I was looking through the journals, reading, and looking at pictures, when it occurred to me that hikers’ gear is spralled everywhere on and around the shelters is very much exposed to others, which prompted me to question, is there much theft on the trail?
Dawg
When I hiked the Trail back in '94 I can’t remember any incident of theft on the Trail. I don’t know about the situation today. Seems I’ve read of several incidents of thefts during the 2001-2-3 years. Must be a different breed of hikers showing up on the Trail nowadays. Yes, it would be very easy to steal on the Trail considering that there is no way to lock up your gear at a shelter. Let’s play “What if”: What if I were a thief. What would I be the most interested in stealing? It definitely wouldn’t be some bulky, heavy, gear that I would have to lug around. Hell, I’ve got my pack weight as light as I could get it and sure don’t want to add to it—unless it is something small, light and valuable, like MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. Therefore,as a hiker, I would make damn sure that my money was well hidden and protected from prying eyes. Now, once you’re in town, it’s a different story. If you leave your pack outside when you enter a store, restaurant, pub, bakery, etc. then your entire pack might very well be missing when you get back outside. It won’t be stolen by a fellow hiker, but by a town local.
Dick Tracy
I recall reading in one journal that a person (Dimples?) had some of their clothing stolen from a laundry in town.
Ardsgaine
You’re correct. I was in Hot Springs with Dimples when her clothing got stolen from the laundry. She was outside make a call and two minutes later it was gone. The fact is that these cases are quite rare. All the hikers in town pooled money together to get her some new stuff. The hiking community is a wonderful one and you don’t have to worry about your fellow hikers nor watching your gear at a shelter unless its near a road (read Pennsylvania). Its in town where you need to keep an eye on things. Even in damascus…
A-Train
:oh
Are some of you aware that at last years Trail Days two “hikers” showed up with a story of losing both there packs to a “pickup driving redneck” who shuttled them, then drove off with their packs?
They went to all the gear people, shops, venders, and the manufacturers service area “yogi-ing” gear to “continue”?
It was a SCAM. They were not “thru-hikers”, they were THIEVES.
Someone on here knows more details than I do, I hope they post.
Chris (Leki Guy)
P.S. I do not know if they were ever caught…if not…and you know who they are…contact the Damascus police…they would like to chat with them! Or perhaps more appropriately…point them out to all the other honest hikers who really appreciate the real help, when really needed…Karma debt is a heavy price.
Chris Hall
In eight years of section hiking GA>ME, a spoon I had left inside my pot on a picnic table next to a shelter was stolen while I was in my tent (the pot and my Esbit fuel/stove were not taken tho they were also inside the pot). I also had someone attempt to walk off with an MSR filter I had hanging from a nail at a shelter, but I saw it happening, confronted the young man, and reversed the crime just as he was about to put his pack on and leave.
I no longer leave filters hanging from nails or cooking gear sitting on picnic tables.
Surprisingly, I was never the victim of “town” thievery tho there were more than a few occasions I left my pack sitting unguarded in front of restaurants, stores, post offices, etc. I should think, logically, that if a crime would occur that is when and where.
“Skyline”
Aumber of repaired packs were ripped off from the Gregory area as well. He said it was the first time this had happened to him in all the year he had been going to trail days.
Wonder if the 2 guys mentioned above needed packs to put all their yogi-ed gear into. :rolleyes
It’s a shame because there is a real sense of security among hikers.
Hammock Hanger :girl
Hammock Hanger
Someone has written a warning in several places at the Cosby Knob shelter that “______ thru hiker is a thief.” Don’t know hold long ago it was written.
steve hiker
I went through this Maryland free shower treat this past spring. There was a hiker there that seemed very knowledgeable of the trail but seemed to be a vagrant, homeless wanderer. He was wearing mismatched pieces of many types of clothing, a half melted poncho, carrying a really big pack and wearing large sudio-size earphones. Anyway, he was eager to warn me of the threat to this campsite from locals who come off the highway and rip off hikers while they are in the shower or off to town for chores. He also told me a long story of being ripped off while inside the ATC office in Harpers. I don’t know if any of it was true.
The 200 miles from Harpers to Delaware Water Gap seemed to me to be the most threatening section of the trial I’ve seen. This section included the guy above but also three, yes three, obvious homeless people living in the shelters and bouncing between shelters. I stayed with one guy two nights in a row. He was living in his van and spending nights at the shelters up and down the Maryland section.
There really seemed to be a reason to be wary.
Shep
Shep
Obviously I’m going to bring my money and credit card in the hammock with me but what about the rest of the pack. Has anyone had problems with this?
jackie b
It’s a shame that we can’t just forget about even entertaining the idea of meeting / hearing of thieves in the Wilderness. I don’t like being the sceptic but…it does cross my mind if I leave my pack at a blue blaze and wander off to filter, (or somesuch situation in the woods) will my stuff be OK? 99% I’d say yes it would. As all above have said, town’s are the places to be that bit more vigilant. I usually hike with a buddy so we take turns to shop or go into the P.O while the other guards the packs. If solo hiking, try and tag along with a bunch of other hikers and do the same thing.
I’ve never been a victim of trail crime (either in England or the U.S.A) but that does’nt mean that it is not on my mind, as much as it p*****s me off that we have to worry about such things. Awareness, vigilance and prudence are three good deterants.
