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Never left, but have stalked a few people for the better part of the night while I wasn't sure what they were up to. Wifey and I were about 10 miles from civilization, maybe 5 from any cell service, random BLM/Fire road. Guy goes by in a big lifted truck. Engine stops within earshot. I'm out walking around our campsite and see him about thirty minutes after the truck shut off. He comes up with a "truck broke down" story, was asking too many weird questions like "so you guys staying here overnight?" That sort of stuff. Asked about cell reception. Refused any other help like a normal person would welcome. Weird. I had my hand on my sidearm under a poncho the whole time... He continues walking down the road, and about five hours later (maybe midnight) I can hear a big truck coming up the road. Turns out to be one of those huge tow trucks. So they go by and I grab the AR to stalk and see what the hell is really going on. Well, they really do start trying to get the other guy's truck up on the tow, so I relax and go back to campsite. I head the tow fire up and start comign back down the road. Then it stops right in front of the campsite and I'm thinking what in the fack? So I go back out and again see what's going on. Fucking thing pinched a front tire on a rock right in front of our campsite. More weird stuff the next night, though not as overt. Won't be back there. Bad juju. |
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Quoted: My ex and I used to meet a small group of old friends, and go camping every summer in the same area, on the banks of the Mohican river. We got there late in the afternoon, and got started setting up camp. One friend briefly wanders down to riverbank, and walks back shaking his head. "Man, this place used to be so unspoiled. Now some asshole has dumped a big pile of old rags in the bushes right by the river." It got dark pretty quickly after our arrival. We made a fire and had a really laid-back evening of grilling, eating and drinking, and retelling old stories until it was quite late. There was nothing threatening in the darkness, but just a very odd feeling that something was slightly off. Got up the next morning, and the girls started making coffee and breakfast. (Yeah, we're old school, and we all like it). The guys went down to the riverbank, and one suddenly says very soberly, "You need to look at this". We go over to where he's standing, right by 'bundle or rags' in the bushes. Then we saw what he was staring at: a dessicated arm sticking out of the rotting cloth. The police were called, and the highway patrol, local police, and county sheriff all show up. About three hours later, the coroner arrives and collects the body. It turns out to be a sad story: the victim was an elderly man who had suffered from dementia. He wandered away from home in the dead of winter, and was never found until our group did, seven months later. He had evidently gotten lost, and froze to death.  |
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Quoted: Nope I've been on hunting trips by myself many times, I've been woken up by bears walking around the tent a few times, wolves howling, things like that aren't too unusual. Haven't shot any holes in the tent yet.  I was reading a book about Griz attacks, it told the story of this guy who decided to camp alone and one night he got scared and started shooting all directions through his tent with a .22. |
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Quoted: In the rockies on a motorcycle trip. Woke up in the dead of night with an almost unbelievable sense of dread/things aren't right. Got out of my tent, and my two buddies are waking or woke up. I asked them if anything woke them up, they said no, we all just sprang awake late at night. Decided fuck it, we'll move along a few miles because something wasn't right. Weird experience, to say the least. That is a serious confirmation when others are having their spidey sense going off. GTFO post haste. |
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wife and I camped at a remote area on a mountain top in the Cascades in the early summer and woke up around 2am to a massive dry lightning storm. it was right over us, the thunder was almost simultaneous with the strikes. it was pretty damn freaky and the area we were in is very susceptible to wildfire we had driven my soft top wrangler so there would have been very little reason to get into the vehicle for protection. it was only accessible by 4x4/fire break trail through the woods so I realized if a fire started we were fucked, but I didn't want to leave in the dark since the trail was not that well defined and I was worried I wouldn't be able to follow it I got up and packed everything except for the tent in case we needed to leave and told my wife to go back to sleep, and if I woke her up it was time to go. I stayed up for several hours through the storm waiting for the smell or smoke or glow of flame but it never came. the weather started doing the same thing the next afternoon, I said fuck this, we packed up and stayed the next night in the nearest hotel before heading home another time us and some friends had hiked up to some of the natural hot springs pools in the olympics. there was still snow on the ground up top where the springs were. we left at dusk, we had day packs and lights, etc. as we were about half way down the trail some 20 something guy is coming up the trail in a t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and no pack. not even a light. we saw him coming in the full moonlight. we said hello and his only response was "hey" and he just walked right past. when we got to the trailhead there were no other vehicles. I have no idea where he came from or where he was going, but he looked like he walked right in off a city street. |
