Have any of you run ito a dangerous situation? Could be threatened by people, animals, a breakdown without the gear to fix it, border crossing, stuck in bad weather things that go bump in the night? Or just that spidey feeling that something is not right. What was it ?howdid you handle it? What would you do differently? Looking back what do you think about it now?
Dangerous situations!
- Thread starter Wanderer
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Dave K
Rank IV
Off-Road Ranger I
I guess it doesn’t qualify as dangerous but...
Left my office later the anticipated once and got stuck in traffic on my way out of town. This put my way behind schedule so I decided to stay overnight in an unfamiliar spot not far off the highway. The place I stayed is part of the Marine Corp Mountain Warfare Training Center in Ca. I rolled in at about midnight and started setting up. Felt fairly certain I was being watched. The spot I was at had a high cliff just behind me overlooking my position. I got setup and was about to go to sleep when I decided I should scan the place with my cheap little night vision scope. Thought I seen movement on top of the cliff behind but couldn’t confirm anything. To bed I went.
The next morning I decide to look around while still in my rtt. I go straight to where I thought I seen movement the night before. I see two US Marines, one of which is looking right back at me! I have to assume that the night before they were there as well and I just didn’t see them.
I have since explored a substantial amount of the available area on this base. It is odd as so much public access exists as a combination of public land/military training area. I have learned that if you think you are alone here.. you are wrong. You are rarely alone and many times there are eyes on you. Come across a stash of fuel cans? Someone is watching and is very near. Get and to check them out and you will find out how far and how many quickly. An abandon sided by side? Someone is watching and very near. Stopped near a serene mountain stream to eat lunch? There’s a very real possibility that 15 - 45 Marines may come walking through out of nowhere on their way to.. somewhere. It’s an odd place to say the least.
Left my office later the anticipated once and got stuck in traffic on my way out of town. This put my way behind schedule so I decided to stay overnight in an unfamiliar spot not far off the highway. The place I stayed is part of the Marine Corp Mountain Warfare Training Center in Ca. I rolled in at about midnight and started setting up. Felt fairly certain I was being watched. The spot I was at had a high cliff just behind me overlooking my position. I got setup and was about to go to sleep when I decided I should scan the place with my cheap little night vision scope. Thought I seen movement on top of the cliff behind but couldn’t confirm anything. To bed I went.
The next morning I decide to look around while still in my rtt. I go straight to where I thought I seen movement the night before. I see two US Marines, one of which is looking right back at me! I have to assume that the night before they were there as well and I just didn’t see them.
I have since explored a substantial amount of the available area on this base. It is odd as so much public access exists as a combination of public land/military training area. I have learned that if you think you are alone here.. you are wrong. You are rarely alone and many times there are eyes on you. Come across a stash of fuel cans? Someone is watching and is very near. Get and to check them out and you will find out how far and how many quickly. An abandon sided by side? Someone is watching and very near. Stopped near a serene mountain stream to eat lunch? There’s a very real possibility that 15 - 45 Marines may come walking through out of nowhere on their way to.. somewhere. It’s an odd place to say the least.
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Member III
Not overland related but when I first took my old Sonic to a track day I learned very quickly that Street Performance brake pads does not really work for track performance (I was young and very dumb). It was at Atlanta Motorsports Park where turn 1 in that car is a roughly 30mph corner coming off a roughly 110mph straight. By the third lap my brakes were cooked and rotors horribly warped. Super sketchy and pretty terrifying. Decided to only do autocross with it after that to not be near as hard on the brakes
At the track
How it was when I sold it
At the track
How it was when I sold it
Expedition Master III
Have you ever heard of the web site CORNER CARVERS? They are a group of track racers who have a vast knowledge of the in's and out's related to the subject (brake, engine, suspension). They are into Mustangs, and European cars, which translate to heavy weight sedans that are very hard on brake components. They have learned many work a round's and how to make the cars survive. Your post did not say if your still involved in the sport or have moved on.
On fishing trips in Maine twice over the years had local people "checking us out" in a way that had senses tingling.
