Alert! Skyliner parked on Ramon had Car Robbed!

[FIGHT ON]

z z z z z z z z z

[some guy]

I've seen a couple of break-ins at Deer Springs trailhead, but never seen any problems at Humber. Not something you want to deal with after coming back from an exhausting hike...

[tinaballina]

Kellie, I am so sorry this happened to you. This really makes me so mad...i may consider the underground parking lot across from the museum if this is how it is around there.

[zippetydude]

A different alternative - I wait for the guy to unlock the Tram Road at 5:30 a.m., drive up, then ride an old bike over to the trailhead.

(If you've ever seen a clunky old mountain bike chained to that little tree by the trailhead, that's mine.)

I don't have to worry about my car being safe, and it saves me a cab fare. It's almost entirely downhill, so I only pedal a little, and it's a nice, easy warm up before hitting the trail. It's an old bike, so I doubt anyone is going to steal it, and if they do, I don't care!

Just a thought. I despise whoever is breaking in. Who wants to pitch in and hire a sniper...

z

[FIGHT ON]

TOTALLY think a bait car would be awesome. Film the whole thing bust this bum.

[Rick M]

What a cool alternative Zip. When I drive down the tram road with my foot on the brakes I always think about how fun it would be riding down on a bike! Is there a reason why the gate is as far down as it is? If it were above the lowest parking lot, you could park your car at 2-3am and ride down to start a bit earlier.

[Tim Le]

When I did C2C last fall for the first time, I researched this board for weeks. I read about the break-in and zip's method of leaving a bike at the museum. I decided to do the opposite and leave my bike at the tram station otherwise if I had to bail out from the route, I'd have to walk back up the tram road with my bike to get back to my car. After parking across from the museum, I emptied and left open my car's glove and center compartments. I remember seeing an old 10-speed locked up to the tree next to the opening in the wall. I wonder if this was zip's.

Anyhow, when I finished the hike and got off the tram, I was delighted to see my old BMX bike was not stolen or vandalized. I have to tell you, the ride back during that warm Palm Springs night was the highlight of the entire day. It was all downhill and so much fun! I almost want to do C2C again just so I can do this ride again.

[kellie]

Hi everyone -

Thanks so much for your kind words and support throughout the whole car break-in ordeal. And thanks too, to Cynthia for not only posting something letting you guys all know, but for being there the day of. You were a huge help, just getting my initial thoughts in line and offering suggestions on what steps to take next - I (we) really appreciate it!

I've left a messaged for the police officer that wrote up the crime report...but haven't heard a word back from her yet. I've also contacted my insurance, BUT the belongings that we (my boyfriend and I) lost plus the cost of the window replacement barely equal my deductible...so it's not really worth it to file a claim. The other 2 friends of ours (there were 4 of us) also lost a significant amount of things, so they might be filing their own claim sometime soon…

Here's what I do know:

We arrived at the trailhead around 3:20am on Saturday morning. There weren't any other vehicles there yet, so I parked the car and we started gathering our items. The 4 of us placed most of our belongings in the back hatch area. I have a Jeep Patriot - so there isn't a trunk. RIGHT as we shut the door and were taking our very first steps away from the Jeep another car (a white 2005 or 2006 Mustang) came driving down Ramon Rd. I thought that it must be another early morning hiker and almost (good thing I didn't now that I think about it...) waved. The really weird thing is that as the Mustang approached us, it slowed down. Then it stopped. Whoever was in the car sat there for probably a good 15 seconds or so just staring at us. (And although 15 seconds doesn't sound that long, when you're being watched with headlights shining on you as you walk away from your car...it felt like a VERY long, awkward time). It was a weird feeling, but at that hour, I chalked it up to someone who was probably just lost. Eventually the Mustang pulled a U-turn and sped away back towards downtown Palm Springs.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the person(s) in the Mustang were the ones that later came back to rob us, but it IS kind of strange that the Jeep was vandalized sometime after we left…and that someone, whoever they were, clearly saw us with packs on, leaving the car.

I'm not sure, looking back on it, what we could have done to prevent the situation. We had already driven from San Diego, spent the night in a hotel and woke up bright and early to enjoy our hike. It seemed a bit far-fetched that we should have canceled the trip just because someone in a Mustang was staring at us as we got onto the trail...however, you never know, I guess.

Or, as some folks have suggested, maybe it was a homeless person wandering around that saw the car alone and thought it was a good opportunity. We may never know. The window is fixed now, and the locks to our apartment have been changed, so I guess that's all we can do. The honest reality is that if someone really wants back into the car, they'll just break the window again. It's a sad truth, but it's a real truth. I also don't know what we would have done with our stuff, other than leave it in the car. We didn't have a hotel to leave it at - so that's a risk we had to take.

Later, on our (very, very, very cold!) drive back to San Diego late Saturday evening, Marisa, one of the girls with us, called her cell phone (which had been stolen) to check her messages and SOMEONE ANSWERED! Whoever it was, was a Mexican male (they answered the phone "bueno") and was probably 20-35 years old, from the sounds of it. The part that makes me the most angry was that when Marisa asked him why he had robbed us and if there was any way we could have all of our stuff back, he just started laughing hysterically and hung up.

It's a real shame that there is no reprimand or punishment for people like this. Here we were (like so many others who have gone through something like this) out for an enjoyable hike and a great day, and to come back to this was just unbelievable. It's totally un-necessary and it's unfortunate that these people KNOW we park there to hike. Meaning, we'll be gone for awhile and our belongings are theirs to take if they'd like - in all likelihood, they'll never be any action taken against them if they decide to rob us.

I'll talk to the police officer about everything if she ever calls me back, but in the meantime, I wanted to at least write and let you guys know what I know. Maybe we CAN set up that dummy car! ha!

Other than the break-in, we had a FANTASTIC day on the trail! The weather was perfect and our spirits were so uplifted by being in such a beautiful place. It was so nice to meet several of you throughout the day and we'll be looking forward to next time!

I just hope that whoever ended up with all our stuff needs it worse that we do. We're lucky to have what we do have and I'm thankful that even though these bad things happen, my love for hiking and LIVING doesn't outweigh my fear of the negative possibilities...

Thanks again to everyone for everything - it was a great hike last weekend and we'll look forward to seeing you on the trail again soon!

[tinaballina]

Kellie,

I take my hat off to you for being more civil with this than i. i hope karma bites him/them right back in the ass, hard. Take care Kellie.

[FIGHT ON]

A dummy car would work. It's too bad the cops don't get involved. They could and should. They could put cameras in it like they do for "stolen cars" on COPS. Think of it. The police could have at least one bait car with personal items, stuff in it all ready to go. Any group of hikers planning to go up Skyline could meet the police a few miles away from the trail head, jump in with their packs, drive to either spot, get out and have their regular hike. I bet it would only take a few times and the message would get out fast. Only problem is how do they get back to their car.