Just as a note of caution:

On Sunday, Nov. 21, around 4:30 PM, we returned to the Lafayette Place trailhead after a Franconia Ridge loop hike to discover that someone had broken into the car. Total damage amounts to a considerable sum of cash, and a broken passenger-side car door. No windows were smashed; instead, the upper part of the door was pried open, evidently just enough to unlock the door from the inside, but leaving the door permanently deformed at the top. Nothing except cash was taken, and the thief even locked the door behind him. All in all, compared with previous similar incidents at NH trailheads, this one was much more deliberate, planned theft and much less hooliganism/vandalism. Also noteworthy is the fact that it happened in broad daylight. Just wanted to pass this on as a note of warning and a suggestion to take the necessary precautions before setting out (i.e. avoid leaving cash and/or valuables in the car, and certainly avoid leaving anything of value that is visible from the outside).

My guess is high unemployment and desperate people.

Jerry L wrote:My guess is high unemployment and desperate people.

Yep. There is always an element that will steal and commit vandalism. But desperation will make thieves and vandals of those not otherwise inclined.

For future break-in prevention.... were any valuables (like the cash) visible through the windows? Or perhaps anything hinting there would be cash inside, like a bank envelope?

If it was a random pry job and the thief was lucky enough to find a stash of cash, then that would be a trailhead where I would leave my car unlocked with the glovebox and console wide open, showing there's nothing valuable inside. I'll even leave a note on the dashboard saying "Car unlocked. Nothing of value inside" because I would rather have someone rifle through my empty car than get a brick through the windshield because they didn't even bother to check the door handle.

If it was a crime of opportunity ("Oh look, there's $300 sitting on the seat. I'm gonna grab it.") then future hikers would be best served keeping their cars locked like normal and having all valuables completely hidden. Leaving an open and empty glovebox would also be smart.

My car (Honda Civic) has a separate valet lock for the trunk. If I'm on a roadtrip and have no choice but to leave valuables in the car, everything goes in the trunk, and then it's double locked, i.e. the trunk release is disabled. It would take more effort than its worth for a thief to get in on the hope of maybe finding something worth money.

Jerry L wrote:My guess is high unemployment and desperate people.

Either that, or meth is one hell of a drug. AKA: In rural areas, never attribute to unemployment what you can attribute to meth.

Drive an old beater. Leave it unlocked. Leave absolutely nothing of value. Take the garage opener, the registration, and the insurance papers with you. The beasts won't even know you are not home.

Just rig up a can of bear spray to go off when somebody opens the "wrong thing". Funnier than hell watching the results.

brokesomeribs wrote:For future break-in prevention.... were any valuables (like the cash) visible through the windows? Or perhaps anything hinting there would be cash inside, like a bank envelope?

If it was a random pry job and the thief was lucky enough to find a stash of cash, then that would be a trailhead where I would leave my car unlocked with the glovebox and console wide open, showing there's nothing valuable inside. I'll even leave a note on the dashboard saying "Car unlocked. Nothing of value inside" because I would rather have someone rifle through my empty car than get a brick through the windshield because they didn't even bother to check the door handle.

If it was a crime of opportunity ("Oh look, there's $300 sitting on the seat. I'm gonna grab it.") then future hikers would be best served keeping their cars locked like normal and having all valuables completely hidden. Leaving an open and empty glovebox would also be smart.

My car (Honda Civic) has a separate valet lock for the trunk. If I'm on a roadtrip and have no choice but to leave valuables in the car, everything goes in the trunk, and then it's double locked, i.e. the trunk release is disabled. It would take more effort than its worth for a thief to get in on the hope of maybe finding something worth money.

Yes, unfortunately something was left in plain view in this case (part of my reason for writing the warning). But "random" is kind of a relative term here. I doubt that just happened to be driving along the interstate in the middle of the mountains and suddenly felt this overwhelming urge to pull over at a popular trailhead and break into the first car he saw. On the contrary, neither the choice of location (popular trailhead = many cars to choose from), time of day (early afternoon, after everyone has left for their hike, but before people have started coming down), or day of week (Sunday with clear skies - again, more cars to choose from) is at all random. He probably figured that of all those people, there's bound to be someone who has something of value that you can see, and he was right. But I think for preventing this kind of thing, keeping valuables out of sight should be sufficient - after all he is obviously operating under a time constraint, and he's unlikely to risk a break-in when he is not sure that it will produce anything of value. Though leaving a note is an interesting idea.

I have been hiking in the White Mountains for years and years, and have parked at just about every trailhead in NH, and I have never found any vandalism or theft of my items, and I have an expensive car and rarely hide my stuff (including CDs, gear, Ipod, cash, etc.). I'm sorry to hear this happened to you, and I'm sure it happens on very rare occasions, but I want to get two points across:

1.) This is not common in New Hampshire (we actually have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S., and meth is not a problem here...yet); and

2.) If there is a trailhead where theft is "likely" to happen in the Whites, its only going to be at Lafayette, since that parking lot is essentially taken over by citizens of Massachusetts and Connecticut every weekend from May till December.

Again, thanks for the heads up about the theft, but please don't get the impression that this is a regular occurrence in the Whites.

Wierd, I was parked there a few days after to hike the Kinsmans and now feel lucky.

So I have been hiking all though the Whites year round for over 10 years now, and last June was the first time that I had heard of this. There have been several state troopers in the parking areas off of rt16, 302 and Lafayette Place warning hikers to hide all cell-charges and take ALL CASH with them to not tempt people who may want to break-in. Its really too bad, but I am hyper aware now more so then before.

I would think that these parking areas are busy enough to deter thieves, very bold of them.....

~Kristin

Wow...I think there is really more analysis going on here than is warranted. All I intended was to share an unfortunate experience so as to encourage others to take reasonable precautions that hopefully will reduce their chances of experiencing something similar. The only real conclusion to draw here is that even in places we subconsciously expect to be free of some of the unpleasant aspects of civilization, such as trailhead parking lots, you still have to be careful. I am especially perplexed by livefreeandhigh's post, however: in one sentence you thank me for sharing the experience and express regret that this happened to us, and in the next you you basically say that us MA and CT people kind of deserve it for crowding your parking lots on weekends. It would have been much better if you stopped after the first sentence! And by the way, I am a CITIZEN of the United States of America, not of Massachusetts or New Hampshire.