BW gear getting stolen?

[corvus]

I'm heart broken......I'm going to have to give up bushwalking because my gear cost me a lot less than $2000

I think winter is a diffcult time when cabin fever can cause all kinds of outrageous behavior.
Such is life

No need to worry neilmny I guess many have gear that cost a lot less than $2000.00 however just having done a replacement cost of some of ours was a mind opener
If I lost to theft our tent, sleeping bags ,mats ,liners,stove ,billy etc that would be there if we were on a day walk away from our campsite would cost me around that sum ( Son and me always do walks now) thus my thought of insurance for around $2.60 per day ?

[vicrev]

If you feel more comfortable with insurance..go for it. don't worry about what other people think....

[GPSGuided]

I must admit, even I'm surprised how a generalised topic became angry so quickly. I used to think hikers/bushwalkers (must get the terminology correct) were these zenned out mellow-types. I'm starting to reconsider though, as in the outdoors I seem to bump into plenty of angry, social misfits, ready to pour scorn on others. As a social experiment, I actually find it quite entertaining...

It's winter and quite a few walkers are stuck in front of their terminal. That, is the source of all these. People will be happy again come spring when they can be buried in the bush.

[GPSGuided]

What about leaving your pack at junctions when doing side-tracks? For example, OLT side tracks?
Is that wise, or should you just take your pack with you?

A nice thing about the OLT is that people walk in a single direction, registered with PWS and they'll be 'caught' at the next hut, so it's less likely anyone of the registered walkers would do anything unreasonable. Stealing a full pack would be even more out of the question, let alone the hassle of carrying it out. Far less confident on one day tracks.

[walkon]

I must admit, even I'm surprised how a generalised topic became angry so quickly. I used to think hikers/bushwalkers (must get the terminology correct) were these zenned out mellow-types. I'm starting to reconsider though, as in the outdoors I seem to bump into plenty of angry, social misfits, ready to pour scorn on others. As a social experiment, I actually find it quite entertaining...

It's winter and quite a few walkers are stuck in front of their terminal. That, is the source of all these. People will be happy again come spring when they can be buried in the bush.

Start using your shell that most complain about never using, even if you don't like snow the coast is beautiful that will lighten your mood. Lots more solitude and no buggar around to steal gear that never gets stolen anyway. Hang on its really bad out there, cold so cold don't come out, stay by your computer at home or the one your bludging on at work. Wait till mid summer to come out again

[DanShell]

What about leaving your pack at junctions when doing side-tracks? For example, OLT side tracks?
Is that wise, or should you just take your pack with you?
Ive always wondered about that.

Im leaning towards what the others have said Kitty but it doesn't stop me from being paranoid about it.

As an example, I left my pack on the track that summits Cradle and I had a pretty good view of it most of the time but when I lost sight of it I was worrying a bit because there were a lot of day walkers. I know its unlikely but it only takes one opportunistic thief to throw it on his/her back and walk back out to the car park.
Anyway, I was about to come back down off the mountain and I could just make out a person loitering around the area I had my pack stashed, I was certain this person had thrown it on his/her back so I was doing my best to track which way they had gone (I was still a long way away so my vision was not great). I got down off that mountain in record time stressing that my OLT walk may end before it started to find my pack still where I left it and with a bunch of other packs!!
Paranoid I know, but I have been on the receiving end of scum bag thieves in the past.

So IMHO I wouldn't just assume your pack is fine to leave, especially in the general area of the day walkers. Again, I know its unlikely but you just never know. Once out past kitchen hut or especially down towards Waterfall Valley I would think the chances then of something getting stolen are very minimal.

[kitty]

Thanks Danny and GPSG. That's good advice, to use discretion based on whether the part of the track is in vicinity of day walkers It makes sense.

[sim1oz]

We've never had gear go missing, even when we are car camping and there is easy access. Having said that, I am always conscious to take valuable things with me if we leave our bushwalking tent set up or pack by the track. The location and likelihood of others coming by would factor into my decision of how much extra to take. The longer our intended walk and the more remote, the less likely I am to leave our gear at all. Most of what I would classify as valuable are the things that I would always carry in our small S2S day packs even if we leave our main packs tucked away to do a small side trip. Since we carry all those 'life-saving' essentials in an easily accessible place it is simple to grab them out of our pack and pop into little day pack. I'd rather have things like my phone, PLB, FAK, emergency kit, wallet, car keys, etc on me all the time for peace of mind.

