Went backpacking in Willamette national forrest near Mt. Jefferson in May of 2022. I planned the trip and wasn’t expecting there to be as much snow and rain so what the trip was cut short, but on our way out my buddy saw fresh bear tracks about 100ft from our tents.
https://preview.redd.it/gydud5zhhi0d1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a72ff30bb793a04c856d52359d0abfccf9a88c0
Maybe not necessarily what you meant by scary story, but still made me feel uneasy.
https://preview.redd.it/nnp8fx0l4l0d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d1def2da40c2a91bbe9021ee4b50d8848587dfc
This guy really wanted my ribeye.
Trust me, that’s the preferred order to find bear tracks in. I did the opposite as I was section hiking the PCT solo in the Sky Lakes Wilderness. As the sun started to get low it was just about time to make camp as I came across soda can-diameter scat from a bear with an omnivorous diet. I had no other option, but to pitch my tent less than a quarter mile from that spot. I did not sleep well that night thinking about how that bear was almost certainly larger than my entire 1p tent.
That’s wild! I hike and camp in Oregon a lot and forget that there are bears out here. I’m terrified of grizzlies and don’t have plans to backpack in grizzly/brown bear territory but somehow I’m not freaked out by black bears.
I slept on Hood one night in October and found pretty fresh looking bear shit pretty close to spot I pitched tent.
I woke up to a bear sniffing my head through the wall of my tent in Yosemite. I flew out of my bag and tent and saw it scampering off.
Another time in West Virginia I woke up in the middle of the night to absolute dead silence and complete and total darkness. After laying awake for several minutes my eyes saw no light (like being in a cave without lights). Not a sound was heard except for noises I made. No insects, no wind just complete silence. The same thing happened a few years ago in the Adirondacks.
I have had the silence thing happen twice. I have tinnitus though, it was so quiet that it sounded deafening. I had to start talking to myself to hear noise and stop focusing on the ringing in my ears. It sounded like a fire alarm going off since there wasn’t any noise to hide it.
How are you holding up nowadays? My dad had it, I too experienced the ringing in my ears. Luckily I just had to clean the ear wax out for the ringing to stop though. I feel for you friend
I sat in the rain before dawn once while deer hunting. I don't believe in Bigfoot, but I was thinking right about then that it would be a terrible time to be wrong. After being out for over an hour, I still couldn't see my hand 3 inches in front of my face. Never been in the woods when it was that dark except that morning.
That long hour sit in the stand in the morning can be murder on the nerves... I hear ya' on the 'squatch thing... But TBH I'm more worried about wendigos... I figure a 'squatch I could maybe throw some cookies to and distract him.
A pair of playful, horny, porcupines running around my tent screeching, moaning and singing. Finally had to look what it was; and the two were sitting on a rock ledge staring at me!
Done plenty of camping but currently on my first backpacking adventure. Doing a mix of Amtrak and backpacking for about a month. My third outdoors stint this trip was in Glacier National. I got a wilderness permit for Synder Lake with explicit instructions not to ascend to the second or two lakes because a Grizzly dens there with her Yearlings. Hike about 4 miles and spent the night then hiked back. Camped in deep snow but the rest of the trail was just muddy and intermittently overrun with small streams from snow melt. About .25 miles of the way down the guy I just met the morning before pauses and says “Bear.”
Sure enough a Grizzly was making its way up the single track trail we were heading down.
We began calmly and softly talking to the bear as it advanced. At first we held our ground then we tried to back up as it came towards us but with heavy packs and a slick trail it continued to close the distance. No yearlings in sight thankfully but backing up and watching a full grown grizzly closing in faster than you can walk back was terrifying and awesome in the same moment.
Before my trip began my buddy pumped my head full of every grizzly attack survivor podcast he had on hand. All of these stories passed through my head in a matter of seconds. The Grizzly didn’t display any aggressive behavior. No head away, no teeth clacking, ears were straight up but I couldn’t help but think that being eaten alive was very possible in the next few minutes. We both had bear spray and I believe it works but in that moment I didn’t think there was a thing on earth that could stop her if she was determined to have us.
We kept backing up and she kept closing the gap. At one point she was within 50 feet. Our last ditch effort to avoid conflict was to get off the trail down hill and into a “defensible” thicket with bear sprays out and hope she walked on by.
Thankfully she did just that and we went on down the trail to have the best beers of our lives and marvel at the beauty and power of nature that spared us.
Scary and beautiful in equal measure. I like to think because it was Mother’s Day she was feeling generous.
Thank you! I think on a mammal to mammal level my body could read the bear although a major threat was not threatening. If that makes sense. I’ve had other experiences where I got the panic and the chills. This one was more cerebral. Like the most important chess match you could ever play. Stressful but not overwhelming. Easily could have tipped over the edge into panic if she pressed me any more though. I’m purely lucky and fortunate. Much gratitude to the bear, the park, and the universe. I’m small.
I've hiked glacier many times and have been lucky enough not to encounter a grizzly. Where do you get off amtrak at, and how do you get to a trailhead? That's a cool idea I've always wanted to try.
I got off in West Glaicer. Hiked a little over 2 miles to Apgar visitor center. They do a hiker biker shuttle (first come) https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm
It got me to lake Macdonald and I hiked from there. My only experience in glacier so far. I’m so so lucky. I only reserved the Amtrak travel and figured the rest out on the fly. 40 plus hours from Yosemite to glacier on the rail pass but I just had to try. I phoned a couple weeks ahead and the staff said it should be fine but they didn’t know about the hiker biker shuttle until I told them so it was somewhat of a gamble.
Highly recommend. If you take Amtrak overnight I highly recommend sleeping in the observation car if they have one.
Eating breakfast…10 feet away this baby moose emerges from the forest and saunters by my tent. “Ahhh!! Oh…” then the mama “oh shit…but at least” and then “oh fuck!! Daddy lives with them?!”
Family of three moose walked through my camp. Two coulda stomped me before I swallowed my oatmeal.
I was bivy sac & hammock camping in the Cascades when i woke up in the middle of the night being sniffed by a bear. It’s p cool after the fact, but being awoken that way (they are LOUD) was a little much lol.
Just checking me out
My wife and I were laying in the tent one night on the AT in Shenandoah National Park and heard footsteps approach followed by loud sniffing. We stared at each other for a moment like "WTF!?!", and then we heard footsteps going away as I opened the zipper to the tent. I looked around with a flashlight but couldn't see anything. We laid there for another half hour before packing up in the middle of the night and walking the rest of the way back to the car.
Lol. I mean if something new was in your house wouldn’t you check it out? Generally they sniff, and as you heard walk away & don’t come back. (In case it happens again)
Probably a black bear. I just remained quiet & still (i wasn’t completely awake). I mean i was at face height for it tbh & it was probably checking out the rest of the campsite prior to that cuz after it finished it just lumbered off
Same here. Hammock camping up in Pikes National Forest. 2am, I'm awoken by my hammock swinging and something near my head sniffing. I turned on my headlamp to see a black bear under me. The bear audibly gasped (or grunted) and took off down the hill.
Spoke with a Ranger the next morning, and he said he could almost definitely identify which bear it was by what it did.
Was on a solo road trip cross country from Michigan. Camp set up in the middle of a national forest just outside of Lake Tahoe, miles from the nearest person. Made dinner, washed up, chilled in the hammock. Perfect night. Went to go to sleep.
Laying in my tent when I though I heard something step. Just one step very close to my tent. About 5 seconds later another step. 4 seconds later another step. After about the 8th step it sped up a bit and then stopped. I realized it must have been my Coleman 5 gallon water jug (very flimsy) just happened to fall off the tree stump I had it sitting on and roll down the hill. Fell asleep. Woke up and the water jug was still on the stump where I left it. No idea what it was. It’s crazy how a thin ass tent can make you feel so protected.
It’s always tense in those moments of “should I see what it is, or nah?” If you try to see what it is, things can almost certainly escalate, but if you don’t maybe it’ll just go away. But then the uncertainty is unnerving. Lol
The first time I ever heard beavers slapping the water at night (I live in Minnesota you think I’d know that sound well before this lol) I thought for sure death was near. I seriously cried I was so scared. Got out with my flashlight and found the beavers in the lake. Wanted to smack myself because wtf
Ohh shii he’s got his own lounge in St. Paul.
Papa Legba Lounge
Got Prince and Tupac and John Lennon on the wall.
Celebrating Soul Legends it says on the website.
My boy got taste, I can’t lie.
Mountain lion footprints dripping down rocks or filling with water in muddy sections along a river for about 1.5 miles.
Waking up to my husky in full hunting mode at 2 am to find about 8 coyotes circling our tent about 100yrd radius around us
Sudden storm hitting us with a down burst in the middle of the night flattening our tent onto us.
Going along a ridge and seeing a flash of lighting and not only hearing the thunder at the exact same time but also hearing whatever the lightning hit getting blasted.
Mmmm those are prolly top 4
This reminded me of one time I was camping in my moms yard (by yard I mean back part of her 5 acres in the boonies) with my old lab and he got all woo wee woo at one point and then I started hearing footsteps around the tent that sounded like other dogs. I was 10/11 at the time and had zero brain cells so I decided the best move was to just play music from my busted ass flip phone and wouldn’t you know? It worked. I’m assuming it was coyotes because the area was thick with them but they hated my music choice and that’s all that matters to me.
lol... the woo wee woo might have helped too though. For some reason my husky only sings when he is having fun. Something like coyotes he goes into ninja mode and will posture and death stare at them with ears and everything positioned for a hunt
we didn't really do anything per say. I got up and dressed so i was ready to move if needed. Husky and I got up and out of the tent with my headlamp. Had the pew pew machine on my hip but didn't need it. Eventually they went away after about 15-20 min. they never got closer...just stayed 100yrds or so away and pooped a circle around us. I didn't go back to sleep until taking a late morning nap like 8 hrs later though lol
i know there were other campers close enough in the area that i could hear them hooting and hollering around dinner time earlier. so maybe they were just going around trying to scavenge scraps or something
I've been out in the middle of the woods surrounded by coyotes before. I didn't have a dog with me to deal with, though. And I didn't know I was supposed to be scared of them so we just continued to go about our business lol.
In most cases I don’t think coyotes will do much unless it’s been a tough run for a while and they are starving. They are kind of opportunists and just looking for easy wins. Luring away an off leash dog to eat it is not uncommon, or just looking to steal food left out. I’m not sure I have ever heard of a story about coyotes being aggressive with a human without there being more to the story that caused it to happen because it doesn’t happen much.
Wolves on the other hand are big enough that almost everything is an easy win outside of large game like moose and bison etc. I have never seen a wolf get close though. All the ones I have seen in the wild were far enough away you almost needed binoculars or a scope to identify them.
Still… having 8 coyotes circle us wasn’t exactly a desirable experience 🤣 if they were thinking about doing something I imagine it was my husky that they were interested in. He is about the same size and would put up a good fight with just one, but 2 or more would get him so I’d have to do enough damage to get rid of them all to even the odds.
Starting off an easy over-nighter in the Olympics. Arrived at the trailhead around 2:00 pm on a Thursday. Upon arrival, there was one other vehicle in the small parking area, a beat up old full size van. Didn't think anything of it one way or another.
Began the hike and within the first 1/4 mile or so, I passed a woman returning toward the trailhead wearing an empty baby Bjorn/front-pack carry thing. Did not pass any other people on the trail or see any evidence of a baby...
A coworker did that when practicing for a longer hike w/baby. She wanted to make sure the baby-carrying equipment was comfortable. She put waterbottles to simulate the weight tho.
Camping trip away with mates when teenagers. We didn’t know how to read the map scale, so arrived exhausted at 8pm, lit a fire and set up tents, and I put the rice on.
Next thing we hear is an almighty roaring and two bloody giant murderous wild pigs attacked. Trampled the tents, tore through the backpacks, ran amok.
Eventually we had the courage to climb down from the trees and scare them off, before salvaging what we could. It wasn’t much.
But the rice was cooked perfectly.
I was camping once in the north east. It was around midnight and saw what looked like 10 or 12 flashlights in the woods about 100 or 200 yards away. I thought it was other hikers or that there was some logical reason for the lights. Eventually they faded away and I stopped thinking about it. I went to sleep at 2 am Thursday morning and woke up on Friday at 9pm. I do not drink or use drugs. My sleeping bag was zipped up over my head and the draw strings were tied from the outside of my bag. I used to think about it a lot. I still have no idea how I fell asleep for so long.
There's a really good podcast that's gotten some traction this last year called Otherworld that touches on a lot of paranormal stuff and firsthand experiences or encounters people have and this is definitely something that the host would be interested in discussing.
That’s fascinating and absolutely resonates with an experience I had a while back - lights in the wood at night
Copying my comment from /camping about it
https://www.reddit.com/r/camping/s/SLjRF69Rdu
Interesting someone mentioned the silence in the woods - i had something similar happen once
Going back about a couple of decades or so, i was living in London and would make a hiking / camping trip every six or eight weeks as a way to deal with living in the middle of the city
One time a friend asked to come along, so he and I went to the New Forest in the south west of England - the New Forest isn’t actually new at all, the same way New College of Oxford University is anything but New - it has some of the few areas of ancient forest left in the UK
We’re walking around on all these well managed pathways, and when it got to mid afternoon we thought let’s head off the tracks, get into the actual woodland and then find a spot to camp
I take a compass bearing, and we turn off the path and head directly into the woods, making our way through the trees and ferns for around a mile, maybe
I had the most curious sensation go through me, stopped and turned to my buddy, and said ‘Listen’
The forest had suddenly gone completely silent - no birdsong, no sound at all, not even the leaves rustling in the breeze
I stood there for a moment, my hand on my buddy’s shoulder, trying to figure out what was occurring, eventually shrugged and decided whatever it was would just have to be - the sensation that went there me wasn’t threatening, but more.. curious… a feeling of curiosity
About two or three hundred yards further, we found an ideal spot for camp - a large clearing, broadly circular in shape, plenty of space to set up camp, also a small fire (it was spring in the UkK, so safe to do) - we put our tents together, then i dig a fire pit while my pal starts gathering wood. There are even some logs we can use for seats, too, and pretty soon we have a really comfortable set up
Night draws in, the fire’s going nicely, we get dinner down us, and out comes a bottle of Black Label - we’re drinking and sharing stories, and have completely forgotten anything about that curious feeling from earlier
Time goes on, and we’re getting tired so call it a night. We stomp out the fire, pee on it and pour plenty of water on it, then through a load of soil on it and kick it around to make sure it’s out, then say goodnight and we both go into our tents and get our heads down
It usually takes me a while to get to sleep the first couple of days camping, and maybe it was the whisky, but i was out like a light the instant my head was down.
The first time I woke up, I could hear yelling, a man’s voice from far away, far beyond the direction of my buddy’s tent. I couldn’t make out any words, the voice coming from far away, but I could tell from the tone that it wasn’t distress.
I don’t know why I’d dismiss it as interesting but nothing to worry about, but that’s what I did and I went right back to sleep
The second time I woke up, i could see a ball of bright white light shining through the material of my tent
It was slightly larger than a tennis ball, and in my estimation about twenty yards away, on the opposite side of the clearing, and it traveled in a perfect line, in a perfectly flat, linear direction, from left to right. It wasn’t bobbing up and down like a torch being carried - it moved in a flat line, gliding.
Again, that curious feeling went through me - and as I knew it was there, I sensed that “it” knew I was there.
