Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?
Posted: March 12th, 2016, 2:45 pm
Hello, I am preparing for a three month road trip through Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. I'm a young adult woman who is conventionally attractive and will be alone with my dog, living out of my truck.
I leave Oregon in May so am actively prepping for this road trip. I will mostly be hitting up popular rock climbing spots and backpacking- looking at doing multi-day trips out in the Wallowas and Sawtooths. I feel confident in my fitness and judgement for backcountry hiking, have WFR training, and always have a SPOT locator beacon on me. What I cannot anticipate and prepare for however, is what kind of people I will run into.
I have heard many stories of rough folks out in Eastern Oregon and Idaho. A woman on this very forum posted about being stalked and threatened by men at a hotspring in eastern Oregon recently. My dog is a labrador and thinks everyone is a friend, so she does not provide the sense of security that comes with a German shepherd or pitbull. I do not want to live in fear, but I think it is rational to be prepared for worst case scenarios. I never thought I would consider getting a gun, but three months on the road is a long time to expose yourself to risk.
Obviously, I would take gun safety courses and practice, practice, practice my marksmanship before hitting the raod. I am not sure if a gun would be a smart item to carry on my person in the backcountry and would value advice from the outdoors community.
If your wife or sister was traveling alone in the West, would you advise her to bring a gun?
Thank you
I leave Oregon in May so am actively prepping for this road trip. I will mostly be hitting up popular rock climbing spots and backpacking- looking at doing multi-day trips out in the Wallowas and Sawtooths. I feel confident in my fitness and judgement for backcountry hiking, have WFR training, and always have a SPOT locator beacon on me. What I cannot anticipate and prepare for however, is what kind of people I will run into.
I have heard many stories of rough folks out in Eastern Oregon and Idaho. A woman on this very forum posted about being stalked and threatened by men at a hotspring in eastern Oregon recently. My dog is a labrador and thinks everyone is a friend, so she does not provide the sense of security that comes with a German shepherd or pitbull. I do not want to live in fear, but I think it is rational to be prepared for worst case scenarios. I never thought I would consider getting a gun, but three months on the road is a long time to expose yourself to risk.
Obviously, I would take gun safety courses and practice, practice, practice my marksmanship before hitting the raod. I am not sure if a gun would be a smart item to carry on my person in the backcountry and would value advice from the outdoors community.
If your wife or sister was traveling alone in the West, would you advise her to bring a gun?
Thank you