I know theft is a common problem at trailheads, but what about out on popular backpacking trails?

I'll be doing a short overnight trip this weekend. Leaving my gear at my campsite halfway up the mountian and heading for the peak with the bare essentials seems pretty tempting. I'm fairly new to this backpacking thing, and now that I have a bunch of unnecessarily expensive gear (darn you BPL =) I'm really hesitant to leave gear behind like I used to do with my cheap car camping junk.

Do you guys leave your gear behind while you climb peaks? Do you think there is any reason to be concerned?

I admit we usually cache the stuff a short distance away.

Cheers

Where are you hiking? I'll be there.

Greg,
You pose a GREAT question that I've thought about a lot. The conclusion I've come to is that most backpackers are cool and you don't have to worry too much about it. I feel safer leaving my campsite "unlocked" in the woods than my car in the Target parking lot. But, on the off chance, what I do is to make sure that when I do a dayhike from base camp, I always bring the essentials: wallet, car key, etc. I can buy another tent or sleeping bag but I would be SOL if someone took my wallet and keys. Those are my main concerns. I'm curious to hear other people's concerns/strategies.

I share your same concerns, and have asked the question to fellow backpackers myself. The general consensus seems to be, your gear will be fine, but of course there is the still the unlikely chance someone could take your stuff.
I set up a base camp and did some day hikes for the first time a couple weeks ago. My brand new WM ultra lite was on my mind the whole time, I considered taking the extra weight just to keep my mind at ease but in the end decided to leave it.
From my experience, when I am out on the trail most of the people I run into are polite and kind and don't seem like the type of people to rob a vacant tent.

I think of theft more in leaving a rack at a climb than a bag at a campsite. The camper people have to know that taking your gear would potentially be very dangerous if, say, you were to be caught out without it. I feel though in some areas theft would be a greater concern, places close to the border or when camping in the southwest in reservation lands are where I imagine my belongings being the least safe.

I leave my stuff, and have never given it a second thought. The best people you can usually meet are on trails. Of course, I don't lock my house either.

i have a camo bivy and in no time i can put my stuff im not bringing in it and hide it all in a good bush.

i usualy do this, in a realy crowded camp we left our stuff all day when we climbed half dome and nothing happened to it.

I've been leaving my camp for day hikes for more than forty years and have never had anything disturbed. I always clean up my camp and put everything except my "kitchen" in my tent, with the fly zipped.

My car was burgled once, at Bayside Campground (Lake Tahoe) in 1989. Oh, and a Golden Manteled Ground Squirrel chewed his way into my Evolution 2P, at Lake Aloha, three weeks ago.

I leave my stuff in my shelter and I've never had anything stolen. And I do it without worrying 90% of the time. Mainly because most of my camps are a little farther afield and what other hikers are around are also experienced and "cool". But I've heard of people having things stolen, the one location that I can remember being Trail Camp which is the crowded high camp on Mount Whitney. I'm a little worried at sites like that where a wider spectrum of humanity visits.

The only thing we've had taken was a water filter that we left adjacent to the creek running along our camp rather than stowing it in our campsite. Usually we zip everything up in the tent and haven't had any problems otherwise. Do feel better when we've gone in a ways before setting up camp and leaving stuff.

My experience (~ 30 years)

Trailhead car break in - 2
Gear stolen at climbing area - 1
Backcountry camp - 0
Car camp - 0

I would probably worry if my base-camp was in a high-use area full of tourists (as opposed to backpackers- if you catch my drift). I've rarely met a backpacker with whom I didn't feel a certain camaraderie and wouldn't trust. Your average tourist, on the other hand...

In a high-use area I guess I would pack it all up and cache it if I didn't want to carry it, but truth is I don't generally do base-camp style camping. If I'm in one of my more typically remote areas then anyone who comes along is highly likely to be just as fanatical as I am, and I wouldn't worry.

Edited by acrosome on 09/30/2009 08:52:27 MDT.

It's never happened in 35+ years, and I'm a frequent base camp backpacker. I have worried about it when in high-use areas. If terrain and regulations permit it, I try to set camp as far off the trail as I can. I heard that Yellowstone Park had a rash of burglaries this past summer. There you are required to camp in established sites so a thief knows just where to go. It's true that nearly all backpackers are trustworthy (especially toward their own breed) but it only takes one rogue.

Many years ago two friends of mine left a backcountry camp (in an isolated area of Washington state) to climb a peak, and upon return found everything of value missing: tent, sleeping bags, etc. Fortunately they came down relatively early so they were able to walk out. The theives never considered their theft might have put my friends lives in danger.