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Quoted: It was nightime and a bad storm was coming. I was in the woods down by the river tent camping. I left and came back a few days later. A shitload of large trees were down.  I had this happen, used to hunt and camp. Used a hammock, one night the wind picked up pretty good, I moved to an open area-yup next day was a huge tree laying right in between the two trees as the hammock. Other than that, long ago 3-6 of us would do hikes in the Blue Ridge, 3-5 days packing everything in. We would go from Oct-Mar, cold but no people. One trip were well into a hike in the middle of nowhere and this dudes comes out of the tree's. Of course we are all armed but this dude was off, we were about 20 miles from anything. That night we posted a 2 man guard on rotating shifts(had 6 this time) as something was not right with him. We made it to the Ranger station the following day to report it, of course he was surprised to see anyone. We tried sparking a conversation with the stranger to gather info, but he wouldn't respond, he didn't appear equipped to be out there though which was strange as vehicle access that time of year was closed. |
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Quoted: I think I have told this story here before, so here is the short version. Car camping solo with my dog in Northern AZ woods. Camp is all setup and I am enjoying a beer when a older jeep built for rock crawling drives by and stops in front of my camp. 4 sets of eyes take in my whole camp for a 10-15 seconds then slowly drive off without a word or a smile. Close to midnight I am going to hit the sack when I see a flashlight about 100 yards off in the woods. I never would have seen it if I hadn't just got up and moved toward my vehicle. It just so happened that my vehicle was pointed in the same direction and I had a 20k lumen light bar. I turned on the light bar within 10 seconds of seeing the light and it immediately turns off once my light goes on. That was enough for me and threw everything in my rig in record time and drove back to Phoenix getting home around 3am. Yeah fuck all that. They were coming to get you. |
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Never. Worst scare I had was 'yotes very close. Have camped and biked Wayne National Forest for many years, both in Ironton and Athens OH. Always with a gun. One of the rules I live by. If I'm laying my head down for the night, I want a rifle close by, and BUG with a large mag capacity. Same rules at home. |
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Quoted: What if you're just naturally a pussy? Love the wilderness, but always feel very uneasy alone in the woods at night. Always psych myself out and feel like something is creeping up on me, and I feel the need to look behind me every 15 seconds. Finding an abandoned meth lab near where I go certainly didn't help Maybe I need to get a dog or some NODs Quoted: Quoted: Always listen to your intuition. Love the wilderness, but always feel very uneasy alone in the woods at night. Always psych myself out and feel like something is creeping up on me, and I feel the need to look behind me every 15 seconds. Finding an abandoned meth lab near where I go certainly didn't help Maybe I need to get a dog or some NODs If you ever come to MI I'll bring you out to some spots in the woods. I like walking at night in the woods with no flashlight. All of your senses are amped up, you can hear a mouse fart. |
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Quoted: I have not had that happen while camping but I've never camped anywhere but a backyard or at a state park. I have however, left rest stops that I planned to sleep at in my car when I noticed suspicious behavior. Body shop guy told me a wild story about camping on the Appalachian Trail......after hearing that I would put much more thought into hiking that than I would have otherwise. Way to tease. Care to actually tell us now? |
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Quoted: Never. Worst scare I had was 'yotes very close. Have camped and biked Wayne National Forest for many years, both in Ironton and Athens OH. Always with a gun. One of the rules I live by. If I'm laying my head down for the night, I want a rifle close by, and BUG with a large mag capacity. Same rules at home. |
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Quoted: No One thing I learned with wilderness solo camping is you need to be mentally prepared. Your mind will fuck with you and you’ll freak yourself out if you let it. Control your fear. 100% of Sasquatch encounters are the result of runaway imaginations where people allow their emotions to skew what they see and hear. A snapping twig when you are alone at night and frightened is interpreted totally different than that same snapping twig in daylight surrounded by friends. You won't be saying that once you encounter a skookum. |
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I was out with a friend at night trail riding in his 4x4 truck. We stopped at on old strip mine that was full of water, friend wanted to fish. We had been there about 30 minutes when another truck pulls up, they park about ten yards from us, no one else around. My friend starts talking to them, I keep his truck between them and myself, my friend had his .22 rifle out and had been shooting when they pulled up. They couldn't see my hands so I had my .357 out down by my side ready to go. So one of the guys ask my friend what he was shooting and then asked if he could shoot it, I started whispering to my friend no,no, no, he just told him he was out of ammo. The guy went on to say they had driven a few stolen cars into the pit, that really got me worried. After a few minutes they left, my friend looked at me and said there was no way I was giving him that rifle, I then told him I had my .357 out the entire time. So we got back in his truck and got out of there. |