Once I was fishing downstream while a buddy was fishing upstream on a small stream. We were using radios (the little hand held FRS ones) to stay in contact- we would often do this to tell the other person how the stream was in the spot we were each fishing. Anyway I hear him on the radio but hes not really making sense. I can hear him talking and can tell hea talking to someone else. But I can tell from his responses something is weird. So I start heading back upstream to the road. I get to the last bend in the stream and can see a pickup on the bridge and the two guys looking out the passenger side toward my buddy. I keep "fishing" as I make my way upstream. I am turned purposely in a way that reveals a sidearm. Not threatening with it by any stretch (still holstered, strap down) but it was apparent it was there if one looked at me. The guy in the drivers seat happens to look around and sees me. Anyone acting in a "normal" way would have waved to me and said something like "any luck?". Instead he says to my friend "okay, good luck" (or something). His buddy seems put off by that and keeps talking to my friend. The driver again says something like "take care" or whatever. The passenger looks at him like "what?" And tries to keep talking. At this point driver slaps his buddy on the shoulder and jerks his head toward the downstreamside. Passenger looks out the window and sees me "fishing" and all I can guess is realized that having two people on either side of them is different than what they anticipated and then says something like "have a good trip" or whatever. They leave. I'm guessing they were casing my buddies pickup to see what they could steal. I doubt they would have robbed either of us but who knows. Unfortunately Maine has its share of tweakers.
The second one was also a Maine trip. I was there with five other guys and we had a great spot on a small pond. The access road to this site is a nasty little trail with mud about a half mile long that parallels the "main road" separated by about 100 yards of woods. But when you get to the campsite it's a beauty, right on the edge of a beautiful pond. Anyway the road in requires one go really slow and you can hear vehicles coming for quite a while before they leave the woods into the clearing of the sites (there are two campsites at this spot). It was early evening, we had just finished dinner and were just hanging around camp, one guy sitting at the fire, someone doing dishes etc. Also to note there are no other campsites within a good half hour or more of this spot.
Anyway we hear a vehicle coming but it's going really slow. Even slower than the road requires. This isnt odd by itself as lots of times people come into sites late (Lord knows we have plenty of times over the years). Just before the vehicle clears the woods it stops and sits there idling. Kind of weird. Some of us just sort of migrate away from the fire to different spots around the site, just kind of hanging out with one guy still sitting by the fire.
The truck idles into the clearing and stops. Two guys looking around. They ask how we're doing. The guy by the fire just says "good, how are you guys?". They mumble a response and then keep going to the next site where they turn around and leave. Nothing weird in and of itself except that it's late, they're miles from another campsite and they aren't stopping to set up camp at the other site. Okay, so fine, they leave. We hear the truck again going slowly down the access road. It gets to the main logging road and turn in a direction that is parallel to the nasty little access road. From our site we can hear the traffic on that main road when it's on the part near the site. We hear the truck slow down, then stop, which is weird as there is nothing at all on that main road. Next we hear someone walking through the woods toward the campsite. There is a sort of trail out to the road, but its not easy during the day let alone at night. And regardless, what is the person doing creeping back down to our site? So now we know something is up, so other than the guy by the fire we all go off into the woods in different places around the site and just stand there, but back where we are all in darkness. The guy gets to the far edge of the site but is still in the woods. He stands there for a while and then leaves and goes back to the main road. We hear a door shut anandthen the truck leaves. We all come back to the fire and just comment "well that was weird." Nothing else happened that trip and nothing was taken but it does make one wonder what they had planned. I'm guessing it was someone just looking to grab gear that was laying around. My Dad and his buddies had sleeping bags stolen one year in a similar sort of thing while they were fishing a stream. They heard the vehicle but were too far away to do anything. And when they got back to their truck the stuff was gone. There's some jerks out there unfortunately.
Once I was fishing downstream while a buddy was fishing upstream on a small stream. We were using radios (the little hand held FRS ones) to stay in contact- we would often do this to tell the other person how the stream was in the spot we were each fishing. Anyway I hear him on the radio but hes not really making sense. I can hear him talking and can tell hea talking to someone else. But I can tell from his responses something is weird. So I start heading back upstream to the road. I get to the last bend in the stream and can see a pickup on the bridge and the two guys looking out the passenger side toward my buddy. I keep "fishing" as I make my way upstream. I am turned purposely in a way that reveals a sidearm. Not threatening with it by any stretch (still holstered, strap down) but it was apparent it was there if one looked at me. The guy in the drivers seat happens to look around and sees me. Anyone acting in a "normal" way would have waved to me and said something like "any luck?". Instead he says to my friend "okay, good luck" (or something). His buddy seems put off by that and keeps talking to my friend. The driver again says something like "take care" or whatever. The passenger looks at him like "what?" And tries to keep talking. At this point driver slaps his buddy on the shoulder and jerks his head toward the downstreamside. Passenger looks out the window and sees me "fishing" and all I can guess is realized that having two people on either side of them is different than what they anticipated and then says something like "have a good trip" or whatever. They leave. I'm guessing they were casing my buddies pickup to see what they could steal. I doubt they would have robbed either of us but who knows. Unfortunately Maine has its share of tweakers.
