hiked the AT there was at least one instance where two bad guys just drove up to the porch of a place where AT hiker's had put their packs outside. The scheme was this -- one of the bad guys would jump out of the cab of the pickup truck, grab a slew of backpacks off the porch, heave them into the back of the still moving pickup truck and he and his driver buddy bad guy would drive off and sort out the contents at their leisure.
There were a few other instances of thievery that year -- enough for me to caution you thru-hikers in the Class Of 2013.
So, I guess the point is you have to be diligent about making sure your backpack is secure, even when you go into a store. If you don't have any other choice, take your backpack into the store with you. Almost always I wear my backpack into a store but that's just me (it's less hassle to have my bacikpack always with me than it is to worry about the security of my backpack). Only at one of the waysides in Shenandoah National Park and at one store in Connecticut did I use the chain lock and even then, I kept a close eye on my pack outside while inside those places (sat at the front window of both places).
Datto
pelenaka
03-20-2013, 17:06
It really doesn't matter why my gear/pack was stolen, for personal, for resale, for the heck of it, still be my loss. Just like it doesn't matter who stole it. Point is it's mine and if I'm lugging it then I want it.
I've had good results with cable plastic ties to secure items (cloth shopping bags that close) to my metal bike baskets. I can also cable tie a zipper closed on my shopping bags. Granted as Datto, wrote the ties can be cut but it's an extra step that a thief might not want or be able to do. I do this when I need to make more more stop @ a store and can't keep an eye on my stuff 100%.
Talking urban downtown cycling crowded parking lots not a hostel where a thief could have a quiet moment alone.
Just wondering has anyone marked their gear as a deterrent ? Daughter will be attending school this fall and will have tools in value of 4k. I'm gonna engrave every single socket & wrench.
The garden variety criminal may just think hikers are broke "bums" with smelly packs unlikely to have anything of value but anyone even vaguely familiar with the cost of gear knows better. And the existence of a good market for used gear here and elsewhere means that a smelly tent or sleeping bag could be cleaned and easily resold. Would anyone leave $2,000 sitting in plain sight unguarded in front of a grocery store? Then neither should a backpack with $2,000 of gear be left unattended. That's just my personal opinion. I have not done any long stretches of the AT so this isn't a commentary on actual risk on the trail, only my perception and the mindset I would carry with me on a thru hike.
Sandy of PA
03-22-2013, 11:04
I try to never leave my pack unattended,(had to in SNP they don't allow them in most buildings), every item has my name on it somewhere.
Hostel - some common sense should tell you it depends on the hostel, the crowd staying there, the place(town) where the hostel is, any history of theft(Damascus Hostel for example), if separate lockers/storage areas/rooms are involved, etc. I'll venture to guess I've stayed at more than 100 hostels in the U.S. both in big cities catering to International travelers and smaller mom and pop hostels mainly aimed at a hiking clientel. Never had a thing stolen.
Have had two packs, both loaded with expensive UL gear, ripped off in Nevada outside stores. I chose to leave my packs near the entrances. My fault. I knew better in both instances but chose to take the riskier option of letting myself be separated from my pack. If in doubt take your pack with you into stores, restaurants, while traveling, etc. if the least bit concerned about getting it ripped off while being separated from it.
Since my pack is my lifeline, I never leave it unattended. In the few stores where packs weren't allowed, I've always been able to ask (nicely) and have it placed behind a counter while I shopped/ate.