Alert! Skyliner parked on Ramon had Car Robbed!

[cynthia23]

I agree, TinaB. Kellie is being very gracious and I doubt I could muster that, myself. Thank you Kellie, for taking the time to post and fill us in on the details. The story about the white Mustang is quite disquieting.

Many thanks to everyone who posted here. We have a lot more info than we had before. I am now thinking that Halhiker is right and that this is a semi-organized group of professional criminals who have learned to check trailheads at certain times and days. Also, I forgot to mention that the Ramon trailhead is a kind of "stoner" hang-out for local teens who climb up into the rocks a few hundred feet to smoke weed and drink beer. Of course the huge majority are completely harmless but again this is something to be aware of when parking here at deserted and dark times.

Car burglary is highly unpleasant, but Kellie's story of being watched by the people in the car is downright creepy. I want to emphasize even more strongly that IMHO no one, male or female, should consider hiking alone on Skyline if he/she is making a start in the dark. You are just too vulnerable on that first thousand feet to who knows what kind of folks with who knows what in mind .... Men should not consider that they are safe just because they are male. Remember that the recently discovered body was a young man. I think people should always at least start out in groups.

What an eye-opener this has all been. But it's also good to know that we have many concerned people on this board, all looking out for each other. Remember the vast majority of people are good citizens. I agree with Kellie that we can't let these kind of concerns stop us from enjoying the wilderness.

[phydeux]

Disclaimer: I've never hiked the Skyline/C2C trail and no sure of whats around the museum area.

Here's an idea: Are there any businesses / houses around the area where everyone parks that have secuity cameras? MAybe they could get you a copy of their video (tape or CD) to try and ID any perps. The camera(s) don't have to be directly on the parked cars either - if the cameras show whose coming and going out of the area, especially during the low traffic times in the early AM hour , and everyone looks around when they leave on a hike to see if anythings been broken into, the field of potential perps and time they committed the crime can be narrowed down.

A simple 'smash and dash' is not going to get a lot of police attention unless its a constant, recurring problem.

[tomcat_rc]

I have taken a habit of also taking pictures at the trailhead. Not only do you photo what cars are there - but also anything that seems odd. In your case - would the people in the Mustang have acted the same way if they knew there face and lisense plate was on camera. It may not help in every situation; but it can make a difference.