I've heard of many trailside car breakins, and indeed this is the norm at a number of parking areas in Washington state (or at least it used to be...I moved away many years ago).

Personally, I've never lost anything.

How interesting it is that most of the trail thefts reported seem to occur at climbing base camps. I've never heard of a theft from a trail campsite in Ohio.

However, we get plenty of trail-side parking-lot break-ins. The smash-window-and-grab approach even has a name: "treasure hunting."

The problem has gotten so acute that rangers at the Shawnee State Forest, the most remote BPing trail in Ohio, now recommend that BPers park at the ranger station and hike the mile or so to the main trailhead.

At least around here, I'd worry more about my car than my camp.

Stargazer

Like most others here, I've had no negative experiences with theft while on the trail. Car break-ins are much more of a problem!

I don't leave behind my keys, cell phone, wallet, camera and other small items of value (such as my prescription meds). Everything else I can replace.

I also don't leave anything of remote value in my vehicles. I carry my insurance card as well as my registration. I am paranoid for good reason due to the high level of car bashing.

I've heard of one BPer who leaves his car doors unlocked with the glove box open and literally nothing of value in the car. A sign reads something like: "The door is unlocked. There's nothing in the car. Please feel free to go ahead and check."

At least, nobody's ever smashed his window!

Stargazer

Edited by nerdboy52 on 09/30/2009 12:57:20 MDT.

I've been hiking over 20 years and I've never had a thing stolen. I've been on popular routes where a dayhiker could have passed my camp I've broken it down and stashed it - especially if it was a park and I had a permit for the next night. Otherwise, you could lose your site.

As mentioned - most people out there are fine. They don't want to carry their own stuff - let alone yours. I wouldn't leave a GPS, cell phone, wallet, keys, etc. in my tent unatended for that long though.

I worry about theft, too, and take everything with me on the day trip except the tent, bag, and insulation (now a pricey Neoair). I also usually leave the Ursack foodbag tied up a few hundred feet away from the campsite.

First problem I ever had was a few months ago on the PCT north of Stevens Pass - someone had untied the Ursack, gone through it, took only the chocolate pudding, and then did a really lousy job tying the Ursack back to the base of the tree. In this particular case, we had taken down the campsite and had actually forgotten the Ursack (long story) and came back for it the next morning. The plentiful huckleberries kept us alive. I was more upset about the lousy re-tying job than the theft.

Moral of the story - your down bag is probably safe, but by golly, hang onto your chocolate!

I don't tend to worry unless I'm staying in a high traffic area where there is potential of dayhikers who are not "hikers", ie tourists. Hikers are generally good folks who recognize they are endangering a backpacker's life by walking off with gear; people who drive up to Yosemite to sightsee aren't necessarily in the same category, and I've heard of tents being taken from the campground in Little Yosemite Valley (this is the most impacted camping other than car campgrounds, being on the way to Half Dome, the mist trail being the most hiked trail in the park). I am proportionally less concerned the further I get into the backcountry.

In the park, I have broken down the hammock and quilts and stashed them in a friend's tent, simply because of the attention an unusual shelter draws - don't want someone to notice the underquilt is down and easily fits into a daypack.

In car campgrounds in national parks, I'll put the hammock/tarp in the car, not because of theft but because rangers tend to get up in arms due to me hanging it "not in an approved tent site." Doesn't matter that I thoughtfully left the flat spot for my friends with the tent, or that I'm tied off to boulders and trees and not impacting the ground in any way.

Kathleen- you might be mistaken- someone might have thought you were leaving a food cache for anyone passing by. They were being nice by leaving everything else for the next hikers coming by?
Just a thought.

It was obviously not a trail angel supply spot. I had the bag well-hidden and way away from the trail.

A reasonable reaction might have been it was an abandoned or forgotten food bag (rightfully so!), and they just went through it, took what they wanted, and didn't want to bother packing out the whole bag. I was rather insulted they bypassed the Mongolian Beef dinner I had made from a recipe posted here on BPL.

But, gosh darn it, they could have tied the Ursack back up instead of leaving the tie just draped around the tree! The bear would have made a big mess of it if he'd gotten there before we did.

A thought about leaving your tent unattended if you are in bear country...

On a recent trip, a black bear checked out my tent while I was inside it quietly lying down on my back. I saw the bear's silhouette on the vestibule of my tarptent. The bear ran away when I made noise turning around.

I reported this a few days later at the Great Smoky Mountains N.P. Backcountry Office. A ranger said a bear had trashed two tents at the same campsite recently.

