Ultralight electric security fence? https://www.cabelas.com/product/UDAP...ce/1242284.uts
It's shocking what people will buy
Add a weathered beat up pack cover and throw these on over your hiking pants/shorts with an old beat up shirt/jacket before you hit town or the shelter and give the impression you may not have anything worth taking...
The faux jeans only weigh six ounces and you can sleep in them and blend in with the townies.
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Disguis...W7RDQMWZKE52TB
If you definitely want to have your stuff stolen roll into own with your expensive pack/gear dressed like this....
https://www.amazon.com/Women-Jackets...x+jeans+jacket
Stay safe out there
Last edited by wordstew; 01-15-2019 at 11:43.
Luggage is another place where you usually want to do something to make your distinct.Originally Posted by AlaskaHiker
Many years ago, when we were flying as part of a major trip with several pieces of luggage, I randomly picked out 3 (if not 4) different colors of yarn, and twisted the set together and tied a piece on the handle of each piece of luggage... including carry-on item. Even though most of the luggage was very generic looking, I've so far never had an issue with someone accidentally trying to pickup any of my luggage off the conveyor belt (or at a security line), and those pieces of yarn are still on the luggage (at least the ones that have survived... some of those plastics in luggage will eventually start to break down, even if the luggage sits in your closet for years unused).
I've seen people grab others treking poles. Since so many hikers use the same poles, it's pretty easy, especially when there is a big pile of them. I make all my gear look like mine. Stickers, tape, yarn, and paint are cheap.
i wouldnt call this theft as opposed to just an accidental pick up of someone else's poles.....
to me theft would be intentionally taking it knowing it wasnt theirs......
I've had two pieces of gear stolen in all my years of clueless weekending.
(1) I was soaked after a day of hiking in rain and dense fog. I hung my skivvies in my tent vestibule in the vain hope they'd be drier in the morning. A porcupine came under the rainfly in the night and made off with them.
(2) I was sleeping in a shelter (BAD IDEA!) with my empty pack under my feet for extra insulation. A raccoon pulled the pack out from under my feet and started to drag it away. He got a fair distance before I could get my bag unzipped and my boots on to chase him. He'd also rolled Just Bill's cookpot out of the shelter and down the hill, so I got that back as well. But the little bar-steward got my toilet paper!
As long as I'm at least, say, a half-mile from the road, I'm not overly worried about thieving vermin of the two-legged variety.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
< Gross generalization alert >
I think that that people are so careless about their trekking poles at shelters that it is easy to pick up someone else’s. Poles are everywhere - on picnic tables, against the platform edge, etc.
76 HawkMtn w/Rangers
14 LHHT
15 Girard/Quebec/LostTurkey/Saylor/Tuscarora/BlackForest
16 Kennerdell/Cranberry-Otter/DollyS/WRim-NCT
17 BearR
18-19,22 AT NOBO 1562.2
22 Hadrian's Wall
23 Cotswold Way
I wont deny that a hunter can still steal, but I dont consider a low-life scum a hunter. 9 times out of 10, he's a poacher. Thats not a hunter in my and my hunting companions book. Thats a scumbag. True hunters dont go around stealing and vandalizing.
No such thing as a "true " hunter. Except your idea of what one should be. Maybe most peoples idea. But thats an idea, not reality.
All policemen arent good people
All teachers arent good people
All hunters arent good people
All hikers arent good people
Not even all religious leaders are good people.
Theres unscrupulous , immoral people everywhere, doing everything, across the board. There are more or less in some cases as background needed skews #s of good people relative to general population, but there are always some small percentage of bad ones.
I had someone i worked with many years ago , who had been" saved", or "born again", tell me that he once had been a professional thief. My wifes little brother was engaged to a girl whose father was a reverend. A reverend that went to jail for embezelling money from his church . (Girl turned out to be nuts too once engaged, got suspicious of his female coworkers and controlling , he had to call it off. This beautiful sweet girl everyone loved.....had a really warped idea of a marriage relationship imprinted on her by her own strange parents. )
You cant always judge a book by the cover. Sometimes you can, maybe even most of the time, but not always .
People can be pretty bizarre. Some are better at hiding it than others.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 01-16-2019 at 07:26.
I think this discussion has turned an interesting direction. Something I've noticed has to do with groups of folks with a common interest.
One example....I'm an aviation buff. A private pilot. When I go to "airshows" such as EAA's Airventure, Sun n Fun, etc...which are basically week long trade show / convention / air shows... generally speaking the folks there do things like tending to keep the place clean, seem a bit more trustworthy when it comes to respecting other people's stuff, not stealing, being more polite and considerate, etc.... Of course there are all sorts of folks there, and often a mix of others from the "public" (especially weekends), but for the vast majority anyway...
On the other hand, when I go to a more municipal type airshow...what I call a "redneck airshow", the vast majority of folks there know little to nothing about aviation. It's a once in a while spectacle for them. Nothing wrong with any of that, it just the situation. At those events it seems that there is noticeably more trash, more chaos, more rudeness, etc... It has been very noticeable.
I've observed similar differences with other groups too.
My theory is that it has something to do with a common interest. It brings together "friends"...even if its a stranger, it's the type of person that if put together you'd have a really good chance of becoming friends with.
People tend to shape opinions based on their world view. If ones experience with hunters is limited to a few hunters and they all exhibit bad behaviors, then that persons perception of hunters is skewed to believe that all hunters are bad. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. That is why hikers need to remember this on and off trail.
More walking, less talking.
No true Scotsman would do such a thing!
I've often observed to my wife about one prominent person or another, "He's an arsehole. A brilliant arsehole, but still an arsehole."
