No, I didn't know until this happened. And, there is NO cell reception at Bagby nor an emergency call box. So if something happens up there -- you are on your own.

I've been there and it's a nice place but you are taking your chances with your car. since the springs is a mile or so from the parking lot. I hadn't heard of anyone being attacked. That sucks. I guess not going at night is a good idea.

Sounds like an urban legend. Why wasn't this reported on the news?

Al - I am afraid it is not an urban legend, I know both the victims and what happened to them is extremely brutal. The details on this blog post really doesn't tell the horror that these folks endured.

You are more likely than not to run into problems up there at night. I used to have to work in that area and I have seen several cars lit on fir and the parking lot there is sparkly from all of the broken car glass on the ground. I am also aware of incidents with russian males heavily drinking and menacing people with guns. All in all I would advise people to avoid going up there after dark.

it will be the lead story on the fox 12 news @ 11pm tonight 10/5

I was there the afternoon of 10/2 & saw 2 cars with windows completely smashed. There was a couple who went to inform the victims (who were still soaking in the springs) about their cars. I went to the nearest ranger station & reported what I had seen. The ranger told me to call 911. When I did I was scolded by the operator. Since I was not the victim, they would not send help. Neither the ranger station nor law enforcement claimed responsibility for responding to the situation. Could this attack have been prevented??

There are break-ins all the time down on the Clackamas River (i.e. Bagby), seems to occur in cycles. There were smashed windows and thefts Monday afternoon at Fish Creek trailhead parking, near Bagby, probably related seeing how the suspects were spotted nearby at Promintory Park Monday afternoon. I've been down there plenty on weekdays, traffic is very slow then (and more slow now that it is cooler out), and so if something happens it could be a while until any kind of help appears.

I've never been to Bagby cuz stories out of that place were never good ones.

Not sure where this story came from (no link, it was forwarded to me):

A couple returning from the hotsprings discovered another couple breaking into cars when they were attacked with a baseball bat.
By Brad Ford
Friday, October 6, 2006
Break-ins are not uncommon at the trailhead for Bagby Hotsprings southeast of Estacada. Attacks like this are uncommon. A couple went
to take the 45 minute hike to the hotsprings. When they parked their car they noticed another car had a broken window, but they still went into the hotsprings.

As they were returning, they heard a car alarm in the parking lot. When they emerged from the trail they saw a couple with a baseball
bat breaking windows on cars in the lot.

The couple is described as a man in his mid-20s, 5-feet 9-inches tall with shaggy brown hair and weighing about 150 pounds. The woman was also in her mid-20s, seven months pregnant, 5-feet 5-inches with brown wavy hair. The man threatened the couple to hand over their valuables which they did, but then they were hit with the baseball bat several times.

Another person found the injured couple and drove them to Estacada where they called for help.

The suspect couple was seen earlier in the day at Promitory store where they were driving a 1987 metallic blue Toyota Corolla hatchback. At the trailhead they were driving a mid-1990s purple sedan similar to a Grand Am.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's Department wants anyone with information to call 503-723-4949.

Me and my friend went up to Bagby Oct. 6th at 8pm before hearing about this. After soaking in the springs for a couple of hours, we came back to find all 7 cars in the parking lot completely torn-apart, windows smashed, and tires slashed. Oddly enough, all they had stolen from my friends car was a dollar worth of pennies, a bag of jelly beans, and a tin of chewing tobacco, despite his wallet being in plain view.

Luckily, a couple had just shown up a couple of minutes after we had gotten back to the parking lot and gave us a ride back into town.

I was blown away at the senselessness of it, particularly the tire-slashing, since there was no logical reason for them to have done that other than out of sheer assholishness. It was my first time visiting bagby, and although it was an amazing experience until coming back on the trail, it will most certainly be my last until they install some sort of emergency phone or regular patrol.

It is a shame we have to worry about such terrible things at such a wonderful place. I have been going to Bagby since the early 90's and you have always had to worry about your car. Since the mid-90's I have done alot of volunteer work at the springs. I was up there alot. Finally after going to the springs alomost 10 years I returned from the springs to find my car gone! My friend went looking for it on the forest roads and found it 3 miles away burned to the ground.

Yet I still visit at least twice a month. I met my wife at Bagby. We both volunteer with the Forest Service to do the maintenance and cleanup the bathhouse facilities. Yet something has changed lately, it isn't that your car may get broken into. It seems your car WILL get broken into.

