Stolen pad at Havasupai this weekend

Bummer.

I’ve never been comfortable leaving my gear around camp at Havasupai.

YEP, It’s very sad that some people have no moral standards. In the old west it was not uncommon for horse thieves to be summarily shot or hanged when caught – no trial, just “hang ’em high”.

Gear thieves should have <i>all </i>their gear destroyed when caught (well, except for your own that you find on them). Stomp on it, slice it, etc. Let them see how it feels to go with no gear.

I have never had my gear stolen although I often leave it for a few hours, maybe just lucky

Not at all trying to “blame the victim” but, could the pad have appeared to be lost?  Was it separate from your other gear?  How busy is Havasupa and how close to the trailhead?

That is a real bummer, I hope it didn’t ruin your trip

Once I set a thermometer on the ground to equilibrate, forgot it and walked off, remembered I forgot it and walked back 15 minutes later, it was gone.  I guess I don’t blame someone for picking it up.  I tend to leave stuff I find in case the owner comes back for it.

Not denying that it was stolen but, yes, I’d say that “woven into the tall weeds” might have looked more like “some miscreant lost/abandoned their pad” and the ostensible thief may have been trying to tidy the place up.  Perhaps the offender knew enough to know that a Big Agnes pad was an unlikely partner to your hammock?  Lord knows I’ve packed out a lot of trash in my days.  And I have seen sleeping bags and entire backpacks abandoned next to trails in Grand Canyon NP, so this would not be an unreasonable assumption.  People suck.  I guess that cuts both ways here though- I wouldn’t doubt thievery (Havasupai does seem to attract the six-pack litterbug crowd, whom I hold in low esteem) but I also wouldn’t doubt misinterpretation either, especially if the tall weeds weren’t particularly close to your hammock.

” I’d say that “woven into the tall weeds” might have looked more like “some miscreant lost/abandoned their pad”

Sort of like Doug throwing my cheese in the fire : )

I was in no way blaming the victim, but it is interesting to know details, is there anything I can do in the future to minimize the risk?

That is a real bummer someone would do that

There were tall weeds right next to our established campsite on the north side of the river, so away from the main path, but a direct path to the bathrooms went right by our site. It was an obvious established campsite with a pack, a hammock full of stuff and cooking gear sitting next to the pad. I tried to look at it objectively, if I saw a pad there, I would assume it was with the rest of the persons stuff.