have you ever had any Deliverance moments on trails/back country?

Got lost while biking on some dirt roads in the mountains above San Jose (CA). Went past a few shanty houses, some of which I had to double past after hitting a deadend in the road. Had no idea people were living like that relatively close to Silicon Valley. Was more worried because it was hot and I was out of water, but in hindsight I could have gotten blasted by drug dealers or attacked by a pit bull or something. Saw some shady looking rural folks, but fortunately nobody game me any trouble. I was maybe 14 or 15 at the time.

jamoptimist wrote:

Got lost while biking on some dirt roads in the mountains above San Jose (CA). Went past a few shanty houses, some of which I had to double past after hitting a deadend in the road. Had no idea people were living like that relatively close to Silicon Valley. Was more worried because it was hot and I was out of water, but in hindsight I could have gotten blasted by drug dealers or attacked by a pit bull or something. Saw some shady looking rural folks, but fortunately nobody game me any trouble. I was maybe 14 or 15 at the time.

Most of those houses up there are vacation cabins of a sort. Mostly it is land that had been handed down for generations, so the owners rarely go there and the shacks fall into disrepair.

Anyway, since I have another bay area native, I'll share my story. Not running, but I was in a small boat and went up a slough off the Napa river. I didn't realize there were similar shacks up there too. As we went past one, the rednecks drinking in it shouted and shot over out heads with shotguns.

Unfortunately, we couldn't find another way back, so ended up drifting until we were almost to them, then turned the engine on and gunned it past them. We didn't see them on the way out, they must have been inside and didn't come out in time before we were around the corner.

Actually I do.

Back in the mid 80's my cousin was marrying a girl from coal mining country on the border of KY and WV. Small back woods town that had suffered. The Holiday Inn had lost its branding. The Burger King was now just a local place. Smoking prevailed.

Also around this time the flower designed running shorts were popular (remember Jon Sinclair wore them while winning Peachtree in 28:12). So another cousin and I were each wearing a pair along with a polo shirt.

We headed over to the former Burger King. When we walked into to the smoky place you could've heard a pin drop.

Everyone stopped talking. All were dirty covered coal workers and a few obese toothless 'females.'

Planning to eat there until someone broke the silence with 'look there at them fookin city homosexuals'. Another person called out 'f@ggots' as we quickly switched our order 'to go' and got the hell outta there!

True irony. You think of them as ignorant yet in 3 seconds they realized what it took your mom 30 years of knowing you to realize. You're homosexual.

3 seconds might've been 2 seconds too long. They were on us like a pitbull on a poodle.

jamoptimist wrote:

Got lost while biking on some dirt roads in the mountains above San Jose (CA). Went past a few shanty houses, some of which I had to double past after hitting a deadend in the road. Had no idea people were living like that relatively close to Silicon Valley. Was more worried because it was hot and I was out of water, but in hindsight I could have gotten blasted by drug dealers or attacked by a pit bull or something. Saw some shady looking rural folks, but fortunately nobody game me any trouble. I was maybe 14 or 15 at the time.

Wow bud you left your iBubble and saw things. Great story!

You two idiots live in California which is the homeless capitol of the world and you're surprised by shacks in the forest. Smh

Yeah but the guy did a very poor impression of a pig.

That's Trump country boy!

Early one morning on the Appalachian Trail outside of Erwin, TN, I met up with a 4x4 full of guys evidently coming home from a long night of moonshining. They bounced up on an old logging track that cut across the AT just as I walked up to the intersection. They looked me over pretty good -- a couple of the guys in the back of the truck had hunting rifles, so I was a little nervous. I think they were suspicious of me at first, but when they realized they were crossing the AT, they relaxed and we got into a nice little conversation about carrying backpacks vs. sacks of sugar. They were good guys -- gave me a cold beer and bounced on down the track.

I did enjoy that beer.

y'all come back now wrote:

Early one morning on the Appalachian Trail outside of Erwin, TN, I met up with a 4x4 full of guys evidently coming home from a long night of moonshining. They bounced up on an old logging track that cut across the AT just as I walked up to the intersection. They looked me over pretty good -- a couple of the guys in the back of the truck had hunting rifles, so I was a little nervous. I think they were suspicious of me at first, but when they realized they were crossing the AT, they relaxed and we got into a nice little conversation about carrying backpacks vs. sacks of sugar. They were good guys -- gave me a cold beer and bounced on down the track.

I did enjoy that beer.

Once they know you're not a federal, then they're nice people.

Did Arkansas Traveller one year where the race weekend coincided with the opening of some hunting season. The RD told us to look out at night for drunked up hunters flying up and down the dirt roads. He was correct in warning us. I had to step off the side of the road several times to let trucks whip by. The dirt cloud they raised up was the worst part of the deal.

That is true, I'm not from San Jose, but I ran up one of the roads into the mountains and it definitely got pretty rural. Wild turkeys roaming around, pretty nice view of the city. Crazy descent as well.

You people need to get out more.

OP, you're far safer running isolated rural trails in Appalachia and the deep south, than you would be running the streets of Berkeley CA, or Hamburg Germany during the height of SJW season.

Come to B.C. No no, not Vancouver. Come visit actual B.C. The part that a lot of tourists never see.Three men in a pick up on "an old country road in the middle of nowhere" is pretty normal and you're lucky they weren't bored.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/craig-premack-recounts-being-shot-during-cache-creek-bike-race-1.2721483http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/jogger-cougar-attack-vancouver-island-rock-1.3718350http://www.missioncityrecord.com/national-news/jogger-beaten-sexually-assaulted-on-trail-in-suburban-victoria-rcmp/http://www.vicnews.com/news/uvic-jogger-knocked-down-by-pumpkin-flung-from-truck/

sjfskljfaldkjfskdlfjdk wrote:

I was recently on an old country road in the middle of nowhere and came upon a pickup truck with three men hanging out, smoking, drinking beer, etc. sitting in the middle of the street. I really thought I might be killed. They gave me really weird looks. White male, late 30s here.

Have you experienced anything like this?

I once almost ran smack into a nerdy city girl who was riding a mountain bike on a back-country trail by herself miles from anywhere. Came around a corner and she fell off her bike out of surprise. She probably thought she was about to have a Deliverance moment, but I just helped her up and apologized for scaring her, then went along my way.

Us country folk are polite like that .....

Running on Empathy wrote:

I once almost ran smack into a nerdy city girl who was riding a mountain bike on a back-country trail by herself miles from anywhere. Came around a corner and she fell off her bike out of surprise. She probably thought she was about to have a Deliverance moment, but I just helped her up and apologized for scaring her, then went along my way.

Us country folk are polite like that .....

Duh, she was out there all alone just to get some country D.