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  1. #1

    Default Hiker Arrested in Unicoi Gap

    for opening Lady hikers tents and assaulting them. The police released him on Bond , with Drug charges No one wanted to stay and press charges for assault. He is a large man carrying an ice ax and two knives. His trail name is ICE, James Namkung. He is currently back on the trail, and was camped at Deep Gap on the 5th. He is hiking NOBO.
    More information, and a photo can be found at Appalachian Trail Section Hikers Group (Tn/Ga/Nc....) on Facebook. Also, a YouTube Video. titled Deviant Hiker on the Appalachian Trail Arrested but Possible Return to the Trail.
    Hikers should beware.
    Singletrack

  2. #2

  3. #3
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    he's back on the trail

  4. #4

    Default

    Are "werdios" a common occurrence on long trails? Every year I seem to hear about some kind of creeper on PCT or AT...

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by gpburdelljr View Post
    Good video and I share his concerns given the Jordan case. This guy seems highly likely to re-offend, soon.

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    This is slightly old info now. He sent his ice axe home, and the "knife" in one of the circulating photos is a trowel. As usual on the AT, word spreads fast when there's anyone around that's just slightly off. Pretty much everyone knows about him. Apparently he's carrying 40+ lbs and moving slow, so he should be decently easy to outpace with a little effort. There is a comprehensive Reddit discussion going on here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Appalachian...se_factory_ga/
    AT '16 GA-NY - 1,378 miles
    AT '22 GA-ME?

  7. #7
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Singletrack View Post
    for opening Lady hikers tents and assaulting them. The police released him on Bond , with Drug charges No one wanted to stay and press charges for assault... Deviant Hiker on the Appalachian Trail Arrested but Possible Return to the Trail...
    Hmm, where have I heard this exact scenario before? Oh, and the inconvenience of having to briefly interrupt one's hike in order to possibly save other hiker's lives.
    "That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett

  8. #8
    Registered User Maineiac64's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhioHiker View Post
    Are "werdios" a common occurrence on long trails? Every year I seem to hear about some kind of creeper on PCT or AT...
    Yup, pretty common.

  9. #9

    Default

    Though not taking this fellows side necessarily, there is just not enough information to sort out what happened with this guy beyond third hand information and opinions in forums or a vlog. My guess is he dressed oddly and acted inappropriately around some women who were made uncomfortable and people have taken up the issue with usual crowd verve.

    Weird and weirdo are very subjective terms used both in a joking or serious manner. Imagine what some people may think when Tipi Walter comes sauntering down the trail at them with his 80-pound pack, or when someone brings along an "eel in a tube" from Trader Joe to eat around a campfire. I have been called weird for just not being interested in conversation after a long day. I have seen hikers wearing feather boas, gorilla masks, loin cloths, using bindle sticks, and a host of other oddities along the way, so being "weird" on the trail doesn't mean a heck of a lot to me overall. As Shade22 posits, word along the trail spreads quickly when someone is slightly off.

    Hard to know what is fact versus fiction in some of these tales, exaggeration being what it is mixed with perhaps lack of experience in dealing with a broad swath of personalities one can find on the trail. Absent a complaint, this is just another AT hiker with an unusual personality, gear selection, and clothing that police discussed the inappropriate issues and found a small amount of drugs in. I know, it's hard to imagine drugs on the AT, what's next, alcohol in bottles? A formal complaint would have been beneficial had the behavior rose to that level.
    Last edited by Traveler; 03-07-2022 at 10:49.

  10. #10
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    Ugh, what a crummy way to start an adventure. Feel bad for the hikers who've had to deal with crap like this.

  11. #11
    Registered User JNI64's Avatar
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    There's different levels of weirdness like a old wierd dude coming down the trail with a 100 pound monster on his back. But someone outside your tent from 12- 5 am all night outside your tent messing with you doing God knows what is a whole different level of weirdness. Enough in fact to make someone give up a dream and all the planning and money, not the cold,rain,snow no some creep ends the dream.

