Two Men Arrested After Setting Booby Traps Along Popular Hiking Trail

April 27, 2012 at 2:17 pm by Ginny Leigh  

SOUTH FORK CANYON, UT – Two men have been arrested after admitting to setting some potentially lethal booby traps along a popular hiking trail.

The traps were discovered on April 16th by U.S. Forest Officer James Schoeffler while investigating reports of suspicious activity along Big Springs Trail. He had been checking out a popular, makeshift dead-wood shelter when he found the first trap.

“As he investigated the shelter he noticed what appeared to be a trip wire near the ground at an entrance. Upon further investigation he discovered that the trip wire led to a booby trap device which was made with a large rock, sticks sharpened at both ends, and was held together with rope,” said a statement issued by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.

If the wire had been tripped, the boulder was designed to swing at head height. Schoeffler, using his experience as a a bomb disposal technician, decided to check around for more traps.

“Typically, anywhere I’ve been, if there’s one, there’s two, if there’s three, there’s four,” Schoeffler said.

He was correct in his assumptions.…