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How do you go hiking?

Old 03-23-08, 07:05 PM
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How do you go hiking?

Let's say you're on a long tour of several days, and you want to use a trailer. Ok, fine.

But, you want to do a lot of hiking while you're out for the day, then come back to your campsite, only to find everything.... GONE!!!

How do you prevent this?

A cable and padlock would seem logical, but it is useless against someone who is out to steal. I just can't afford to loose a $1,200 bike plus a trailer and all my gear. Especially if I go on a long tour alone.

Do you hide your rig when out hiking?

Are campsites relatively secure?
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Old 03-23-08, 07:11 PM
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I remember a story that was posted about a year ago which described this very situation. He was pretty much stranded. Maybe he will chime in and retell it.
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Old 03-23-08, 07:15 PM
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^^^ That's my worst nightmare that I am trying to prevent with some level of certainty. You can never be compleyely secure, but I was wondering if there were any tricks to the trade anyone had to help prevent this kind of catastrophe.
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Old 03-23-08, 07:17 PM
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First, I don't travel with a trailer.

Second, sometimes you can talk to the person running the campground about leaving your bicycle in a storage shed or some place like that. When I cycled in Australia for 3 months in 2004, that's what we did when we wanted to go somewhere for the day.

As for your stuff ... well, everyone else in the campground leaves their tents up with their gear in there when they go out here and there for the day.

Some campgrounds are more secure than others. Some I've gone into and instantly felt uncomfortable ... I've moved on. Others leave a much better impression.
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Old 03-23-08, 07:29 PM
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I have hiked the John Muir in Yosemite, across the Grand Canyon a half dozen times, in the backcountry of Yellowstone, Glacier, Banff, and Jasper - Denali, Kluane, Wrangell-St. Elias and never had any problem. And not just a two-hour hike, either - 3 sometimes 4 days.

Maybe I'm just lucky. First, my bike is an older model - 1988 Trek 8000 adapted for touring. I use a basic cable and lock. Second, I use panniers. In bear areas I hang them a short ways off the trailhead. Clearly they are visible to hikers, but they have always been respected. Many trailheads have outhouses with sloped roofs and small rafters underneath. You can always hoist your panniers up into the rafters and make them less visible - I've done that a few times.

Machka is right about asking people at campgrounds - that is, if there is a campground near the trailhead. Another campground option is to leave your panniers in a bear box - provided that they are not heavily used. My experience is that most national parks in the U.S. and Canada have ample bear box capacity. I do not think that park rangers would take kindly to your locking the bear box, however, since they are public use.

Finally, I never have anything left behind that I cannot absolutely do without. Wallet, passport, camera all go with me. It would be a bummer and a big monkeywrench in my tour if my stuff got heisted, but I never worry one bit when I set out to hike.
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Old 03-23-08, 08:37 PM
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Ive considered this very thing as i plan for my future ride. I would love to get on trail. My idea is to drop by an LBS because that seems like a place that would be very understanding of the situation. I figured they would be happy to stash a bike for a week or so if need be.
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Old 03-23-08, 08:46 PM
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But the local bike shop is in Cosmoville and the trailhead is 20 miles away.

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Old 03-23-08, 09:00 PM
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Originally Posted by cosmo starr
Ive considered this very thing as i plan for my future ride. I would love to get on trail. My idea is to drop by an LBS because that seems like a place that would be very understanding of the situation. I figured they would be happy to stash a bike for a week or so if need be.
Yeah, um ... not every town has an LBS, or a conveniently located one. Also, not every LBS would be happy to stash a bike for a week or so. Some are very small places with little extra space. They might offer you the back alley, or a spot between the buildings. Some aren't even all that thrilled about hanging onto the cardboard boxes you shipped your bicycle in (which can be flattened) for a week or so while you're touring. You could try, and you might find a conveniently located LBS who would be willing to do that, but don't count on it.

But here is another viable option ... if you're cycling along for a few days or a week or two, and you come to a town where you know there's some good hiking (day hikes), stay in a hostel or motel for a couple nights.
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Old 03-24-08, 10:09 PM
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We often run in the mornings and used these to lock up the gear we leave behind in the campsite. While a determined thief could dig through the packs and make off with the contents, it prevents the quick snatch and run.

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Old 03-25-08, 02:54 AM
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Hi,

I never had any problems with theft. I just lock the bike at the parking lot and go hiking.
Even in smaller cities (pop. 100.000) I just lock the bike and visit the city or a museum.

The risk of theft especially in remote areas is quite low.

Thomas
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Old 03-25-08, 06:01 AM
  #11  
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Originally Posted by JohnyW
Hi,

I never had any problems with theft. I just lock the bike at the parking lot and go hiking.
Even in smaller cities (pop. 100.000) I just lock the bike and visit the city or a museum.

The risk of theft especially in remote areas is quite low.

Thomas
That is pretty much what I do. I have locked my bike at a trail head quite a few times. I just accept that there is some risk, but consider it small enough that I don't worry. The larger the town the more careful I am. I never have gone on hikes longer than an hour or two while on tour though.
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Old 03-25-08, 06:16 AM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by Machka
But here is another viable option ... if you're cycling along for a few days or a week or two, and you come to a town where you know there's some good hiking (day hikes), stay in a hostel or motel for a couple nights.
Thus far I have not found that the places I wanted to hike were near town or even the campgrounds for that matter. Most often we just wind up at a trail head in the middle of the day and decide to hike.

