Tires Getting Spiked On Trail

[JCTex]

Tonight, I talked to a Jeeper who, with five others two weeks ago, did the Kiamichi Trail in southeast Oklahoma/southwest Arkansas. During what I understand is the Western portion where the trail takes no fire roads or NFS roads, they got spiked going through water crossings.

My friend lost 4 tires, others lost 11 more. The spikes were manufactured and placed in muddy water deep enough to be hidden. They were designed to create massive punctures. Some drivers got hit when a tread rolled over a spike; but by far most of the damage happened to the sidewalls, rendering the tires irreparable. Some drivers carried plug repair kits and were able to endure multiple flats. Others quit and limped home early.

Another friend of mine confirmed he'd spoken with someone else who knew the story. My first friend said he'd heard from some Toyota drivers that this happened to them on an earlier trip this summer.

Thee trip participants blamed it on marijiana growers or meth makers operating in those areas of the forest. That has not been confirmed. However, there is no doubt someone is trying to run people off the wilderness trail using dangerous and costly methods. Replacing four off-road, big, Jeep tires at the same time is an unexpected expense no family should have to budget for.

Have any of you heard about this and, if so, what's being done about it? I know this is no urban legend.

Jerry

 

[Arclight]

I've never encountered this, but I have run across several illegal MJ grow operations in the National Forests here while on SAR. Usually, you will see piles of trash (there may be latin-american food products you don't normally see in the US), fertilizer/pesticide bags (again, may be things like Bayer brand in Mexican packaging) and lots and lots of black irrigation tubing. They can't grow without water. Look for places where there is a creek or spring and the grow will probably be downhill from there. The grow itself should be on a South-facing slope to get sunlight, but will be concealed by trees and such as best they can.

Take pics and note the location if you find any of the above. And probably don't follow the tubing! Most of the time, the people working those are from small towns way deep in Mexico, and are brought there and resupplied by the actual gangsters. I'd worry much more about the people in the vehicles that come than the grunts who are stuck watching the fields.



Arclight

 

[stioc]

wow, where exactly is this happening i.e. the spiking of tires? I'm always worried when the news like this comes out and the not-so-smart-but-bored copy cats actually make the phenomenon more widespread.

 

[calicamper]

If its GOV land I would report it to the local Game Wardens given as pointed out typically this sort of thing leads to discovery of other much larger illegal activity in the area. The illegal grow issue is so bad here in CA we joke that its not wise to go hiking in open space areas even in areas close to the Bay Area and even LA given harvest is typically Sept through October and you do not want to run into the folks managing the operation. The grunts who camp at the location and ensure the plants grow etc often are slave labor with family being some what held for ransom back home till their stint watching plants grow is over. Keep in mind that growers do not want to be found so only very stupid growers locate their grows on trails or in close proximity to trails. In CA you typically need to do some trail blazing off trail through big brushy areas full of poison oak and other stuff sane people won't go tromping through just for the hell of it before you find a grow. Typically the tip off are water sheds that dry up or have a die off given the illegal mexican sourced pesticides and fertilizers get mixed into a dammed up part of a creek then fed down hill via drip system to the grow and all the down stream life is killed such as frogs, and salamanders and your typical small stream critters are oddly missing from the creek etc. Wardens will notice this or get reports and go upstream to locate the grow and generally if its WAY WAY off the beaten path will monitor the grow and then try and hit it during harvest to catch as many of the larger players as they can. Generally they do not bust a grow op early in the season unless its a safety threat to hikers and typical outdoorsy folks just using the land as it should be etc.

If you want a really cool read check out "War in the woods" its written by a Northern CA game Warden and has lots of cases he worked around the Bay Area. Two years ago we had a huge operation go down in our back yard were Eastbay Mud has open range land for water shed etc. Started out as a park ranger investigating reports of odd stuff going on at night, getting shot at! Then it was like every armed agency within 400 miles was called in we had Military helicopters and one US Coast Guard chopper and probably about 6 different law enforcement agencies decend on our little tiny neighborhood and use our park as ground zero to run the raid. It was pretty wild!

 

[hansrober]

This kind of stuff burns me up. It could be anybody doing this stuff though. I would like to see a picture of the spiking device or see an illustration of the technique used. Some folks are just plain mean.

 

[calicamper]

This kind of stuff burns me up. It could be anybody doing this stuff though. I would like to see a picture of the spiking device or see an illustration of the technique used. Some folks are just plain mean.

