A woman’s hiking trail testimony describes a danger too many of us face | Opinion
I heard an awful ring of familiarity in the testimony this week from a woman who endured a brutal knife attack in a Tacoma park. Why did she think the suspect targeted her that day, the prosecutor asked.
“I think I was the one lone woman on the trail,” she said.
With her answer, she described a reality that women negotiate every day. Anyone can be a victim of violent crime, but women know we’re seen as targets just for being by ourselves in certain places. And we seem to know it inherently as a society, too, based on common warnings women receive not to do things alone.
Don’t go out alone at night. Don’t travel alone. Be vigilant when walking to your car alone, and then while driving alone.
Or while taking part in the unique Tacoma tradition of looking for monkeyshines alone. That’s what the woman explained she was doing on a forested trail that sunny winter day in 2024.
A second part of the woman’s testimony chilled me. She recalled shouting, “I knew it,” when she realized the man she encountered on the trail was attacking her.
We know we’re in danger.
I’ve hiked alone in forested parks. It’s glorious. I know the danger exists, but so does the occasional need for solitude outside the walls of my home, for communing with nature, for just getting to exist as a part of the world.
In a way that’s hard to describe, doing things alone for a while makes me more myself.
I’m not naive. While living in California, I was mugged at gunpoint as I walked home alone in the dark. I usually try to make this story a little lighter by pointing out that all I had to give the mugger was about $4 and some points from a local department store (think Kohl’s Cash).
I usually try to give some context by pointing out that the mugger looked like he was 20 years old at most, and seemed outwardly as scared as I felt inside. Even though he told me he was willing to kill me, he seemed eager to be done with the robbery when he dove into the getaway car.
But the real essence of that story is how it changed me. Many women can list the things they do to protect themselves on a regular basis. Telling someone where you’re going and when you’ll be home. Carrying a whistle, pepper spray, a weapon, or just your keys in your hands. Heightened awareness of who’s around you at all times.
For me, I found I no longer cared if I offended someone by avoiding them or refusing to engage with them. I cross the street if someone makes me uncomfortable. I’m allowed to protect myself when I feel unsafe.
It’s surprising that that wasn’t already a given. But at the same time we’re told we should be wary of men, we also get the message that we owe them our attention. Ignoring someone talking to us on the street means we’re rude or stuck up.
I’m okay with being rude, and I have the temperament to own it. But like all of these methods, it’s not a perfect solution. Sometimes the offense taken at being ignored escalates a situation. There’s no perfect way to react.
To be clear, I don’t think that crossing the street would have saved me from the mugging, and I don’t think the woman who survived the knife attack should have done something differently. The bottom line is that you can’t control, and aren’t responsible for, the behavior of someone who wants to do you harm.
In her testimony, the woman testified that she physically fought back and screamed out loud what was happening. She made sure to shout, “He’s going to kill me, he’s killing me,” so that people within earshot understood the danger she was in.
Another woman in the park responded, kicking the man in the head. He ran away. Yet another woman provided lifesaving care until first responders arrived, according to the police.
At a news conference last year, the woman recalled her rescuer “said she would kick 100 guys in the head to save my life.”
I’m filled with gratitude that help came in time, that the knife didn’t strike a fatal blow, and that the woman’s struggle succeeded in saving her life. But I also know she deserves much more than her own life. As a human being, she deserves the freedom to wander alone, in peace.
Laura Hautala is an opinion editor and writer for McClatchy and the Tacoma News Tribune.
This story was originally published August 7, 2025 at 1:51 PM with the headline "A woman’s hiking trail testimony describes a danger too many of us face | Opinion."