I may try your suggested option in the future in places like Glacier where you can get to trail heads by bus. It would allow for more and longer hikes than we usually take. I have toyed with the idea of actually doing some overnight or longer backpack trips when on tour, but don't know if that will actually ever happen.
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Old 03-25-08, 07:49 AM
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Hi,

I also went on hikes up to 9 hours (and left my bike full packed at the trailhead). If I hike longer I'm looking for an accomodation near by where store my bike. I hike in touristic areas and a camping place, hotel etc. is close.

In poor countries are a lot of kids very curios. I normally select one of strongest and ask him to guard my bike. It's interesting how important these kids take their "job". Afterwards the guard gets a reward in form of sweets, pens, etc. (I try to avoid to give money). Sometimes you will be invited to the guards familiy after the hike...

Thomas
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Old 03-25-08, 12:05 PM
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Good advice from JohnyW and staehpi1. But I don't understand all this fear that some folks seem to have. There have been several threads lately that were basically about fear, and more often than not, fear of something happening while touring in the USA. You take common sense precautions and go about your life. For what it's worth, I think that petty crime directed at tourists (including cyclists) is a much larger problem in certain places in Europe than anywhere I've biked in the rest of the world, including the USA.
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Old 03-25-08, 12:26 PM
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Originally Posted by axolotl
But I don't understand all this fear that some folks seem to have. There have been several threads lately that were basically about fear, and more often than not, fear of something happening while touring in the USA.
Is this mostly a recent thing or is it every year at this time? A little caution is OK, but I wonder about the concerns that are posted.

While I personally only worry much about theft in larger towns, I understand the concern about leaving the bike unattended.

I am baffled by the number of posts where people want to carry a machete so people don't "mess with them" or are worried about carrying decoy wallets or whatever. The paranoia level seems to get out of control for some.
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Old 03-25-08, 01:02 PM
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I think it is a logical concern and one that I consider whenever I am touring. So far, my solution is not to hike when I am camping. If I want to hike or spend the day, I rent a room and put my bike and stuff in there.

Worrying about my physical safety is not something that concerns me much. Also, I'd rather take another good book to read then a weapon for the same amount of weight.

I wonder what kinds of questions we'd get if some movie showed a bike tourist getting killed by a guy in a hockey mask?

Ray
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Old 03-25-08, 03:56 PM
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Originally Posted by raybo
So far, my solution is not to hike when I am camping. If I want to hike or spend the day, I rent a room and put my bike and stuff in there.
A few people seem to say that. I wonder where you guys go that there is a place you want to hike when near a place to get a room. Am I missing some golden opportunities?

Do you leave your stuff in the room and ride the bike to the trail head? If so I don't really see how that helps, since the bike is the thing that is most valuable of the things I usually have on a trip with the possible exception of the stuff in the handlebar bag which goes with me.

Usually the places I want to get off and hike are places like a hot spring in the middle of 80 miles of the road up Lolo Pass with nothing much except a forest service campground or two or a water falls with a trail head nowhere near any where to stay. I have heard that places like Glacier NP. have a shuttle that goes by a lot of different trail heads, but I have not run into any places like that unless Yellowstone did and I missed it.

So please share you experiences with this. It may factor into my future route choices.
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Old 03-25-08, 04:30 PM
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Originally Posted by staehpj1
Thus far I have not found that the places I wanted to hike were near town or even the campgrounds for that matter. Most often we just wind up at a trail head in the middle of the day and decide to hike.

I may try your suggested option in the future in places like Glacier where you can get to trail heads by bus. It would allow for more and longer hikes than we usually take. I have toyed with the idea of actually doing some overnight or longer backpack trips when on tour, but don't know if that will actually ever happen.
Sorry, I should have been more specific. Suppose the trailhead is 20 kms away. I take the hostel or hotel, and leave my gear there, locked in my room or the storage area. Then I hop on my unlaiden (except for my handlebar bag) bicycle and ride it to the trailhead. Once there, I remove my handlebar bag (which has a strap so I can easily carry it), and I lock my bicycle to a tree or somewhere. Then I hike.

Or, and I've done this on one or two occasions, once I get to the trailhead on my bicycle, I walk the bicycle around the trail with me. It can be a bit challenging in places, but can be doable.

Occasionally there is a bus or train service from areas where there are hotels or hostels to the area you want to hike, and I did that once on my Australian trip.
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Old 03-25-08, 06:28 PM
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I once had the pannier I was using as a shoulderbag stolen during a hike! The other panniers and my bike were untouched in the bushes at the trailhead.
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Old 03-25-08, 07:26 PM
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The last tour we did we spent a lot of time doing multi-day backpacking trips. We always left our bikes and non-hiking things with a campsite/hostel/motorcamp. Sometimes they charged a small fee but usually it was free. We would then take a shuttle/bus or hitchhike to and from the trailhead.
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