Backcountry Lots outside of Squamish/Warning

Came out today with my stepson and daughter from four days at the Elfin Shelter. Hit the parking lot to find my car gone. One car was torched and another had all its' windows smashed out. Three years ago I had all my windows smashed in the same parking lot. Right before xmas as well. I would not recommend parking in this lot overnight. :-[

Jesus Christmas that sucks! I had a car robbed while climbing in Squamish years ago, and have heard that all BC Parks trailheads are risky. A popular spot like Elfin should be patrolled more often. Maybe there is someone who can be emailed about this to lobby for policing?

Sorry to hear of your misfortune Gregg_c, Posts like this are always appreciated. i may well invest in a trail-head rig...thinking early 80's Subaru...How did you proceed? Is the RCMP able to provide any assistance?

Sorry to hear about the losss of your car.
Canada is a safe country in terms of personal harm/violent crime but their strict gun control laws in my opinion lead to lots of this sort of crime. The vandals know that some whack job with a glock is not going to walk out of the bush while they are jacking a car. Personally I believe that auto vandalism should be a capital crime but that is just my opinion.
I am wondering how to protect against this sort of thing; short of a stake-out and a deer rifle. Perhaps a rental car and the special coverage that I usually decline.
Again sorry for your loss.

Those fuckers should be hung. Dont worry though, karma will come back and bite them in the ass eventually. Always does.

It was horrible to come out with your kids and find the car gone. I had heard that my car was buried in snow on Friday and then on Saturday night some snow shoeirs came in and told us about the smoldering car in the parking lot and the honda with the smashed out windows. Since they didn't mention my car I thought I had dodged the bullit. I thought the event from three years ago was a random event that would not be repeated. I was paranoid about my car being stolen so years ago I had installed a hidden kill switch and a battery cut out switch. They either towed it out or spent some time rewiring the car to get it to run.

Thanks to a very nice couple we had a ride down to Squamish and a warm house to wait for our ride back to Bellingham. The RCMP and the park wardens were up at the parking lot on Saturday looking over the damage. When I came out yesterday afternoon I filed a report. I doubt the chances of it coming back intact are high.

Saab 99's are pretty rare cars up in BC so I am hoping that the RCMP comes across it. Here is a link to photos of the car in case someone up in the Whistler area spots the car:

www.saabclubseattle.org/GCronn.html

Nix to solving this problem with killing! Look how crappy capital "fun"ishment works for ANYTHING in the USA except revenge & cheap political capital. Carprowls happen to many bc users in the states, too...
It's how much a trailhead is visited by users and enforcement.

Every time I've asked Canadians their reactions to the ever-too-frequent gun murders in the US, they always have a similar reaction: "Just another crazy American with a gun, eh...."

Oh yeah, Peace on Earth.

Gregg,  just curious...did the damaged cars have US plates or did they have Canadian plates?    does your car have BC or WA plates?

I've always been leery of leaving my car at BC trailheads in the winter, in the past I've been lucky enough to be able to leave my car in Squamish and carpool up the road with friends who have BC plates for trips like the Garibaldi Traverse.  Guess I've always assumed theres a higher risk for damage to cars whose owners are obviously not locals....but maybe thats no longer the case?

Anyone know if theres a rental car company in Squamish?  time to start getting rental cars to leave at trailheads vs. leaving your own rig?

I hope that your Saab shows up and the thieves get busted.

It was horrible to come out with your kids and find the car gone. I had heard that my car was buried in snow on Friday and then on Saturday night some snow shoeirs came in and told us about the smoldering car in the parking lot and the honda with the smashed out windows. Since they didn't mention my car I thought I had dodged the bullit. I thought the event from three years ago was a random event that would not be repeated. I was paranoid about my car being stolen so years ago I had installed a hidden kill switch and a battery cut out switch. They either towed it out or spent some time rewiring the car to get it to run.

Thanks to a very nice couple we had a ride down to Squamish and a warm house to wait for our ride back to Bellingham. The RCMP and the park wardens were up at the parking lot on Saturday looking over the damage. When I came out yesterday afternoon I filed a report. I doubt the chances of it coming back intact are high.