The second one was also a Maine trip. I was there with five other guys and we had a great spot on a small pond. The access road to this site is a nasty little trail with mud about a half mile long that parallels the "main road" separated by about 100 yards of woods. But when you get to the campsite it's a beauty, right on the edge of a beautiful pond. Anyway the road in requires one go really slow and you can hear vehicles coming for quite a while before they leave the woods into the clearing of the sites (there are two campsites at this spot). It was early evening, we had just finished dinner and were just hanging around camp, one guy sitting at the fire, someone doing dishes etc. Also to note there are no other campsites within a good half hour or more of this spot.
Anyway we hear a vehicle coming but it's going really slow. Even slower than the road requires. This isnt odd by itself as lots of times people come into sites late (Lord knows we have plenty of times over the years). Just before the vehicle clears the woods it stops and sits there idling. Kind of weird. Some of us just sort of migrate away from the fire to different spots around the site, just kind of hanging out with one guy still sitting by the fire.
The truck idles into the clearing and stops. Two guys looking around. They ask how we're doing. The guy by the fire just says "good, how are you guys?". They mumble a response and then keep going to the next site where they turn around and leave. Nothing weird in and of itself except that it's late, they're miles from another campsite and they aren't stopping to set up camp at the other site. Okay, so fine, they leave. We hear the truck again going slowly down the access road. It gets to the main logging road and turn in a direction that is parallel to the nasty little access road. From our site we can hear the traffic on that main road when it's on the part near the site. We hear the truck slow down, then stop, which is weird as there is nothing at all on that main road. Next we hear someone walking through the woods toward the campsite. There is a sort of trail out to the road, but its not easy during the day let alone at night. And regardless, what is the person doing creeping back down to our site? So now we know something is up, so other than the guy by the fire we all go off into the woods in different places around the site and just stand there, but back where we are all in darkness. The guy gets to the far edge of the site but is still in the woods. He stands there for a while and then leaves and goes back to the main road. We hear a door shut anandthen the truck leaves. We all come back to the fire and just comment "well that was weird." Nothing else happened that trip and nothing was taken but it does make one wonder what they had planned. I'm guessing it was someone just looking to grab gear that was laying around. My Dad and his buddies had sleeping bags stolen one year in a similar sort of thing while they were fishing a stream. They heard the vehicle but were too far away to do anything. And when they got back to their truck the stuff was gone. There's some jerks out there unfortunately.
Expedition Master III
Had a similar incident, when hunting with my Dad as a teenager. It was late season, so only a few camps were occupied. When full, about 12 spots could be used. Our intention was to set up camp, which we did. The next day we went up the mountain and spent the night in sleeping bags (very cold). Came back the next day around noon, and someone or group, had made off with some of our gear. Found out a couple of other hunters in the camp area were missing stuff also. Lucky for us, we had taken with us, the most valuable eye candy. This was 20 miles, back in the mountains behind BLM access trails, and thru the Ranches which were off the highway (Northern ELKO, NV county). Another year, a couple of Gypsy families were hanging around. People started having a group member always in their camp on watch. Found out later, the Gypsy's were hunting alright. Where we were looking for deer, they were moonlighting on the ranchers beef herd on the flats below. Opportunists can be everywhere, you never know when your path might cross.
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Exactly the kind of thing I am curious about . I may be getting more paranoid but I don’t trust some of folks at first glance . Call it spidey sense. Hiking on Palomar mtn in San Diego my wife and I heard a sound that made us freeze sounded like screaming crying children turns out it was a mtn lion. We saw pug marks in the silt on the trail. Turned around and headed out looking behind us. I guess the thing that got me thinking about this is our Video door bell. ( Common ptouduct. )It
Let’s you link up with neighbors and see what happens around you neighborhood. I was floored by the amount of criminals wandering from house to hose testing the doors on cars to see if they are open and they can steal stuff. So it made me wonder about overlanding and remote camping.
Let’s you link up with neighbors and see what happens around you neighborhood. I was floored by the amount of criminals wandering from house to hose testing the doors on cars to see if they are open and they can steal stuff. So it made me wonder about overlanding and remote camping.
Dave K
Rank IV
Off-Road Ranger I
My wife always say "pay attention to your little voice". It often tells you something subconsciously that you can't fully articulate or state. I agree with her. If something doesn't feel right, no sense hanging around if you can avoid the situation altogether.
