Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[longrangelead]

Probably 25 years ago now, I found a spur road off a seldom traveled forest service road. The spur was ditched at about ¼ mile but continued quite a ways across the mountain. Being new to me, I was exploring the area when I had time.

One afternoon on a week day, I went to the spur for some reason. When I got there, there was a POS Datsun car parked in the wide spot where people turn around at the ditch.
It was raining and cool so I was surprised to see a vehicle since most people avoid the rain and this spot was pretty brushy.
I noticed the windows were fogged up good and saw someone move inside. The hood was wet so the engine had not been running in a while but the car didn't appear stuck either.
I pulled up next to the car a rolled down my window. A middle aged guy in a T-shirt rolled down the window of the car.
He was alone but looked like he had been crying. I asked if he was alright, he just said "ya". The look in his eyes said different though. I said "ok, I'll be here a while if you need help".
I didnt see any gear or anything to indicate he was car camping. I didnt see much of anything in the car, he looked unprepared for a cold wet night in the woods.
I don't know why, I got the feeling he was there to take his own life.

I was young enough I didn't know what to do beyond that. When I got back to my truck, he was gone. Out of curiosity and concern, I checked a couple other similar spots nearby but didn't find him. I even drove all the way up there the next evening to see if he came back. I never saw him again.
I've always wondered what he was up to...

 

[Easydoesit87]

I was working on a Forest between CA & OR when I got a visitor one day telling a trippy story. It was early summer. They had purchased a firewood permit and went out gathering dead & down in a fairly remote portion of the District. They saw a Toyota Tacoma with all four doors open. They didn't think much about it first time but thought it weird the "occupants" had left their belongings strewn about as seen from a distance.

Second day, they returned to gather more firewood and saw the same rig with the doors still open and things thrown about. They got their wood for the day and left.

Third day, same thing; except this time - they made their way towards the rig to attempt contact and ascertain if they needed help or whatever. They approached the truck and saw several opened prescriptions bottles, men's/women's clothes that had clearly weathered over some time, pint bottles of Jack Daniels, and to their horror - bones! They beelined it down the mountain to the District Office.

We put together a small group of people to check it out. We made our way to the site. Upon arrival, we could immediately smell a sweet stench. We made our way to the truck and found Rx bottles opened (but empty), clothes thrown all over the place, and as described above - a few bottles of JD. We started walking away from the truck and began seeing bones with clothes still attached (but filthy). A skeleton hand was found with a woman's watch still around the wrist. Walking further away from the scene - another JD bottle was found and some men's clothes. Then we started noticing piles of scat and began to realize what may have happened! Lots of black bears in the area ... and perhaps a few found the site and dined on whomever they were upon waking from hibernation. We took lots of pictures, noted the license plate, and returned to the office; whereupon, the authorities were contacted.

It took a day or so, but I received a call telling the likely story about who the people were and how they made their way to their demise.

Based on the license plate, the truck was registered to a guy from San Diego who was known to be part of an extremist group called Animal Liberation Front (ALF). Apparently, the owner and his mother had been "liberating" research animals in the area and the FBI was looking for them. They had been in contact with the law via cell phone along I-5 negotiating turning themselves in. They were using cell towers to track them as they made their way north to Grants Pass, OR when they suddenly went south into the Siskiyou Mtns where the cell phone signal was lost.

This was in the fall and in the Siskiyou's - snow falls early and deep at times. They had apparently made their way over the only pass in the area before going offroad and stuck. According to the agent, they were using drugs (hence the Rx bottles) and likely came to park in the area where the truck was found. They then started drinking (or were already drinking) and along with the drugs - one of them (most likely the mother) took her life. Then the son drank more JD and went down a hill and took his. The bears found the bodies and consumed them. The firewood gatherer found the scene.

The Forest Service had to spend a bunch of money to "clean" the area. The sweet smell was rendered fat from the bodies that had permeated the soil. It was removed. The area was then sanitized by a company from Sacramento which "specialized" in things like this ...

I still have dreams about it.

 

[Pharmseller]

Good deal for the bears.




P

 

[rookieforever33]

I bet the bears felt "liberated" maybe they got a buzz from what they ate

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I bet the bears felt "liberated" maybe they got a buzz from what they ate

I think I saw that movie.