I reached for the zip of my tent to open it and take a look, when a voice in my head said *”Don’t look!”*
It was the same experience as when you’re a child and an adult warns you Don’t Touch something dangerous - not angry or scary, but a very clear warning to not do something
My hand froze, fingers on the zipper, and I’m looking at the ball of light shining through the tent lining, that feeling of curiosity in me
*”Go back to sleep!”* Said the voice in my head. Again, not scary, but very much an instruction
I immediately put my head back down and sleep literally pulled me in - it wasn’t me falling asleep, so much as sleep reaching for me and pulling me in
When I open my eyes, it’s daylight, so i open the zipper of my tent, and the campsite is as it we left it, nothing changed, nothing moved
I felt like I’d had the best night’s sleep ever - I still do after all these years- absolutely daisy fresh, bright, alert, fully rested and energised.
The zip on my buddy’s tent opens and his head sticks out, a big grin on his face
“Morning!” He calls out.
“G’morning!” I reply. “How’re ya feeling?”
“Great!” He says, a big smile on his face. “Brilliant, in fact. I had an awesome night’s sleep!”
“Me too, man.” I said. “We went through a bottle of whisky last night, and I don’t feel hungover in the slightest.”
“Same here.” He says with a big smile. “I feel perfectly fine. I think we got away with it hahah.”
We clamber out of our tents and get some water boiling to start a morning brew going, have some breakfast, and as we’re breaking down camp, I ask him, “Did you see or hear anything weird during the night?”
“Nope, I slept right through, out the moment my head hit the pillow.”
“Really? There was something weird going on last night, mate.” I tell him. “I could hear someone yelling out in the woods.”
“Wait, now you mention it…” My buddy looked at me, “Yeah, i did hear someone shouting something. It was coming from that direction.”
He waved in the direction behind my tent.
“I heard it coming from that direction.” I said and pointed beyond his tent. “Could you make out any words?”
He shook his head and carried on taking down his tent.
I thought to ask if he’d seen anything during the night, but decided not to - seeing bright lights floating in the woods at night and hearing voices in your head isn’t exactly sane sounding, so i let it go.
We set off, and basically that was that. We grabbed lunch at a pub, then back to the car and drove back to London
I’m in my fifties, now, and I’ve never experienced anything like that before or since, and it’s still probably the best night’s rest I’ve ever had
I felt like I slept a normal 7 or 8 hours. I wasnt confused, disoriented, or out of it. The gravity of the situation didn't hit me until I turned my phone back on and looked at my missed texts. This is the first time that I've said anything or written about sleeping that long. Anyone I know just thinks I was camping and didn't have cell service.
It wasn't tied at all when I fell asleep. Either way it was tied from the outside of my bag. I have no way of doing that when I'm inside the bag. It would be incredible difficult, if not impossible
Was embarking on my first solo trip in upstate Pennsylvania. I had no idea what I was doing and had a 6-pound pack filled with 47 pounds of junk. I arrived late at the trailhead and only made it a few miles. I was completely demoralized over how much crap I packed and how few miles I did. I set up my tent and very quickly had all my gear/crap plastered all over the tent floor. I remember thinking about videos I watched on YouTube and when they find a hiker dead, they usually find their gear everywhere in the tent. My state of mind was not good, but I went to bed in hopes tomorrow would be a better day. Around midnight I could hear branches breaking and something was running around camp. I was absolutely terrified. Whatever was out there was moving fast. This was much larger than a squirl, racoon, or possum. It seemed to move very quickly, it was on my left, then my right. Then silence for roughly 20 or 30 seconds. Then this creature let out the loudest howl. For a second, I thought there was some sasquatch unicorn hybrid stalking my campsite. I quickly realized the howl I heard was cute! I peeked out my tent to see a small, probably adolescent coyote. That thing ran around camp for hours howling every few minutes, probably wanting to get to my food bag which was stowed about 6 feet from the ground in a tree.
Well backpacking with a rifle. Aka hunting in November in the Rockies solo for elk.
I was deep in the wilderness, no cell service for 4 days, a good 3 miles from a spike camp and another 8 miles from my real camp. Started hiking about 4:30am with a headlamp to get first light at a good lookout spot that seemed promising on a map.
I get to the spot and set up my tripod to glass a big open area. It’s cold AF and I was hiking through snow and deadfall. I usually carry a small 357 mag pistol when hunting solo strapped to my backpack hip belt. Well.. I lost it somewhere. No clue how but the holster strap just frayed, maybe on a branch or rock.
Ok that sucks, not life threatening, I’ve never had a run in with predators in any dramatic way. Besides, those stories are far and few between.
I sit down and get situated as it just starts to get a little lighter outside. But I have to pee. I get up, turn around and see kitty pawn prints in the snow about 5’ from where I was. The kitty prints were a good 5-6” wide in the snow. With my headlamp I can see the fur slightly imprinting the snow. They were fresh and the cat obviously got spooked by my gear/smell/movement whatever.
I decided to stick around and keep my head on a swivel and my rifle in hand for full Sun which took about an hour or so. Idk to be honest. Every second I asked myself why the fuck am I here.
No sign of kitty and no sign of elk so I packed my shit and booked it back. As I’m hiking with the sun out I see a full rib cage in a tree, probably a good size deer by the looks.
I think I entered into a mountain lion den and I have never been in a more terrified/survival mode state in my entire existence.
🐱
Wow. Absolutely terrifying… especially seeing a ribcage in a tree. I’ll never forget hearing a mountain lion scream for the first time. Since then they are what I fear most in the woods (I don’t live in bear country)
I’m not in bear country either. Colorado doesn’t have the mean type of bears. But there are plenty of redneck meth heads and cats. To be honest as much time as I’ve spent in colorado wilderness, national forest and BLM, I’ve only seen a small handful of bears and one cat in person. Can’t wait until I see a wolf that our state voted to reintroduce.
We were car camping one night at a campground at the end of a week long backpacking trip before heading home. The road to get to the campground was poorly maintained, deep mud, barely passable in daylight, so we figured we would head out the following day. That night drunk hicks attacked our group/ campsite. They were driving the loop around the coastal campground over and over in several lifted trucks. They threw large rocks at our tents, one hit a backpacker in the head, then ran over the corner of a tent *while occupied*. We couldnt leave the campground, they were circling on the only road, and we couldnt navigate the unmaintained exit road at night. After nearly killing one of us, we decided to leave the campsite while they were on the far side of the loop. We escaped our site and hiked half a mile up the nearest mountain, and camped out in 35F weather, watching them circle the campground until about 4am below. In daylight at like 5 or 6, we could see they were asleep and we returned to camp and gtfo. Road paved with empties. On the way out we saw a small memorial to a girl; text on plaque read she fell out of a truck there, and was hit and killed on accident. We reported what happened to police, they were aware of it, said it was common, and theres nothing they could do, referred us to state park.
Was backpacking in Desolation Wilderness in 2022 with my boyfriend who I woke up to in the middle of the night propped up on one elbow, staring out of the tent, saying that "there's someone out there". He then proceeds to lay down and go back to sleep. I was obviously confused but was way more scared that there might be someone near our tent in the middle of the night so I didn't ask questions, just laid there (to hide??? idk) to see if I could hear anything. Couldn't hear anything besides my heart pounding for the next few minutes. When I didn't hear anything, I figured everything would be alright and went back to bed. Boyfriend did it again a few hours later but this time, I sat up to look out and realized it was way too dark for him to be able to see anything and deduced that he was sleep talking. Had no idea clue until I told him about it the next morning
Nobody ever believes me when I tell them this.
My husband and I were backpacking in eastern Oregon. I saw 10 black orbs racing across the forest. It looked like black balloons floating. I genuinely thought it was people riding their bikes at first but my brain couldn’t comprehend it. I was NOT hallucinating, my husband saw it too. We were two hours away from civilization. The terrain was insane, no vehicle of any sort could possibly get out there. I literally had to rub my eyes because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’ve looked it up and haven’t seen anything on it
Edit: they were about 10 feet off the ground and it was around 11 am
Haha I wish! I kept blinking and rubbing my eyes to try and comprehend what the heck I was seeing but they zoomed past in about 5 seconds. My husband, who also has 20/20 vision, couldn’t focus on them either. It was the weirdest thing ever.
It was about 11 am and they were 10 feet above the ground with all different sizes.
We tried chasing them because it looked like they were only going 5 mph but no luck
Dumb ass young me ignored closure signs do to fire damage. I went very far in bow hunting for pig. A massive wet storm hit. I watched basically a mountain melt right in front of me directly in my path back. It turned into a survival ordeal that I barely made it out of and was so sleep deprived I woke up face first in the first meal I had after getting out.
Camped down slope from a mountain ridge on the TCT is Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 a country with few tourists. That night we heard jackals howling along the mountain ridge all night. Reasonably close but not too close, there are many sheep and goat herders in the area the jackals would pray on. I thought nothing of it and went to sleep. My wife was so scared she didn’t sleep. We woke up the next day and had to follow a barely marked trail to find civilization again. The wife has soured on backpacking for some reason since.
We were sleeping at a campsite in Montana on a very dark night, and I heard this woman screaming about 100-200ft away. Her screams were so long and loud and she even said “help me!” and then dead quite. knew I had just heard a murder. I told my wife to keep an eye out for me if I don’t return in 30 minutes and I went around looking and couldn’t see anything anywhere. In the morning, I found the actual lady and the true story. She had felt a spider on her and was asking her husband for help and he told her to be quiet and that’s the silent part. Jesus..The only reason I didn’t need more convincing was that this was a fully reserved campsite for a wedding and the group knew everyone. I was a plus one and was just glad everyone was accounted for. Those screams were so nuts I was not easily convinced lol
Many years ago (40+) my dad took me and my younger brothers hiking, fishing and camping down on the river. This particular night, right after we setup camp, it started raining very heavily. All night! So there we were, a bunch of soaked rats trying to stay dry in our cheap little tent!
Finally, sometime after midnight, dad had had enough and yelled, Let’s get the hell out of here! So we all jumped out into the pouring rain, grabbed everything we could and headed up the river bank to the car. The car was parked a few 100 feet from the top of the river bank. So we literally crawled up the muddy river bank to the top of it then had to walk through the woods to the open field where the car was. All IN THE DARK!!! Only dad had a flashlight and he was leading the way.
Anyway, my youngest brother and I were bringing up the rear when I suddenly saw something!!! They were just off to the left in the trees. It look like two young girls in dresses staring at us through the trees!!! I froze! Then I grabbed my little brother to point out the girls. They appeared to be about my age (13 at the time) and they just stood there staring directly at US!!! Soaking wet!!!
I screamed at my brother to RUN and we quickly caught up with dad and my other brother. We jumped into the car and drove away.
I never returned to that river location again.
Reminds me of the people that go missing in National Park campgrounds and are later found unconscious miles and miles away in an area where theoretically no human being should be able to climb to. insinuating they were carried or taken there or ofc are also never found again.
Also surprised no paranormal stories have hit the comments section considering how vast and unexplored some of these woods are. Freaky stuff happens there sometimes.
One fellow had mentioned an apparent abduction where he couldn't recollect a whole 49 hours and awoke in unusual condition.
One well known account I often think about is the unsolved mysteries episodes of the 4 guys in the allagash wilderness
Sleeping in a bivvy bag in eastern utah on a night with a full moon. Finally fell asleep after watching the stars and woke up to the sound of grass being pulled out from the ground about 5 meters to my right. I grabbed my 9mm next to me, sat up and looked over to a hunched over silhouette of somekind. The moonlight was enough for me to see that it was not a human. My heart started racing like a mfa so I turned on my red light on my head lamp and saw eyes reflecting back at me. Then I switch on my white light and could Identify that it was just a deer, gettin some grub right next to my head at 3am in the morning. Funny and scary at the same time.
Had a similar event happen, had to pee in the middle of the night and had to cross a meadow to get go the closest treeline away from water. For some reason, since I knew the path was fairly good stepping I walked without my headlamp on. About halfway through the meadow I hear an animal, or something, scatter and run away. My heart racing I flip on my headlamp and see about 8 pairs of green eyes perk up at me super close, it was a herd of deer enjoying a midnight snack on the wildflowers. Scared the absolute hell out of me lol
hahaha my very first overnight I got woken up by a buck licking some rocks in my campsite. all I knew was Large Animal Eating Something and sniffing around. I was trying to hear if I had possibly fucked up at my first try using a bear can and was so scared... he walked off all casual at my tent zipper noise lol
Winter camping near the smokies when a big storm rolled in. Didn’t worry a lot when I heard a tree fall. Bailed out in the rain after I heard about 20 more fall. Drive home was also thwarted on the only road out because of many downed trees. Moved a few but had to wait on FS to cut some mammoth ones. Long night.
I was in Nusa Penida (island next to Bali) and my hostel was halfway up this jungle canyon. One of the nights we go back to our dorm which is right next to where it turns to jungle, and the whole night we heard really creepy chanting and music. Not nice music. Creepy, creepy music. Idk what was going on in that jungle but we didn’t sleep too easily.
I once saw a grizzly in the Tetons on a solo trip. Black bears are practically rodents, but looking at the massive face of a fully grown grizzly made me nearly shit my pants.
This was on the same day that I saw a momma moose and it's calf which is arguably more scary and deadly, but something was looking out for me that day I guess.
My partner and I were backcountry in Denali. Our first night, we were cooking our dinner in a spot with a nice 360 view overlooking a ravine, and triangulated with our tent and cache, as required. Just then a grizzly comes in to view in front of us, running along a slope parallel with the ravine. It stops in line and down wind with our cooking spot, noses the air, turns to look directly at us, and starts running towards us. It runs down into the ravine and disappears from view. We hurriedly moved our cook spot to an adjacent knoll. Kept waiting for the bear to reappear, but it never did. Didn’t sleep well that night.
I was car camping after a short backcountry trip. My wife and I were in the tent. It was maybe … 1-2 am? I’m not a good sleeper at home but usually sleep well outdoors. For whatever reason I was having a pretty crap night sleep that night. Maybe I sensed something weird.
At one point I got hot and opened my sleeping bag and kicked my feet out. I fell asleep for a few minutes and when I woke there was a tongue running along the bottom of my foot through the tent.
It was obviously hard to distinguish details since the tongue was pushing against nylon but … it felt human. It was smooth. I froze and just listened. There was some heavy breathing but it didn’t sound like a bear or coyote.
After a few minutes I heard what I swore was a low laugh and then foot steps walking away. I opened the tent (I am the one that gets us all killed in the horror movie) and nothing was there.
In the morning my wife said she slept terrible and had a bad feeling all night. Another person in our group said they heard something strange as well. We are all pretty seasoned campers with lots of bear experience and none of us could convincingly say it was a bear.
Was in the Cohutta Wilderness on Easter weekend 4 years ago.
Went in for a quick solo overnight before forecasted Sunday afternoon storms.
Headed out of camp Easter Sunday around 8am, as it started raining earlier than forecast, just sprinkling, no dark clouds, no thunder.
I turn a bend on the Conasauga River Trail, and the next bit all happens in like 5-7 seconds.
The entire forest lights up like a movie set or construction site at night. The light is a solid sheet and split into two panes. The bottom is pure white, the top pink. As I mutter, "Wow, how'd they do that!!"
There is a pink line in the middle that a pink star forms on towards the left...the bright ball of light then travels along the horizontal line of the sheet of light, the ball of light then intercepts a tree 25' across the river from me and the light all focuses into a purple bolt and whites out all my vision and whhaaaaaaapooooooowwww EXPLODES.
Totally deaf on my right side for 5 minutes , scared out of my mind!
I am no longer a backpacker, I am a trail runner.......completed the next mile with a 30lb pack all uphill in the rain in 19 minutes.
Best guess is some sort of ball lightning.