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I was working for US Fish & Wildlife one summer on an internship, driving up and down Onslow Beach in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune). We were installing the wooden dune retention fences along the beach. One morning we head out and are told we're in for a treat, proceed to the beach and keep our eyes on the horizon. FULL SCALE beach assault exercise. Complete with Amphibious Assault Vehicles, LCACs (the huge hovercraft) loaded with Abrams tanks and lots of Marines. It was awesome to be able to spectate up close.
Not "overlanding" But, once in Poland with my wife, we were in a corner store and I realized a young lady kept putting herself in my line of view as I shopped. Since I already had my head on a swivel, I knew she had come in with a sketchy looking tweaker of a BF, and sure enough a quick glance and there he was watching her. I assumed the idea was, get her to get me to "look at her" and then he could pick a fight, she could watch her man be all manly and fight somebody. Being I was in another country, I gave my wife our signal to GTFO which is me saying "Alright, I'm good" and out we went. The guy did give me a side eye as we left the store and also as they exited the store a minute later.
Side note, it's a good idea for you and your partner / kids to have a "signal" that it's time to GTFO so no one needs to explain at the time. Me saying "alright, I'm good" and giving her a solid look when it's obvious that it is not time to go is ours. My wife trusts my situational awareness and knows I'll explain later.
Side note, it's a good idea for you and your partner / kids to have a "signal" that it's time to GTFO so no one needs to explain at the time. Me saying "alright, I'm good" and giving her a solid look when it's obvious that it is not time to go is ours. My wife trusts my situational awareness and knows I'll explain later.
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Everything between two C-130 flights I'd guess would apply here for you.
USStrongman
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Polar bear. When I was 21 I worked a long summer/fall for ARCO in Kuparuk, AK. 12 hour shifts, 7 days week. I worked nights. Incredible. Aurora overhead, a little snow fox came and had lunch with me very night. Around Labor day, the ice pack which was visible on July 4th essentially made it to land. The rule was if you see or hear polar bear, call security, they fly out (weather permitting) in a helicopter and chase it off. Bean bag it if necessary and they usually take off. I was tending pumps at a washed out road that was being repaired and alone in my F350. I spotted movement about 100 yards out at the edge of the lights. Figured it to be Caribou as they migrate at that time. Got out to tend a pump and saw it. A medium polar bear. Prob a young female. I made my way to my truck, radioed security, about 15 mins later (about 25 min drive from base) and they came in light blaring and found her. Did low flying loops around her and got her started off away from me. Watched them circle it and chase it for about 20 mins off in the distance. Never saw one again after that.
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My wife was on a 3 week bicyclig trip thru Veitman, Laos, Cambodia a few years ago.
She found the locals the friendliest people she had ever met.
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Glad to hear your wife had a great visit over there, it's a beautiful place.
When I was in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand the locals were fine it was the others I had a few problems with.
In the early 1980's I was on a month long overlanding trip across the Kalahari in Botswana, southern Africa. After a few weeks together some of us were craving a little solitude and a break from the constant nighttime chatter of the camp workers. So one night I set up my tent well apart from the main group. I fell asleep reading on my cot and awoke sensing that some critter was in my tent. Remembering that I had not zipped up the door (see attached pix for a view of our rather old fashion tents), I froze, not even opening my eyes. We previously had several encounters with lions, and I was well aware that the black maned lions on the Kalahari have no fear of humans and are notoriously aggressive. Terrified, I was quite certain that a lion was in my tent nosing around. I could smell it, I could hear it breathing. Calling for help was likely to make things worse. Forming a plan of action, I tried to make an exact mental picture of where my flashlight and hunting knife were. I figured I'd blind the beast with the light and slash my way out of the tent, and then call for help! After rehearsing the plan in my head a dozen times, I made my move. In an instant I grabbed the light, got the knife drawn and rolled off the cot to the tent wall. I turned on the light and let out a violent scream. Menacingly facing me in the beam of my xenon Maglight, stood... nothing. No lion, no hyena, no fangs, no claws, nothing. The tent was empty except for me, and two little mice huddled frozen in the bright light, caught chewing on the headphone cord connected to my Sony Walkman. I guess I showed them a thing or two.
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How about the time I secretly bought some Jeep parts and tried to sneak them into the garage and got caught.
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What year was this that you watched the training event? I was on the one back in 2012, pretty fun but didn't enjoy being on ship for 3 weeks with nothing to do leading up to the beach landing. I fish Onslow beach a lot being stationed here and all, its not as good as back home in the gulf coast but its better than being at work.
