Outdoor Adventure USA

In the 1990s my old skydiving and flying club were harassed by a bunch of desert ravers on the dry lake bed we were camped on for the night. They were speeding in a truck, under the influence of who-knows-what, well over 80-90mph past our site, at dark, then would drive into our camp, honk their horn, flash their lights, shout obscenities, speed off, sometimes coming dangerously close to our tents. Then suddenly the antics just stopped. We figured they just went back to their camp. We woke up the next morning and saw these jokers had actually high-centered their little truck on a mound hardly 30 yards from our camp. They had spent the entire night there, sleeping off their hangovers in the truck, too afraid to come ask us for help.

The one guy in our group with a 4x4 paid them a visit, told them that if they came into camp and apologized to us all, he'd tow them out. They refused, and instead dug their truck out a couple hours later while we watched & waited (hoping to flag down a ranger and report them before they got away).

Thanks for the story. Its lame that you guys had to deal with a bunch of drunken yahoos our there, but it looks like they got what was coming to them. I'm happy that most of the people I've come across in the backcountry have been pretty cool.

I can't believe DaveK still hasn't apologized to you guys for that

I run into jokers like this at least once a year. I often have my son with me now. I have yet to have this happen when he is with me but I don't think I'd have been as patient with them if he was. It's one thing to be in a dangerous situation like this when it's just you but add the family factor and that's the type of thing that makes the spouses not want to let you take the kids with you.

OLLIE wrote:I have yet to have this happen when he is with me but I don't think I'd have been as patient with them if he was.

One guy in our group was on the verge of firing a warning shot, with his shotgun, in the air.

The day before, the Rangers warned us about the Rave across the lake bed. Odd, you'd think they'd not allow it. But they said the permits were in place. Ok, I guess you can get permits for drunken, drugged-up Raves And then there's the time the Rangers dropped in on our site and asked why we did not have a fire permit. (on a dry lake bed...) Oh the irony.

WA4DQS wrote:

OLLIE wrote:I have yet to have this happen when he is with me but I don't think I'd have been as patient with them if he was.

One guy in our group was on the verge of firing a warning shot, with his shotgun, in the air.

The day before, the Rangers warned us about the Rave across the lake bed. Odd, you'd think they'd not allow it. But they said the permits were in place. Ok, I guess you can get permits for drunken, drugged-up Raves And then there's the time the Rangers dropped in on our site and asked why we did not have a fire permit. (on a dry lake bed...) Oh the irony.

I don't condone drunken, rude behavior, but the permit was for the rave, not for the bad behavior. And firing a warning shot into the air would have been an irresponsible act as well, IMO, and likely exaserbated the situation, not quelled it. Two wrongs make a right ??? Rangers have to enforce the laws equally, and a permit is a permit. And, historically, a runaway fire will cause substantially more damage to life and property than a runaway rave party.
Bsides, those idiots got to work off their hangover in fine fashion...

cruiserlarry wrote:historically, a runaway fire will cause substantially more damage to life and property than a runaway rave party.
Bsides, those idiots got to work off their hangover in fine fashion...

Runaway dry lakebed fires, eh? What burns?

You could've strategically "sprinkled" a few of these around the campsite that night.
http://www.defensedevices.com/caltrops.html

xtatik wrote:You could've strategically "sprinkled" a few of these around the campsite that night.
http://www.defensedevices.com/caltrops.html

Nice! What you have to do is setup some sort of compartment in the rear of your vehicle that holds a bunch of these that can be released by a switch from inside the cab. That'll take care of anyone chasing you- cops, drunken yahoos, etc.

WA4DQS wrote:The day before, the Rangers warned us about the Rave across the lake bed. Odd, you'd think they'd not allow it. But they said the permits were in place. Ok, I guess you can get permits for drunken, drugged-up Raves

Most of the time, security for these "events" is handled by off duty cops. That is how they get away with it (the behavior, and the drugs).