Ross - Hope my spellings OK
Ross - England
Haven’t had anything stolen as of yet. As mentioned before, most of us hikers are very honest people and wouldn’t even think of stealing something. I had left my knife stuck in a log where I had stopped to put some moleskin on my foot. About 4 miles down the trail I stopped for a quick snack and realized I had left it there. Not feeling like backtracking, I figured someone would find it and have a good use for it. That evening at Low Gap, GA while eating supper a guy asks if anyone had lost a knife. I spoke up, saying that I had and told him I had left one sticking in a log and described it. He sayed “well here it is!” I couldn’t believe my good luck! He and others like him are what makes the AT community so rewarding. :cheers
Nooga
I didnt hear of any theft that i know of, but i did end up with a different pair of the same kind of hiking poles after a night at one of the shelters. they had been standing right next to someone elses identictical hiking poles (only saw em once so dont recall their owner) but when i got out the next morning; my sticks were way to long. Odd i thought. Then I noticed they were a bit more used than they had been the day before. I was bummed for a bit cause they were only a week or so old; but my “new” sticks are just alike and have been dependable.
morale is; i guess; keep your stuff together; and maybe mark your sticks or tie em to your pack if you stay in the shelter at night. otherwise; if u tent; keep your stuff in your tent. My tent; luckily; is roomy enough I can bring my pack and stuff inside with me.
Most of the problems I have heard of regarding theft have been either in towns; near roads; or people who hid packs to keep from carrying them when hitching into town. keep your gear close; hopefully under watch with a fellow hiker; and you should be ok.
Big Boy
I too lost one,for an hour. I had left it in the pot near where we camped. A chipmonk had caried it off some thirty feet and dragged it half down his hole. I saw the handle sticking out under a pine root. Yours might have been a critter also snagging the lightest thing it could carry.
Bushwhack
Back in 01 when I attempted my thru. I kept the security of my gear in the back of my mind all the time. Never expecting to have everything stolen by my relatives (sister) after getting off the trail. I left all my gear at my parents and went on my way for a few months. Came back to retrieve my stuff as I now had a place to store it and to my surprise all was gone. I attempted to get the gear back to no avail either nicely or legaly. Oh well live and learn.
ShakeyLeggs
Two guys did have their gear stolen by someone who gave them a lift. Can’t be the same incidence as the Damascus one above…although it was close to the same time-frame. What’s the scoop on the scam???
It was in the town where the Holy Family Hostel is in VA (help me here). The guys (they were thru-hikers, we knew them) got a ride somewhere. The driver said he was lost and sent the hikers into a store for directions. When they came out he was gone. It was in the newspaper and eventually they did catch him. He had used their credit cards at the KMArt near the hostel, but I believe all their gear was recovered…after they’d had much of it replaced.
I can’t believe this was the scam.
Cricket
Hey, Shep, I know that guy. Spent the night with him at Devils Racecourse Shelter in 2000.
Harry Dolphin
Regarding my stolen spoon, Bushwack wrote: “I too lost one,for an hour. I had left it in the pot near where we camped. A chipmonk had caried it off some thirty feet and dragged it half down his hole. I saw the handle sticking out under a pine root. Yours might have been a critter also snagging the lightest thing it could carry.”
In this case, I doubt it. The spoon, my Esbit stove/fuel, some matches, and a windscreen were all inside my pot, which had two rubber bands keeping the lid on. Then, all of that was in a small sack. That would have been one genius critter to get into all of that, take the spoon, then wrap it all back up and replace it exactly where and how I’d left it.
Actually, I think I know who took it–at least what he looked like, not his name. He was a section hiker who at dinnertime had to borrow someone else’s spoon. So he had motive, and by my leaving my cooking stuff on the table, he had opportunity. I didn’t even notice it missing until the next night when I went to cook dinner up the trail (I eat cold breakfasts usually).
“Skyline”
Yes there unfortunatly is theft on the AT. Be smart. In the heavily used areas. I wouldn’t put my pack down and walk .2 for water. Take it with you. Now in places with less traffic where most of the traffic is thru-hikers you are safer.
This year there were three men in particular. One stole candy bars - all of them - from a hostel and skipped out on paying for breakfast. Who knows what else he did. Another stole from hikers - clothing, gear, money etc etc. He also skipped out on paying at a hostel and that is where he got caught. The third stole from a local that gave him a place to stay.
I noticed myself being very cautious in shelters and hostels around new people that I had never met (or heard of) on the trail before. For the most part if anything was stolen it would have been more of an inconvenience than a real devestating loss. My clothes stank, my interesting gear (like radio, stove, etc) were all really cheap. I think I was more afraid of porcupines chewing up my boots than I was afraid of people taking my gear.
One last note: beware of Pearisburg, VA. Great town but I know of people that got swindled out of cash and one girl that had her wallet stolen from the laundry-mat.
Blip
It happens, but not very often. This year, there was a gear-stealing thief on the trail, but he was soon ousted from the trail (by the police), due to a semi-unrelated incident.
People sprawl their gear around because they know it’s safe…at least on the trail. After all, who is going to want to carry more weight out?
bearbait