We have built up our bushwalking gear slowly over time, with all the overseas purchases when the Aussie dollar was high. It would be an absolute pain to have to replace lots of things at the same time - the time to research newer gear, and then if we decide to stick with our current kit the time waiting for it to be shipped to Australia. Even if the cost was covered by insurance it would still take time away from what I'd rather be doing.

I'll probably always worry about things going missing if we leave gear unattended but I'll also keep hoping that our luck will hold and most people out there are good.

[walkerchris77]

I think as long as your happy with your bushwalking experience then it doesn't matter how much you spend on gear. Some if us may not need expensive gear because we may only do short walks in spring or summer, not as young and fit as we used to be.
.
We have all probably regretted buying the $38 tent on ebay (guilty). You learn from trial and error and from other people's advice.

Each to their own.

[ErichFromm]

We have all probably regretted buying the $38 tent on ebay (guilty).

Not me. I had a friend who laughed at my expensive tent and got the Kmart one. First camping trip and he and his wife ended up sleeping in inches of water. To this day I'm glad he bought what he did

[neilmny]

It sounds like a he who laughs last epsisode. Clearly your friend was an xspurt in the field..........x = unknown quantity.....spurt = drip under pressure.
Highly unlikely that those of us who cannot afford $2K for hiking gear would be laughing at your expensive tent Eric......more likely drooling, I know I would.

Isn't it funny how a topic can become an alternative topic

[Lophophaps]

Clearly your friend was an xspurt in the field..........x = unknown quantity.....spurt = drip under pressure.

Expert - a person who knows more and more about less and less until he or she knows everything about nothing.

A mate insisted on camping on the edge of a very grassy very dry gully. I said that it may rain and that if so he would get flooded. He did not like our cramped scrubby spot slightly higher and stayed with the grassy gully. It rained, and he had 10-15 cm of water in one end of the tent. Oops.

[wildlight]

I mean who drives for 5 hours up to a mountain with the intent of taking something?

Me- Photos!

I often wonder about contents of vehicles being pilfered.

I think the further off-popular-track(s) you go, the likelihood of theft of- or from- unattended gear decreases. The persona of the more wilderness-bound walker would be different to the apes you see at Maccy Springs on long weekends. Some of the gear we carry is highly portable- electronics-even a fuel pump from an MSR bottle, or a fleecy. These are light enough to not be noticed as missing when you set off- and wouldn't be hard for the perpetrator to conceal. I think if you head off from camp and leave stuff behind, leave everything so it's tidy and not flamboyantly on display. Do everything you can to not provide temptation.

Cheers
WildLight

[GPSGuided]

I think if you head off from camp and leave stuff behind, leave everything so it's tidy and not flamboyantly on display. Do everything you can to not provide temptation.

Agree. Human can be tempted, even for the most holy. Again, gets back to being sensible and discrete in what one does.

[vicrev]

Sometimes, I drive to a parking spot to go on a walk & I just do not feel comfortable leaving the car there,so I just turn around & go somewhere else. ...Sad that is the way things are now,maybe I should be more trusting ?....

[north-north-west]

Sometimes, I drive to a parking spot to go on a walk & I just do not feel comfortable leaving the car there,so I just turn around & go somewhere else. ...Sad that is the way things are now,maybe I should be more trusting ?....

Yeah, I've worried often, given how much time my vehicles have spent sitting around waiting for me to get back. But I've never had one broken into yet. Even the Saturday I left it the Hollow Mtn carpark in high summer with both driver's side windows rolled down, nothing was touched. The utes have always had something in the tray, sometimes just a jerry or esky, on longer trips a pile of gear; again, nothing's ever been taken.
Except for the kayak paddle when I was paying for fuel at a big servo near Perth a few years back.

Maybe that says more about my cars and equipment than about prospective thieves. They're obviously people with discernment.