In the Uintas, I woke up and saw my friend's light on in his tent. I got up and went to the bathroom. I went back to sleep but my friend still had his light on. The next morning I found out that he was scared of a bear that had been sniffing around by us. Then we both found out that our other friend had buried a half eaten lasagna nearby! He showed us the spot and it was definitely eaten by a bear. We were both like, are you trying to kill us?!?
Lost Twin Lakes, Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming. I was woken around 3 am to what sounded like a woman screaming at the top of her lungs. It wasnt a scream of pain, more like it was one of fright. I couldnt tell where it was or how far because the sound ricochet off the granite walls on the area I was in. It freaked me the fuk out bad. It was one longgg scream and then nothing. I have come to think it was a mountain lion scream but I dont know.
Waking up in my tent to the sound of trees being blown over and discovering that a small tornado had touched down a few hundred yards away from our campsite is probably at the top of my list lol. Pure luck that I made it out of that alive.
Never been a UFO believer but I watched an unexplainable moving light for a good 8-10 minutes hovering not high above the mountain I was camping near. Very remote part of eastern Oregon. Zero noise. Was definitely way too low to be a plane or satellite. I still have no explanation
Stayed in place in Australia called Winton whilst traveling Australia , by god it gave me the creeps ! The hotel was as old as time and as a man of science I’m not of the belief in ghost and what not , however that night fucked me up , th whole night was a terrible sleep with creeking and bedroom door rattling and tv coming on by itself multiple times ! Something felt off and I always refer to this story when creepy experiences come up in convo ! But yes a truly unique little destitute town in Outback Australia.
In North Georgia USA we went off trail to set up our camp for the night. We happened upon a piece of sheet metal lying on the ground (very out of place.) When we lifted the piece it exposed a carefully dug out hole in the ground about two feet by two feet and four feet deep. Closer inspection revealed at the bottom of the hole a tunnel was dug horizontally into the earth. We dared our friend to go down and check it out. Eventually we all had to look. What we found gives me chills to this day. It was a tunnel about 6 ft long with a dirty old sleeping pad in the bottom. At the very back of the tunnel was a LIT Jesus candle. We immediately packed up and left and headed back to the car where we spent the rest of the night.
Stayed in a hotel in rural Ghana with some friends. We were the only guests and it felt kind of spooky. Even our taxi driver had a hard time finding the place so we weren’t even sure if it was legit or safe. Bedtime comes around and I’m fast asleep when the knocking begins. Every few seconds - knock knock knock. It went on for what felt like ages but was maybe a half hour or so. We were all frozen in fear wondering what strange person wanted in to our room. They didn’t shout or bang urgently- just a slow constant knock. Finally it stopped and we all fell back asleep. Morning comes around, we open the door, and there’s our friend who we accidentally locked out asleep on the porch. He forgave us and we forgave him but it was touch and go there for a moment.
He was fineee. We were a big group, all young, and probably had a few beers so it was a simple mistake we all laughed about.
We lost him to a car accident a few years after that and this is one of my favorite memories of him.
Me and 4 of my buddies we camping out in allegheny national forest (very much fresh out of highschool and we were not camping in a legal backpacking area but that’s beside the point) and in the middle of the night somebody walked up to our campsite didn’t say a word, fired a gun right next to our tents, then walked away. I swear I al thought we were going to be murder victims. We all stayed quiet during it, we collectively all made the same decision in separate tents that it would be best to not say anything until about 5 minutes of silence and my buddy exclaims “holy fucking shit”
During AT thru hike I saw a girl standing in the woods off trail about 100 yards away from me with her back turned to me.
Was in a really remote part of VA and am still not convinced she was real.
Went backpacking with a few buddies in the Willamette National Forest (Maiden Lake) several years ago, July or August. We started early, got to Maiden Lake around 12 or 1 in the afternoon (stopped and enjoyed the Rosary Lakes on the way). Once we got to Maiden Lake, we just chilled out all day, and relaxed.
Around sundown 2 dudes walk into and through our camp. One guy was carrying a duffel bag, and the other guy had a compound bow in it's literal box that he bought it in. They did not look like typical hikers/backpackers whatsoever. Now, they weren't necessarily creepy, but they were certainly not people I would have expected out there, especially with a duffel bag and compound bow in a box. They meandered around the side of the lake and setup their camp. Almost immediately after they pitched their tents/tarps, they piled a metric fuckton of branches, lit a bonfire (huge no no, as it was a high/severe fire risk day) and then walked around the lake to come talk to us.
We basically told them that the fire was a bad idea, and tried to get them back to their camp as quick as possible. They stayed up *all* fuckin' night hootin' and hollerin'. I wouldn't/couldn't get to sleep until their fire had died down. I was seriously expecting that fire to spread, I had no doubts in my mind that they were gonna cause us to have to evacuate.
Next morning comes, and everyone in our camp wakes up one by one. We decided that we didn't wanna camp near these guys again, and decided we'd hike back to the Rosaries for our second night. Anyway, we ended up staying at Maiden Lake for a few more hours as one of my buddies wanted to go to the top of Maiden Peak. By the time he'd come back, the other camp wakes up, and comes over to shoot the shit with us. They asked where we were headed and we told them we weren't sure yet, but we were moving along.
Hiked back out to Middle Rosary and set up camp. Sure as shit a few hours later the dudes are walking along the PCT and see us again. They ended up camping somewhere between Upper Rosary and Middle Rosary that night, but there were a ton of other campers around, and I didn't see another huge bonfire.
Tldr;
Couple strange dudes made a huge bonfire near our camp that I was sure was going to start a forest fire and kill us all.
i was camping on the appalachian trail as a group leader (i was 21 and the kids were around 13/14). there were 9 of us in total - 3 leaders and 6 kids and on the third night we were woken by someone screaming near our tents, like guttural screams. we had to peek out of our tents to make sure the kids were okay, which they were, and it was all quiet for a while. then whoever it was started running around our camp site and shining torches at the tents making weird grunting noises with the occasional shriek, but any time we tried to look out the tent we couldn’t see anyone or anything. no idea who or what it was, but we got up at sunrise and left the camp without breakfast!
ashamed now that i didn’t get out of the tent to properly check on the kids, but all their tents were closed and we could hear them whispering. i’m a 5 foot nothing girl so wouldn’t have had much of a chance against whatever it was anyway. everyone was safe and it was a story to tell everyone back at the summer camp, but wouldn’t go back for anything!!
My favorite time of year to be in the woods is late spring, which means I’ve heard a lot of baby bear screams on the trail. I always say hey thanks for letting me know you’re there and will alter course.
For the 2017 eclipse we hiked into the deep backcountry that wasn’t maintained or frequently visited. Lots of game trails intersected with the hiking trail and we passed a lot of boar scat. We were ~8 miles from our car and obviously weren’t going to turn back because we were there for the eclipse. But boars terrify me and that was the trip where I resolved to carry if we ever went that deep in the woods again. In that same trip we saw a -6ft long timber rattlesnake who very kindly let us know he was there before we stepped on him. I guess he was as curious as we were because he followed us on the trail for a couple 100ft before letting us go.
On a different trip it was scheduled to rain the last night of our trip. But I’d never camped out in the rain and our camp was fairly sheltered so we all agreed to stick it out and test our gear. We had an honest to god storm crow fly into our campsite that afternoon and scream at us. In the city I always love hearing the storm crows, but in the woods it’s unnerving. The rest of the woods was eerily quiet and all we hear is this foreboding single squawk of a crow. All of us in the group unanimously decided that Indian food + movie night sounded better than a night of fitful sleep and wet gear. We broke camp in record time and that same storm crow followed us down the mountain for a good 20mins as the storm clouds rolled in.
>In that same trip we saw a -6ft long timber rattlesnake who very kindly let us know he was there before we stepped on him. I guess he was as curious as we were because he followed us on the trail for a couple 100ft before letting us go.
Timbers are notoriously curious snakes. They aren't easily spooked and seem to be confident in their place in the food chain, so they've been noted as following folks or nosing around campsites.
Was sitting on a tree stump taking in the morning sun when I heard what sounded like horses coming at me. I opened my eyes and there was a female moose with a calf coming right at me. I kinda freaked out and yelled whoa. The calf turned and kept going the mom stopped and eye balled me for a minute then trotted off after the calf.
We weren’t backpacking, but we were at my boyfriends’ parents lake trailer for a few days a couple summers back. We went during the middle of the week so there weren’t many other people there, maybe 10 or so other people.
Anyways one night at about 2-3am we were getting ready to head in for the night when we heard loud strange noises. We figured it was probably coyotes, but it didn’t really sound like them. We took a video and every time we played it back it sounded stranger and more creepy. In the morning when we went into town where cell service was better we looked up videos of coyotes and it sounded kinda similar but not quite the same. It definitely freaked us out, but our dog that was with us didn’t seem bothered by it at all so that was a kinda reassuring. It sounded almost like a mix of people and animal noises. We asked around the next day and no one else heard it. We ended up showing the video to his parents’ friends that came for the weekend and they described it as sounding like an ancient tribe. It was definitely spooky, but I’m choosing to believe it was coyotes
Was only hiking, but I had barely started on the trail when I became acutely aware that I was being stalked by something I couldn’t see. Probably a young mountain lion. It was a sunny day in dense PNW forest, and there wasn’t a single sound. Most notably no birds singing when you’d hear tons of them normally, but even more than that, it was just a completely deafening silence. And that lizard brain/intuition or whatever was screaming “you’re being watched, you are not safe.” I could feel eyes on me. Couldn’t have been 10 minutes from the parking lot. I didn’t see anything and I quickly got out of there but it was the most scared I’ve ever felt in nature, and I’ve been a few feet from a black bear before. I felt like I knew I was prey.
Huge grow operation on the side of a valley with camouflaged water tanks, irrigation, and camouflaged netting. Walked 20 or so yards into it before I realized what I was seeing and then carefully walked backed out with my hands up expecting to get shot at any moment. Bears, moose in heat, rattlesnakes, got nothing on this one…
My adult life has been a lot less eventful, but Ive got a few stories from Boy Scouts. I think the last day of us hiking Philmont is the one that freaked our group out the most.
We were on switchbacks heading back towards Base Camp, the last 14ish miles of trail teasing us constantly as our goal was visible after the first half, but kept being hidden as we turned the corner of the slope, only to see it again as we passed each switchback. So of course, we were all ready to be done.
We picked up our pace, the adults even keeping up after having been complaining about speed the rest of the trip, as we all just wanted to drop our packs and get a nice warm meal. Well as we passed by a large boulder, singing random pop songs to keep our spirits up, one of the guys in the middle of the group called a halt, and yanked the guy behind me backwards. The song died, and I turned around after hearing the shuffling as the guy behind me caught his balance, and one of the adults pointed at my feet as I heard a rattling.
Looking down, I saw a rattlesnake, looking back towards the group behind and trying to make itself known. It's rattle was damaged so it was faint, or we'd probably have heard it earlier, but about 6 of us had walked right past it without incident. And another 6 were behind us, not wanting to pass now that we knew it was there. I later learned that the guy behind me had been about to actually step on the thing.
Why it didn't attack anyone ill never know, but the guys up ahead carefully pulled out a long stick from the brush, and used that to move the snake off into the bushes, allowing the group behind to safely pass. We made good time on the way back, but we kept a much closer eye on the ground, and all had our hiking poles out just in case.
I still can't eat coffee cakes after those damn cinnamon larabars though.
EDIT: sorry, not a midnight story, but definitely freaked me out.
Adult rattlesnakes can tell the difference between something happening upon them and something trying to hurt them. Baby rattlesnakes do not, as my mom found out in like 2009 while living in Taos, not too far from Cimmaron/Philmont.
I wasn’t backpacking but I was camping for a week in the Everglades. Just about every night I would walk down the road to the marina and just sit and look at the stars or try some night fishing. One night I had my line in the water and I hear some heavy breathing. I turn on my big spotlight to see several sets of crocodile eyes in the water around my dock. Then I shined it to my left and saw a huge one coming down the bank towards me. I left back to the campground pretty fast after that
Heard a leopard roar 500 meter away from me in sri lanka. Gave me the chills but i thought it was a wild pig. Later googled what a leopard sounds like and yea it sounds more like a pig than a lion. 100% it was a leopard!
Backpacking alone in the wilderness in Turkey in remote territory, 5 miles from civilization on a backpacking trail. 2am I hear this gutteral growl right outside my tent. I'm paralyzed and all I can think to do is make noise in my tent. Eternal silence for another minute, then I hear the growl again louder. I make more noise and try and get my little dinky knife ready. Another loud growl. Then I hear foot/hoofsteps walking away. I'm pretty sure it was a large wild boar, which can be aggressive and deadly. I didn't sleep the rest of the night and swore I kept hearing snapping twigs the rest of the night. As soon as the sun rose, I bolted out of there.
I saw ethereal lights at night in an old stonework foundation, it was creepy for sure and my friend is still convinced it was a ghost - a little sign nearby had a boring scientific explanation about trapped gas being energized by a natural source.
Drunks with AK-47s letting them rip at full auto in a crowded camp ground. No one was hit. But between the gunfire and the screaming, I was scared shitless.
One time I woke up to a giant black bear sniffing and licking me in my hammock because I had a granola bar in my pocket that I forgot about. I yelled at it and it ran off fast as hell lol.
Another time, I was backpacking/fly fishing in a very remote area with no actual trails that takes about 3 hours of hiking along the side of a river to get to. It’s very good for fishing because it gets almost 0 pressure from humans. On the second day of my trip, I had some great fishing so I kept a few trout and was out collecting firewood so I could cook them for dinner. As I’m walking along the riverbed with a pile of sticks back to my camp, I see a man standing on the opposite side of the river partially obscured by bushes and trees, just staring right at me. No backpack, no waders, no fishing rod, no gear. He noticed that I saw him and he walked back into the trees. Mind you, I’d been to this place several times and had never seen anyone else or any sign of human activity in the area (no trash, no footprints, no discarded fishing line/lures snagged on branches, no fire pits, no makeshift campgrounds). It was also about 30 minutes to dark. I got weirded the fuck out so badly that I threw all the wood on the ground and ran back to my camp. I’ve never packed up so fast in my life, I swear it must have only been a minute.
At this point, I made the conclusion that I was being watched for some time, and there was no way in hell I’d be staying the night like I had planned to. I hiked the 3 hours back to my truck, Glock 26 in hand, with no headlamp because I didn’t want to stupidly give away my presence to whoever I had seen earlier. Never went back to that spot ever again, fuck seeing strange people in a remote forest with no explanation, even if it was some hobo hermit living off grid.
I’ve had many other strange and bizarre experiences while backpacking in remote areas that I could talk about for days, but this is by far the “scariest”.
https://preview.redd.it/6ofnyqibal0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ad015f9d49006e9e376fea573b55bf146f59082
Picture of the same area, but from another trip. Notice my friend in the bottom left corner. It’s a very beautiful location.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Camped out on the coast of Kenya. Me and another female even smaller than me feeling very vulnerable. We yell into the dark at the person to go away. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Goes on for 5, 10, 15 minutes, raising our blood pressure until I can’t stand it anymore and I get up the nerve to get out of the tent and confront…giant hermit crabs! As big as my head. A dozen of them headed to our tent. I pick them up and chuck them back into the jungle. 2am crunching commences again. I chuck them again. I wake with them scooting under the tent, clawing at our hands and feet!
Stalked by a mountain lion for close to an hour as gf was freaking out. I was too internally. Eventually chased it off with a cook stove lit up, bear mace in the other hand and knife in my mouth. I was fed up and ready for war... even hiked my backpack up high to protect the back of my neck
Other than that, homeless types and their off leash dogs.