I am President of Northwest Forest Conservancy,(NFC) a local nonprofit run by volunteers. We have an agreement with the Forest Service to restore the 1913 cabin at Bagby Hot Springs. Northwest Forest Conservancy was at Bagby from Thursday night till Sunday the weekend before this happened. A car was broken into at 7pm on Thursday before our first volunteer arrived at 10pm. We have a trailer and volunteers 24/7 in the parking lot while we are working/helping at Bagby. While we were there no cars were broken into. The volunteers and trailer left Sunday evening and three cars were broken into that night. I was still at Bagby, my car wasn't in the parking lot, and my wife and I left Monday afternoon. It is terrible to hear it happend that night, right after we left.

I think the solution is better management. Or for the time being, come up to Bagby on the 3rd weekend of the month. NFC will have volunteers watching the parking lot 24 hours from Friday evening to Sunday every 3rd weekend of the month. If you have time, check out our interpretive booth with historic photos of Bagby and maybe even help out with the restoration effort. Feel free to email me: mike at nwforests dot org

I think we need more good people at Bagby to scare off the bad ones. If all the good people leave who will be left?

jesus, why don't the police stake this place out? it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

wait in the bushes (for probably around 23 seconds), watch from a distance as one meth head comes into the parking lot, wait for them to smash one window, jump on him, arrest him, take him away... wait two more minutes for next meth head to show up, etc.

obviously the word would quickly make its way around the gutters and public restrooms of deep southeast portland and 82nd proper, and so on. before you know it, they'd be off to other fabulous, exotic and law-free locations to ply their trade.

Police dont cover these places because they have to deal with the city which on the weekend is bad enough what I think needs to be done is someone should hang out out there in shifts and maybe that will slow the criminal activity. By the way robberies and malicies activity happen during the day there to but I bring my piece of s there so nothing ever happens but me and my wife and child go there and I carry a gun so I would advise the same. Me and my family encounter robberies and beating in and around that area I say lets make it harder for them to get out there even by gravel roads and gated access. sincerely pissed me

ATTACKER APPREHENDED:

I wanted to share the fantastic news! The guy (and girl) who attacked my friends has been arrested!

See article below from http://www.kptv.com/news/10077321/detail.html

Police said a man wanted in connection with an attack at Bagby Hot Springs is behind bars after returning to the scene of the alleged crime.

Police said a man, accompanied by a woman described as being pregnant, robbed, menaced and smashed automobile windows before physically assaulting a Portland couple with the baseball bat in the parking lot at Bagby Hot Springs on Oct. 2.

According to authorities, the couple wanted in connection with the attack, identified as 23-year-old Barry Enders and 25-year-old Lorinda Goebel, returned to the Bagby Hot Springs trail head parking lot around 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 13.

Enders was taken into custody on charges of robbery and assault.

Investigators believe Enders and Goebel were residing in a transient fashion while staying in U.S. Forest Service Campgrounds, motels in Wilsonville and Portland.

My husband and I took our 2 year old up to Bagby a day or two before this happened. In the last 7 years, we've gone up about 8-9 times, because it is such an Oregon treasure. The first time we went, a Saab was trashed and wasn't towed until spring. Last month, I noted to my husband how many out of state licence plates were parked at the lot, and how many expensive cars were parked. What a change the last 7 years has brought to Bagby. But, after spending hours hiking and exploring the Forrest up and down the Clackamas River (and after watching Clackamas County Sherriff react to 911 calls in my own community), for the first time in my life, I've learned how to protect myself and family. I've seen too many burned cars up in the forrest, and have witnessed some suspicious behavoir, and waited for no/slow response from the Sherriff. The worst I've experienced is being shot at one snowy evening. 5 rounds while driving on 224, just after crossing one of the Clackamas River bridges. Clackamas County Sherriff office wouldn't even come to the scene. Folks, there is no cel phone reception a few miles past Estacada, enjoy the beauty, but know you're on your own......the bad element knows it too. Keeping an eye at one trail head will not solve the problem. How about we ban together and propose (to the forrest service) and financially back a few cel phone towers on some of those buttes? Hey, we might be able to call Dumpstoppers while an illegal dumper is dumping, not an hour later! Take action folks, tell your government officials that this isn't acceptable....and be willing to help.