CARRABASSETT VALLEY — Carrabassett Valley Police Chief Scott Nichols is warning both out-of-state instate hikers to be more cautious while traveling by foot on the Appalachian Trail and other trails in the area.

Over the past week, in two different incidents on the Carriage Road, hikers have been the victims of theft, with a total value of over $950.

Last Saturday, Aug. 21, two college students from Massachusetts, Hillary Robert, 20, of Cambridge, and Lewis Coppersmith, 19, of Arizona, were hiking near the Carriage Road when they set up camp for the night. About 2 a.m. several hikers heard two men yelling and swearing and saw them take Coppersmith and Robert’s knapsacks. The men kicked the gear and yelled obscenities.

Lt. Randy Walker at the Carrabassett Valley Police Department received the call for help and went to the scene. After locating the campsite, Walker found tire tracks leaving the area and photographed them. The officer then went back across the Carriage Road, heard loud music playing and found the same type of tire tracks made by a Ford pickup at the location the music was coming from.

On confronting Michael Maheux, 22, of Lewiston, and Jeffrey Bywater, 37, of Auburn, the men confessed to the officer to stealing the knapsacks containing a total value of $900. The case will be turned over to the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney for further investigation because the incident occurred in Dead River Township in Somerset County.

In a separate incident, Nichols said that Monday, Aug. 23, Jessica Newlin, 24, of Indiana, was hiking on the trail, stopped at Carriage Road and put down her knapsack to go to a nearby spring for water. While there she saw a man pick up her knapsack and throw it into the back of his truck. However, Newlin said she could not identify the man.

The same pack was located later and dropped off at the Carrabassett Valley Rescue Center by a concerned couple.

Chief Nichols went to the trail trying to locate the hiker and picked up the pack taking it to the police station where Officer Steven Goozey found Newlin’s grandmother’s telephone number in Indiana, who in turn got in touch with her granddaughter. Newlin picked up her knapsack which she found was intact except for $50 that was taken.

“We have a lot of good people who help hikers in any way they can, but there is also many reasons to be cautious of those who are not up to any good,” said Nichols.