Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Share your tips for safe hiking, surviving in the wild and managing hiking injuries!
User avatar
Sly
Posts: 13
Joined: January 20th, 2014, 7:28 pm
Location: PDX

Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by Sly » 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

User avatar
kepPNW
Posts: 6411
Joined: June 21st, 2012, 9:55 am
Location: Salmon Creek

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by kepPNW » March 14th, 2016, 8:22 am

Sly wrote:If your wife or sister was traveling alone in the West, would you advise her to bring a gun?
No.
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

User avatar
sprengers4jc
Posts: 1036
Joined: October 22nd, 2013, 11:35 am
Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by sprengers4jc » March 14th, 2016, 8:35 am

I have heard many stories of rough folks out in Eastern Oregon and Idaho...what kind of people I will run into...I feel confident in my fitness and judgement
I think judgment is the issue here. Assuming that the people in any of those areas are 'rough' enough to need a gun to defend yourself because you are 'conventionally attractive' is offensive and ridiculous.

The people you will meet in your journey are just regular people-- no rougher or less refined than the good people of Portland.

I would be way more concerned about being in grizzly territory. Bear spray would be a very handy thing to have, for many reasons.
Last edited by sprengers4jc on March 14th, 2016, 9:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
'We travel not to escape life but for life to not escape us.'
-Unknown

User avatar
retired jerry
Posts: 14395
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by retired jerry » March 14th, 2016, 8:44 am

yeah, people in Eastern Oregon are the same as anywhere else, mostly good, occasional bad people

Not being a woman I don't have a valid opinion, but I see many solo women with a dog. Seems to give them a sense of security. I feel intimidated walking by them.

Having said something that was misinterpretted on that other thread, you'd think I'd learn to keep my opinions to myself, but you haven't got much feedback, so...

I think it best not to comment on guns :twisted:

User avatar
Koda
Posts: 3466
Joined: June 5th, 2009, 7:54 am

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by Koda » March 14th, 2016, 8:58 am

You need to research interstate transport laws as well as make certain you can lawfully carry concealed or open in each state you visit, and which state honors your Oregon CHL. You need to research state level gun laws specifically for the type of gun you have (stay out of California). You need to take a defensive handgun class after your safety class. The safety class and range practice, while good, does not cover at all combat retention, stressfire and legal use of deadly force. You really need to read the book Deadly Force by Massad Ayoob.

If your prepared to do all that, then yes you should take your gun.

Now let me go grab some popcorn for the inevitable second amendment debate.
lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2

User avatar
Peder
Posts: 3401
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: Lake Oswego

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by Peder » March 14th, 2016, 11:03 am

kepPNW wrote:
Sly wrote:If your wife or sister was traveling alone in the West, would you advise her to bring a gun?
No.
Dixit! And the same applies to my daughter.
Some people are really fit at eighty; thankfully I still have many years to get into shape…

User avatar
adamschneider
Posts: 3710
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: SE Portland
Contact:

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by adamschneider » March 14th, 2016, 11:07 am

Gun, no. Pepper spray, definitely. Works on bears too.

User avatar
jessbee
Posts: 877
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Contact:

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by jessbee » March 14th, 2016, 1:37 pm

Agreed with all of the above posters.

I suppose my opinion has that extra merit of coming from a woman :) Although Jerry, Karl and the like still know what they're talking about.

I wouldn't go out of my way to learn how to handle a gun if it wasn't already in my repertoire, for a trip like this. Go, have fun, be self-aware, put your other training into use. People generally have unremarkable to good experiences with other people on the road, it's just the occasional and rare wacky story that gets everyone all fired up for no good reason.
Will break trail for beer.

Blog and photos

User avatar
retired jerry
Posts: 14395
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by retired jerry » March 14th, 2016, 2:29 pm

good to get response from a woman :)

you do solo trips too

User avatar
sprengers4jc
Posts: 1036
Joined: October 22nd, 2013, 11:35 am
Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: Woman travelling alone through Idaho- bring a gun?

Post by sprengers4jc » March 15th, 2016, 7:03 am

retired jerry wrote:good to get response from a woman :)

you do solo trips too
Another woman here, also doing solo trips ;)
'We travel not to escape life but for life to not escape us.'
-Unknown

Post Reply