I was heading for Mount Pilchuck today afternoon but had to abort the hike. Was told that there was someone with rifle at large on the trail and that the trail was going to be closed. Have been trying to check online about news related to this but haven't seen anything as of yet.
Anyone else who experienced this? Or was it just a hoax?
Washington Trails
Association
Trails for everyone, forever
Comments
It was not a hoax
At least not insofar that the story was made up. There was a guy, probably mid-20s, hiking up the trail with what appeared to be an assault rifle that my friend and I passed on the way down. We didn't have any trouble with him, just said hello before we really realized what was happening and passed him. For what it's worth, he did not threaten us in any way, and had the gun pointed straight at the ground (and said hello back, even). We saw the ranger coming up as we drove down, no idea what happened after that.
Posted by:
dhulten on Aug 04, 2014 07:29 AM
8/3 Pilchuck
We were there yesterday. We left the lookout at 12:15 and about 15 minutes down the trail, we did cross paths with a man with a rifle and handgun on the trail headed up. We were stopped by a ranger on the road as we were leaving and he looked like he was headed up to check things out. When we stopped at the office to find out what was going on, she laughed a bit and said that we are an open carry state and that this is a national forest, not a national park, so guns can be carried/displayed freely. She also said that bear season just opened, but with the amount of people that were on the trail, I find it tough to imagine many bears hanging around.
I'm surprised to hear they closed the trail with the way my conversation at the public service center went. We are hoping nothing happened, but we were definitely caught of guard seeing that on a very populated trail.
Posted by:
pbzager on Aug 04, 2014 07:35 AM
8/3 Mt Pilchuck
My friend and I also saw this young man and I asked him if he was training for something to which he replied "yes" I asked if it was for military and he said "No, just for the heck of it" The rifle appeared to me to be an airsoft rifle becuase I think I noticed yellow pellets. But none the less, we also saw the sheriff officer headed up the trail. We spoke with him and he told us to tell any other hikers coming up trail that the trail was closed. I am also interested to find out what occurred when the officer comfronted him.
Posted by:
CrisC on Aug 04, 2014 04:22 PM
Remember the unsolved Pilchuck murders in 2006?
http://www.king5.com/news/Reward-money-expire-in-mother-daughter-murders-on-Mount-Pilchuck-188951601.html
Makes me think of that horrible tragedy. I went up yesterday at 6 PM for sunset photos. No trace of any excitement then. IMHO guns have no place on popular hiking trails. This is obvious. Go hunt far away from others who came unarmed and just want to enjoy the mountains. Maybe this person did not mean any harm and was simply a knucklehead.
Posted by:
Goat Paparazzo on Aug 04, 2014 11:08 PM
update
I just spoke with someone at the Verlot ranger station. I was told that this is a tricky situation since it is legal to carry in the state of WA. The young man was in fact carrying a real rifle and was escorted off of the trail since people were uncomfortable. Whether it was loaded or not was not addressed.
Posted by:
CrisC on Aug 05, 2014 11:35 AM
sat night
spent the night at pilchuck sat night and had to stop a complete moron from lighting a campfire on the deck leading out to the rocks.
Posted by:
jason on Aug 05, 2014 08:23 PM