Vandalism at Little Moab

[BruteForce]

My youngest son and I loaded up the 5th wheel, truck and 2x Kawi 750's and set off for Little Moab

The weather was a bit bizarre with periods of cold/clouds with intermittent periods of direct bright sun and heat.

We noticed that somebody has been real busy at Little Moab. In all the popular ATV locations (the Little Moab rock pile, up at Nutty Putty, the trail where we camped, etc) somebody has dumped hundreds of nails.

I took a few in my BigHorns, but was able to remove and plug without incident.

The scary part of this story however is that last night, it would appear that somebody came into my camp and slashed one of my rear dually tires (stabbed straight into the middle of the side wall). Unfortunately, I didn't notice until most of the way home when I heard the rear-end of my truck screaming and the tire flopping around on its rim.

Pretty scary to find out that I had traveled 30+ miles overloaded on a single rear wheel and an outer dually tire flopping around on its rim.

Anybody know anything about this vandal activity out there?

[asdf]

not cool at all

[BruteForce]

Not cool at all is right. My truck was way overloaded on the just single dual tire. Had that one blown at 60mph... well, let's just say that it would have been ugly.

Now, had I caught the person that did this last night... that would have been ugly as well.

Fortunately, my spare is still brand new and after two hours of disconnecting the 5th wheel, jacking up the truck -- I was able to put the spare on and get home safely. Replacement tire will be $153+tax+tire tax.

[oldno7]

That really sucks, you didn't hear when they slashed the tire that night?

[BruteForce]

That really sucks, you didn't hear when they slashed the tire that night?

No. We were outside until 9pm with a fire going, then went inside, started up the GenSet and watched a DVD.

[Deathcricket]

Lame... I would have enjoyed this TR much more had you caught James in the act.

[snccoulter]

I dont understand why the Eco a-holes cant leave well enough alone. there are places set aside for us to play but they have to go and be dicks when people are playing where we are alowed to and not destroying the enviroment. people just want to enjoy themselves and if they cant play where they are suppose to because of somone seeding it full of nails then they will go places that they probably should not be playing at.

[accadacca]

LAME. Glad you made it home ok.

[asdf]

I dont understand why the Eco a-holes cant leave well enough alone. there are places set aside for us to play but they have to go and be dicks when people are playing where we are alowed to and not destroying the enviroment.

WOW, Your really jumping right off the deep end there.
How do you know it was an Eco a-hole?

This guy was tormenting campers and ORV enthusiast in the Swell for a few years (including Mr. Udink). Do you also think he is an Eco-Nut?
http://www.ecprogress.com/index.php?...=274&x=10&y=12

[DOSS]

No. We were outside until 9pm with a fire going, then went inside, started up the GenSet and watched a DVD.

I know people who have been very tempted to kill GenSets that were running after dark.. maybe this person couldn't figure out how to kill your GenSet and decided to just go for a tire instead...

[BruteForce]

I know people who have been very tempted to kill GenSets that were running after dark.. maybe this person couldn't figure out how to kill your GenSet and decided to just go for a tire instead...

Quite possible. Even though we were fairly secluded and my GenSet isn't that loud.. that is a possibility. Quite the dangerous game to be playing. Had I caught the person, it could have gone very badly for him/them.

[DOSS]

Quite possible. Even though we were fairly secluded and my GenSet isn't that loud.. that is a possibility. Quite the dangerous game to be playing. Had I caught the person, it could have gone very badly for him/them.

Oh I agree and I just want to state that I was not in the area during the time mentioned.. I was just trying to give a different view point. I hate generators when camping BTW but that doesn't give anyone the right to vandalize someone elses stuff nor to put nails out there...

[Sombeech]

Dang, that sucks man. So you saw the nails before they slashed your tire? So it wasn't just in the 1 visit then.

[BruteForce]

Dang, that sucks man. So you saw the nails before they slashed your tire? So it wasn't just in the 1 visit then.

We noticed the nails Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon. Sometime Saturday night my tire got slashed in the sidewall. The puncture is an obvious knife/blade stab.

[snccoulter]

you are right it is an assumption but then thieves are not usually seeding the area with nails. and i am all for the environment and caring for it but the ones that go overboard and try to shut down people having legal fun piss me off. people seeding the playgrounds with nails so we ruin our gear are wrong. it would be akin to me going out and putting fences around the canyons and caves people like going to because i dint want anyone to have fun in them even though it is legal i disagree so i will make it so you cant enjoy them public lands. you would be angry too. Shot my tires cost me over a grand so i cant risk going there now because i cant afford to replace them. so a fence has been put up around a play area for me...

[SportSawyer]

Just out of curiosity, what did the nails look like? New or rusty, size, etc.

I ask because I've seen lot of pallet nails in parking areas around Chimney Rock Pass before. They were from people (some would call them "morons") burning pallets for campfires. Usually at parties where the intent is to get dumber. The nails get spread around over time.

Tip: Always avoid driving over places in parking lots that are darker or look like there may have been a fire. Get out and look at one of those spots sometime, and you may see a load of nails there. This varies from place to place, and local availability of pallets for-the-taking.

This has been a big problem up north, and the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest banned using pallets for fires a few years ago.

[BruteForce]

Just out of curiosity, what did the nails look like? New or rusty, size, etc.

I ask because I've seen lot of pallet nails in parking areas around Chimney Rock Pass before. They were from people (some would call them "morons") burning pallets for campfires. Usually at parties where the intent is to get dumber. The nails get spread around over time.

Tip: Always avoid driving over places in parking lots that are darker or look like there may have been a fire. Get out and look at one of those spots sometime, and you may see a load of nails there. This varies from place to place, and local availability of pallets for-the-taking.

This has been a big problem up north, and the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest banned using pallets for fires a few years ago.

The nails were fairly new and so dispersed as to imply that they were spread around. Additionally, the nails were all over the Nutty Putty area -- and there weren't any fire pits up there. I also saw them spread across many trails that simply couldn't support fire/camping. I'm positive that somebody seeded the area with nails to maximize the damage. Pretty sad.

[SportSawyer]

The nails were fairly new and so dispersed as to imply that they were spread around. Additionally, the nails were all over the Nutty Putty area -- and there weren't any fire pits up there. I also saw them spread across many trails that simply couldn't support fire/camping. I'm positive that somebody seeded the area with nails to maximize the damage. Pretty sad.

If they were new nails, they didn't come from burned pallets. Could have been seeded. I know of cases where it's been done (intentionally spreading nails about). And I've seen people brag about spreading roofing nails around on trails they thought were not open to motorized vehicles.

Fire pits? I've seen the remnants of pallet fires that had been build in the middle of roads and parking lots. I've seen them built on trails. When they're build on roads and in parking lots, people drive over the remains and spread the charcoal & nails around. After a little while, there's just a darker spot in the parking lot. Stop and look at one of these sometime. The pallet nails are ~2" long and have spiral fluting.