My Trails

6/27/12 – 1028 miles
Trust is one of the major attributed connected to the AT. I have never worried about a thruhiker taking any of my things or mistreating me in any way. Every once in a while something happens on the trail to remind us that, even though our community of hikers is strong, we are not completely isolated from the sad part of the real world.

I arrived at Crampton Gap Shelter at about 5:00 pm and picked out a site to set up my tent. There was no one at the shelter when I arrived so I walked down to check it out. I should have sensed something was wrong when I noticed there was no logbook anywhere to be found. Logbooks not only record the whereabouts of past hikers but also alert new hikers of any problem at the shelter. I didn’t think to much about it and went back to my tent, just out of site of the shelter and fixed dinner. When I was done eating, I packed all my food, stove and pots, and my first aid kit, into a large bag, and went back to the shelter to hang it on the bear pole.

Early the next morning, I walked down to the shelter to retrieve my bag and noticed it was no longer hanging from the pole. My first though was that this is a joke and someone got it down by mistake. I walked to the shelter to question the occupant that had arrived sometime after I retired to my tent the night before. The answers to my questions were evasive, guilt ridden, and moronic.

I got the impression that he was probably homeless and spends much of his time living in shelters just out of town. I talked to two other tent campers in the area that told me there was a family staying in the shelter also, but that they left early because this guy was so creepy. There wasn’t much I could do without pulling him out of the shelter and going through his stuff – which I felt like doing – so I called Karen, told her what had happened and packed up to leave. In hind sight I should have stayed until the Park Rangers got there to question the man, but I was sure he had hidden the bag or that the rangers would treat it as food lost to animals.

Karen almost immediately called the Park Rangers but I was five miles north by the time they reached me by phone. I can’t say enough about the Maryland Park Rangers. They sent rangers up to the shelter and questioned any hiker they passed on the way. By the time they reached the shelter, the man was gone. I couldn’t give them much of a description because the shelter was dark and the guy seemed to be hiding in the corner.

I should have stayed there until the rangers came, but it’s a good thing I didn’t confront the idiot. Robo, a thruhiker and retired cop, said an unstable person like that could have a knife or anything.

I’m not going to let this occupy my thoughts but you can bet I will be more careful. It reminds you that there are a few creeps out there even on the AT. I worry at times for some of the girls hitchhiking into town and hope they always think about being safe.

This is the part that makes me tear up. Every thruhikers I met and told my story to wanted to give me food. Hikers know how important our supplies are to us – they are our survival. Thank you Orion, Apache, Robo and Tink, and especially Blue Sky. I hope someday I can do something for you.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2012 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Appalachian Trail, The Great Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.