Car break-ins, Clackamas River Trail & generally

Trip recommendations, current conditions, and other trail related Q&A
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squidvicious
Posts: 525
Joined: May 11th, 2015, 8:41 pm
Location: Troutdale

Car break-ins, Clackamas River Trail & generally

Post by squidvicious » March 9th, 2018, 2:11 pm

Decided to hike the Clackamas River Trail the other day. Pulled into the Fish Creek parking lot around 10:30 on a weekday morning and was very surprised to find myself the only car in the lot. Then more surprised to find an excessive amount of very recent-looking auto glass scattered about. Excessive as in, "saw piles before I'd even pulled into the lot all the way," and recent-looking as in, "some still attached in sheets (ie, hadn't been run over and crunched up), and rolls of window tinting that hadn't blown away."

I decided to hike anyway, but ultimately felt so anxious about it that I turned around after only about a half hour. This despite usual precautions of leaving nothing out in the car, an empty glovebox left open, and even leaving my poles behind in case there was someone watching who saw me digging in the trunk and thought I might be hiding valuables.

Is there any "logic" to break-ins? Originally I'd decided to go ahead because I thought the broken glass was probably from the weekend: there's a lot more activity, less chance that someone hanging around the lot would stand out, probably better targets in casual weekenders who don't think about what they leave in the car. But maybe it's the opposite. Maybe less activity means fewer potential witnesses and a chance to act more boldly. Or maybe none of the standard logic applies with this trailhead because it's so easily accessible from the highway... OK, it was right around this point in the rabbit-hole of anxiety that I turned around and raced back to my car!

Wondering if this trailhead is a particular problem for break-ins? I always see glass, there and everywhere, but don't remember it feeling as sketchy before. Do you feel more or less anxious when you're the only car somewhere? Usually when I see a comment posted about a car being broken into at XYZ trailhead it says something like, "They took my/my girlfriend's purse! And we were only gone for a couple hours!" Well... duh? But then I know I've seen ones where they went through and smashed every car in the row, seemingly for spite as much as anything.

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retired jerry
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Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Car break-ins, Clackamas River Trail & generally

Post by retired jerry » March 11th, 2018, 11:42 am

Probably good idea to bail with all that broken glass at parking area

I always leave car locked, nothing that looks like anything visible. I think maybe once someone poked a hole in my gas line and removed the gas. Otherwise never had a problem. Knock on wood...

I figure more popular/closer parking areas have higher risk. Seldom used parking areas far from civilization aren't probably worth it for a bad guy. Like the Herman Creek trailhead where I lost my gas, or Ramona Falls or other busy gorge trailheads.

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