The Appalachian trail gets about 3 million visitors per year and is a famous hiking trail that spans through various states. It’s been a Mecca for outdoor enthusiasts for decades and despite its isolated setting, there’s only been a handful of tragedies/murders.
Recently a 30 year old man attacked a group of 4 hikers, 2 got away, 1 played dead and later escaped, and one was killed. The man who was killed was an army veteran, using the hiking to cope with his ptsd.
FWIW this piece of shit attacked the hikers in the middle of the night while they were sleeping in their tents. These incidents are very rare but obviously tragic.
With these incidents, statistics tell us that this probably would never happen to us, but I believe the times have changed. The last incident that happened was in the 1980’s..pre-internet era, so with a story like this blowing up..we should all be cautious of copy-cat incidents.
Psychopaths like these love the attention and will find the paths of least resistance to gain notoriety, children schools, churches, and now back country trails. So whether you’re on the east or west coast of the United States, hiking the pacific crest trail or the Appalachian trail..take note.
Don’t let these cases turn you away from enjoying the outdoors, but take note and prepare yourself for any situation that could occur. Something as simple as pepper spray and situational awareness can save a life. I’m not claiming that the victim in this case lacked either, but those who ran to save themselves probably did so because they lacked any tools to fight back.
Submitted May 17, 2019 at 02:37PM by captainronin1 http://bit.ly/2HnkSOt
No comments:
Post a Comment