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A Warning


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We had a week long cache vacation planned out. Last night we backpacked at the Red River Gorge in kentucky, and hiked back to a car that had been broken into. All of the doors had been dented with rocks, and all of our food and much of our property in the car had been stolen. If you are every on an overnight caching trip, try to park in a safer lot than this one!

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Awww man. Sorry guys. That stinks.

 

It's only stuff though, right? That can be replaced.

 

It's something I've always been concerned about. I've heard about stuff like this happening ever since I started caching. Seems like it's almost always in state parks and places like that.

 

I know you're not the first. My guess is you won't be the last. :laughing:

 

Bret

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That really, really stinks. Breaking into vehicles is an issue at many remote, trailhead parking spots.

 

One trick that I've used is to remove all valubles from the car, leave the glove compartment open and the doors unlocked.

 

Unfortunately this won't thwart the kind of gratuitous vandalism that happened to the OP's car.

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Breaking into cars has become such a problem in Tahoe that the State Parks and Forest Service has put up signs warning people not to leave their valuables in their cars. One of my coworkers actually had her car broken into at the gym (they watched her from a distance put her purse under her car seat). I wish the authorities would crack down more on these activities.

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If I must leave my rig unattended at a trailhead for more than just a couple hours, I make sure there is nothing valuable inside and leave the door unlocked.

 

I'd rather find a ransacked glovebox than to find smashed windows and a ransacked glovebox.

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It's amazing what people will try. Someone slashed my Jeep windows and stole my stereo from the parking lot while I was at work. Took guts, too, because I worked for Brink's armored at the time - over 70 employees, each with his own handgun plus a few shotguns thrown in. I got the last laugh though, because the CD player had quit working the week before. Way to steal a busted no-good radio, dipstick.

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Very sorry to hear about this, and so close to our present home. At the risk of offending, those East Kentucky people are .... different, shall we say?

 

This happened to sun-moon-starz and me while caching in Austin, TX by the greenbelt a few years back. We had run in for some quick caching and had foolishly left the cache bag (mctoys, water prification tablets, pens, batteries) sitting out on the floor. It looked too much like a purse, and by the time we got back from a few caches, our window had been broken and the cache bag taken. Thankfully the travel bug that we'd left in the car was left.

 

I'm sorry to make this my first post in these fora, but I am from Eastern Kentucky and I am offended. The fact is that in that area, it is just as likely that the people who did that are from elsewhere, maybe even Lexington.

 

OP: Please don't let this incident dissuade you from coming back to our area, there are idiots everywhere.

 

budophylus: come on down to our area & cache, get to really know the rest of the state. I'll even go with you, maybe buy you a beer afterward if we're not in a dry county--and neither I nor any of my friends will trash your ride. I can't promise that no one will, again, there are idiots everywhere.

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If you are every on an overnight caching trip, try to park in a safer lot than this one!

 

Sorry to hear about that. We had that happen to us a Niagara Falls last year. Problem is you think you are in a safe lot until it happens then you see how wrong you were.

 

We never leave anything visible in our vehicles regardless of where we are now.

 

Hope you got the vehicle fixed without a lot of hassle for the insurers.

 

JDandDD

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Very sorry to hear about this, and so close to our present home. At the risk of offending, those East Kentucky people are .... different, shall we say?

 

I agree with Jumpin' Jack Cache, the people who did this are not "different" they are common criminals that can be found the world over. This stuff happenes everywhere, so don't even try to suggest that it is due to our so called "different" culture.

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This happened to sun-moon-starz and me while caching in Austin, TX by the greenbelt a few years back. We had run in for some quick caching and had foolishly left the cache bag (mctoys, water prification tablets, pens, batteries) sitting out on the floor. It looked too much like a purse, and by the time we got back from a few caches, our window had been broken and the cache bag taken. Thankfully the travel bug that we'd left in the car was left.

 

I'm sorry to make this my first post in these fora, but I am from Eastern Kentucky and I am offended. The fact is that in that area, it is just as likely that the people who did that are from elsewhere, maybe even Lexington.

 

OP: Please don't let this incident dissuade you from coming back to our area, there are idiots everywhere.

 

budophylus: come on down to our area & cache, get to really know the rest of the state. I'll even go with you, maybe buy you a beer afterward if we're not in a dry county--and neither I nor any of my friends will trash your ride. I can't promise that no one will, again, there are idiots everywhere.

 

Very sorry to hear about this, and so close to our present home. At the risk of offending, those East Kentucky people are .... different, shall we say?

 

I agree with Jumpin' Jack Cache, the people who did this are not "different" they are common criminals that can be found the world over. This stuff happenes everywhere, so don't even try to suggest that it is due to our so called "different" culture.

 

Hey Jumpin Jack & Airmapper: I cached in Austin after our car was broken into and I will definitely cache anywhere in KY. There are non-caching opportunists everywhere. It just stinks when your caching day is ruined by one of these types! I'm hoping to take an Eastern KY trip at some point this summer and hope to meet you on the trails; and it would be nice to have a heads up on the non-dry counties out east of the "big" :) city of Lexington.