Not to mention its all fun and games till someone gets seriously injured. What if your kid was riding his dirt bike and took a header into the mud and was impaled? The person doing this needs to be stopped before someone gets hurt or worse.

 

[calicamper]

I would suspect a local land owner who's made it quite obvious the does not approve of people out riding dirt bikes or driving vehicles in the area.

 

[hansrober]

Oh, I agree. These type things are booby-traps, and they don't discriminate targets. That motorbike scenario is exactly what I was thinking of when I read the post. This kind of stuff is alarming. Sometimes I am amazed that we don't see more of this type of behavior. I hope our authorities take this seriously and don't just have the" Well there is not much we can realy do about it" attitude. As always, we as responsible and responsive citizens need to be cautious and proactive. I wonder if anyone has put up a warning sign at this location or area? How about lets see if we can post some details of this area so we can at least get the word out to be alert to the spiking activity in this area.
I am with you on someone disgruntled on the trail use or perhaps someone just acting as a "protector of the land".

I have not very pleasant neighbor whom every time I take my Kayak out on the lake behind the house comes out of his home yelling, more like screaming with a video camera your trespassing get off my property! Mind you my property extends into the lake to and around a small island in it, according to Florida law he has no exclusive right to the whole body of water but this guy is insistent and I am just waiting for him to point more than a camera at one of his neighbors one day. This guy is also who I was imagining while reading this post.

 

[High_Desert_Silver]

We had a similar issue in Arizona last summer. Somebody was making spikes from rebar and hiding them along popular forest roads. To my knowledge, they never caught the responsible parties.

 

[calicamper]

Oh, I agree. These type things are booby-traps, and they don't discriminate targets. That motorbike scenario is exactly what I was thinking of when I read the post. This kind of stuff is alarming. Sometimes I am amazed that we don't see more of this type of behavior. I hope our authorities take this seriously and don't just have the" Well there is not much we can realy do about it" attitude. As always, we as responsible and responsive citizens need to be cautious and proactive. I wonder if anyone has put up a warning sign at this location or area? How about lets see if we can post some details of this area so we can at least get the word out to be alert to the spiking activity in this area.
I am with you on someone disgruntled on the trail use or perhaps someone just acting as a "protector of the land".

I have not very pleasant neighbor whom every time I take my Kayak out on the lake behind the house comes out of his home yelling, more like screaming with a video camera your trespassing get off my property! Mind you my property extends into the lake to and around a small island in it, according to Florida law he has no exclusive right to the whole body of water but this guy is insistent and I am just waiting for him to point more than a camera at one of his neighbors one day. This guy is also who I was imagining while reading this post.

Mental Health issues seem to be a big issue these days. For sure be cautious with people like that.

 

[hansrober]

I feel many times Mental Health is getting a bad wrap by people with just plain bad behavior.

 

[gringo m]

Eco terrorism.

 

[JCTex]

I agree. My OP was hoping to get someone to reply who does wheeling in the southeast Oklahoma area. I'm curious if the people who use the Kiamichi trail a lot have been harmed enough to raise a public outcry. Neither of my friends who told me about this said they knew any participant who contacted a LEO. If that's true, that's almost as much a bummer as the spikes hidden under water.

This is not the big season for the Kiamichi area, too hot. The big rallies and group runs are in the Fall. Let's see if this subject reappears then.

Jerry

 

[unkamonkey]

We used to have some if the same stuff going on around here but it was aimed towards the oil field traffic. I know people that work in the oil patch and some that grow pot. It's not in the same area around here. All of the pot growers have green houses now and are "legal".
I probably spend more time out in the Pawnee National Grassland than anywhere and the land owners are happy to have somebody to sit and have a beer with us or show somebody their land and cattle. I don't think they are the people out there putting spikes in boards and burying them in mudholes. Heck, they have to drive through that mudhole too.

 

[Danimal]

I lived in Tulsa, but never got a chance to run the K-Trail. There is, however, another report on this site about some sketchy backwoods Okies possibly setting a fire in the trail and doing other suspicious things. I have heard verbal reports from friends (that they did not see first hand, mind you) of things like trip wires along the trail to get a motorcycle/ATV rider, which is simply disgusting. I've, therefore, had mixed feelings about taking the trip, and have thus never done it.

Dan