Saab 99's are pretty rare cars up in BC so I am hoping that the RCMP comes across it. Here is a link to photos of the car in case someone up in the Whistler area spots the car:

www.saabclubseattle.org/GCronn.html

Hey Gregg,

Didn't realize that was you on this board! Small world of Saabers and skiers. So sorry to hear of your automotive loss. Those guys ought to be strung up.

Oftpiste (aka in SCS as Phather)

Nix to solving this problem with killing!  Look how crappy capital "fun"ishment works for ANYTHING in the USA except revenge & cheap political capital.  Carprowls happen to many bc users in the states, too...
It's how much a trailhead is visited by users and enforcement.

Every time I've asked Canadians their reactions to the ever-too-frequent gun murders in the US, they always have a similar reaction:  "Just another crazy American with a gun, eh...."

Oh yeah, Peace on Earth.

Why is the destruction of someone elses private property a lead in for your own political views? Had they been caught in the act in many places in Canada (especially BC) or the US, they would have been killed outright.

Hey Gregg,

Didn't realize that was you on this board! Small world of Saabers and skiers. So sorry to hear of your automotive loss. Those guys ought to be strung up.

Oftpiste (aka in SCS as Phather)

Ha, I'm on SCS, too. I *think* there's another Saab nut here at TAY -- "Jack"?? Just a guess, based on comments from here & a car-related forum...

Keeping my fingers crossed for the return of Gregg's 99!!!!!

-Hans
'89 900 Turbo
'86 900 notchback

Somebody emailed me and told me that my car was in the lot on Saturday. It had been pushed down the road over an embankment and set on fire. I found it after calling around to Squamish tow lots. It would have been nice-- and avoided a lot of trouble had the parks or the RCMP let me know what had happened. It is pretty absurd when you report your car stolen and the same police had had it towed the day before.

Wow, that really sucks… But remember everyone, car theft can happen anywhere, anytime.  And supposedly, a skillful crook (or repo man) can get around ANY alarm system.  Which is why I almost always use one of these:
www.winner-intl.com/default.asp

And BTW, Tophervw, re. 1980s Subarus..   a few years ago, mine actually got stolen, when it was parked next to cars much nicer/newer in the garage of my Ballard apt building.  I think sometimes an older model car is more of a target, cuz the crooks think figure they won't have an alarm system, and they don't care what they're driving, they just want something to use as transpo for a few days.   

Anyway, like most stolen cars, mine showed up two weeks later, abandoned with the stereo and other stuff stolen.  And in the months to come, people would laugh at me for using The Club on a crappy old car like that.. until I'd tell them this story.   ;D

Gregg,

I hope that wasn't the Saab you've been working on since the Alger Landtrust days!

It is good to hear you're getting to spend time outside with your boy, lucky kid. If you ever make it to Jackson Wy, look me up. We got a spare bedroom you two are welcome to.

Hope you have fun building your next car,
Galen

I feel for you. I had a truck stolen from me this last week. It was a 72 Chevrolet 3/4 ton 4x4.  It mostly had sentimental value. My dad special ordered it in 71 and this was the truck we took family trips in and I also learned to drive in this truck. I used it for my daily driver for about 6 years until it became to uneconomical to drive.

Looks like another post of the same incident.

clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19848,

Gregg,
I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It's hard to understand people sometimes. I owned an '83 Subaru wagon since the mid 90's and drove it from Canada to Baja and lots of places in between. Once I found a guy passed out inside after having cased the whole car. He tore everything all open then passed out cold. I was so mad. It was hard to not want to kill the guy, but I made him get the f>•k out and then almost ran him over. He was really wasted from shooting up (I think). To make a weird night (7:30 downtown seattle in front of Cornish) weirder, the guy was really trying hard to apologise, even pleading with me. He wasn't moving much and I didn't want to touch him, so I drove THE 1.5 BLOCKS to the Virginia Street Precinct of the SDPD and they chuckled and said that they were dispatch and I was in the wrong place...whatever that means. It was classic.

I just gave the car away to a friend and he loves it and takes care of it. Here's to people who respect older cars and each other for that matter. Down with vandalism and worthless idiots in general.

When I first read this post 2 weeks ago I was angered twice, first to find out about the criminal activity and secondly to read jdclimber's response.....so angry that I decided to hold off adding my thoughts.