  12. #12
    Registered User ldsailor's Avatar
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    I thought a picture of the subject hiker might help any hikers on the trail if they should happen to come across him.

    AT Deviant.jpg
    Trail Name - Slapshot
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    Blog - www.tonysadventure.com

  13. #13
    Registered User Maineiac64's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Traveler View Post
    Though not taking this fellows side necessarily, there is just not enough information to sort out what happened with this guy beyond third hand information and opinions in forums or a vlog. My guess is he dressed oddly and acted inappropriately around some women who were made uncomfortable and people have taken up the issue with usual crowd verve.

    Weird and weirdo are very subjective terms used both in a joking or serious manner. Imagine what some people may think when Tipi Walter comes sauntering down the trail at them with his 80-pound pack, or when someone brings along an "eel in a tube" from Trader Joe to eat around a campfire. I have been called weird for just not being interested in conversation after a long day. I have seen hikers wearing feather boas, gorilla masks, loin cloths, using bindle sticks, and a host of other oddities along the way, so being "weird" on the trail doesn't mean a heck of a lot to me overall. As Shade22 posits, word along the trail spreads quickly when someone is slightly off.

    Hard to know what is fact versus fiction in some of these tales, exaggeration being what it is mixed with perhaps lack of experience in dealing with a broad swath of personalities one can find on the trail. Absent a complaint, this is just another AT hiker with an unusual personality, gear selection, and clothing that police discussed the inappropriate issues and found a small amount of drugs in. I know, it's hard to imagine drugs on the AT, what's next, alcohol in bottles? A formal complaint would have been beneficial had the behavior rose to that level.
    The video I have seen, and reports of him masturbating outside women's’ tents, multiple reports of inappropriately touching people, surely shouldn’t be dismissed. This is more than an odd misunderstood duck. The police should’ve evaluated him a little more closely before turning him back out to society.

  14. #14
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    Weird/eccentric is par for the course in the hiking community and part of the charm of a long hike is meeting people leading unconventional lives. There's a huge difference between eccentric and being a creep. As a middle aged man, I don't worry so much about creeps of this type. I can see how women would feel threatened. While it may seem counterintuitive to avoid shelters and populated areas, I think that these types of encounters are less likely when stealth camping out of sight than at shelters, at least during winter when it is more likely to be sharing a shelter with just one other person. This creep wouldn't be able to get away with his BS in April or May -- too many people on trail then.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Traveler View Post
    Though not taking this fellows side necessarily, there is just not enough information to sort out what happened with this guy beyond third hand information and opinions in forums or a vlog. My guess is he dressed oddly and acted inappropriately around some women who were made uncomfortable and people have taken up the issue with usual crowd verve.

    Weird and weirdo are very subjective terms used both in a joking or serious manner. Imagine what some people may think when Tipi Walter comes sauntering down the trail at them with his 80-pound pack, or when someone brings along an "eel in a tube" from Trader Joe to eat around a campfire. I have been called weird for just not being interested in conversation after a long day. I have seen hikers wearing feather boas, gorilla masks, loin cloths, using bindle sticks, and a host of other oddities along the way, so being "weird" on the trail doesn't mean a heck of a lot to me overall. As Shade22 posits, word along the trail spreads quickly when someone is slightly off.

    Hard to know what is fact versus fiction in some of these tales, exaggeration being what it is mixed with perhaps lack of experience in dealing with a broad swath of personalities one can find on the trail. Absent a complaint, this is just another AT hiker with an unusual personality, gear selection, and clothing that police discussed the inappropriate issues and found a small amount of drugs in. I know, it's hard to imagine drugs on the AT, what's next, alcohol in bottles? A formal complaint would have been beneficial had the behavior rose to that level.
    Would you describe the creep a "eccentric" if it was your daughter's tent he was masturbating in front of?

  16. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Traveler View Post
    Though not taking this fellows side necessarily, there is just not enough information to sort out what happened with this guy beyond third hand information and opinions in forums or a vlog. My guess is he dressed oddly and acted inappropriately around some women who were made uncomfortable and people have taken up the issue with usual crowd verve.

