[Malachai Constant]

Last night a car was broken into arond 7 pm at the parking spot just before the switchbacks on the road to Windy Pass from Hyak. The door was unlocked and nothing inside but the window was still broken. A couple sketchy lookig characters were seen sitting in a white car before the break in. Details at 11, be forewarned.

[Magellan]

Sorry to hear that. I was out there last week, and contemplating a return. Good idea 240J!

[Slugman]

That is an awesome idea.

[zephyr]

Sad story for such a beautiful fall day. I was the first of the Pre-NAB'ers to arrive at Windy Pass. No one was parked at the Cold Creek/Twin Lakes TH as I drove up FS 9070 around 4:30 pm. Further up, I did meet four carloads of hikers--a friendly bunch of Korean folks, coming down from the pass. They had hiked up to Silver Peak. We jockeyed around each other on the rockiest, narrowest part of the road overlooking the steep drop to the valley below. Other than that no one in sight. Mt. Catherine TH is about a quarter mile below the pass, but I wanted to park in the wider parking area up above. As I was getting ready, onetwolaugh showed up with printed directions indicating that the trail was further along the road. I did my best to explain and point the way, but he wasn't so sure. He did park behind me and we started getting ready for the trail. By this time it was 4:45 pm. A white car with two people drove up and passed us. It appeared to be a young white guy and gal cruising around. As they headed north over the pass, I just had a thought... They didn't come back very soon and I knew that the road narrowed and got brushy for the average car. I eventually walked on toward the trail and up the path. I just didn't feel right about the situation though. I turned around several times and considered waiting until the white car came back by. But I resisted, the urge to summit pulling me along. Onetwolaugh would have to join me on the trail. Later onetwolaugh caught up to me and we summited together. We talked about several things including the couple in the car. I asked him about his impression of the people and he said that they appeared to be just looking around, maybe for a place to "park". Okay, so I bought that notion and dismissed my worries. He then told me that he had still been uncertain about the trail directions. (They had been incorrect and pulled from a WTA trip report.) He had actually gotten back in his car after I hiked and drove up beyond Windy Pass to make sure that the TH was not just beyond the PCT as written. He would have to confirm this, but I believe he saw the white car parked. Since my car and his car were parked alone at W.P. and the other TNAB cars were by the Mt. Catherine TH, we were sort of hanging out there. We could have been hit as well. But I think his driving back to take a looksee must have spooked the white car into leaving the area and heading down the road to find ewb's lonely car parked all by its lonesome self two miles down the road. THANK YOU! onetwolaugh. A little while longer, Digger and Larry showed up and we all hung out on the summit enjoying the beautiful views. By now it was a little before 6 pm. I remember looking down the peak straight to FS 9070 and suddenly realized that I could see the Cold Creek TH parking area. I saw what I guessed to be ewb's car and another parked beside it (maybe red/maroon?). At this time, I saw the white car again (cue ominous music) and it was maneuvering around the cars and parking also. By this time Malachai and ewb himself had joined us. I pointed out the cars to ewb. I don't remember much more than that. But apparently as the white car was down there, the main party of TNAB'ers starting driving up the road toward the Mt. Catherine TH. Several folks reported having bad thoughts/impressions of the guy standing by his car eyeing ewb's vehicle. Recon and Go Jo can confirm this. We all are kicking ourselves for not grabbing a photo or getting the license number. I had the privilege of driving ewb down to his car that night. We arrived and my headlights lit up the area. Somehow it didn't look right. Instead of a reflection of the driver window, there was this gaping black hole fringed by spider webby stuff--broken glass. What a shock to see. I helped clean up the mess as the rest of the crew drove by to witness the event. Sobering for all of us. He was pretty calm about it though. I think we all were more upset by it. Grrrrr... It's almost to the point that maybe someone should stay back and just hang with the cars while the main group hikes. That would be tough though--especially on the longer trips. And that would do nothing for the solo hikers among us. I had thought that FS 9070 was maybe "safer" in some way since it was off the beaten path from the I-90 corridor. I also thought that a Thursday afternoon would be relatively "safe." Oh, well. Guess I'll think twice about going back up there. It's such a beautiful area and trail though.

[whistlingmarmot]

ewb's car didn't get hit again did it?

[zephyr]

Yes. Not sure how to correctly post this, but here's a link to the TNAB trip report for Mt. Catherine. He mentions it there. https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7978658

[whistlingmarmot]

Wow, twice in the same season, that is awful.

[Magellan]

The first one was pure vandalism. They just stood back and threw rocks at his car. I wonder if they took anything this time.