Fifteen years ago my vehicle was broken into at the nearby Black Tusk parking lot. The thieves found the wallet that I had hide so well. (I'll never make that mistake again). I wanted to seek revenge on the low-lifes, who didn't even have the decency to leave the 8 year's worth of my son's school pictures. The loss of cash and cards was difficult to take. I began to question whether I could ever park overnight at a trail head again. I know Gregg's pain.

However, to think that Canada's gun laws contributed to this injustice is ludicrous. Do you carry guns in the backcountry on multi-day trips? Would a law make the decision for you? I have friends who drill holes in their toothbrushes to save weight; no way are they going to pack a gun to defend themselves from criminal behaviour. The creeps that vandalize trail head parking lots may have s**t for brains, but even they know that there isn't going to be any resistance at 2:00AM. Besides, they have no respect for laws and may even be carrying one of the many weapons that are flooding across the border from Washington..

The same week that Gregg was victimized, my sister's car was broken into while parking overnight in a nice Bellingham neighbourhood. Would you really be comfortable leaving your vehicle overnight in downtown Tacoma, where almost anyone can legally pick up a gun cheap?

Went up a week ago to salvage parts off of the car. My buddy took some pictures and posted at:

www.saabphotos.com/gallery/A-lot-of-Work-Up-in-Smoke

Didn't even recognize it. Most have been one hell of a fire.

Gregg

sorry Greg...its a shame...after seeing those photos I know how you feel, you put so much blood sweat and tears into a car that in anyone else's eyes isn't worth as much as it is in your eyes...to you that car was worth more then money...crap...rest in peace saab...

any away how are things coming along legally? any leads?


as a side note I have see many cars that look like Greg's shell off of exit 38 on I-90 up FSR-9030...DONT EVER LEAVE YOUR CAR UP THERE!!! McClellan's Butte is up there as yall know but that really isn't much of an over night...but just a heads up about 9030...one word "sketchy"

I get nervous leaving my car anywhere off I-90 west of the crest, but thanks for the heads up.

This thread really makes me angry. Why is there so much senseless property crime in the northwest? I have never been anywhere where this kind of ruthlessness is so common. Almost everyone I know has had a car stolen or broken into. Growing up in New England I rarely saw anything like this. Living in CT, VT, MA, and CO, I think I met one person who had a car stolen (later recovered intact with a homeless man living in it). Here, I've personally known a half dozen, and had my own car and house broken in to, and I havent even been here 3 years!

Could it be the paucity of cops here? I read somewhere that to get up to par with cities of similar size in other parts of the country, Seattle needs to hire 400+ cops to the force. Why dont they? Is the situation similar in the outlying areas?

just in case people don't yet know; squamish has an incredibly high per capita rate of crystal meth useage. one of the highest in cananda and the u.s.
not to mention the other half of the high school students who are just bored silly.
the rate of petty crime in the town is astounding- and it happens to cars (and houses) with both canadian and u.s. license plates. some times they will even do things like take your credit and debit cards out of your wallet and the leave the wallet right where you left it and relock your car doors so that they get more time to use it before you even know that you've been robbed.
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CRAP IN YOUR CAR!!! (or, apperently, don't even leave your car)

-gregg, sorry about your experience man, it's a damn shame! i know that it is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to you.

- j.d.climber, gun control laws? are you for real? do you know that petty crime happens here in the u.s.? as well as violent crime?

Have not heard anything from the RCMP about the car getting torched. I would be surprised if I did hear back from them. One of the rangers from Gariboldi Park called me last week and apologized for the botched communication. He passed on that they are getting a lot of theft in this parking lot but no car burnings until this incident. He also mentioned that they installed a camera this summer but it was stolen soon after.

I passed on to him that a gate locked at regular times might be one solution. Open it in the morning and lock it up at night. He suggested that I contact the park hdquarters. with my idea and it might be considered. He was genuinely appalled at what had happened and sorry that no attempt was made to contact me or leave a note at the trailhead or with the RCMP.

One of those things. Live and learn. Ke Garne as they say in Nepal. (What to do?) That was my last trip to Gariboldi and Squamish. I have heard enough to know that I don't need to return to a place with so much petty crime.

Sad to read all this. :'( We are talking of Elfin LakesHut in spring and I'm thinking a car rental might be the way. ???