On the other hand, I've also observed that what saves us from many crimes, notably much worse terrorist attacks than we've ever seen, is that criminals are stupid. It is very rare for someone to have enough knowledge to come up with an effective scheme to work widespread murder and mayhem without also having acquired enough knowledge to understand that it's a really bad idea.
Ecclesiastes left out a line: I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but that's the way to bet.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
I had some old reflective guy line rope from MSR. Put a loop of this on everything that came out of my pack. Not only was it easier to spot my stuff in a crowd of stuff, but in the dark it really showed up well by flashlight so I could find stuff I might otherwise forget. I noticed duck tape has a reflective tape, might be worth the investment to mark your gear with that.
This is assuming lost gear is accidentally picked up by others or left behind. A true theif can easily outsmart this simple plan. I wondered about the sanity of a nicely set up duplex with the owners slackpacking up a nearby peak. Probably $2,000 worth of gear left behind. Replacement cost, ruined trip, bruised ego, possibly dangerous weather without proper shelter. My stuff stays with me. Give people the benefit of the doubt, but don’t be stupid about it.
Wise advice. I spent most of my life being very cautious about having something stolen. I realized one day that gear can be replaced pretty easily and constantly worrying about someone taking something was actually getting the way of enjoying an activity. Now I follow your advice. Be careful and be smart but don't let it spoil your fun.
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
I've seen folks fall or trip breaking them probably more than a dozen times, mostly on the AT. A few I know abandoned their hikes as a result. For an item that can be more than $100/pr they are thrown about often aren't they?
I was trying to be nice.
Last edited by RangerZ; 01-17-2019 at 15:53.
76 HawkMtn w/Rangers
14 LHHT
15 Girard/Quebec/LostTurkey/Saylor/Tuscarora/BlackForest
16 Kennerdell/Cranberry-Otter/DollyS/WRim-NCT
17 BearR
18-19,22 AT NOBO 1562.2
22 Hadrian's Wall
23 Cotswold Way
My original question was prompted by pictures I see of hikers on the Knife Edge near the northern terminus; nearly all seem to be wearing light day packs. So I wonder--where are their trail packs while they do the summit push? Left back at the Baxter State Park campsites?
You can leave your big pack with the ranger(s) at the Katahdin Stream Campground Station on the porch there. You can borrow a daypack there as well when you leave your pack. Or, just offload a lot of the gear and supplies you don't need for the climb in stuff sacks or bag.
Last edited by 4eyedbuzzard; 01-17-2019 at 22:40.
I myself was an innocent "thief" related to hiking poles. Stopped at a shelter for lunch in southern VA where several hikers were doing the same. After leaving, and climbing about a mile I looked down at my poles and saw some colorful duck tape on the shaft, realizing that they didn't belong to me. Oops ! Dropped my pack, and literally ran down the mountain hoping that whomever owned these poles was a NOBO like me. Luckily my poles were still there as well as the hikers, so I swapped them and moved on. This illustrates the issue that at shelters it isn't uncommon for ones gear to get mixed in with others gear. I now typically tent at shelter sites in order to take advantage of the "amenities", but NEVER sleep in the shelter. At the beginning of my hike I did sleep in shelters, and quickly found that it was too easy to misplace items mixed in with others stuff; almost unavoidable. That said; I have never experienced true theft of any of my gear, and in fact on those occasions, like leaving a hat at the site, it was found and brought up the trail to me by some anonymous hiker that I didn't know. Sure there are bad apples in the thru hiker community, but it's not too hard to identify them and keep a watchful eye on your stuff if they are around. There is also a few homeless people that you encounter on the trail that might be interested in some of your gear. But mostly I found that those folks are looking for food donations.
I hung out down at Boots Off last year for a couple of days hiking with Jim. At one of the trailheads, we saw packs in the bushes. He told me then that some hikers seemed to make this a practice. You are setting yourself up to be stolen from by doing this. As far as common theft it does not seem to happen much. Like someone pointed out already if anyone picks up a gear item it is usually because it looked like theirs, I have heard that story here at the hostel a couple of times. On occasion, I have been stolen from by a hiker but rarely. The hiking community as a whole are a good bunch. However, if you come to Trail Days or any other social events along the trail keep close tabs on your gear. Because local thugs will be scouting looking to steal.
No...they are not stealing to use the equipment for hiking. They are probably selling the stuff to finance their addiction...cigarettes,
booze, crack, meth, opiods...take your pick. I had a family member steal, and sell, my $300 down sleeping bag to get a $40 bag of drugs.
As a former employee of a burglar alarm firm, I can verify what a previous poster said about the intelligence of most criminals. It is very low.
Most of the "catches" of burglars, (101 in my case), were high, or drunk, or both, or wanted to cash in their ill-gotten gains for money to buy their addictive chemical of choice. I can think of only one case, in 16 years, where the burglars were stealing to eat.
Two kids broke into a grocery supply warehouse because they were hungry. They were released to the custody of the parent(s). The next night, they tried it again. This time, they were released into the custody of child protective services.
Even supposedly "educated" people can be extremely stupid when they let their addictions take over their lives. Five drunk college students broke a jewelry store window to grab the watches on display. Our dispatch office was literally right around the corner from the jewelry store and we were on scene in 30 seconds, and they were taken into custody. (Amazing how fast one can sober up when a 44 magnum is pointing at you!) All they got for their trouble was a felony record that will haunt them forever and effect every aspect of their lives.
Last edited by atraildreamer; 01-23-2019 at 09:52.
"To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." - T.S. Eliot
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