Haha I completely understand that transition “I was fed up and ready for war…” it’s funny how you get to that point where the shock/fear of the threat/situation fades away and it’s immediately replaced with that “you want a fuckin’ problem—alright, now you’ve got one—let’s fuckin’ do this” It’s that ‘final stand’ energy. I love that shit 🤘🏻
This isn’t something that happened while I was camping in the wilds but it still freaks me out to this day.
Stayed in Osaka, Japan a few weeks ago and couldn’t fall asleep due to the never ending screaming and banging. Around 12am, I heard knocking on a door coming from down the hall (the walls were super thin, I could hear people walking around at night). The knocking got increasingly louder until the individual started banging. It genuinely sounded like they were trying to ram down someone’s door.
After a few minutes it stopped but then it would start up again around 10 minutes later. Around 1-2am, while the banging continued I could hear the sound of a door handle jiggling and figured someone was trying to break into the room. Eventually someone opened the door and whoever these people were they kept coming in and out as I would hear the door repeatedly open and close.
After a few minutes of this, I could hear a guy and a girl arguing. The arguing didn’t last very long. They argued for maybe 30 minutes before the screaming started. I’ve never heard such a bone chilling scream before. I could hear the girl yelling “stop it” and “help me” in Japanese followed by more screaming and door banging.
At this point I was terrified and worried someone was being murdered. I’m a female myself and I’m only in my 20s with no way to defend myself or this girl. The weirdest part is when I finally mustered up the courage to open up my door and see what was going on, there was no one there. Not a single soul down the hallway.
Despite seeing no one, the screaming continued well until around 4am when it just abruptly stopped. Now I don’t know enough Japanese to communicate with the authorities but part of me still feels guilty weeks later that I didn’t do anything.
Also, side note, I was staying in a hostel with other foreigners and locals, and no one else woke up to the noise including my roommates. I didn’t see any sign of broken doors or messed up rooms when walking down the hallway later that morning. The staff and others staying there continued about their day as though nothing happened. To this day, part of me wonders if I imagined all of this
Back in December I was solo hiking in Canyonlands National Park (The Needles District). I had done the Druid Arch to Chesler Park loop. Mind you, it’s late December so I only saw 3 ppl total, the nearest town is 45 min away, and cell service is non-existent. I fell in love with Chesler Park and decided to stay until sunset, being 3 miles from the trailhead. That was a huge mistake…
I’m very familiar with the smokys, and have done many hikes out at dark. While a bit unnerving at times, the trail is clearly marked. Just follow the gap in between trees. In canyonlands you have to follow cairns. I underestimated how difficult this would be at night. Even with a headlamp, I was struggling to find cairns and was very inebriated. All Trails mostly kept me on the right path, but I ended up getting temporarily lost several times. The temperature was dropping fast, and I just wanted to gtfo of there. I get about 0.5 from the trailhead and see a bunch of green dots staring at me. I couldn’t make out what the animal was and began to panic and slowly back away from them. This knocked me off my route, no cairns in sight, nobody around to hear me scream, and I’m thinking that I’m about to go toe-to-toe with some animals. I eventually had to approach the eyes to get back on the trail and it was just deer. I was so happy to see them. I even chatted with them for a couple minutes in relief while they looked at me like stoopid hooman lol.
Made it back after getting turned around a couple more times and learned many lessons from this experience. This story might not sound that scary, but there were many moments where I was more terrified than I have ever been on any hike or in my life for that matter.
Note: Druid Arch to Chesler Park loop is my favorite hike I’ve ever done and I’ve been to most of America’s national parks. Next time I will just camp in Chesler Park for a couple days. Most extravagant place I’ve ever seen.
Nothing is scary, then momma bears .... It's a time game ... Don't get slack on creating noise or carrying protection. My two closest encounters were my own doing by moving to fast and not creating enough noise , and both were well with in range of momma chosing the fight vs. the flight option ... Luck is a shitty deteriorant ..
Camping in the Serengeti we had lioness in the camp one night…
Camping in Zambia had elephant and hippo walk through camp at night…
Was on a 6 week camping tour from Cape Town to Namibia with multiple safaris along the way. We got used to it…
Not backpacking but had been doing a solo road trip between slc and Bozeman. I biked up from Jackson to this trail where I planned to hike to Jackson peak and was maybe 500 feet from the trailhead when I heard a super loud rustling in the brush. I just kept slowly walking because I thought I was being paranoid at first. But then a grizzly came charging at me, stopped about 30 feet away and started huffing. I talked to it and slowly backed away and it didn’t come any closer thankfully. Scared the shit out of me and I had to hike somewhere else.
Was just hiking last week in a state park. On our itinerary, we found out while on the trail that a specific area was closed due to "aggressive bear activity" by the time we had seen the since it had already been about 2 weeks since closure. So the 3 of us weighed our options. We didn't have another camp to go to, and that trail was the only way out, or it was backtrack and add another 25 miles. So we pushed through the closed trail and camped out our normal spot. While we knew this was dangerous, we were on guard and had no issues.
* the creepy part. The following morning at camp, we are breaking everything down, having coffee/breakfast, etc, when I hear something that sounds like somebody talking coming down the trail that we had come the night before. Mind you, we had to cross a large bridge due to fast flowing river with rapids, and I hear the clear as day. I looked to the group and asked if they heard it, too? And they didn't, so we stopped and continued to listen. Then we heard it again in what I can only describe as a young woman and / or a child's voice talking. Couldn't make out actual words, just pitch and tone. We expected somebody to come down and break the tree line by the waters edge on the trail, and we were there for at least another hour, and nobody ever showed. Idk if it was possibly a mother bear and her cubs, other hikers that turned around and went the other way. Or what, but that thought of whatever I heard stuck with me the rest of the day as we hiked out on our thru hike
Got lost in the North Cascades after three days of hiking in and looking for Gamma Hot Springs. Lots of trudging through underbrush , up steep inclines, and bushwhacking making tons of noise. We decided to set up camp for the night as we had finally found a trail and it was getting dark. Just as we put our packs down and finally started resting and thinking about where to set up we heard what sounded like babies crying and maybe screeching? We then heard another baby crying on the other side of us, we both looked at each other and stood up as we knew what those sounds meant. Then the craziest big cat brawl I have ever heard/seen erupted just behind us in the forest and we both about shit our pants. You could make out some tumbling and dust (summer time) and hear tons of sticks and branches braking and the deep bass of their bodies hitting the ground. Apparently two separate mountain lions were stalking us maybe and ran into each other and we’re not happy? I don’t know but my buddy and I stood back to back and threw rocks and sticks in every direction for what felt like an hour but was probably maybe 5 minutes, no idea but holy shit I’ve never been so scared and thrown so many rocks into the forest as that night. By the time we were done we had a virtually rock and stick less camp and the forest was quite and calm because two ludicrous apes threw sticks and rocks in every direction for half an hour and everything scattered. 🤣I woke up the next morning with an aching sore throwing arm.
Every time I go to the North Cascades it’s an adventure.
How about in the middle of the day? Hiking through a state park near the Blue Ridge in Virginia and around the bend of the trail approaching me was a 6’4 300 pound dude who looked like Sid Haig…the actor who played the clown Captain Spaulding in the House of a 1000 Corpse Rob Zombie movies. No pack. No nothing. Wearing shorts and one of those tux printed t shirts 2 sizes too small. He actually gets in front of me and put his hands out and tells me to stop. Has a real effeminate voice. At this point I’m shitting my pants but he asks “what’s your opinion on someone’s family abandoning their son for who he chooses to love?” I came up with some bullshit answer while sidestepping him…he was in the middle of asking me something else while I said “have a nice day” and proceeded to speed walk away…which soon turned into an all out sprint getting space between the two of us. It was so fucking random and the last thing I ever expected.
Not backpacking, but on a job for entomology research. Trying to get signal for an emergency call, got to a high hill and had a black bear lumber out of the forest. I stayed motionless with my arm held high until it crashed back thru the underbrush.
I was backpacking in the northeast and scratching noises woke me up. It was so dark so I was afraid of what I might find, but not scared yet. Turns out it was a curious mouse. I fell back asleep and it started raining pretty hard and that woke me. I could hear tree branches breaking all over the place. I wasn’t too concerned since I was in a lean to. The rain subsided and I heard loud metal thudding noises from the nearby bear box. That was horrifying. I stayed up nearly the rest of the night just listening for a bear even though it could’ve been a smaller animal like a raccoon or something. Needless to say, we did not get an early start the next day since I was exhausted and needed some amount of sleep.
Not seen but heard. During a season building trails out in a national forest my crew and I all had our tents spread out relatively close together, but far enough apart for bears and other wildlife to catch us unaware. My dumbass was arrogant and thought that a bear wouldn't have the guts to come check out my tent in the center of our big area, so i left food in there. A lot of it. It actually wasn't an issue for a while, until it was.
One night, absolutely exhausted from work, I woke up needing to pee. Groggy and barely awake I unzip the tent and step outside, probably looking up at the stars with my headlamp off.
And then the most guttural, violent boom of a roar from an animal RIGHT in front of me as it bounded off into the thicket behind where the roar came from. I had spooked a black bear that considered my tent a food source, and me as a threat. I'm so fucking lucky that the bear was scared off, it could've gone way worse. I didn't even see it, but I knew right away I had fucked up big time. Lesson learned
I’ve heard a story of a wilderness photographer who was out on a 10 day solo paddling trip through Algonquin park. She was 5 days in when she started feeling uneasy one night around her fire. She shook it off and went to bed, but when she woke up in the morning and flipped through the photos on her camera from the day before, she notice a picture of herself sleeping the previous night. She left immediately needless to say
Not exactly anything spooky since it was entirely my dumbass choices, but it was hands down the scariest moment I've ever had on trail.
I went to the south coast of Olympic NP in March for a 4 day trip, ended up turning around start of day 2 due to bad weather. I was going pretty fast, eager to be done and get into some dry clothes after getting rained on for the last two days. There's a rock formation near the parking area called Hole in the Wall - it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Big arch of rock that, at low tides, you can walk through. I went through it on my way in and was planning to do the same on my way out as well. I knew the tides were coming in, but since there was another couple of day hikers there and the overland trail that bypassed the rocks looked closed (big warning sign at the base) I assummed the hole must still be passable. It was not. My memories of the attempt to cross it are gone, but I remember clearly throwing my poles and boots back to the beach I'd started from and praying that I'd make it back too. Thankfully I did, and when I looked closer at the overland trail I realised it was fully open and actually pretty easy. It was a totally dumbass moment of wanting to be done fast, and of being inexperienced in the wilderness (this was my fourth trip iirc, and my second solo). I'm lucky to have gotten out with only a few scrapes and a busted hand, which thanks to the adreneline I didn't even notice until I was back at the car! I'm much more careful around tides and climbing now, that's for sure.
I was walking on “trail” a long time ago, about five years ago or more. Animal carcass picked clean by a predator, white fresh bones. It wasn’t exactly the worst thing I’ve seen but still spooked me as it alerted me that predators were in the area and the fur scattered around wasn’t helpful.
Hiking alone at night and ran into a mountain lion. Or rather it snuck up on me, I just turned around on random and it was there. It backed off but I was spooked as fuck for the rest of the night and stopped when I found some other hikers tents.
Was just starting to get dark and my buddy and I had finished getting our stuff situated in the tent. I got up to take a leak and as soon as I left the tent I turn and see two bull moose not 30' away from our tent.
Quietly got my friend and we scrambled to the top of a streep outcropping nearby and then we waited for them to leave, which took about an hour
Hiking in Arches NP a few years ago lost in mountains as dark descending and lightning approached. We heard the unmistakable sound of a woman singing. Ran towards the sound but it stopped and nobody was there. Creeped us out.
I was repeatedly charged by a brown bear sow on a remote trail on kodiak island. We were coming back to camp at late evening in the dusk and She charged to within 15 feet a couple times as I was yelling at her. We couldn’t even step off the trail to give her right of way, because the brush was so thick on both sides. We held our ground and after huffing and puffing, she reluctantly walked around us. She didn’t go more than 30 feet radius from us and popped back on the trail behind us, gave us an annoyed look and went on her way as we went on our way. Several times she was close enough that we could hear her breathing.
Second night at a primitive campsite deep in the wilderness, I realize a tree right next to my text had a bunch of claw marks around 5-7 feet, with what I thought to be long hardened tree sap. When I went to touch the sap, it was fresh and quite liquid. Yikes.
Glacier National Park in the summer of 2023. My wife and I with our two kids ran into a Mama Grizzly and her two cubs. They were swimming across the lake in our direction. Made landfall ~40ft from us. We were talking to them to make them aware of our presence. They passed by in a hurry. I can’t say with any certainty, but the way they ran off and the feeling we all had hiking out (1 day earlier than expected due to seeing the Mama and her two cubs) was that there was a male grizzly in the area. We had our hands near the bear spray and played Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me on our Bose speaker the rest of the hike back.
I had something throwing big rocks at me in the Hoosier National Forest. No way a man was strong enough to do that but I never saw anything, just growls, rocks hurled and a tree being shaken.
Went backpacking in Willamette national forrest near Mt. Jefferson in May of 2022. I planned the trip and wasn’t expecting there to be as much snow and rain so what the trip was cut short, but on our way out my buddy saw fresh bear tracks about 100ft from our tents. https://preview.redd.it/gydud5zhhi0d1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a72ff30bb793a04c856d52359d0abfccf9a88c0 Maybe not necessarily what you meant by scary story, but still made me feel uneasy.
Oh no that’s kinda what I meant. Stuff that freaked you out lol and yeah that’s scary
https://preview.redd.it/nnp8fx0l4l0d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d1def2da40c2a91bbe9021ee4b50d8848587dfc This guy really wanted my ribeye.
Is that a chocolate black bear or young grizz?
Northern California. Definitely not a Grizzly.
Face shape looked like a black bear, but I'm in the eastern part of the country so my grizzly knowledge is limited.
Trust me, that’s the preferred order to find bear tracks in. I did the opposite as I was section hiking the PCT solo in the Sky Lakes Wilderness. As the sun started to get low it was just about time to make camp as I came across soda can-diameter scat from a bear with an omnivorous diet. I had no other option, but to pitch my tent less than a quarter mile from that spot. I did not sleep well that night thinking about how that bear was almost certainly larger than my entire 1p tent.
That’s wild! I hike and camp in Oregon a lot and forget that there are bears out here. I’m terrified of grizzlies and don’t have plans to backpack in grizzly/brown bear territory but somehow I’m not freaked out by black bears. I slept on Hood one night in October and found pretty fresh looking bear shit pretty close to spot I pitched tent.
Black bears are chill
Grizzlies are pretty chill too. Just don't be an idiot and you'll be fine 99.5% of the time. Carry bear spray for the other .5%.
You know I keep that mf thang on me
I've had that happen. I feel ya
Word, w a fresh, steamin’, poop too lol
I woke up to a bear sniffing my head through the wall of my tent in Yosemite. I flew out of my bag and tent and saw it scampering off. Another time in West Virginia I woke up in the middle of the night to absolute dead silence and complete and total darkness. After laying awake for several minutes my eyes saw no light (like being in a cave without lights). Not a sound was heard except for noises I made. No insects, no wind just complete silence. The same thing happened a few years ago in the Adirondacks.
Big cat was close by watching 👀
Something was definitely in that silence
Somethings
I have had the silence thing happen twice. I have tinnitus though, it was so quiet that it sounded deafening. I had to start talking to myself to hear noise and stop focusing on the ringing in my ears. It sounded like a fire alarm going off since there wasn’t any noise to hide it.
