Do You Feel Safe Hiking and Camping?

Among the sometimes heated discussion generated by Karin Bugge's has been some discussion about the safety of hiking or camping in open space areas.

Several column readers suggested they would be uncomfortable out in the wilderness unarmed because of potentially dangerous people.

There is no doubt that serious crimes do happen in the great outdoors: this 2006 Seattle Times article outlines some of the problems with increased crime in national forest areas.  Locally, there have been crimes as well, such as this .

I've heard from several local residents about hiking alone, and whether because of crime safety or the fear of being injured, I've been told from some people they would not consider hiking alone.

So how do you feel about safety on the local hiking trails?  Do you hike alone? Camp alone?  What precautions do you take?  Do you arm yourself in any way?  Please let us know in the comments section and take our poll below.