Thanks to the government putting law abiding citizens on the street for profit, I can tell you in no uncertain terms that Americans are selfish and violent. They say it’s what you do when nobody’s looking that counts. I am in a lot of places where nobody’s looking and there is plenty of selfishness and violence to go around. A few times.
I have spent a lot of time in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which is close to where I live. I’ve ridden my mountain bike on just about every road and trail. It’s one of the last places where you can camp anywhere and get close to the mountain and the wildlife.
Things changed dramatically during the COVID pandemic. Mostly from Vancouver, WA, people drove RVs and trailers up here and left the trailers and RVs, commuting back and forth to Vancouver. With unoccupied RVs everywhere, the criminals followed the squatters into the National Forest, stealing everything they could get their hands on. People found out you could get away with just about anything here, making Gifford Pinchot National Forest a very dangerous place.
In 2023, I was run off a Gifford Pinchot campsite run by a bunch of poachers from Vancouver. Facing a group of armed criminals out in the middle of nowhere is a very dangerous thing. Nobody is going to help you. The poachers told me they had a “friend” who allowed them to run a full scale poaching operation in broad daylight. I don’t want to believe an employee of the Forest Service would be involved in organized poaching, but it’s impossible to believe the Forest Service doesn’t know about it. Which means when a Park Ranger or County Sheriff shows up, is he really there to help law abiding citizens, or protect his “friend’s” criminal operation? A very, very dangerous situation for a law abiding citizen who believes the law will protect him.
Now, in 2025, the same thing is happening again. I am camped in Gifford Pinchot at a spot I normally do not camp at. The reasons are, 1. Most of the forest was burned in a large fire last summer, 2. This spot is used mainly by fifth wheel camping trailers that can’t get to other places, and 3. A spot a bit off the main road where I used to camp is now a permanent homeless camp. Because of the fire, camping spots are now limited.
I set up camp on Tuesday. A few vehicles camped overnight or a couple days, but the weather was not very good. Like most decent campers, these people parked as far away from me and each other as possible.
In between rain showers, I started taking photos of last summer’s big fire.
A family of deer immediately started hanging out near my truck. I camp in this area a lot in the summer and I’m pretty sure the deer recognize me and come right up to the tailgate of my truck.
One of the deer was heavily pregnant. I felt sad because the deer family’s home was burned.
On Thursday morning, a guy walks up to my campsite asking for “Linda Lay” to deliver a porta potty. I thought it may be one of the many horseback riding or trail running events staged here at Gifford Pinchot National Forest. A couple hours later, a fifth wheel trailer parked about ten yards from me. Three dogs immediately ran over to me, barking and snarling. One of them snapped at my leg. I yelled to the people to control their dogs, they blew me off.
Their dogs were digging up my latrine. One of the dogs was sneaking up behind me and snapped at my leg. They also chased the family of deer around, the pregnant doe not as quick as a pack of dogs. I yelled to the people again to control their dogs, a man cursed at me.
A lady came into my campsite and told me that this is the spot of the “Dallas Family Reunion”, there would be twenty five to fifty people here and that I need to move to a different spot. I told her I was not moving, I was here first and not causing any problems. I asked why she chose to park their trailer right on top of me instead of taking one of the other two dozen empty campsites in the immediate vicinity. I also told her that their dogs were trying to bite me, could you please control your dogs? She walked away.
The following morning, Friday, I was standing by the tailgate of my truck when I saw my “neighbor’s” dogs sneaking up on my truck from the woods. They already tried to bite me twice and were going for a third try. I took my .22 revolver and fired it, point blank, into a tree stump(shooting is legal here), hopefully to scare the dogs away.
The woman and an elderly man came running into my campsite, cursing and making threats. I told them to stop, but the old guy came right into my campsite and took a swing at my head. He told me “a lot more people are coming” and I need to move out. I pointed out that I had asked them to control the dogs, which they did not do. I reminded them that they could have had some minimal respect and camped a bit further away and avoided the whole deal, especially with so many people. I also pointed out that I was here before they arrived, and they and their dogs have come into my campsite to harass and threaten me, I never even walked in the direction of their trailer because of the dogs. They have created and initiated every conflict.
Of course they are doing this because they want this campsite all to themselves on a holiday weekend. They had the porta potty delivered here before they even arrived, without any regard for other campers who might be here before them on a busy holiday weekend. Their pack of dogs roams freely within a one mile radius of the people’s trailer, harassing everything and everyone. I had hoped to do some hiking this weekend, but between the dogs and the regular threats of violence in order to get me to move, I can’t even walk ten yards from my truck.
It’s Saturday, so I assume the Dallas family will be arriving soon. I have every right to assume that after talking with the people who have been regularly harassing me for the past couple days, at least some of them will be armed. They tried a pack of dogs, the old man tried to clock me, maybe a gun in the face will convince me to move from their private camping area.
This blog post, along with video sent to friends, will, at least tell my side of the story should twenty five members of Linda Lay’s Dallas Family Reunion decide to move me out. This is your American National Parks.