Jack, I saw your comment about trail camp at near 12k below Whitney, what about packs that are left at The mt Whitney Summit Junction? Ever hear of theft of items at that junction?

Thanks!

Its the Main Trail side that has all the tourist traffic. The back side (Guitar Lake side near the junction) tends to have the thru hikers. Here you can take your summit bag and safely leave your pack. Clear food out of pockets so vermins don't chew through.
Also check the whitney portal site for latest info.

Regarding car safety: Open interior compartments for viewing. If nothing looks of potential value, less theft?

Marmots have been known to chew into your pack at the Mt Whitney / JMT trail junction unless you leave it open.

This is a common spot for hikers to leave their packs. I've not heard of theft issues here, but anything's possible. How many bad guys do you think are willing to walk up those @#$%! switchbacks, over Trail Crest, and down to the Whitney/JMT junction just to rob packs? I was more worried about leaving my gear back at Guitar Lake for my up and back to Whitney, but no one bothered it even there.

Also, the pack drop location is around a blind cornor on the trail from Trail Crest and directly opposite the JMT junction. A thief could never know when someone was going to walk up behind him. Try to watch three different directions at once while rifling through someone else's pack; not really conducive to theft.

Edited by wandering_bob on 09/30/2009 21:46:01 MDT.

Are you referring to Trail Crest? As in on the ridge? Or is Whitney Summit Junction down by the meadow below Guitar Lake? Either case... I'd leave my stuff. Heck, I'd leave my stuff almost anywhere as the alternative, carrying useless stuff uphill, is something I try to avoid.

In Washington and Oregon a real issue of car break ins isn't for what most would think - they are from witness accounts done often by organized groups looking for:
cell phones
wallets
ID
credit cards
computers
and last of all, your car registration so they have your address.
Extra points if you leave your house keys in the car.

Please, please - be UL and all, but DO NOT leave your ID behind!!!!

I have also heard that leaving you console & glove box open to show there is nothing worth breaking in for works, some even leave their car open.

Another suggestion was to leave a few empty beer cans & shotgun shells on the front seat in plain view!

"Another suggestion was to leave a few empty beer cans & shotgun shells on the front seat in plain view!"

I like it.

My experience has been like most here. I've left my camp set up near areas where I know other people saw it and never had anything stolen. The average thief just doesn't want to work so hard to get your down sleeping bag or tent that may not be so easy to re-sell (unless they know about the Gear Swap here), and the average backpacker (or day hiker or horse packer) who would be willing to steal your stuff (if there is such a thing) would likely only look for small valuable things like cash and credit cards. Just keep that stuff with you at all times (or hide it really well) and you probably won't have problems.

On the other hand, know your vicinity. If there's a rural town within a few miles, ATV trails that pass nearby, and the probability that unscrupulous recreationalists might discover your camp and take it as an excuse for drunk target practice, then don't leave your campsite unattended.

Kathleen, my own reaction to seeing a bag hung up in the tree with no campsite around would be that it'd either been cached or forgotten or both. It'd be hard to imagine a backpacker actually forgetting their food bag, though! Although it's really only my own laziness (and trying to find an excuse not to carry out somebody else's trash), I'd leave it as I found it.

Edited by artsandt on 10/01/2009 14:04:50 MDT.

The places I bp don't see near the traffic that many of the national parks and California areas see so I am never concerned about tourists. The only people I have been concerned with are local fishermen who hike up to a lake to fish for the day and are looking for a bonus. Particularly if they are young without adults. There is one trailhead in the Pecos Wilderness that is well known for people coming back to cars that have been robbed and vandalized. A friend of a friend had to have his brother drive many miles to pick him up because the car was undrivable. I usually have my fingers crossed the last quarter mile on the way back.

I've only ever had one incident. I carried in 6 heavy cans of beer to a weekend camp. I was pitched about 4 hours in from my car, by a nice little stream. It was a very hot day, and i put them in the stream to cool, weighted down by a rock.
I had a hard 10 hour hike the next day, and i could see my tent in the distance, coming down from the last peak of my walk. My tent was in view for the last couple of hours, and i was dreaming of that first can of cold beer when i reached my tent. I could almost taste it, and could feel it flowing down my dry throat.
Needless to say, some a******e had spotted my stash, and they were gone. :(
Nothing else was touched.

I'm going to have to 'fess up sometime or other. Normally, it's not hard to remember the food bag, which I tie at the base of a tree. One of the beauties of the Ursack is I don't have to entertain the locals with my ridiculous attempts to bag a tall tree limb. We get up, we eat, we pack up, including the Ursack. Easy.