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Hey Jumpin Jack & Airmapper: I cached in Austin after our car was broken into and I will definitely cache anywhere in KY. There are non-caching opportunists everywhere. It just stinks when your caching day is ruined by one of these types! I'm hoping to take an Eastern KY trip at some point this summer and hope to meet you on the trails; and it would be nice to have a heads up on the non-dry counties out east of the "big" :ph34r: city of Lexington.

 

Glad to hear you kept on caching. There is a good name for those types but this is not the place. I'm glad that you plan to visit us, my offer here and the offer in my email are genuine. I'm new to the game/sport but I love the region. I must say that it also is disappointing (stinks) when others in the same state buy into stereotypes. That being said, from memory: Rowan, Wolfe, Magoffin, Floyd, Perry, some of the city of Pikeville, the city of Cumberland and there's a nice local winery in Letcher :) I may have missed 1 or 2 . Not sure of those farther west, maybe Airmapper can chime in? Farther east, there's always VA.

 

Oh, and there is always what we "sophisticated" hillbillies refer to as "consumable folk art".

 

edit:add last paragraph and attempt to fix quote thing

Edited by Jumpin' Jack Cache
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That really, really stinks. Breaking into vehicles is an issue at many remote, trailhead parking spots.

 

One trick that I've used is to remove all valubles from the car, leave the glove compartment open and the doors unlocked.

 

Unfortunately this won't thwart the kind of gratuitous vandalism that happened to the OP's car.

 

Sorry that happened to you! It happened to us several years ago. Since there wasn't anything in the car to steal they did as much damage to the vehicle as possible. May they all be infested with syphilitic lice...

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I came back to my car in similar condition once. Fortunately, my "valuables" (in quotation marks because I didn't leave anything of actual monetary value) were still there, but I discovered that my cooler had been raided. Moral of the story: Secure your food better in bear country.

 

Sorry for your loss. Fortunately, cars can be fixed (mine is in the body shop right now, thanks to a rogue dump truck).

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WOW! Sorry to hear about your damage. We are planning on visiting Red River Gorge next weekend. Where exactly did this happen so we know not to park there. Also, any caches you would receommend?

 

Thanks.

 

We were parked at Martin's Fork Trailhead. Here is a picture of our car in the parking lot.

 

d3b0d687-ca2b-4aa6-a7e4-46d922afccda.jpg

 

We did inform the state police, and they were very polite, but acted like it happened all the time.

 

The parking lot should be OK durring the day.

 

We didn't get to do any caching because we were waiting until the next day and we didn't want to drive around with a smashed windshield more than we had to. We did get one at a nearby rest stop the day before that was cool. It was called "Junior's Last Stop." We also logged a DNF at the Drive In Theater, but the cache is probobally still there. The people at the Slade Shell Station are extremely camper friendly.

 

Have fun on your trip.

Edited by Will+Bill
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Someone I know had a similar thing happen to her almost a year ago (with a new (not quite a month old !) car, too!)- She was working at a veterinary(sp?) clinic, and when she came out, she saw that both the driver's side and passenger side windows had been busted out (fortunately, the windshield was ok- she has a 30-45 min highway commute every day!) The valuables she had left in plain sight were still there - all her CD's, her purse, etc. The $#@%!s that did it were just doing it to be vandals- they also got the vehicle next to hers (which, by the way, was an unmarked cruiser!) I'm not sure whether or not they were caught, but I really hope so!

 

As she said, she's glad that her insurance co. covered most of teh costs to replace the windows, and she's glad that she's ok and her vaulables didn't get taken!

 

Happy Caching!

Jeff

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In the world of suckdom, that truly is King. I'm sorry to see that some knucklehead(s) took out his aggression on your car. I know how you feel...violated. It's nice to see that you still have a positive outlook regarding hiking/caching.

 

Did you have any luck with the authorities catching the hooligan(s)?

-Cracker

 

We hope to encourage the authorites through letters and web postings, but fear that they are way understaffed in the Federal Parks. It appears tht the criminals are taking over after dark.

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I feel your pain and am sorry to hear about your delema .... this happened to me last year ...

We were caching in IN, and were only away from the truck for an hour .

 

DEMON LOG

 

On the upside we haven't let it ruin geocaching for us !!

 

Star

 

Where in Indiana did your trouble take place? Living in Indiana that is where we do most of our caching and backpacking. I feel pretty safe here.

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If you are every on an overnight caching trip, try to park in a safer lot than this one!

 

Sorry to hear about that. We had that happen to us a Niagara Falls last year. Problem is you think you are in a safe lot until it happens then you see how wrong you were.

 

We never leave anything visible in our vehicles regardless of where we are now.

 

Hope you got the vehicle fixed without a lot of hassle for the insurers.

 

JDandDD

 

So far the people at the Farmers Insurance Group are being quite helpful.

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