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Quoted: I was out with a friend at night trail riding in his 4x4 truck. We stopped at on old strip mine that was full of water, friend wanted to fish. We had been there about 30 minutes when another truck pulls up, they park about ten yards from us, no one else around. My friend starts talking to them, I keep his truck between them and myself, my friend had his .22 rifle out and had been shooting when they pulled up. They couldn't see my hands so I had my .357 out down by my side ready to go. So one of the guys ask my friend what he was shooting and then asked if he could shoot it, I started whispering to my friend no,no, no, he just told him he was out of ammo. The guy went on to say they had driven a few stolen cars into the pit, that really got me worried. After a few minutes they left, my friend looked at me and said there was no way I was giving him that rifle, I then told him I had my .357 out the entire time. So we got back in his truck and got out of there. There are bad people out there. |
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Quoted: I have not had that happen while camping but I've never camped anywhere but a backyard or at a state park. I have however, left rest stops that I planned to sleep at in my car when I noticed suspicious behavior. Body shop guy told me a wild story about camping on the Appalachian Trail......after hearing that I would put much more thought into hiking that than I would have otherwise. We would frequently hike 6 miles into the Monongahela national forest to camp beside a river in WV. Every time we went was great except for one. We were hammock camping and both my buddy and I sat up in our hammocks at the same time with a super creep factor of eleventy billions. There was a weird inky black that our headlamps Would Not penetrate. Very oppressive feeling in the air. There was no way to hike out as the trail can be dangerous in broad daylight. He and I both scrounged for firewood to build a large fire and sat there hold our pistols the rest of the night. Our other buddy was oblivious and slept like a baby but he was as intuitive as a boat anchor. |
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Quoted: I have not had that happen while camping but I've never camped anywhere but a backyard or at a state park. I have however, left rest stops that I planned to sleep at in my car when I noticed suspicious behavior. Body shop guy told me a wild story about camping on the Appalachian Trail......after hearing that I would put much more thought into hiking that than I would have otherwise. Have hiked the AT for decades. Never a problem. Please share your wild story. |
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Quoted: If you can be walking around so can someone else. Quoted: Quoted: You aren't really camping if you're where someone might be walking around. If you can be walking around so can someone else. And spray paint on rocks and trees. |
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Trust your gut. But having said that, sometimes its just imagination. I spent 3 weeks alone in a tent one spring. The first two nights had a weird vibe to them. Heard a lot of twigs snapping, leaves rustling, shadows, etc. The rest of the trip was peaceful and quiet. I think whatever shared the area with me had to get used to me being there. |
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Quoted: Trust your gut. But having said that, sometimes its just imagination. I spent 3 weeks alone in a tent one spring. The first two nights had a weird vibe to them. Heard a lot of twigs snapping, leaves rustling, shadows, etc. The rest of the trip was peaceful and quiet. I think whatever shared the area with me had to get used to me being there. That's exactly what it was. |
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Quoted: wife and I camped at a remote area on a mountain top in the Cascades in the early summer and woke up around 2am to a massive dry lightning storm. it was right over us, the thunder was almost simultaneous with the strikes. it was pretty damn freaky and the area we were in is very susceptible to wildfire we had driven my soft top wrangler so there would have been very little reason to get into the vehicle for protection. it was only accessible by 4x4/fire break trail through the woods so I realized if a fire started we were fucked, but I didn't want to leave in the dark since the trail was not that well defined and I was worried I wouldn't be able to follow it I got up and packed everything except for the tent in case we needed to leave and told my wife to go back to sleep, and if I woke her up it was time to go. I stayed up for several hours through the storm waiting for the smell or smoke or glow of flame but it never came. the weather started doing the same thing the next afternoon, I said fuck this, we packed up and stayed the next night in the nearest hotel before heading home another time us and some friends had hiked up to some of the natural hot springs pools in the olympics. there was still snow on the ground up top where the springs were. we left at dusk, we had day packs and lights, etc. as we were about half way down the trail some 20 something guy is coming up the trail in a t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and no pack. not even a light. we saw him coming in the full moonlight. we said hello and his only response was "hey" and he just walked right past. when we got to the trailhead there were no other vehicles. I have no idea where he came from or where he was going, but he looked like he walked right in off a city street. There's a YouTube channel that covers stories of missing hikers, and it's always amazed me how many stories involve people who sound just like that guy. Too many people are too casual in expecting the trail to present no challenges to them |
