Any unsuspecting hiker exploring the makeshift dead-wood shelter could have fallen prey.
Two men arrested over the weekend on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless endangerment told authorities the traps were intended for wildlife, but investigators don't believe the story.
"This is a shelter put together by people, visited by people _ anything that would be impacted by their device would have to be humans," Utah County sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said. "It took some time to build these traps. They took rope, heavy-duty fishing line, and they intended what the traps were going to do."
U.S. Forest Service Officer James Schoeffler came across the trip wires last week while on routine patrol on the popular Big Springs hiking trail in Provo Canyon about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City. Having had previous military hazardous device detection training, Schoeffler immediately knew it was a threat. If not disabled, both devices _ one set to swing down at head-level, the other designed to trip a passer-by into a bed of sharpened wooden stakes _ could have been deadly.
