TRAIL CREEPS

“Who?s the creepiest person(s) you?ve ever run into on the trail?

Mine would be a tie between:

1) the group who rode into a shelter site on the AT early one morning on their ATVs. Of course they weren?t supposed to be their but as they looked like those fellas from ?Deliverance?, we didn?t tell them. They looked over our gear while asking directions. We got the vibe that they knew exactly where they were and were out gear shopping.

2) the group we ran into in a state forest one fall that was REAL concerned that we might be thinking of camping near where they were. We saw no camping gear but there were about 6 of them looking real nervous. A couple of them followed us for ~1/4 mile down the trail by running through the woods a couple hundred yards off the trail. Our guess was that they were marijuana farmers.”

“"Who?s the creepiest person(s) you?ve ever run into on the trail?"

fundamentalist christians”

“It was prolly a toyota-lookin dog that I seen in the Windtooths. He was with pakpak horses and he walked byside the horses and looked reeel nervis and had mangy hare and leetle beeedy eys and a REEEEL STINKY butt.”

“1) A guy who stopped my son, around dusk giving him misinformation about the difficulty of the trail ahead and trying to sell him on camping nearby (private property 12 yards from a logging road) with easy access to a logging road. I came up about 2 minutes later and the guy tried to sell me on it too. He was a few feet from a logging road, there was a car mostly hidden around a bend about 40 yards up the road. He had a pack, but it didn't seem like it had been used. I felt sure that we'd get a rude awakening later that night if we camped nearby, so we thanked him for his advice and hoofed it up the trail. We were happy to see a divers group at a trail side lean to.

2) A really slimy pair of guys at a lean to I planned on staying at. These guys just looked like low life hustlers and they seemed to be lying even as they made small talk. We went on, even though it took us over tree line with only a slim chance of making the next legal site. We stoped to help out a pair of newbies who were in over theeir heads (blue jeans, ridiculously overpacker, with a full size axe, a full size coleman car camping stove, etc.). I found all four of us some emergency shelter.

Later, we ran into these guys again at The Cabin (a hiker hostel in Andover Maine). They got thrown out, according to the owner, when he overheard them arranging a drug deal over the hostel phone.”

“hmmm...

-"creepy swimmer guy" is up there on the list, certainly(story from last year...too long to relay again now)

-three young punkish boyz on the AT, walking with their three well-scarred pitbulls...no gear, but large "hiking" sticks. (in the area I was in at the time, this was highly suspect for dogfighting or training inclinations)

-and then, of course, I've hiked with a bunch of you creeps. ;o)

I try really hard to practice stealth mode hiking near trailheads, to avoid potential situations when solo. Lotsa skeery people out there...but rarely do I worry in the deeper sections. Bad people usually don't wanna work too hard...”

“On my first hike in Fith grade to the top of HalfDome we met this dude. He was living at Little Yosemite Valley selling beer to hikers. He was so concerned with bears getting his beer that he wouldn't stop bothering us about our food. Then he went on to bother everyone soliciting his beer. That is something you'ld think you could avoid in the backcountry. Yeah a bear came that night, a big browney the first time I ever saw one. It wasn't all that big of a deal though.”

“When you were here before, couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel, your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
And I wish I was special
You're so fu&king special
But I 'm a creep, I 'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here
I don't belong here
I don't care if it hurts, I want to have control
I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice
When I'm not around
You're so fu&king special
I wish I was special
She's running out again
She's running out ....
Run, run, run, ruuuuun...
Ruuuuun...
Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so fu&king special
I wish I was special...”

“wait, now i'm turning into 'lounge singer'! ack!”

“How old are you thinair? Brown bears, better know as grizzlies, have been extinct in California for a long, long time. You?re ?browney? was probably a black bear. Black is the species not the color.”

“Like aimee gee said, bad people usually don't wanna work too hard. So my nomination would be the "locals" up near Waptus Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness (WA). They ride their horsies up the trail, 9 miles to the lake and set up "camp", which is really more like home away from home. Their camp is there year-round even though it is forbidden to have anything of the sort in a wilderness. They've constructed covered shelters, tables, chairs.