| I have hiked - and camped alone quite a bit over the years. I don't usually get any bad sense like that, but I noticed in Hawaii that native taboo places (including a temple site) would make all the hair on my neck stand up. I got similar sensations at other Native American sites over the years. |
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Quoted: It was nightime and a bad storm was coming. I was in the woods down by the river tent camping. I left and came back a few days later. A shitload of large trees were down. That happened at Drum one year. They pulled everyone out of the training areas so quickly that a lot of tents etc were left where they stood and got hit hard in the ensuing storm. Only time I could recall in my time in the Guard where everyone was pulled out of the field with next to no warning |
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Camping alone, without even a dog isnt always the best, especially when you wander to far off the beaten path. Some of my best days spent camping was with a group of friends, all post 9/11 vets going to class on the GI bill. 4 or 5 of us went out exploring all over Arizona, to a couple of places I am not sure I would go alone. One of my favorite encounters we had set up camp at the top of a slot canyon that was fairly hard to get to, planning to do some canyoneering the next day. Ate dinner and were enjoying a few drinks by the campfire. 2 or three of us go off to get wood while my buddy Josh tends the fire. Some guy rolls up in a jeep and starts pretty aggressively yelling at my buddy josh about their being a campfire ban (there was in a nearby National Forest, but not the area we were in, we had called and checked with the ranger on our way out.) Those of us coming back from getting wood extinguished our headlamps and got on line, forming an L shaped ambush. Guy in the jeep continues to yell and threaten my buddy, unknowingly with three armed guys in the dark with a drop on him. Luckily the guy ran out of steam and drove off. some peoples situational awareness lol |
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Quoted: I have hiked - and camped alone quite a bit over the years. I don't usually get any bad sense like that, but I noticed in Hawaii that native taboo places (including a temple site) would make all the hair on my neck stand up. I got similar sensations at other Native American sites over the years. It's cus those are places where they worshipped demons. "For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils..." - Psalm 95:5 (or 96:5 depending on numbering) |
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Quoted: There's a YouTube channel that covers stories of missing hikers, and it's always amazed me how many stories involve people who sound just like that guy. Too many people are too casual in expecting the trail to present no challenges to them Quoted: Quoted: wife and I camped at a remote area on a mountain top in the Cascades in the early summer and woke up around 2am to a massive dry lightning storm. it was right over us, the thunder was almost simultaneous with the strikes. it was pretty damn freaky and the area we were in is very susceptible to wildfire we had driven my soft top wrangler so there would have been very little reason to get into the vehicle for protection. it was only accessible by 4x4/fire break trail through the woods so I realized if a fire started we were fucked, but I didn't want to leave in the dark since the trail was not that well defined and I was worried I wouldn't be able to follow it I got up and packed everything except for the tent in case we needed to leave and told my wife to go back to sleep, and if I woke her up it was time to go. I stayed up for several hours through the storm waiting for the smell or smoke or glow of flame but it never came. the weather started doing the same thing the next afternoon, I said fuck this, we packed up and stayed the next night in the nearest hotel before heading home another time us and some friends had hiked up to some of the natural hot springs pools in the olympics. there was still snow on the ground up top where the springs were. we left at dusk, we had day packs and lights, etc. as we were about half way down the trail some 20 something guy is coming up the trail in a t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and no pack. not even a light. we saw him coming in the full moonlight. we said hello and his only response was "hey" and he just walked right past. when we got to the trailhead there were no other vehicles. I have no idea where he came from or where he was going, but he looked like he walked right in off a city street. There's a YouTube channel that covers stories of missing hikers, and it's always amazed me how many stories involve people who sound just like that guy. Too many people are too casual in expecting the trail to present no challenges to them Ive turned people around before. Me and a buddy were headed out of a slot canyon as it was raining (Flash Flood), and had to argue with a guy not to take his family into a slot canyon as it was raining at dusk with nothing more than those dumb hydroflash bottles. smh |
| We were trying to go to blue springs in Florida, but we made a wrong turn and ended up at another spring. It looked creepy as hell, Spanish moss hanging from the trees, trash everywhere, but the spring had the clearest bluest water I had ever seen. I got out of the car and walked around for a little bit, but I started to feel like someone was watching me and high tailed it out of there. |
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Quoted: I have hiked - and camped alone quite a bit over the years. I don't usually get any bad sense like that, but I noticed in Hawaii that native taboo places (including a temple site) would make all the hair on my neck stand up. I got similar sensations at other Native American sites over the years. Mount Shasta, Waipi'o Valley, and Thira/ Santorini We saw a ghost on Santorini. A man with a goat. We went up to talk with him. It was a survey marker with a flag. Creepiest thing that I have witnessed. Ever. |
