In preparing for a Thru-Hike I was planning on staying at “The Place” hosltle in Damascus, But I have now heard of yet again, two thur-hikers losing their backbacks at “The Place”. Is this a common ocurence at this Place?? if so, why do people say I should stop their. Not a chance now. Are any other places that a former Thru-Hikeer can advise me to stay away from??? while I do my hike next year?
Thieve Hater
Thermo
I never let my pack out of my sight unless it was locked in a secure place.
You walk away from your gear in town, you take a risk. Play it smart. At supermarkets, take your pack in with you and put it in the cart.
no problem
I have stayed at the Place two years in a row and 2 nights each year I never had a problem.
stick
There again we have a couple of isolated incidents, and some people jump to conclusions. practice common sense
ask someone if they would mind watching your stuff, hell carry it with you, if its too heavy, you are poackin too much crud.
Myself I perfer to stay at “Daves place”
you can lock it up there.
peas out.
CAPTAIN CAVEMAN!
…Dennis from Laurel Cove Lodge took my pack to Damascus and left it at The Place while I slackpacked into town. But that was 5 hiking seasons ago. I have to admit, I was a bit leery of having my pack handled that way, but Dennis assured me it wouldn’t be a problem - and it wasn’t.
Having said that, I don’t think I’d stay at The Place again. Thats me. You might find it to be a great place. Personally, I prefer a little quiet and solitude.
Jeffrey Hunter
Most of the time, as with this year and the last few, trail days has theft problems. And Usually ONLY TRAIL DAYS…cuz you have a lot of oppurtunist that arent hikers in the area partying down.
Usually all at once. The PLace is away from the activities, and away from the campgrounds etc…there are a lot of rooms there, two floors, and a lot of people in and out of it during trail days.
Most people wouldnt think twice about a person walking out with a pack, because everyone there is a hiker…unless they knew it wasnt that particular persons.
Hikers look after each other, always have and always will.
The thing is on the rare instances of this happening, the thief had better hope the cops find them before the Hiking community does, seriously.
All in all you will be safe, be aware, be smart and pay attention.
Lion King
well if we’re talking about Trail Days, yeah, theft is a problem, especially in 05. What I did was to keep my expensive electronics on me all the time and my backpack and such inside my zipped-up tent so one couldn’t see in as they walked by. But The Place is a good spot to be during Trail Days. It’s quieter and you won’t find yourself tenting in a swamp when it rains, and it ALWAYS rains during Trial Days.
Otherwise non-Trail Days visits The Place is ok theft-wise. I was stuck in Damascus for 10 days last year, stayed at The Place and didn’t have any problems, nor did people report any problems to me. However there is a homeless guy that visits The Place daily and some people have pointed to him as the main culprit, but obviously that’s conjecture.
0101
Every year since 2000 when I first set foot in that town there has been theft going on. The Place seems to be a hot spot because lots of non hikers (bikers, etc.) use the Place. I personally never had a problem but in 2000 Fausa got robbed, in 2002 when I lived in Damascus a hiker got robbed of everything he owned… I ended up chipping in buying him some new gear so he could continue on…
Aswah
aswah
If you’re in Damascus hold on to your pack. Many are stolen. Even from zipped up tents at Trail Days. A pack can be taken, thrown in a truck, and be 70 miles from Damascus in 2 hours. How can the hiker community fight against that? I haven’t heard of anyone being prosecuted. I haven’t even heard of anyone being caught.
that guy
I stayed at ‘The Place’ a couple of days last summer. Only one other hiker was there. However, there was a strange character that stayed up in one of the rooms with the door shut. I saw him come out a couple of times, not sure what he was doing, but I know he wasn’t a hiker. I left my stuff in a bottom room several time without any problems. One afternoon someone from the church came over and left some cake for the hikers, I ate a couple of pounds of that. I can’t remember the name of the church, but someone should let them know about the thieves. My guess is that The Place, is hard to manage, keep clean and keep unwanted guests out, without some type of supervision. What’s the old saying,“There is nothing free.” Hiker Beware!
Bilko
It was a week b/4 trail days of '05 that my son’s backpack, camera,etc. were stolen out of his zipped-up tent right outside of ‘The Place’. We had gone inside to socialize at around 9:30PM for an hour or two. When we went to our tent, the theif had rummaged through my tent but thankfully my backpack was still inside the hostel. A hiker tented on the other side of the hostel also had his backpack stolen. My son had a backpack given to him by Sundog outfitter. Very generous of them. A collection was also taken and enough money was collected from hikers to replace some other things that were stolen. A very big hearty thanks to all the kind hikers who contributed. Definitely keep your ID, camera and Ipod or whatever always with you. A very hard lesson was learned.
Tex