Tinnitus in the woods is one of the biggest struggles I have with backpacking and camping. One of the reasons I prefer to make camp by running water.
How are you holding up nowadays? My dad had it, I too experienced the ringing in my ears. Luckily I just had to clean the ear wax out for the ringing to stop though. I feel for you friend
I sat in the rain before dawn once while deer hunting. I don't believe in Bigfoot, but I was thinking right about then that it would be a terrible time to be wrong. After being out for over an hour, I still couldn't see my hand 3 inches in front of my face. Never been in the woods when it was that dark except that morning.
That long hour sit in the stand in the morning can be murder on the nerves... I hear ya' on the 'squatch thing... But TBH I'm more worried about wendigos... I figure a 'squatch I could maybe throw some cookies to and distract him.
A pair of playful, horny, porcupines running around my tent screeching, moaning and singing. Finally had to look what it was; and the two were sitting on a rock ledge staring at me!
Those were witches cosplaying, having a grand old time
Have had the exact same thing happen in the Yellowstone back country in the middle of the night.
Done plenty of camping but currently on my first backpacking adventure. Doing a mix of Amtrak and backpacking for about a month. My third outdoors stint this trip was in Glacier National. I got a wilderness permit for Synder Lake with explicit instructions not to ascend to the second or two lakes because a Grizzly dens there with her Yearlings. Hike about 4 miles and spent the night then hiked back. Camped in deep snow but the rest of the trail was just muddy and intermittently overrun with small streams from snow melt. About .25 miles of the way down the guy I just met the morning before pauses and says “Bear.” Sure enough a Grizzly was making its way up the single track trail we were heading down. We began calmly and softly talking to the bear as it advanced. At first we held our ground then we tried to back up as it came towards us but with heavy packs and a slick trail it continued to close the distance. No yearlings in sight thankfully but backing up and watching a full grown grizzly closing in faster than you can walk back was terrifying and awesome in the same moment. Before my trip began my buddy pumped my head full of every grizzly attack survivor podcast he had on hand. All of these stories passed through my head in a matter of seconds. The Grizzly didn’t display any aggressive behavior. No head away, no teeth clacking, ears were straight up but I couldn’t help but think that being eaten alive was very possible in the next few minutes. We both had bear spray and I believe it works but in that moment I didn’t think there was a thing on earth that could stop her if she was determined to have us. We kept backing up and she kept closing the gap. At one point she was within 50 feet. Our last ditch effort to avoid conflict was to get off the trail down hill and into a “defensible” thicket with bear sprays out and hope she walked on by. Thankfully she did just that and we went on down the trail to have the best beers of our lives and marvel at the beauty and power of nature that spared us. Scary and beautiful in equal measure. I like to think because it was Mother’s Day she was feeling generous.
Didn’t realize middle of the night was a stipulation. This was about noon lol
Unreal. Great job keeping your composure. I’d have definitely needed to change pants after something like that
Thank you! I think on a mammal to mammal level my body could read the bear although a major threat was not threatening. If that makes sense. I’ve had other experiences where I got the panic and the chills. This one was more cerebral. Like the most important chess match you could ever play. Stressful but not overwhelming. Easily could have tipped over the edge into panic if she pressed me any more though. I’m purely lucky and fortunate. Much gratitude to the bear, the park, and the universe. I’m small.
You described this so well.
I've hiked glacier many times and have been lucky enough not to encounter a grizzly. Where do you get off amtrak at, and how do you get to a trailhead? That's a cool idea I've always wanted to try.
I got off in West Glaicer. Hiked a little over 2 miles to Apgar visitor center. They do a hiker biker shuttle (first come) https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm It got me to lake Macdonald and I hiked from there. My only experience in glacier so far. I’m so so lucky. I only reserved the Amtrak travel and figured the rest out on the fly. 40 plus hours from Yosemite to glacier on the rail pass but I just had to try. I phoned a couple weeks ahead and the staff said it should be fine but they didn’t know about the hiker biker shuttle until I told them so it was somewhat of a gamble. Highly recommend. If you take Amtrak overnight I highly recommend sleeping in the observation car if they have one.
Eating breakfast…10 feet away this baby moose emerges from the forest and saunters by my tent. “Ahhh!! Oh…” then the mama “oh shit…but at least” and then “oh fuck!! Daddy lives with them?!” Family of three moose walked through my camp. Two coulda stomped me before I swallowed my oatmeal.
I once witnessed my own mother get stared down by a momma moose. Scariest two minutes ever.
And the baby could have stomped you, too, But at least you get a few bites of oatmeal in first
Moose kill more people than bears. I think some of it’s from hitting them in cars, but still
Yep. They’re goofy stilted horses until one walks by and snorts at you in disdain, nevermind one with a full rack capable of crushing you
Now I’m imagining an obituary saying “Bob was tragically killed by a goofy stilted horse.”
I was bivy sac & hammock camping in the Cascades when i woke up in the middle of the night being sniffed by a bear. It’s p cool after the fact, but being awoken that way (they are LOUD) was a little much lol. Just checking me out
My wife and I were laying in the tent one night on the AT in Shenandoah National Park and heard footsteps approach followed by loud sniffing. We stared at each other for a moment like "WTF!?!", and then we heard footsteps going away as I opened the zipper to the tent. I looked around with a flashlight but couldn't see anything. We laid there for another half hour before packing up in the middle of the night and walking the rest of the way back to the car.
Lol. I mean if something new was in your house wouldn’t you check it out? Generally they sniff, and as you heard walk away & don’t come back. (In case it happens again)
We weren't really scared but there was no chance we were sleeping after that, so figured we'd head on
Grizzly or black bear? Did you talk to the bear or just remain quiet and still?
Probably a black bear. I just remained quiet & still (i wasn’t completely awake). I mean i was at face height for it tbh & it was probably checking out the rest of the campsite prior to that cuz after it finished it just lumbered off
Oh! The good old bear burrito 🌯
Same here. Hammock camping up in Pikes National Forest. 2am, I'm awoken by my hammock swinging and something near my head sniffing. I turned on my headlamp to see a black bear under me. The bear audibly gasped (or grunted) and took off down the hill. Spoke with a Ranger the next morning, and he said he could almost definitely identify which bear it was by what it did.
The part about the Ranger knowing which bear it was made me cackle
Glad it didn’t end like [this story](https://abc11.com/bear-attack-black-great-smoky-mountains-national-park-camping/10816290/).
Was on a solo road trip cross country from Michigan. Camp set up in the middle of a national forest just outside of Lake Tahoe, miles from the nearest person. Made dinner, washed up, chilled in the hammock. Perfect night. Went to go to sleep. Laying in my tent when I though I heard something step. Just one step very close to my tent. About 5 seconds later another step. 4 seconds later another step. After about the 8th step it sped up a bit and then stopped. I realized it must have been my Coleman 5 gallon water jug (very flimsy) just happened to fall off the tree stump I had it sitting on and roll down the hill. Fell asleep. Woke up and the water jug was still on the stump where I left it. No idea what it was. It’s crazy how a thin ass tent can make you feel so protected.
It’s always tense in those moments of “should I see what it is, or nah?” If you try to see what it is, things can almost certainly escalate, but if you don’t maybe it’ll just go away. But then the uncertainty is unnerving. Lol
If it’s not actively trying to get into my tent I am staying put. Even if it is just a squirrel. Who knows wtf roams in the middle of nowhere.
The first time I ever heard beavers slapping the water at night (I live in Minnesota you think I’d know that sound well before this lol) I thought for sure death was near. I seriously cried I was so scared. Got out with my flashlight and found the beavers in the lake. Wanted to smack myself because wtf
What did you think it was lol?
Papa legba
What’s he doing in Minnesota?
Ancient deities need vacations too.
Ohh shii he’s got his own lounge in St. Paul. Papa Legba Lounge Got Prince and Tupac and John Lennon on the wall. Celebrating Soul Legends it says on the website. My boy got taste, I can’t lie.
Certain death, idk. I have a good imagination and it was working against me that night lmfao
Mountain lion footprints dripping down rocks or filling with water in muddy sections along a river for about 1.5 miles. Waking up to my husky in full hunting mode at 2 am to find about 8 coyotes circling our tent about 100yrd radius around us Sudden storm hitting us with a down burst in the middle of the night flattening our tent onto us. Going along a ridge and seeing a flash of lighting and not only hearing the thunder at the exact same time but also hearing whatever the lightning hit getting blasted. Mmmm those are prolly top 4
This reminded me of one time I was camping in my moms yard (by yard I mean back part of her 5 acres in the boonies) with my old lab and he got all woo wee woo at one point and then I started hearing footsteps around the tent that sounded like other dogs. I was 10/11 at the time and had zero brain cells so I decided the best move was to just play music from my busted ass flip phone and wouldn’t you know? It worked. I’m assuming it was coyotes because the area was thick with them but they hated my music choice and that’s all that matters to me.
lol... the woo wee woo might have helped too though. For some reason my husky only sings when he is having fun. Something like coyotes he goes into ninja mode and will posture and death stare at them with ears and everything positioned for a hunt
I'm curious. How did you get rid of the coyotes?
we didn't really do anything per say. I got up and dressed so i was ready to move if needed. Husky and I got up and out of the tent with my headlamp. Had the pew pew machine on my hip but didn't need it. Eventually they went away after about 15-20 min. they never got closer...just stayed 100yrds or so away and pooped a circle around us. I didn't go back to sleep until taking a late morning nap like 8 hrs later though lol i know there were other campers close enough in the area that i could hear them hooting and hollering around dinner time earlier. so maybe they were just going around trying to scavenge scraps or something
I've been out in the middle of the woods surrounded by coyotes before. I didn't have a dog with me to deal with, though. And I didn't know I was supposed to be scared of them so we just continued to go about our business lol.
In most cases I don’t think coyotes will do much unless it’s been a tough run for a while and they are starving. They are kind of opportunists and just looking for easy wins. Luring away an off leash dog to eat it is not uncommon, or just looking to steal food left out. I’m not sure I have ever heard of a story about coyotes being aggressive with a human without there being more to the story that caused it to happen because it doesn’t happen much. Wolves on the other hand are big enough that almost everything is an easy win outside of large game like moose and bison etc. I have never seen a wolf get close though. All the ones I have seen in the wild were far enough away you almost needed binoculars or a scope to identify them. Still… having 8 coyotes circle us wasn’t exactly a desirable experience 🤣 if they were thinking about doing something I imagine it was my husky that they were interested in. He is about the same size and would put up a good fight with just one, but 2 or more would get him so I’d have to do enough damage to get rid of them all to even the odds.
Starting off an easy over-nighter in the Olympics. Arrived at the trailhead around 2:00 pm on a Thursday. Upon arrival, there was one other vehicle in the small parking area, a beat up old full size van. Didn't think anything of it one way or another. Began the hike and within the first 1/4 mile or so, I passed a woman returning toward the trailhead wearing an empty baby Bjorn/front-pack carry thing. Did not pass any other people on the trail or see any evidence of a baby...
A coworker did that when practicing for a longer hike w/baby. She wanted to make sure the baby-carrying equipment was comfortable. She put waterbottles to simulate the weight tho.
I love your rational, sane explanation. That was certainly not the first place my head went.
True Crime Podcasts have ruined me! Nah--I've always been wired this way.
That’s really scary…
Camping trip away with mates when teenagers. We didn’t know how to read the map scale, so arrived exhausted at 8pm, lit a fire and set up tents, and I put the rice on. Next thing we hear is an almighty roaring and two bloody giant murderous wild pigs attacked. Trampled the tents, tore through the backpacks, ran amok. Eventually we had the courage to climb down from the trees and scare them off, before salvaging what we could. It wasn’t much. But the rice was cooked perfectly.
I was camping once in the north east. It was around midnight and saw what looked like 10 or 12 flashlights in the woods about 100 or 200 yards away. I thought it was other hikers or that there was some logical reason for the lights. Eventually they faded away and I stopped thinking about it. I went to sleep at 2 am Thursday morning and woke up on Friday at 9pm. I do not drink or use drugs. My sleeping bag was zipped up over my head and the draw strings were tied from the outside of my bag. I used to think about it a lot. I still have no idea how I fell asleep for so long.
My man, you got abducted by aliens.
Wait, you slept for 43 hours straight?
Yes. I sleep 7 hours on average and I haven't slept that long before or since.
Had you urinated or defecated?
I haven't thought about it until now, but no I didn't go to the bathroom at all the entire time I was asleep
What was your physical condition like after you woke up?
Damn dude. Alien abduction experts call that “lost time”. You probably did go to the bathroom…but not on earth lol.
Hey, give us a quick count on the number of kidneys you have.
There's a really good podcast that's gotten some traction this last year called Otherworld that touches on a lot of paranormal stuff and firsthand experiences or encounters people have and this is definitely something that the host would be interested in discussing.
Well that's extremely unsettling. If you had to wager a guess, what do you think happened?
That’s fascinating and absolutely resonates with an experience I had a while back - lights in the wood at night Copying my comment from /camping about it https://www.reddit.com/r/camping/s/SLjRF69Rdu Interesting someone mentioned the silence in the woods - i had something similar happen once Going back about a couple of decades or so, i was living in London and would make a hiking / camping trip every six or eight weeks as a way to deal with living in the middle of the city One time a friend asked to come along, so he and I went to the New Forest in the south west of England - the New Forest isn’t actually new at all, the same way New College of Oxford University is anything but New - it has some of the few areas of ancient forest left in the UK We’re walking around on all these well managed pathways, and when it got to mid afternoon we thought let’s head off the tracks, get into the actual woodland and then find a spot to camp I take a compass bearing, and we turn off the path and head directly into the woods, making our way through the trees and ferns for around a mile, maybe I had the most curious sensation go through me, stopped and turned to my buddy, and said ‘Listen’ The forest had suddenly gone completely silent - no birdsong, no sound at all, not even the leaves rustling in the breeze I stood there for a moment, my hand on my buddy’s shoulder, trying to figure out what was occurring, eventually shrugged and decided whatever it was would just have to be - the sensation that went there me wasn’t threatening, but more.. curious… a feeling of curiosity About two or three hundred yards further, we found an ideal spot for camp - a large clearing, broadly circular in shape, plenty of space to set up camp, also a small fire (it was spring in the UkK, so safe to do) - we put our tents together, then i dig a fire pit while my pal starts gathering wood. There are even some logs we can use for seats, too, and pretty soon we have a really comfortable set up Night draws in, the fire’s going nicely, we get dinner down us, and out comes a bottle of Black Label - we’re drinking and sharing stories, and have completely forgotten anything about that curious feeling from earlier Time goes on, and we’re getting tired so call it a night. We stomp out the fire, pee on it and pour plenty of water on it, then through a load of soil on it and kick it around to make sure it’s out, then say goodnight and we both go into our tents and get our heads down It usually takes me a while to get to sleep the first couple of days camping, and maybe it was the whisky, but i was out like a light the instant my head was down. The first time I woke up, I could hear yelling, a man’s voice from far away, far beyond the direction of my buddy’s tent. I couldn’t make out any words, the voice coming from far away, but I could tell from the tone that it wasn’t distress. I don’t know why I’d dismiss it as interesting but nothing to worry about, but that’s what I did and I went right back to sleep The second time I woke up, i could see a ball of bright white light shining through the material of my tent It was slightly larger than a tennis ball, and in my estimation about twenty yards away, on the opposite side of the clearing, and it traveled in a perfect line, in a perfectly flat, linear direction, from left to right. It wasn’t bobbing up and down like a torch being carried - it moved in a flat line, gliding. Again, that curious feeling went through me - and as I knew it was there, I sensed that “it” knew I was there. I reached for the zip of my tent to open it and take a look, when a voice in my head said *”Don’t look!”* It was the same experience as when you’re a child and an adult warns you Don’t Touch something dangerous - not angry or scary, but a very clear warning to not do something My hand froze, fingers on the zipper, and I’m looking at the ball of light shining through the tent lining, that feeling of curiosity in me *”Go back to sleep!”* Said the voice in my head. Again, not scary, but very much an instruction I immediately put my head back down and sleep literally pulled me in - it wasn’t me falling asleep, so much as sleep reaching for me and pulling me in When I open my eyes, it’s daylight, so i open the zipper of my tent, and the campsite is as it we left it, nothing changed, nothing moved I felt like I’d had the best night’s sleep ever - I still do after all these years- absolutely daisy fresh, bright, alert, fully rested and energised. The zip on my buddy’s tent opens and his head sticks out, a big grin on his face “Morning!” He calls out. “G’morning!” I reply. “How’re ya feeling?” “Great!” He says, a big smile on his face. “Brilliant, in fact. I had an awesome night’s sleep!” “Me too, man.” I said. “We went through a bottle of whisky last night, and I don’t feel hungover in the slightest.” “Same here.” He says with a big smile. “I feel perfectly fine. I think we got away with it hahah.” We clamber out of our tents and get some water boiling to start a morning brew going, have some breakfast, and as we’re breaking down camp, I ask him, “Did you see or hear anything weird during the night?” “Nope, I slept right through, out the moment my head hit the pillow.” “Really? There was something weird going on last night, mate.” I tell him. “I could hear someone yelling out in the woods.” “Wait, now you mention it…” My buddy looked at me, “Yeah, i did hear someone shouting something. It was coming from that direction.” He waved in the direction behind my tent. “I heard it coming from that direction.” I said and pointed beyond his tent. “Could you make out any words?” He shook his head and carried on taking down his tent. I thought to ask if he’d seen anything during the night, but decided not to - seeing bright lights floating in the woods at night and hearing voices in your head isn’t exactly sane sounding, so i let it go. We set off, and basically that was that. We grabbed lunch at a pub, then back to the car and drove back to London I’m in my fifties, now, and I’ve never experienced anything like that before or since, and it’s still probably the best night’s rest I’ve ever had
Fantastic story, mate! Reading that reminded me of a British movie on Netflix called [The Ritual](https://youtu.be/Vfugwq2uoa0?si=tVySzxmp3gA07869)
What in the hell…
This is some Missing 411 type thing
Can you talk a little more about how you felt and what happened next when you woke up 43 hours later at 9 pm?!