A young female wilderness ranger I know once asked them to keep the noise down during one of their wahoo sessions (complete with gunfire) and got implied rape threats, you know, "it's an awful long way back to the trailhead" and "we shore git lonesome up here" and "yer sure a purty lil thang". She walked out that night fearing for her safety but the District Ranger refused to do anything about it because "they've been up there doing that forever".

Their camp is an eyesore and they are definite creeps.”

“And some folks wonder why others say they carry guns on the trail -- listen to your stories! LOL”

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I dunno, I had a bunch of people stay up all night laughing and throwing an Axe at a tree. I was pissed at about 2:00 am!”

“careful with that ax eugene”

“Violin, I bet you have a saucer full of secrets.”

“Gee, you guys have encountered some creepy creeps! The worse I ever had to deal with was having a group of LARGE "masculine" women join hyperpacker and me at McCargo Cove camp on Isle Royale. They proceeded to strip and wash eachother off in the lake. Later they ranted and raved about their hiking poles and offered to demonstrate how they use them and let me try 'em out. Might of been a dream come true for some fellas but they weren't lookers. Woulda been nice if they'd choosen to go around the bend to do their bathing.”

“"Man" (and in this case it apparently does belong in quotes) that's some chilly H2O to be dipping into. So much for the wilderness ethic of keeping contaminants out of the water.

And doesn't this relate to another recent thread some folks got so worked up about?”

“I once made the mistake of camping with my brother-in-law and some of his militia-wannabe friends. I don't understand anyone who's itching for a gun fight with the government. I also didn't appreciate the way alcohol and firearms mixed at that little get-together. I'm kind of a rough and tumble guy, but those guys made me feel like a wuss.”

“No real creeps, and very few non-bp'ers.
Mebbe an occasional hunting party, but they're easy to deal with - just compliment them on their perty guns and dogs (it helps to know a blue tick from a black and tan from a walker from a plot, etc).

99.99% of the people I encounter are quite friendly, but that may be because I take a friendly approach.

Nonetheless, I generally try to be vague about where I'll be camping, where I'm traveling to, who I'm with, etc.”

“Once while hiking in my local mountains I was cruising along when a group of maybe 20-or-so BDU clad men and women came out of the bushes about 50 yards a head of me. They walked in a horizontal line towards me. At about 20 yards out I said,"Good Morning!" but got nothing back and they just walked right past me. Down the trail another 1/4 mile they had a big camp set up. about 30 cars, big military tents and huge fires. Was a bit scary.

As I hit one of the major dirt roads a Ranger rolled up and I told him my story. He had heard about some people camping back there making trouble but he didn't know that there were that many people so he called for more back up.

Strange things happen when you come to close to wilderness that is accessible to cars.”

“BDU?”

“Battle Dress Uniforms - the fancy name for a soldier's combat fatigues, most likely in the camo pattern suitable for the terrain at hand, such as woodland, desert, urban.”

“It was a brown bear. Yes it's species is called "BLACK"

Mtn Gal are you having a bad day :( sob...”

“Oh and I'm 21”

“Battle Dress Uniform,

(Millitary camo)”

“I never have gon camping by my self,
I never been camping with out the Boy Scouts,
I went camping a few times with my father, But they didn't count. The camp sites where really close to the road. So I don't count them as camping for real.”

“The early Euros called the black bears of the east "black bears". Then later, it was discovered that the "black" bears of the west were sometimes cinnamon colored, but they're still "black bears".

Like me, for instance. I'm perpetually tanned, but I'm still a "white boy".”

“On another hand, I pritty muchly never stand down in a fight. There are occations when it would just be dumb to fight, and others when the sides are just about fair, and then there are times when you have 8 friends with in that same room. However, I'm still only 5ft 4in, and 110 lbs, but most people backdown when they see your ready to fight to the end (even though your about to piss your pants).”

“On a Day hike once, I ran into a man and woman in their BVD's. And no I didn't catch them doing anything. They even had hiking boots on and just walking along like it was nothing. I guess they got hot.”