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A haven’t left an area but once set up camp only to find out that night over the ridge was a gas compressor station that sounded like a jet engine taking off every half hour. Yeah, slept fucking great  . There was no moving in the dark to get out of that spot so the next day I moved camp.But I will say for have never done any camping growing up to go out and solo camp as your first camping experiences it can be a bit unnerving at times. But I just watch my step and carry a pistol. |
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Quoted: Have you ever been camping alone or maybe with your wife or girlfriend and had a bad feeling about the place after setting up camp? Heard strange sounds or felt you were being watched and didn't feel safe going to sleep there. Never.  I'm more inclined to "Peace out!" from an urban area. |
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Yes. 8-9yrs ago in the Wilson creek area of the pisgah national forest. Cousin and I back packed in several miles and set up a primitive cap in a ravine as we were coyote hunting the area. We got there on a Friday afternoon set up camp hunted most of the night and the following day. It was weird as we didn’t see any sign of any life, we never even saw a squirrel, all the animal shit we saw was like way way old it was just weird feeling. I don’t even recall seeing any birds in the area. Shortly after dark on the second night a weird noise was way way off in the distance a noise I can’t describe. It was almost constant for hours while gradually getting closer. I’d guess it started at a mile or so off and the last time we heard it it was 11:30pm and it was maybe 4-500yards off (really hard to tell as we were in a ravine on the side of a mountain. About an hour later we heard it again and it was ear piercingly close and immediately something tore down through the ravine and went right by our camp site and up the other side of the ravine. Whatever it was broke several saplings on its way through. It moved so fucking fast through that ravine by the time I pulled my Hg and activated the light it was gone. Literally a second or two was all it took for whatever it was to cross the ravine. It felt like it came within 20yds of where we were sitting. After that we didn’t hear or see anything else and we were wide awake through daylight then we unassed the area. I have gone back to that general area a couple of times since but I’ll never go back to that ravine or even that particular fire road. |
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Camped in an extremely remote, very rugged area maybe 15 miles from the Mexican border. A U.S. Army helicopter kept buzzing me. Couple of times during the day, no big deal. 3 o’clock in the morning. Fuck off. I’m trying to sleep. Not like my camp was concealed. Bright orange roof top tent. |
Christmas Eve 2013, was living in our Jeep with my dog and cat in Oregon, based in Grants Pass. didn’t have family or anywhere to be for Christmas so decided to go up to a remote wilderness area where we spent a lot of time. It was rare to see anyone up there any time of year. Slept up high there often. There’s a windy 14 mile gravel road going up to it and that itself is 10 miles from anything that resembles civilization. The only way up and the only way down. As expected no one was up there. We hiked a short ways up onto a barren ridge just before nightfall to see the evening sky and have a quiet moment for Christmas Eve. An hour later it was pitch black except for the stars and blasting freezing wind so we made our way back to the Jeep. From there we drove maybe a half mile and parked in an area of knee high sage and light shrubs. We were going to spend the night up there just sleeping in the Jeep, and most of Christmas Day up there too. I fed dog and cat and they were back in the Jeep and was sitting there looking at pics I’d taken on the phone for a while when I smelled something, like something dead. I smelled my dog who was in the passenger seat next to me, she was always rolling in something dead. Wasn’t her. I rolled the window down some and smelled outside. I couldn’t really smell it anymore. Oh well, started looking at pics lagain. In a minute or so I smelled it again. Rolled the window down and smelled outside, I wasn’t imagining it, then it was gone again. It was odd how it just came on like that. Whatever. I went back to looking at the pics. A few minutes later I got a feeling something’s behind us. Foolishness I thought. Then a feeling I couldn’t deny crept over me, something’s not right. Danger. Wildlife doesn’t scare me, and I was in Iraq with the infantry and you develop survival instincts there and learn to trust your instinct when something’s not right, and we were vulnerable sitting there, and I had to act, change the situation. I started up the Jeep and the sea of blackness in the night lights up with the headlights. I had an AK, a really good VEPR, and a flashlight, but I think to turn around and shine the headlights in that direction and light up the area first. I had to drive forward a ways to be able to turn around in all that sage, maybe a hundred yards or so, then I was at the gravel road which had a bank to the left and a drop off to the right, so had to go further to turn around, at that point I thought heck with it, it’s Christmas Eve, I don’t feel like going back there and confronting whatever it is and don’t feel like spending the night feeling like having to be on guard, so we kept driving 14 miles off the mountain and slept down there beside the river in the forest. Slept up there many times after without incident.  This isn’t far, maybe 1/2 mile from where we were parked. |
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