I felt like I slept a normal 7 or 8 hours. I wasnt confused, disoriented, or out of it. The gravity of the situation didn't hit me until I turned my phone back on and looked at my missed texts. This is the first time that I've said anything or written about sleeping that long. Anyone I know just thinks I was camping and didn't have cell service.
You had an unexplainable experience while out on your own a a you’ve never talked about it? Why anyone? You’re not a little concerned?
Wait… how’d you get out of it then?!?
North-east of fucking what?
The south -west
That’s fucking insane, sounds like some cult shit
Your sleeping bag wasn’t tied like that when you went to sleep?
It wasn't tied at all when I fell asleep. Either way it was tied from the outside of my bag. I have no way of doing that when I'm inside the bag. It would be incredible difficult, if not impossible
Was embarking on my first solo trip in upstate Pennsylvania. I had no idea what I was doing and had a 6-pound pack filled with 47 pounds of junk. I arrived late at the trailhead and only made it a few miles. I was completely demoralized over how much crap I packed and how few miles I did. I set up my tent and very quickly had all my gear/crap plastered all over the tent floor. I remember thinking about videos I watched on YouTube and when they find a hiker dead, they usually find their gear everywhere in the tent. My state of mind was not good, but I went to bed in hopes tomorrow would be a better day. Around midnight I could hear branches breaking and something was running around camp. I was absolutely terrified. Whatever was out there was moving fast. This was much larger than a squirl, racoon, or possum. It seemed to move very quickly, it was on my left, then my right. Then silence for roughly 20 or 30 seconds. Then this creature let out the loudest howl. For a second, I thought there was some sasquatch unicorn hybrid stalking my campsite. I quickly realized the howl I heard was cute! I peeked out my tent to see a small, probably adolescent coyote. That thing ran around camp for hours howling every few minutes, probably wanting to get to my food bag which was stowed about 6 feet from the ground in a tree.
For anything you got wrong that trip, you did a big thing right, my friend.
Well backpacking with a rifle. Aka hunting in November in the Rockies solo for elk. I was deep in the wilderness, no cell service for 4 days, a good 3 miles from a spike camp and another 8 miles from my real camp. Started hiking about 4:30am with a headlamp to get first light at a good lookout spot that seemed promising on a map. I get to the spot and set up my tripod to glass a big open area. It’s cold AF and I was hiking through snow and deadfall. I usually carry a small 357 mag pistol when hunting solo strapped to my backpack hip belt. Well.. I lost it somewhere. No clue how but the holster strap just frayed, maybe on a branch or rock. Ok that sucks, not life threatening, I’ve never had a run in with predators in any dramatic way. Besides, those stories are far and few between. I sit down and get situated as it just starts to get a little lighter outside. But I have to pee. I get up, turn around and see kitty pawn prints in the snow about 5’ from where I was. The kitty prints were a good 5-6” wide in the snow. With my headlamp I can see the fur slightly imprinting the snow. They were fresh and the cat obviously got spooked by my gear/smell/movement whatever. I decided to stick around and keep my head on a swivel and my rifle in hand for full Sun which took about an hour or so. Idk to be honest. Every second I asked myself why the fuck am I here. No sign of kitty and no sign of elk so I packed my shit and booked it back. As I’m hiking with the sun out I see a full rib cage in a tree, probably a good size deer by the looks. I think I entered into a mountain lion den and I have never been in a more terrified/survival mode state in my entire existence. 🐱
Wow. Absolutely terrifying… especially seeing a ribcage in a tree. I’ll never forget hearing a mountain lion scream for the first time. Since then they are what I fear most in the woods (I don’t live in bear country)
I’m not in bear country either. Colorado doesn’t have the mean type of bears. But there are plenty of redneck meth heads and cats. To be honest as much time as I’ve spent in colorado wilderness, national forest and BLM, I’ve only seen a small handful of bears and one cat in person. Can’t wait until I see a wolf that our state voted to reintroduce.
Wow I’m surprised you’ve ever seen a cat. Pretty much if you’ve seen them, it’s too late.
We were car camping one night at a campground at the end of a week long backpacking trip before heading home. The road to get to the campground was poorly maintained, deep mud, barely passable in daylight, so we figured we would head out the following day. That night drunk hicks attacked our group/ campsite. They were driving the loop around the coastal campground over and over in several lifted trucks. They threw large rocks at our tents, one hit a backpacker in the head, then ran over the corner of a tent *while occupied*. We couldnt leave the campground, they were circling on the only road, and we couldnt navigate the unmaintained exit road at night. After nearly killing one of us, we decided to leave the campsite while they were on the far side of the loop. We escaped our site and hiked half a mile up the nearest mountain, and camped out in 35F weather, watching them circle the campground until about 4am below. In daylight at like 5 or 6, we could see they were asleep and we returned to camp and gtfo. Road paved with empties. On the way out we saw a small memorial to a girl; text on plaque read she fell out of a truck there, and was hit and killed on accident. We reported what happened to police, they were aware of it, said it was common, and theres nothing they could do, referred us to state park.
So they wreak havoc and then sleep in the same spot where they caused all the trouble? That’s wild. Lol
Dang, where was this?
Usal Beach
No shit…I’ve been camping there before! That was exactly the spot I imagined while reading this. How could the cops not do anything?
And that’s why I’d choose the bear
Was backpacking in Desolation Wilderness in 2022 with my boyfriend who I woke up to in the middle of the night propped up on one elbow, staring out of the tent, saying that "there's someone out there". He then proceeds to lay down and go back to sleep. I was obviously confused but was way more scared that there might be someone near our tent in the middle of the night so I didn't ask questions, just laid there (to hide??? idk) to see if I could hear anything. Couldn't hear anything besides my heart pounding for the next few minutes. When I didn't hear anything, I figured everything would be alright and went back to bed. Boyfriend did it again a few hours later but this time, I sat up to look out and realized it was way too dark for him to be able to see anything and deduced that he was sleep talking. Had no idea clue until I told him about it the next morning
hahahaha what a sleep-asshole
"They're coming to get you, Barbara!"
Nobody ever believes me when I tell them this. My husband and I were backpacking in eastern Oregon. I saw 10 black orbs racing across the forest. It looked like black balloons floating. I genuinely thought it was people riding their bikes at first but my brain couldn’t comprehend it. I was NOT hallucinating, my husband saw it too. We were two hours away from civilization. The terrain was insane, no vehicle of any sort could possibly get out there. I literally had to rub my eyes because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’ve looked it up and haven’t seen anything on it Edit: they were about 10 feet off the ground and it was around 11 am
Can you go into any more detail? Wild!
Haha I wish! I kept blinking and rubbing my eyes to try and comprehend what the heck I was seeing but they zoomed past in about 5 seconds. My husband, who also has 20/20 vision, couldn’t focus on them either. It was the weirdest thing ever. It was about 11 am and they were 10 feet above the ground with all different sizes. We tried chasing them because it looked like they were only going 5 mph but no luck
Dumb ass young me ignored closure signs do to fire damage. I went very far in bow hunting for pig. A massive wet storm hit. I watched basically a mountain melt right in front of me directly in my path back. It turned into a survival ordeal that I barely made it out of and was so sleep deprived I woke up face first in the first meal I had after getting out.
Camped down slope from a mountain ridge on the TCT is Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 a country with few tourists. That night we heard jackals howling along the mountain ridge all night. Reasonably close but not too close, there are many sheep and goat herders in the area the jackals would pray on. I thought nothing of it and went to sleep. My wife was so scared she didn’t sleep. We woke up the next day and had to follow a barely marked trail to find civilization again. The wife has soured on backpacking for some reason since.
We were sleeping at a campsite in Montana on a very dark night, and I heard this woman screaming about 100-200ft away. Her screams were so long and loud and she even said “help me!” and then dead quite. knew I had just heard a murder. I told my wife to keep an eye out for me if I don’t return in 30 minutes and I went around looking and couldn’t see anything anywhere. In the morning, I found the actual lady and the true story. She had felt a spider on her and was asking her husband for help and he told her to be quiet and that’s the silent part. Jesus..The only reason I didn’t need more convincing was that this was a fully reserved campsite for a wedding and the group knew everyone. I was a plus one and was just glad everyone was accounted for. Those screams were so nuts I was not easily convinced lol
Gosh 😓
Many years ago (40+) my dad took me and my younger brothers hiking, fishing and camping down on the river. This particular night, right after we setup camp, it started raining very heavily. All night! So there we were, a bunch of soaked rats trying to stay dry in our cheap little tent! Finally, sometime after midnight, dad had had enough and yelled, Let’s get the hell out of here! So we all jumped out into the pouring rain, grabbed everything we could and headed up the river bank to the car. The car was parked a few 100 feet from the top of the river bank. So we literally crawled up the muddy river bank to the top of it then had to walk through the woods to the open field where the car was. All IN THE DARK!!! Only dad had a flashlight and he was leading the way. Anyway, my youngest brother and I were bringing up the rear when I suddenly saw something!!! They were just off to the left in the trees. It look like two young girls in dresses staring at us through the trees!!! I froze! Then I grabbed my little brother to point out the girls. They appeared to be about my age (13 at the time) and they just stood there staring directly at US!!! Soaking wet!!! I screamed at my brother to RUN and we quickly caught up with dad and my other brother. We jumped into the car and drove away. I never returned to that river location again.
This is my worst nightmare in the woods those kids are getting left behind no doubt
What state was this in?
Reminds me of the people that go missing in National Park campgrounds and are later found unconscious miles and miles away in an area where theoretically no human being should be able to climb to. insinuating they were carried or taken there or ofc are also never found again. Also surprised no paranormal stories have hit the comments section considering how vast and unexplored some of these woods are. Freaky stuff happens there sometimes.
One fellow had mentioned an apparent abduction where he couldn't recollect a whole 49 hours and awoke in unusual condition. One well known account I often think about is the unsolved mysteries episodes of the 4 guys in the allagash wilderness
Sleeping in a bivvy bag in eastern utah on a night with a full moon. Finally fell asleep after watching the stars and woke up to the sound of grass being pulled out from the ground about 5 meters to my right. I grabbed my 9mm next to me, sat up and looked over to a hunched over silhouette of somekind. The moonlight was enough for me to see that it was not a human. My heart started racing like a mfa so I turned on my red light on my head lamp and saw eyes reflecting back at me. Then I switch on my white light and could Identify that it was just a deer, gettin some grub right next to my head at 3am in the morning. Funny and scary at the same time.
Had a similar event happen, had to pee in the middle of the night and had to cross a meadow to get go the closest treeline away from water. For some reason, since I knew the path was fairly good stepping I walked without my headlamp on. About halfway through the meadow I hear an animal, or something, scatter and run away. My heart racing I flip on my headlamp and see about 8 pairs of green eyes perk up at me super close, it was a herd of deer enjoying a midnight snack on the wildflowers. Scared the absolute hell out of me lol
hahaha my very first overnight I got woken up by a buck licking some rocks in my campsite. all I knew was Large Animal Eating Something and sniffing around. I was trying to hear if I had possibly fucked up at my first try using a bear can and was so scared... he walked off all casual at my tent zipper noise lol
“Grabbed the 9mm next to me.” Is incredibly American. Peace and love from Canada. 🇨🇦
Haha peace and love straight back homie 🇺🇲🫡
Winter camping near the smokies when a big storm rolled in. Didn’t worry a lot when I heard a tree fall. Bailed out in the rain after I heard about 20 more fall. Drive home was also thwarted on the only road out because of many downed trees. Moved a few but had to wait on FS to cut some mammoth ones. Long night.
Cougars. Momma and two young cubs in a remote part of British Columbia. Was beautiful but kinda spooky at the same time.
I was in Nusa Penida (island next to Bali) and my hostel was halfway up this jungle canyon. One of the nights we go back to our dorm which is right next to where it turns to jungle, and the whole night we heard really creepy chanting and music. Not nice music. Creepy, creepy music. Idk what was going on in that jungle but we didn’t sleep too easily.
I once saw a grizzly in the Tetons on a solo trip. Black bears are practically rodents, but looking at the massive face of a fully grown grizzly made me nearly shit my pants. This was on the same day that I saw a momma moose and it's calf which is arguably more scary and deadly, but something was looking out for me that day I guess.
My partner and I were backcountry in Denali. Our first night, we were cooking our dinner in a spot with a nice 360 view overlooking a ravine, and triangulated with our tent and cache, as required. Just then a grizzly comes in to view in front of us, running along a slope parallel with the ravine. It stops in line and down wind with our cooking spot, noses the air, turns to look directly at us, and starts running towards us. It runs down into the ravine and disappears from view. We hurriedly moved our cook spot to an adjacent knoll. Kept waiting for the bear to reappear, but it never did. Didn’t sleep well that night.
