I went hiking up Baer Canyon today in the pouring rain, because I am an idiot and because my dog is incapable of understanding that we don't hike in the rain. On my way back down the canyon I noticed a camp site that I had first noticed on Saturday. I noticed it because it is a little bit off the trail and in a place where I have not seen campers before. You can't see it from the trail if you are on your way up the canyon, but it is clearly visible as you are going down. I took particular notice of it today because even though the rain was pouring down it looked like there was a lot of gear strewn around the camp site. It didn't seem like a rational person would leave all of their gear out in the rain and most people would be back to work or school on a Monday so I decided to go up and take a closer look to make sure that everything was alright.
When I got to the camp site I could see that there was a bunch of food, towels, dishes, backpacks and other miscellaneous gear strewn all over the place. Some of it, especially the food, was clearly being ruined by the rain. I called out and when no one answered I decided to check the tent. The tent had a little padlock, not through the holes in the zipper pulls themselves, but through the strings that go through the holes in the zipper pulls. I got it open enough to see that there was no one in the tent, just a couple of big stacks of books and sleeping gear. The site is at the base of some cliffs, and it concerned me that possibly some kid had gone climbing around on those cliffs and had fallen and was hurt somewhere, but I couldn't see anyone nearby so I decided I had done my duty to check around and I went home.
Once I got home I knew that it was going to continue to bother me that someone could be out there hurt in the rain. I decided to hike back up and break into the tent to see if I could find some identification before I went to the police. I got back up to the site and untied the strings holding the padlock in place (not the smartest way to secure a tent) and went inside. I thumbed through a couple of books and peeked into a duffle bag but didn't see anything that might identify the person. As I was about to leave I noticed 2 composition books hanging in a little net up near the top of the tent. The first notebook contained some really bad poetry, but the second note book was a journal. On the first page of the journal I read that this guy was planning on spending the next 4 months living in the wilderness on a spiritual journey, and that he was planning to support himself by selling drugs. He hoped to make around $10,000 this summer. I thumbed to the last entry which was for Saturday, in which he mentioned that he had just come back from a hike and was drunk. Again, I worried that he might be hurt somewhere, especially if he was hiking around under the influence of drugs and or alcohol. I also decided that I should probably get out of there fast if there were a chance that a drug dealer might come back and find me rifling through his things. I tied the padlock back on and hurried back to my car.
I drove over to the Fruit Heights City Building only to find that it was closed for the night. I wasn't sure what to do, since it wasn't an emergency and I didn't want to call 911. As I was headed back to my house to look up non-emergency numbers in the phone book I saw a Kaysville cop pulled over on the side of the road. I pulled over behind him and waved him over to my car. I explained what had happened, and that I was worried that since it didn't look like this person had been back to camp for a couple of days he may be out hurt somewhere. The cop thought it was more likely that he could be out tending the spot where he is growing his drugs. Apparently they have been dealing with quite a bit of that in these mountains lately. He put me in touch with the deputy who was on call tonight. I explained what I had found and she told me that they would head up and check it out. She called me back a little while ago to let me know that they hadn't found anyone around the camp, but that they would keep it under surveilance for the next week, and if he hasn't come back by the first of next week they will send out search and rescue to see if they can find him.
I worry about snakes when I hike in the summer. I vaguely worry about mountain lions in the winter, but mostly I worry about slipping on the ice and breaking something. It never occured to me to worry that I might run into drug dealers and/or drug growing operations up there in the middle of nowhere. It may be time for me to at least invest in some pepper spray to take with me when I'm hiking.
8 comments:
Oh my Hell Nancy Drew! As if we need another reason to worry about you when you are hiking! Very interesting though, there really are idiots everywhere... Keep us posted.
I talked to an officer who told me that pot farming in the mountains is a growing problem. Now I'm wondering if I should learn how to shoot and get a concealed carry permit just to be able to defend myself if I stumble across something like that!
I don't think potheads are the gun carrying type... You, are scaring me!
That is really scary. You are much braver than I am. I don't think I would dare rummage through a campsite. There have been lots of pot growing farms found in our mountains the last few years so that scenario makes total sense. It has amazed me the lengths people have gone to in setting up some pretty elaborate farms and irrigation systems up where no man usually wanders.
I learned in a class that you can pepper spray anyone and not get in trouble, however if you shoot someone there is always teh possibility of getting in trouble or sued. Also if someone manages to get your pepperspray and use it on you...not a huge deal, if they get your gun, you could be dead. Moral of your story, be wary of padlocked tents!
Oh my gosh! What a girl! You are way too ambitious for your own good. Be careful. And maybe you should teach Shady to attack if needed.
But how much trouble will you get in if you use bear spray on people?
Bear spray, bear spray, bear spray!
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