    Weird and weirdo are very subjective terms used both in a joking or serious manner. Imagine what some people may think when Tipi Walter comes sauntering down the trail at them with his 80-pound pack, or when someone brings along an "eel in a tube" from Trader Joe to eat around a campfire. I have been called weird for just not being interested in conversation after a long day. I have seen hikers wearing feather boas, gorilla masks, loin cloths, using bindle sticks, and a host of other oddities along the way, so being "weird" on the trail doesn't mean a heck of a lot to me overall. As Shade22 posits, word along the trail spreads quickly when someone is slightly off.

    Hard to know what is fact versus fiction in some of these tales, exaggeration being what it is mixed with perhaps lack of experience in dealing with a broad swath of personalities one can find on the trail. Absent a complaint, this is just another AT hiker with an unusual personality, gear selection, and clothing that police discussed the inappropriate issues and found a small amount of drugs in. I know, it's hard to imagine drugs on the AT, what's next, alcohol in bottles? A formal complaint would have been beneficial had the behavior rose to that level.

    This goes beyond weirdness when police have to be notified and women abandon their hikes.

  17. #17

  18. #18

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    Sadly, most women have been honing their "spidey sense" about the dangers posed by men since they were 10 years old. It is part of surviving in this world. If you are part of the more fortunate population that has not had to be 'aware' in this way, then lucky for you. If women are uncomfortable around someone, then we should all pay attention.

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by stephanD View Post
    Would you describe the creep a "eccentric" if it was your daughter's tent he was masturbating in front of?
    I was pretty clear that I am not taking this fellows side necessarily, the issue was terming someone weird, which is very common and can be based on many things like attire, manner of speech, and mannerisms. Lots of camp gossip flows into and out of the trail community and it's difficult to tell what is fact or fiction. The complaint, however cuts through a lot of that and gives police a tool that can be used to investigate and/or make an arrest. To answer the question, if the event(s) reported had occurred, my daughter would have been responsible and filed a complaint so arrest after investigation would be enabled and this fellow could have gotten a harder look if not a trial and possible jail time.

    Separating fact from fiction in these trail stories is difficult, we have all heard these in different forms from the stalker with a hook for a hand campfire tale to the "beware of" snippets we get from people we pass. One of the best ways to deal with this kind of thing is to have first hand witnesses swear out a formal complaint, which attests (under penalty of perjury) the events related in the complaint are true and will be testified to in court. Of course there are any number of reasons why no one has filed a legal complaint; people not wanting to be involved, the event(s) may not have been actually witnessed/experienced by the complainant, the events as described may not have actually occurred or are speculative/exaggerated beyond factual support, retaliation concerns, time away from work/vacation being a few of them. However, as has been pointed out in this thread, had a complaint been filed against Jim Jordan in 2019 prior to the killing of Ron Sanchez, things may have worked out differently.

    I don't defend this guy per se, I'm sure something happened along the way that was either lascivious behavior or was mistaken for it. That no one had the fortitude to file a complaint tells me there is likely less to this than third party information would suggest, but that's just my read. Others have a different read on this, which I respect.

    Clearly LEO responded, found this guy and were able to secure an arrest for what appears to be a low level drug offense. I am positive if police had knowledge of the alleged events they would have had a few "discussions" with his fellow about his behavior to see if there was a confession of some sort or statements enough to arrest on lascivious charges. Apparently there was not and he was released following successful bail application from the drug charge. My guess is after the LEO encounter, arrest, arraignment and bail, we have probably heard the last of this fellow.

    A formal complaint would have greatly insured that.

  20. #20

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    I didn’t mean to create tension guys, peace and love… peace and love.

    I used the term weirdo freely. I think we can all agree anyone that wants to live in the woods and walk 10+ miles a day for 5+ months is slightly not normal. Hahaha.

    By weirdo I was suggesting someone doing deviant type activities.

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