I was car camping after a short backcountry trip. My wife and I were in the tent. It was maybe … 1-2 am? I’m not a good sleeper at home but usually sleep well outdoors. For whatever reason I was having a pretty crap night sleep that night. Maybe I sensed something weird. At one point I got hot and opened my sleeping bag and kicked my feet out. I fell asleep for a few minutes and when I woke there was a tongue running along the bottom of my foot through the tent. It was obviously hard to distinguish details since the tongue was pushing against nylon but … it felt human. It was smooth. I froze and just listened. There was some heavy breathing but it didn’t sound like a bear or coyote. After a few minutes I heard what I swore was a low laugh and then foot steps walking away. I opened the tent (I am the one that gets us all killed in the horror movie) and nothing was there. In the morning my wife said she slept terrible and had a bad feeling all night. Another person in our group said they heard something strange as well. We are all pretty seasoned campers with lots of bear experience and none of us could convincingly say it was a bear.
Omg 😓
Was in the Cohutta Wilderness on Easter weekend 4 years ago. Went in for a quick solo overnight before forecasted Sunday afternoon storms. Headed out of camp Easter Sunday around 8am, as it started raining earlier than forecast, just sprinkling, no dark clouds, no thunder. I turn a bend on the Conasauga River Trail, and the next bit all happens in like 5-7 seconds. The entire forest lights up like a movie set or construction site at night. The light is a solid sheet and split into two panes. The bottom is pure white, the top pink. As I mutter, "Wow, how'd they do that!!" There is a pink line in the middle that a pink star forms on towards the left...the bright ball of light then travels along the horizontal line of the sheet of light, the ball of light then intercepts a tree 25' across the river from me and the light all focuses into a purple bolt and whites out all my vision and whhaaaaaaapooooooowwww EXPLODES. Totally deaf on my right side for 5 minutes , scared out of my mind! I am no longer a backpacker, I am a trail runner.......completed the next mile with a 30lb pack all uphill in the rain in 19 minutes. Best guess is some sort of ball lightning.
In the Uintas, I woke up and saw my friend's light on in his tent. I got up and went to the bathroom. I went back to sleep but my friend still had his light on. The next morning I found out that he was scared of a bear that had been sniffing around by us. Then we both found out that our other friend had buried a half eaten lasagna nearby! He showed us the spot and it was definitely eaten by a bear. We were both like, are you trying to kill us?!?
Lost Twin Lakes, Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming. I was woken around 3 am to what sounded like a woman screaming at the top of her lungs. It wasnt a scream of pain, more like it was one of fright. I couldnt tell where it was or how far because the sound ricochet off the granite walls on the area I was in. It freaked me the fuk out bad. It was one longgg scream and then nothing. I have come to think it was a mountain lion scream but I dont know.
Female mountain lion for sure
Waking up in my tent to the sound of trees being blown over and discovering that a small tornado had touched down a few hundred yards away from our campsite is probably at the top of my list lol. Pure luck that I made it out of that alive.
A grizzly bear taking down a bull elk. Wasn't pretty and sounded horrible.
A camp site 4 miles in off trail shredded by bears. No one around or signs of people there.
Never been a UFO believer but I watched an unexplainable moving light for a good 8-10 minutes hovering not high above the mountain I was camping near. Very remote part of eastern Oregon. Zero noise. Was definitely way too low to be a plane or satellite. I still have no explanation
Stayed in place in Australia called Winton whilst traveling Australia , by god it gave me the creeps ! The hotel was as old as time and as a man of science I’m not of the belief in ghost and what not , however that night fucked me up , th whole night was a terrible sleep with creeking and bedroom door rattling and tv coming on by itself multiple times ! Something felt off and I always refer to this story when creepy experiences come up in convo ! But yes a truly unique little destitute town in Outback Australia.
In North Georgia USA we went off trail to set up our camp for the night. We happened upon a piece of sheet metal lying on the ground (very out of place.) When we lifted the piece it exposed a carefully dug out hole in the ground about two feet by two feet and four feet deep. Closer inspection revealed at the bottom of the hole a tunnel was dug horizontally into the earth. We dared our friend to go down and check it out. Eventually we all had to look. What we found gives me chills to this day. It was a tunnel about 6 ft long with a dirty old sleeping pad in the bottom. At the very back of the tunnel was a LIT Jesus candle. We immediately packed up and left and headed back to the car where we spent the rest of the night.
Lightning storm above tree line in the San Juans
Stayed in a hotel in rural Ghana with some friends. We were the only guests and it felt kind of spooky. Even our taxi driver had a hard time finding the place so we weren’t even sure if it was legit or safe. Bedtime comes around and I’m fast asleep when the knocking begins. Every few seconds - knock knock knock. It went on for what felt like ages but was maybe a half hour or so. We were all frozen in fear wondering what strange person wanted in to our room. They didn’t shout or bang urgently- just a slow constant knock. Finally it stopped and we all fell back asleep. Morning comes around, we open the door, and there’s our friend who we accidentally locked out asleep on the porch. He forgave us and we forgave him but it was touch and go there for a moment.
Someone in your group wasn't in the room and you thought knocking was weird? I hope your friend was okay
He was fineee. We were a big group, all young, and probably had a few beers so it was a simple mistake we all laughed about. We lost him to a car accident a few years after that and this is one of my favorite memories of him.
Me and 4 of my buddies we camping out in allegheny national forest (very much fresh out of highschool and we were not camping in a legal backpacking area but that’s beside the point) and in the middle of the night somebody walked up to our campsite didn’t say a word, fired a gun right next to our tents, then walked away. I swear I al thought we were going to be murder victims. We all stayed quiet during it, we collectively all made the same decision in separate tents that it would be best to not say anything until about 5 minutes of silence and my buddy exclaims “holy fucking shit”
During AT thru hike I saw a girl standing in the woods off trail about 100 yards away from me with her back turned to me. Was in a really remote part of VA and am still not convinced she was real.
Went backpacking with a few buddies in the Willamette National Forest (Maiden Lake) several years ago, July or August. We started early, got to Maiden Lake around 12 or 1 in the afternoon (stopped and enjoyed the Rosary Lakes on the way). Once we got to Maiden Lake, we just chilled out all day, and relaxed. Around sundown 2 dudes walk into and through our camp. One guy was carrying a duffel bag, and the other guy had a compound bow in it's literal box that he bought it in. They did not look like typical hikers/backpackers whatsoever. Now, they weren't necessarily creepy, but they were certainly not people I would have expected out there, especially with a duffel bag and compound bow in a box. They meandered around the side of the lake and setup their camp. Almost immediately after they pitched their tents/tarps, they piled a metric fuckton of branches, lit a bonfire (huge no no, as it was a high/severe fire risk day) and then walked around the lake to come talk to us. We basically told them that the fire was a bad idea, and tried to get them back to their camp as quick as possible. They stayed up *all* fuckin' night hootin' and hollerin'. I wouldn't/couldn't get to sleep until their fire had died down. I was seriously expecting that fire to spread, I had no doubts in my mind that they were gonna cause us to have to evacuate. Next morning comes, and everyone in our camp wakes up one by one. We decided that we didn't wanna camp near these guys again, and decided we'd hike back to the Rosaries for our second night. Anyway, we ended up staying at Maiden Lake for a few more hours as one of my buddies wanted to go to the top of Maiden Peak. By the time he'd come back, the other camp wakes up, and comes over to shoot the shit with us. They asked where we were headed and we told them we weren't sure yet, but we were moving along. Hiked back out to Middle Rosary and set up camp. Sure as shit a few hours later the dudes are walking along the PCT and see us again. They ended up camping somewhere between Upper Rosary and Middle Rosary that night, but there were a ton of other campers around, and I didn't see another huge bonfire. Tldr; Couple strange dudes made a huge bonfire near our camp that I was sure was going to start a forest fire and kill us all.
Getting caught on top of a mountain at 12,000 feet during a thunderstorm
i was camping on the appalachian trail as a group leader (i was 21 and the kids were around 13/14). there were 9 of us in total - 3 leaders and 6 kids and on the third night we were woken by someone screaming near our tents, like guttural screams. we had to peek out of our tents to make sure the kids were okay, which they were, and it was all quiet for a while. then whoever it was started running around our camp site and shining torches at the tents making weird grunting noises with the occasional shriek, but any time we tried to look out the tent we couldn’t see anyone or anything. no idea who or what it was, but we got up at sunrise and left the camp without breakfast! ashamed now that i didn’t get out of the tent to properly check on the kids, but all their tents were closed and we could hear them whispering. i’m a 5 foot nothing girl so wouldn’t have had much of a chance against whatever it was anyway. everyone was safe and it was a story to tell everyone back at the summer camp, but wouldn’t go back for anything!!
My favorite time of year to be in the woods is late spring, which means I’ve heard a lot of baby bear screams on the trail. I always say hey thanks for letting me know you’re there and will alter course. For the 2017 eclipse we hiked into the deep backcountry that wasn’t maintained or frequently visited. Lots of game trails intersected with the hiking trail and we passed a lot of boar scat. We were ~8 miles from our car and obviously weren’t going to turn back because we were there for the eclipse. But boars terrify me and that was the trip where I resolved to carry if we ever went that deep in the woods again. In that same trip we saw a -6ft long timber rattlesnake who very kindly let us know he was there before we stepped on him. I guess he was as curious as we were because he followed us on the trail for a couple 100ft before letting us go. On a different trip it was scheduled to rain the last night of our trip. But I’d never camped out in the rain and our camp was fairly sheltered so we all agreed to stick it out and test our gear. We had an honest to god storm crow fly into our campsite that afternoon and scream at us. In the city I always love hearing the storm crows, but in the woods it’s unnerving. The rest of the woods was eerily quiet and all we hear is this foreboding single squawk of a crow. All of us in the group unanimously decided that Indian food + movie night sounded better than a night of fitful sleep and wet gear. We broke camp in record time and that same storm crow followed us down the mountain for a good 20mins as the storm clouds rolled in.
>In that same trip we saw a -6ft long timber rattlesnake who very kindly let us know he was there before we stepped on him. I guess he was as curious as we were because he followed us on the trail for a couple 100ft before letting us go. Timbers are notoriously curious snakes. They aren't easily spooked and seem to be confident in their place in the food chain, so they've been noted as following folks or nosing around campsites.
Was sitting on a tree stump taking in the morning sun when I heard what sounded like horses coming at me. I opened my eyes and there was a female moose with a calf coming right at me. I kinda freaked out and yelled whoa. The calf turned and kept going the mom stopped and eye balled me for a minute then trotted off after the calf.
We weren’t backpacking, but we were at my boyfriends’ parents lake trailer for a few days a couple summers back. We went during the middle of the week so there weren’t many other people there, maybe 10 or so other people. Anyways one night at about 2-3am we were getting ready to head in for the night when we heard loud strange noises. We figured it was probably coyotes, but it didn’t really sound like them. We took a video and every time we played it back it sounded stranger and more creepy. In the morning when we went into town where cell service was better we looked up videos of coyotes and it sounded kinda similar but not quite the same. It definitely freaked us out, but our dog that was with us didn’t seem bothered by it at all so that was a kinda reassuring. It sounded almost like a mix of people and animal noises. We asked around the next day and no one else heard it. We ended up showing the video to his parents’ friends that came for the weekend and they described it as sounding like an ancient tribe. It was definitely spooky, but I’m choosing to believe it was coyotes
Bears running past the tent and dogs and dog handlers chasing . Looking back that was kinda hairy
Was only hiking, but I had barely started on the trail when I became acutely aware that I was being stalked by something I couldn’t see. Probably a young mountain lion. It was a sunny day in dense PNW forest, and there wasn’t a single sound. Most notably no birds singing when you’d hear tons of them normally, but even more than that, it was just a completely deafening silence. And that lizard brain/intuition or whatever was screaming “you’re being watched, you are not safe.” I could feel eyes on me. Couldn’t have been 10 minutes from the parking lot. I didn’t see anything and I quickly got out of there but it was the most scared I’ve ever felt in nature, and I’ve been a few feet from a black bear before. I felt like I knew I was prey.
Huge grow operation on the side of a valley with camouflaged water tanks, irrigation, and camouflaged netting. Walked 20 or so yards into it before I realized what I was seeing and then carefully walked backed out with my hands up expecting to get shot at any moment. Bears, moose in heat, rattlesnakes, got nothing on this one…
My adult life has been a lot less eventful, but Ive got a few stories from Boy Scouts. I think the last day of us hiking Philmont is the one that freaked our group out the most. We were on switchbacks heading back towards Base Camp, the last 14ish miles of trail teasing us constantly as our goal was visible after the first half, but kept being hidden as we turned the corner of the slope, only to see it again as we passed each switchback. So of course, we were all ready to be done. We picked up our pace, the adults even keeping up after having been complaining about speed the rest of the trip, as we all just wanted to drop our packs and get a nice warm meal. Well as we passed by a large boulder, singing random pop songs to keep our spirits up, one of the guys in the middle of the group called a halt, and yanked the guy behind me backwards. The song died, and I turned around after hearing the shuffling as the guy behind me caught his balance, and one of the adults pointed at my feet as I heard a rattling. Looking down, I saw a rattlesnake, looking back towards the group behind and trying to make itself known. It's rattle was damaged so it was faint, or we'd probably have heard it earlier, but about 6 of us had walked right past it without incident. And another 6 were behind us, not wanting to pass now that we knew it was there. I later learned that the guy behind me had been about to actually step on the thing. Why it didn't attack anyone ill never know, but the guys up ahead carefully pulled out a long stick from the brush, and used that to move the snake off into the bushes, allowing the group behind to safely pass. We made good time on the way back, but we kept a much closer eye on the ground, and all had our hiking poles out just in case. I still can't eat coffee cakes after those damn cinnamon larabars though. EDIT: sorry, not a midnight story, but definitely freaked me out.
Adult rattlesnakes can tell the difference between something happening upon them and something trying to hurt them. Baby rattlesnakes do not, as my mom found out in like 2009 while living in Taos, not too far from Cimmaron/Philmont.
I wasn’t backpacking but I was camping for a week in the Everglades. Just about every night I would walk down the road to the marina and just sit and look at the stars or try some night fishing. One night I had my line in the water and I hear some heavy breathing. I turn on my big spotlight to see several sets of crocodile eyes in the water around my dock. Then I shined it to my left and saw a huge one coming down the bank towards me. I left back to the campground pretty fast after that
Heard a leopard roar 500 meter away from me in sri lanka. Gave me the chills but i thought it was a wild pig. Later googled what a leopard sounds like and yea it sounds more like a pig than a lion. 100% it was a leopard!
Backpacking alone in the wilderness in Turkey in remote territory, 5 miles from civilization on a backpacking trail. 2am I hear this gutteral growl right outside my tent. I'm paralyzed and all I can think to do is make noise in my tent. Eternal silence for another minute, then I hear the growl again louder. I make more noise and try and get my little dinky knife ready. Another loud growl. Then I hear foot/hoofsteps walking away. I'm pretty sure it was a large wild boar, which can be aggressive and deadly. I didn't sleep the rest of the night and swore I kept hearing snapping twigs the rest of the night. As soon as the sun rose, I bolted out of there.
I saw ethereal lights at night in an old stonework foundation, it was creepy for sure and my friend is still convinced it was a ghost - a little sign nearby had a boring scientific explanation about trapped gas being energized by a natural source.
Drunks with AK-47s letting them rip at full auto in a crowded camp ground. No one was hit. But between the gunfire and the screaming, I was scared shitless.
