Kamping at KOA

RussellK · Post by **RussellK** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 2:13 pm

a cougar encounter

Here in the midwest we have to worry more about meth labs than anything else. A few years ago hiking in Rockpile Wilderness we had to bushwack to get water and ran across some characters that weren't too happy about us being there. Nothing came of it but it gave us reason for pause.

I've got to think in most situations a gun would only get you in more trouble. Keeping your wits about you and knowing how to react to the situation would be far safer than carrying a gun. Of course I've never stared down a cougar or a bear.

Emily's Owner · Post by **Emily's Owner** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 2:15 pm

There have been a few encounters by some campers with non-society friendly types up in the Mt. Hood National Forest lately (not too far from where you camped this summer Hambone) that would make me more cautious about taking the kids out by myself off the beaten path. And these are in areas my family frequented when we were kids - A few more gun-toting meth-cookers have taken up residence in forested areas that aren't being visited by an understaffed Forest Service...........although my biggest deterrent so far is just carving out time to go camping ~ sheesh.

static · Post by **static** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:32 am

Very few. Very, very few.

The odds are still overwhelming that one is more likely to crash into a moose than to be robbed or burgled by creeps in the woods.

Let's not overstate the dangers.

RussellK · Post by **RussellK** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:25 am

What we have in Missouri are locals that know the backcountry far better than the hikers passing through. As far as they are concerned you are on their land. They run ATVs on the hiking trails and there have been instances of hikers being struck. In one instance a Boy Scout Troop on a backpacking trip on the Taum Sauk trail had a group of ATVs run through their campsite in the middle of the night. Last spring in Rockpile Wilderness my wife & I encountered on the trail an individual with a compound bow & arrow nocked. It was offseason. We tried to be friendly but he sure wasn't. On a float down the Black River we rounded the bend and on a gravel bar was a goup of campers. Nothing too unusual about that until you notice the rebel flag flying over them. And the guns. You always have to worry about your car being broken into at the trailheads. Its petty theft probably to support their Meth jones which is epidemic in rural Missouri. Has any of this kept me from hiking or playing in the woods? Not at all but I think an awareness is important.

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:40 am

I think attitude plays a big part. If you go into a situation full of fear and foreboding, that's what you will attract. And vice versa. Live each moment like it's your last on Earth and see how things change...
Fear is a powerful tool too. Don't be taken by it.

Elwood · Post by **Elwood** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:22 am

static I think you are right about not overdoing it but by talking about it with others that have had experiance and or ideas about unpleasant things that can or did happen, it certainly prepares us with the knowledge of how not to be surprized. Kinda like how to fix your broken whatever in "Tinbuctwo"

I know I feel a whole bunch better about taking more trips and thanks to all who have shared

Post by **Amskeptic** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:55 am

I have met some interesting sorts of people over the past few summers. It really is about attitude. I have seen people try to be "pleasant" with rough-looking sorts and their faces bely horror. My 2 day stubble and sartorial challenge gives the Starbucks crowd paroxsyms of disdain.

When I did carpentry in the Catskills in the summer of '99, my boss was a rough mostly toothless mountain man with a gun-rack Dodge 4x4. No matter that he was a gifted carpenter who sang silly songs, people gave him a wide berth at the convenience store. You could see the brave ones try to interact politely, but it was written all over their faces.

We hung out at the swimming hole on July 3rd in WVA with rebel flags beer and boisterousness surrounding us. Establishing a quick easy communication works better than a stiff fearful silence.

Most poorly behaved people are behaving poorly with people they know.
Colin

RussellK · Post by **RussellK** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:10 pm

Certainly attitude plays a huge part but if you are where someone really doesn't want you to be its not going to matter. The boy scouts that were camping on public land weren't fearful but that didn't stop the ATVs from tearing through their campsite and possibly seriously injuring one of them.
Certainly our attitude toward the bowhunter we met who was undoubtedly poaching defused the situation but it could have just as easily gone bad. Am I suggesting we hole up & don't venture out? Not at all. It doesn't stop me. But just as an awareness of a trail's condition determines whether I hike in boots or Keenes, an awareness that you may not be the only one out there seems important too.

Elwood · Post by **Elwood** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:11 pm

Gads Colin sounds like you are talking about gangs and camping in the same area with a flag that says so

That is far from what I would do. All I care to exchange is "Being Smart " about pulling off to get some ZZZZ's along a unknown route be it in a hotel/motel or camp ground. Can you give us any input about places to stay that you felt your bus was safe in the parking lot? Durocshark gave a few last year in his move to Colorado. You have been up and down the coast of CA,.Or, & Wash. so very many times , will you share some tips?

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:40 am

Get some National Forest maps. Find a back road, pull over. You most likey will be completely alone. Oregon State parks are huge, well lit, and busy places. You'll be safe there.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:14 pm

Elwood wrote:Gads Colin sounds like you are talking about gangs and camping in the same area with a flag that says so That is far from what I would do. All I care to exchange is "Being Smart " about pulling off to get some ZZZZ's along a unknown route be it in a hotel/motel or camp ground. Can you give us any input about places to stay that you felt your bus was safe in the parking lot?

I have never felt unsafe parking wherever the mood strikes me. I have been embarrassed a few times, like those Phillipino tourists (Greetings From Barstow) and annoyed a few times by late night security guards in large mall parking lots.

I park when I am tired, gas station parking lots just pull into the same line of cars as their next day's work, WalMart, find a nice stand of trees to shade you fromn the flourescent lot lights, desert ranch road exits, there's always a gravelly turn around near the cattle guards, I pull into the desert itself (check for soil composition first), sometimes I do truck stop parking lots, and last summer when it was 100* I camped a couple of big culverts that were blessedly cool (check weather forcasts for surrounding mountains). I camped on Chandler Blvd in N Hollywood, just pulled over and crashed, the early morning poodle-speed-walkers weren't too happy with my morning ablutions like Listerine rinses and changing my socks whilst perched on the tool box, but hey.
Colin

Post by **Sluggo** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:03 pm

You don't wanna know the places I've camped.

The little boxed in room at the top of the kiddie slide in Golden Gate Park. In fact several places in Golden Gate Park.

That little under freeway walkway in the first rest stop of the GG Bridge leaving SF. Woke up to tourists stepping over me and gawking because I was covered in a pile of clothes from my backpack because my sleeping bag got wet.

I took a lot of acid and other stuff I can't remember and woke up on the top stone of that fountain in Civic Center Park in Downtown SF and it was raining on me. Of course that's not really camping.

On the side of a freeway going to Petaluma from Portland in a stolen (it had been abandoned under the Burside Bridge for months) VW Westy.

On the beach with a Bunch of German Hippy Tourists who had picked us up while hitch hiking. They had this annoying habit of mixing tobacco with their weed.

The Russian River many times.

On the side of the freeway in the middle of the woods by Crescent City with a bunch of OWLS who definitely did not want us there. Again, not really camping. More of a no one would give us a ride while hitch hiking kind of situation. Ever been dive bombed by an owl?

Never once had a problem with anybody but cops.

I never camped while in Seattle and I truly regret it.

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:07 am

You're tuff, man. I've only Camped, not "camped"....doesn't sound like much fun.

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:28 pm

Sluggo wrote:You don't wanna know the places I've camped.
..
The Russian River many times.

Heh. If you happened to be camping around the Guerneville area in the '96-'99 timeframe I might've seen you at some point -- used to live along the River Road "strip" near the carwash out towards Rio Nido. The last 6-8 months of that we even had VW's...

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Kamping at KOA