“We "met" aguy Sunday while dayhiking with Abby and the dogs. We saw him comin down the trail,I brought the dogs in and told them "easy" (they were leashed). As he approached I said" they're nice,just young. They may bark". The dogs didnt hardly notice him,Joy and I commented on how happy we were that the dogs didnt pay attention at all to him. He over heard us and said" thats because they are scared of me".”

“Don't know if this falls under the category of "Trail Creeps" or not, but so funny had to post. A couple years ago hiked in to a beautiful lake only about 2-3 miles from trailhead. This particular lake is a great first-nite camping spot to acclimate to altitude (it's about 6500') for those going further, but, also a great day-hike destination. We camped on the east side of the lake. Well, on the south side here comes a group from some evangelical church somewhere, and they start singing hymns and holding some sort of prayer meeting with a lot of shouting & Praise the Lords. Meanwhile, directly across from us on the west side of the lake a group of nudists show up, doing a number of interesting things. Due to the layout of the lake, and a small island in the middle, those two groups couldn't see each other, but we could see (and hear) both. Quite a dichotomy. Only in California LOL. (don't mean to offend either evangelicals or nudists, but seeing the two groups at thje same time was a hoot)”

“You guys are scaring me now. :) Since none of my friends or family are interested in hiking, I was planning on doing a lot of solo trips this summer.

I have to say, however, that of all the times I've gone hiking in the NH White Mountains, I've never had any sort of troubles.”

“walk with confidence and a smile on your face and you will do fine Dave.

A BIG walking stick never hurts either.”

“4d maglight, helps too.”

“I will nevr hike with my maglight, but I do hike with my cold steal gunsight 2.”

“"Chip" was the wierdest someb!tch I've ever seen in the woods.”

“Everybody I come across on the trail seems to be a creep to me...but I don't care, I just stare at them, not saying a word, and keep on sharpening my knife!”

“I have seen a few also, but the one that really sticks, was this shady lookin character out hunting 'shrooms with a .38 strap to his hip in a area that disallowed natural plant harvesting. So to this day I look as leary eyed as that one guy and I have yet to have any problems. Never look anyone directly in the eye and mubble to yourself.”

“In my years of hiking I've never met one.”

“For those of you who have never seen a creepy person in the woods, You ARE THE CREEPY PERSON IN THE WOODS. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any weirdoes yet so I must be the one freaking other people out.”

“Wait until you folks get a load of me.”

“So, there was this one time way back in the woods
I come up on these two showing the other, the goods
this mtn gal starts in screamin` at me and I start in freakin`
what the heck was her problem, I wasn`t the one doin` the streakin`
and there wouldn`t have been any problem and here`s the real rub
she was naked in the hot spring, it`s not like it was her hot tub
but, she went all screwy, I still don`t know what got into her
she had nothing to get bothered about, want to see the picture?LOL”

“A few years ago on the AT in Georgia, I saw a fellow sleeping under a tarp, cooking on a stove made of tin cans, and carrying a small pack that basically had nothing in it. Boy, I thought that was weird. Now it is me!”

“LOL Buddur!....you were joking right?!”

“I must also be that creep in the woods. Never had a encounter with anyone that made me nervous except yahoos that use leantos in the DACKS for a few days of grog and herb. I try not to stay around leantos but have joined in from time to time and participated in in these drunken orgies. The mess in the morning is what makes me vow to stay away next time, but Im weak. As for you carrying those side arms, would you really shoot some yahoo giving you problems? Havent heard of any news stories of hikers killing low-life yahoos and ridding the trails of these vermin even if they do exist. By just taking the gun out and displaying that you mean business would just escalate the situation. If I ever got into a situation like that I dont think I could even sleep outdoors anymore without worrying who is out there! Beware of the VANDALS SNL.”

“Radagast! No maybe it was Walkindude, No I think it was Briar Rabbit, no for sure it was Walkincrow! LOL!”

“A lighter, more effective weapon, would be the Berretta .25 caliber Jet Fire!”

“They say one out of every three people is a Trail Creep. The next time your out, look at the guy on your right and then look at the guy on your left. If their alright then your it. :)”

“A .25? You'd have a better chance of cappin' them if ya just threw the gun at them.”

“Who's Chip?”