But in this particular case, we had eaten breakfast, and instead of breaking camp, attempted to summit a nearby peak. This particular bag was about 100' away from the tent site, out of sight, and apparently out of mind.
The route didn't go, so we came back, broke camp, and left to try another peak. Umm, without the foodbag, as it happens. What can I say? I'm 62 and forgetful? Thank goodness for the huckleberries.

By the way, good idea about not leaving the register in the car. I hadn't thought of my home address on it pointing the way to easy pickings.

No sympathy for those who leave chocolate back in camp...if I saw or smelled some after a few days in the woods my auxiliary chocoholic nervous system would take control and I'd be powerless to stop myself from gorging on it. Think hungry bear seeing honey after a long hibernation. ;-)

Good post, Sarah! In the Portland area--especially the Columbia River Gorge--just about everything has been stolen from cars. You may remember that a couple of years ago, a hiker from Seattle had all his overnight gear stolen while parked at the Eagle Creek trailhead for a dayhike. A lot of tourists park in the Gorge for short dayhikes leaving all their luggage in the car, so it's a fertile field for car clouters.

I always take my car registration and any other clue to my identity. I've been known to leave my cellphone hidden in the car, though. It does have a locking feature which would give a thief a bit of difficulty calling anything except 911. With enough persistence I suppose he'd eventually work out the password to unlock it. It's an old phone, though, that basically just makes phone calls.

One problem with many newer cars is the electronic chip system hidden inside the car key as part of the security system. It makes the key a lot heavier, and you certainly can't drill holes into it!

Kathleen,

One friend of mine had his car broken into and they took his car insurance card, registration and his spare house keys. His wife and son were home during that time. Fortunately nothing came of it, but talk about scary! The car was most likely broken into in the early hours and he came out within a couple hours after - had it been multi days out, who knows....
Still he fared better than our other friend on that trip, whose nearly new car was ripped up - they cut the fuel line and other things, liquids everywhere and fully undriveable. It was just mean spited vandalism.

Almost makes you want to get a motion sensing hunting cameras to monitor the car.

Bob, I never thought about Marmots. Hiking up to Whitney, I've only see one Marmot above 13,000, and that was right up at the Summit. How many marmots are up above 13,000 feet? Is that Summit junction at 13,300 give or take a few feet?

Justin, I heard an idea about a guy wanting to sit high up on a hill overlooking a trail head with a high powered rifle and a good scope waiting for the tweakers to come by and as they tried something he would shout out the tires of their car- Its just a thought but sounded like a good way to get back at them, boy would they be surprised.

I surf a lot and most surfers just stash their keys somewhere. Naturally, knuckleheads come around and take advantage. Now, I use this:

http://www.hitchsafe.com/

I used it while my car was at the portal for 2 weeks, and I use it at the beach. I always have a spare key and it's better than a hide a key. If you have a removable trailer hitch it's a good way to go.

Doesn't do much for me if I leave my tent at a base camp though!

Edited by scottbentz on 10/01/2009 16:53:16 MDT.

Roleigh:

The junction of the JMT and the Mt Whitney Trail is at 13,450 feet. Yes, marmots are common there because there are so many packs left there day after day. They just tend to stay back in the rocks until folks leave before they get into things.

Almost makes you want to get a motion sensing hunting cameras to monitor the car.

Had to laugh (sadly) about Marmots being mentioned. Seems they have had an issue the past couple years at ONP with them sneaking into engine compartments and taking cozy naps! They like to chew on wires, etc as well.

I know last year they were warning hikers at Obstruction Point TH to open and check before getting in and turning over the engine - just in case!

That has me reflecting on how many times I hide my wallet, keys, phone, and iPod sort of haphazardly in the nooks and crannies of my car and forget where I stashed them.

I life in Finland. Have absolutely no concerns leaving my gear anywhere, be it in the city, at the trailhead or on the trail. Its that safe and good here =)

I life in Finland. Have absolutely no concerns leaving my gear anywhere, be it in the city, at the trailhead or on the trail. Its that safe and good here =)

That would explain why while I was pleased to see the large use of bicycles when we visited Suomi, I saw almost no bike locks.

Three cheers for Hendrik/s countrymen!

I noticed when I was doing some hiking in Japan a couple of years ago that they basically* had no bike locks. I was quite impressed.

HJ

*They had a little 2 or 3 inch metal bar attached to the forks that you could push through the spokes. That was their version of a bike lock.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Had a nice trip up San Gorgonio and left the gear behind without a problem. Sounds like I might want to be a bit more careful when I do Whitney, but otherwise I don't think I'll be worrying too much anymore.