I also used to hike. But I never gave it any thought as to crime. I did a lot of my hiking on the Appalachian Trail in GA, NC and VA. In fact, the first few times I went alone and told someone at my command where I would be. Then after a few accidents on the AT, one of which almost ended in the death of a hiker, I joined a couple of small groups in my area that hiked and joined them. Sometime before my last hike some through hikers were murdered on the trail and all of the shelter registers were new and blank. The state police had picked up all the registers up and down the trail after the murders. Then the groups I hiked with broke when others moved out of the area and with no one to go with I gave it up. I still have my hiking boots - heavy leather and not light in weight. That was before the lighter boots with synthetic material like running shoes became common.
Israel Keyes also comes to mind. One thing that leads me away from Keyes is that he hid the bodies of his victims. The fact that Keyes was active in WA was scary for me as my brother hiked, biked and snowshoed in western WA during the time Keyes was there.
