>> potential victims are more likely carrying valuables (jewelry, electronics, nice handbags) Back when I was a daily hiker, I would have been carry seriously

>> potential victims are more likely carrying valuables (jewelry, electronics, nice handbags) Back when I was a daily hiker, I would have been carry seriously expensive gear. A few thousand dollars at least. Way more expensive than I would have walking around town. It would have been work to track me down in the forest though. As one of the other commenters pointed out, in a national forest the crime occurs as car clouting at the trailhead. I would leave my car unlocked, and depending on weather, a window rolled down. The parent poster must live next to a different national forest than the ones I hiked at, if you hiked at a popular trail it was completely normal to get back to the trailhead and see cars with their windows busted out.