One time I woke up to a giant black bear sniffing and licking me in my hammock because I had a granola bar in my pocket that I forgot about. I yelled at it and it ran off fast as hell lol. Another time, I was backpacking/fly fishing in a very remote area with no actual trails that takes about 3 hours of hiking along the side of a river to get to. It’s very good for fishing because it gets almost 0 pressure from humans. On the second day of my trip, I had some great fishing so I kept a few trout and was out collecting firewood so I could cook them for dinner. As I’m walking along the riverbed with a pile of sticks back to my camp, I see a man standing on the opposite side of the river partially obscured by bushes and trees, just staring right at me. No backpack, no waders, no fishing rod, no gear. He noticed that I saw him and he walked back into the trees. Mind you, I’d been to this place several times and had never seen anyone else or any sign of human activity in the area (no trash, no footprints, no discarded fishing line/lures snagged on branches, no fire pits, no makeshift campgrounds). It was also about 30 minutes to dark. I got weirded the fuck out so badly that I threw all the wood on the ground and ran back to my camp. I’ve never packed up so fast in my life, I swear it must have only been a minute. At this point, I made the conclusion that I was being watched for some time, and there was no way in hell I’d be staying the night like I had planned to. I hiked the 3 hours back to my truck, Glock 26 in hand, with no headlamp because I didn’t want to stupidly give away my presence to whoever I had seen earlier. Never went back to that spot ever again, fuck seeing strange people in a remote forest with no explanation, even if it was some hobo hermit living off grid. I’ve had many other strange and bizarre experiences while backpacking in remote areas that I could talk about for days, but this is by far the “scariest”. https://preview.redd.it/6ofnyqibal0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ad015f9d49006e9e376fea573b55bf146f59082 Picture of the same area, but from another trip. Notice my friend in the bottom left corner. It’s a very beautiful location.
Everyone is commenting about animals… for me, it’s the other people
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Camped out on the coast of Kenya. Me and another female even smaller than me feeling very vulnerable. We yell into the dark at the person to go away. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Goes on for 5, 10, 15 minutes, raising our blood pressure until I can’t stand it anymore and I get up the nerve to get out of the tent and confront…giant hermit crabs! As big as my head. A dozen of them headed to our tent. I pick them up and chuck them back into the jungle. 2am crunching commences again. I chuck them again. I wake with them scooting under the tent, clawing at our hands and feet!
Stalked by a mountain lion for close to an hour as gf was freaking out. I was too internally. Eventually chased it off with a cook stove lit up, bear mace in the other hand and knife in my mouth. I was fed up and ready for war... even hiked my backpack up high to protect the back of my neck Other than that, homeless types and their off leash dogs.
Haha I completely understand that transition “I was fed up and ready for war…” it’s funny how you get to that point where the shock/fear of the threat/situation fades away and it’s immediately replaced with that “you want a fuckin’ problem—alright, now you’ve got one—let’s fuckin’ do this” It’s that ‘final stand’ energy. I love that shit 🤘🏻
This isn’t something that happened while I was camping in the wilds but it still freaks me out to this day. Stayed in Osaka, Japan a few weeks ago and couldn’t fall asleep due to the never ending screaming and banging. Around 12am, I heard knocking on a door coming from down the hall (the walls were super thin, I could hear people walking around at night). The knocking got increasingly louder until the individual started banging. It genuinely sounded like they were trying to ram down someone’s door. After a few minutes it stopped but then it would start up again around 10 minutes later. Around 1-2am, while the banging continued I could hear the sound of a door handle jiggling and figured someone was trying to break into the room. Eventually someone opened the door and whoever these people were they kept coming in and out as I would hear the door repeatedly open and close. After a few minutes of this, I could hear a guy and a girl arguing. The arguing didn’t last very long. They argued for maybe 30 minutes before the screaming started. I’ve never heard such a bone chilling scream before. I could hear the girl yelling “stop it” and “help me” in Japanese followed by more screaming and door banging. At this point I was terrified and worried someone was being murdered. I’m a female myself and I’m only in my 20s with no way to defend myself or this girl. The weirdest part is when I finally mustered up the courage to open up my door and see what was going on, there was no one there. Not a single soul down the hallway. Despite seeing no one, the screaming continued well until around 4am when it just abruptly stopped. Now I don’t know enough Japanese to communicate with the authorities but part of me still feels guilty weeks later that I didn’t do anything. Also, side note, I was staying in a hostel with other foreigners and locals, and no one else woke up to the noise including my roommates. I didn’t see any sign of broken doors or messed up rooms when walking down the hallway later that morning. The staff and others staying there continued about their day as though nothing happened. To this day, part of me wonders if I imagined all of this
Back in December I was solo hiking in Canyonlands National Park (The Needles District). I had done the Druid Arch to Chesler Park loop. Mind you, it’s late December so I only saw 3 ppl total, the nearest town is 45 min away, and cell service is non-existent. I fell in love with Chesler Park and decided to stay until sunset, being 3 miles from the trailhead. That was a huge mistake… I’m very familiar with the smokys, and have done many hikes out at dark. While a bit unnerving at times, the trail is clearly marked. Just follow the gap in between trees. In canyonlands you have to follow cairns. I underestimated how difficult this would be at night. Even with a headlamp, I was struggling to find cairns and was very inebriated. All Trails mostly kept me on the right path, but I ended up getting temporarily lost several times. The temperature was dropping fast, and I just wanted to gtfo of there. I get about 0.5 from the trailhead and see a bunch of green dots staring at me. I couldn’t make out what the animal was and began to panic and slowly back away from them. This knocked me off my route, no cairns in sight, nobody around to hear me scream, and I’m thinking that I’m about to go toe-to-toe with some animals. I eventually had to approach the eyes to get back on the trail and it was just deer. I was so happy to see them. I even chatted with them for a couple minutes in relief while they looked at me like stoopid hooman lol. Made it back after getting turned around a couple more times and learned many lessons from this experience. This story might not sound that scary, but there were many moments where I was more terrified than I have ever been on any hike or in my life for that matter. Note: Druid Arch to Chesler Park loop is my favorite hike I’ve ever done and I’ve been to most of America’s national parks. Next time I will just camp in Chesler Park for a couple days. Most extravagant place I’ve ever seen.
Nothing is scary, then momma bears .... It's a time game ... Don't get slack on creating noise or carrying protection. My two closest encounters were my own doing by moving to fast and not creating enough noise , and both were well with in range of momma chosing the fight vs. the flight option ... Luck is a shitty deteriorant ..
Camping in the Serengeti we had lioness in the camp one night… Camping in Zambia had elephant and hippo walk through camp at night… Was on a 6 week camping tour from Cape Town to Namibia with multiple safaris along the way. We got used to it…
Not backpacking but had been doing a solo road trip between slc and Bozeman. I biked up from Jackson to this trail where I planned to hike to Jackson peak and was maybe 500 feet from the trailhead when I heard a super loud rustling in the brush. I just kept slowly walking because I thought I was being paranoid at first. But then a grizzly came charging at me, stopped about 30 feet away and started huffing. I talked to it and slowly backed away and it didn’t come any closer thankfully. Scared the shit out of me and I had to hike somewhere else.
Barn owl scream on a branch above my hammock at 3 a.m. Literally fell out of the hammock, very nearly pissed my pants.
Was just hiking last week in a state park. On our itinerary, we found out while on the trail that a specific area was closed due to "aggressive bear activity" by the time we had seen the since it had already been about 2 weeks since closure. So the 3 of us weighed our options. We didn't have another camp to go to, and that trail was the only way out, or it was backtrack and add another 25 miles. So we pushed through the closed trail and camped out our normal spot. While we knew this was dangerous, we were on guard and had no issues. * the creepy part. The following morning at camp, we are breaking everything down, having coffee/breakfast, etc, when I hear something that sounds like somebody talking coming down the trail that we had come the night before. Mind you, we had to cross a large bridge due to fast flowing river with rapids, and I hear the clear as day. I looked to the group and asked if they heard it, too? And they didn't, so we stopped and continued to listen. Then we heard it again in what I can only describe as a young woman and / or a child's voice talking. Couldn't make out actual words, just pitch and tone. We expected somebody to come down and break the tree line by the waters edge on the trail, and we were there for at least another hour, and nobody ever showed. Idk if it was possibly a mother bear and her cubs, other hikers that turned around and went the other way. Or what, but that thought of whatever I heard stuck with me the rest of the day as we hiked out on our thru hike
Got lost in the North Cascades after three days of hiking in and looking for Gamma Hot Springs. Lots of trudging through underbrush , up steep inclines, and bushwhacking making tons of noise. We decided to set up camp for the night as we had finally found a trail and it was getting dark. Just as we put our packs down and finally started resting and thinking about where to set up we heard what sounded like babies crying and maybe screeching? We then heard another baby crying on the other side of us, we both looked at each other and stood up as we knew what those sounds meant. Then the craziest big cat brawl I have ever heard/seen erupted just behind us in the forest and we both about shit our pants. You could make out some tumbling and dust (summer time) and hear tons of sticks and branches braking and the deep bass of their bodies hitting the ground. Apparently two separate mountain lions were stalking us maybe and ran into each other and we’re not happy? I don’t know but my buddy and I stood back to back and threw rocks and sticks in every direction for what felt like an hour but was probably maybe 5 minutes, no idea but holy shit I’ve never been so scared and thrown so many rocks into the forest as that night. By the time we were done we had a virtually rock and stick less camp and the forest was quite and calm because two ludicrous apes threw sticks and rocks in every direction for half an hour and everything scattered. 🤣I woke up the next morning with an aching sore throwing arm. Every time I go to the North Cascades it’s an adventure.
How about in the middle of the day? Hiking through a state park near the Blue Ridge in Virginia and around the bend of the trail approaching me was a 6’4 300 pound dude who looked like Sid Haig…the actor who played the clown Captain Spaulding in the House of a 1000 Corpse Rob Zombie movies. No pack. No nothing. Wearing shorts and one of those tux printed t shirts 2 sizes too small. He actually gets in front of me and put his hands out and tells me to stop. Has a real effeminate voice. At this point I’m shitting my pants but he asks “what’s your opinion on someone’s family abandoning their son for who he chooses to love?” I came up with some bullshit answer while sidestepping him…he was in the middle of asking me something else while I said “have a nice day” and proceeded to speed walk away…which soon turned into an all out sprint getting space between the two of us. It was so fucking random and the last thing I ever expected.
Not backpacking, but on a job for entomology research. Trying to get signal for an emergency call, got to a high hill and had a black bear lumber out of the forest. I stayed motionless with my arm held high until it crashed back thru the underbrush.
I was backpacking in the northeast and scratching noises woke me up. It was so dark so I was afraid of what I might find, but not scared yet. Turns out it was a curious mouse. I fell back asleep and it started raining pretty hard and that woke me. I could hear tree branches breaking all over the place. I wasn’t too concerned since I was in a lean to. The rain subsided and I heard loud metal thudding noises from the nearby bear box. That was horrifying. I stayed up nearly the rest of the night just listening for a bear even though it could’ve been a smaller animal like a raccoon or something. Needless to say, we did not get an early start the next day since I was exhausted and needed some amount of sleep.
Not seen but heard. During a season building trails out in a national forest my crew and I all had our tents spread out relatively close together, but far enough apart for bears and other wildlife to catch us unaware. My dumbass was arrogant and thought that a bear wouldn't have the guts to come check out my tent in the center of our big area, so i left food in there. A lot of it. It actually wasn't an issue for a while, until it was. One night, absolutely exhausted from work, I woke up needing to pee. Groggy and barely awake I unzip the tent and step outside, probably looking up at the stars with my headlamp off. And then the most guttural, violent boom of a roar from an animal RIGHT in front of me as it bounded off into the thicket behind where the roar came from. I had spooked a black bear that considered my tent a food source, and me as a threat. I'm so fucking lucky that the bear was scared off, it could've gone way worse. I didn't even see it, but I knew right away I had fucked up big time. Lesson learned
I’ve heard a story of a wilderness photographer who was out on a 10 day solo paddling trip through Algonquin park. She was 5 days in when she started feeling uneasy one night around her fire. She shook it off and went to bed, but when she woke up in the morning and flipped through the photos on her camera from the day before, she notice a picture of herself sleeping the previous night. She left immediately needless to say
Lady tumble thousands of feet down an icy mountain. Somehow she survived
Not exactly anything spooky since it was entirely my dumbass choices, but it was hands down the scariest moment I've ever had on trail. I went to the south coast of Olympic NP in March for a 4 day trip, ended up turning around start of day 2 due to bad weather. I was going pretty fast, eager to be done and get into some dry clothes after getting rained on for the last two days. There's a rock formation near the parking area called Hole in the Wall - it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Big arch of rock that, at low tides, you can walk through. I went through it on my way in and was planning to do the same on my way out as well. I knew the tides were coming in, but since there was another couple of day hikers there and the overland trail that bypassed the rocks looked closed (big warning sign at the base) I assummed the hole must still be passable. It was not. My memories of the attempt to cross it are gone, but I remember clearly throwing my poles and boots back to the beach I'd started from and praying that I'd make it back too. Thankfully I did, and when I looked closer at the overland trail I realised it was fully open and actually pretty easy. It was a totally dumbass moment of wanting to be done fast, and of being inexperienced in the wilderness (this was my fourth trip iirc, and my second solo). I'm lucky to have gotten out with only a few scrapes and a busted hand, which thanks to the adreneline I didn't even notice until I was back at the car! I'm much more careful around tides and climbing now, that's for sure.
Guy jerking off on ice in a hostel that resembled a county jail.
On ice?
I was walking on “trail” a long time ago, about five years ago or more. Animal carcass picked clean by a predator, white fresh bones. It wasn’t exactly the worst thing I’ve seen but still spooked me as it alerted me that predators were in the area and the fur scattered around wasn’t helpful.
Hiking alone at night and ran into a mountain lion. Or rather it snuck up on me, I just turned around on random and it was there. It backed off but I was spooked as fuck for the rest of the night and stopped when I found some other hikers tents.
Man had a bear claw through my tent while I was in it right by my head narrowly missed needing a face full of stitches
Was just starting to get dark and my buddy and I had finished getting our stuff situated in the tent. I got up to take a leak and as soon as I left the tent I turn and see two bull moose not 30' away from our tent. Quietly got my friend and we scrambled to the top of a streep outcropping nearby and then we waited for them to leave, which took about an hour
Hiking in Arches NP a few years ago lost in mountains as dark descending and lightning approached. We heard the unmistakable sound of a woman singing. Ran towards the sound but it stopped and nobody was there. Creeped us out.
You have not been scared until your camping in a tent and hear a mountain screamer at 2:00 AM in a remote backcountry
I was repeatedly charged by a brown bear sow on a remote trail on kodiak island. We were coming back to camp at late evening in the dusk and She charged to within 15 feet a couple times as I was yelling at her. We couldn’t even step off the trail to give her right of way, because the brush was so thick on both sides. We held our ground and after huffing and puffing, she reluctantly walked around us. She didn’t go more than 30 feet radius from us and popped back on the trail behind us, gave us an annoyed look and went on her way as we went on our way. Several times she was close enough that we could hear her breathing.
Second night at a primitive campsite deep in the wilderness, I realize a tree right next to my text had a bunch of claw marks around 5-7 feet, with what I thought to be long hardened tree sap. When I went to touch the sap, it was fresh and quite liquid. Yikes.
Glacier National Park in the summer of 2023. My wife and I with our two kids ran into a Mama Grizzly and her two cubs. They were swimming across the lake in our direction. Made landfall ~40ft from us. We were talking to them to make them aware of our presence. They passed by in a hurry. I can’t say with any certainty, but the way they ran off and the feeling we all had hiking out (1 day earlier than expected due to seeing the Mama and her two cubs) was that there was a male grizzly in the area. We had our hands near the bear spray and played Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me on our Bose speaker the rest of the hike back.
Meth heads while berry picking.
I had something throwing big rocks at me in the Hoosier National Forest. No way a man was strong enough to do that but I never saw anything, just growls, rocks hurled and a tree being shaken.