I was just there 2 weeks ago. Missed ya buddy!

They tracked him down... Weeks later?

Not so tough without your BB gun now, are you?

Dumbarse was lucky they didn't have a real gun.

AMonkey'sUncle: CSB: Years ago I wanted to hike a trail in the Trinity Alps of CA. So I parked in the parking area at the trailhead. Some couple screamed at me from the house up the hill to get my car the hell out of there and park it somewhere else. I try to explain to them this is gov't land. But they weren't having it.

I decided getting shot, arrested (they would probably have more clout with the law than I, a stranger, would) or having my car vandalized while I was hiking. The alternative parking was only 1/4 mile away, so it was no big deal.

That day pretty much turned me agin yahoos for life.

Which trailhead? I'm asking because I and my friends do a lot of hiking in the Trinity Alps, and it would be good to know which one to avoid. So far the only problem I've had at a T.A. trailhead was with bears destroying my idiot friend's BMW. We warned him not to leave so much as a McDonalds wrapper in his car, so he leaves an entire bag of dog food in his trunk. That bear tore his rear bumper off, broke in through his sunroof, tore his backseat out, and destroyed the interior of his car.

He (she?) also sat on top of my car, caving in the roof (it popped right back up), and took a bite out of the orange Union 76 ball on my antenna. There was another pickup truck parked there, and the bear got into the back and bit into and drank a quart of motor oil.

Lotsa bears in the Trinity Alps, and the ones that hang near trailheads are aggressive for black bears.

davidab: problem solver

I'd have to use it as a booby-trap. I usually go in for 17 days at a time, and most of my time is spent 10 to 25 miles away from the trailhead.

AMonkey'sUncle: Ah, wish I could help,. but this was quite some time ago. It was somewhere right off CA 299. Can't even remember how I found it. Must have been a topo map I had.

You might have gone in on the Hoopa side. I drive through that area at exactly the speed limit, and if I got a flat, I'd just keep driving. If you're ever planning on another trip, I'd recommend going in at either Trinity Center or Sawyers Bar. Trinity Center is pretty crowded at the trailhead, but as soon as you leave the campground and cross the river, you're alone. Sawyers Bar is much more remote (that's where the bear got my friend's car) and it's at the end of some pretty rugged roads, or used to be last time I used it.

I hope you didn't let those redneck asses ruin your hike. As far as I'm concerned, the Trinity Alps are the best place on Earth. Like being in Yosemite, but without all the people.

AMonkey'sUncle: At the time I was with the CG in Eureka, so went into the TA via Willow Creek.

I may owe you a great big Thank You! In 1992 or 93, I was invited to go fishing with my brother-in-law and his son, on a friend's boat. We were off the Lost Coast in a 30-foot fishing boat, and our engine quit. We put in a distress call, and were almost on the rocks when the cavalry came and towed us off. They were the Humboldt Coast Guard, and they're personal heroes to me. If I ever meet you in person, ALL the drinks are on me!

Oh, and also if you turned off 299 at Willow Creek, you probably entered at or just beyond Hoopa. That's a dangerous little town. Yurok and Hoopa indians make up the majority of the town, and they don't like outsiders. Back in the early '80s, the Secretary of the Interior, Earl Butz visited there, and somebody took a shot at him with a hunting rifle. My cousin got jumped there and almost beaten to death, and I had someone take a shot at my truck. My cousin's wife is a Yurok indian, and she says that none of the other tribes will have anything to do with them. "They got the devil in them", she says.