Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[Quicksilver]

My buddy was bear hunting a few years back, north cascades along the canadian border. They end up dropping into a valley 500’ down and are getting into where the alpine meadows roll into the tree line. Probably only a half mile off trail but nobody but a hunter would drop in down there in search of something…and not every hunter would do that. Most just glass from the trail. Anyway, they’re hiking along and come across an open patch of sand in the meadow and they look down and here is this footprint….not a boot print..a footprint. There was only one of them and here us the real creepy part, he said it was small like a child’s. Got a real uneasy feeling after that.

Now there’s plenty of drug trafficking and rumor of hidden pot fields up in these parts since you could hike stuff across the border if you really wanted to I guess. Have heard rumor of seeing teams of people that looked like they were out of place hiking these mountains. This area is only about 3 miles from the canadian border and it’s a sea of wilderness on either side. The fact there was only one footprint and it was a child’s bare foot makes you really wonder…

 

[JustSomeGuy35]

Many people have posted their experiences with bears so I will share two of mine that scared the crap out of me.

The first time I got up close to a black bear was about 15 or so years ago. Usually, I’d hunt with my dad in eastern WA, but he got into a bad motorcycle accident and was out of commission. That put me in a precarious position because he had a truck, but I only had Mustang, thus, I couldn’t drive the logging roads into our usual areas.

Using google maps, I located a juicy looking tree farm that was about 30-40 mins from Mt. Rainier. It only allowed hikers—no vehicles—and required roughly 4.5 miles of hiking, with 2000+ foot of elevation gain, just to get to the first clear cut. Next one was 7 miles in.

I headed up there in mid-July with a gallon of water, some foil packs of tuna, an MRE, and a pup tent. Figured I’d stay 3-5 days and scout for bear and elk. The first mile was a brutal uphill trek but the last 5 were a cakewalk. Before I got to the 2nd clear cut, I saw a well-established deer trail following the ridge and took it. It led me to a beautiful, exposed ridgeline, populated with berry bushes and buckbrush, that overlooked a giant lake. I decided to make my camp there, right on the game trail, in the overgrown clear cut.

Right before dark, a thick, wet, misty fog rolled in, cutting visibility down to less than 100 ft. I got as cozy I could in the child-sized tent. The only way I could stretch out was if I laid diagonally. I put my rifle to the back of the tent and laid my .22 revolver and a flashlight on a yellow piece of felt by the entrance. I read for awhile and eventually fell asleep.

Sometime around 4am, I woke up with my heart pounding. Initially I couldn’t figure out whether I woke from a bad dream or something else. Right as my heart started to slow down, I heard breathing and the sound of footsteps on wet wood. Before my fear got the best of me, I assured myself it was probably just a curious deer or elk since I’d had several late-night encounters like that before.

I grabbed my flashlight and revolver, unzipped the tent, and stood up looking around. Much to my dismay, the misty fog had gotten worse and visibility was less than 30 ft with the flashlight. I was about to sit back down in the tent when my light picked up two yellow eyes roughly 60-80 ft to the left of me. The eyes bobbed down and then back up again, which reminded me of how deer behave when they’re curious about something. I breathed a sigh of relief and said in a low voice, “Piss off deer”. That’s when the animal started walking towards me.

The second I realized it was moving towards me, I knew it wasn’t a deer. The eyes were only 18-24” off the ground and it was walking directly at me with no hesitation whatsoever. I yelled “STOP IT’ and “F**K OFF”. The animal paused, giving me a moment to consider whether I should shoot the .22 at it. I reasoned that it was most likely a bear and that I didn’t want to risk only wounding it and pissing it off. I decided to duck into the tent and grab my 30-06. When I tried to pull it out, the rifle got caught in the tent poles and fabric. Like I said before, it was a pup tent designed for children. I was using it because it was super lightweight.

When the rifle got snagged, I looked out and saw that the eyes were bouncing and could hear that the animal was moving towards me again at a pace similar to a human jogging. I jumped back up and screamed at it which brought it to a halt about 30-40ft away. Still scared of wasting the 6 rounds of .22 ammo, I grabbed a chunk of wet wood at my feet and lobbed it at the animal. The wood landed a few feet to its left but it didn’t react. I grabbed another chunk and lobbed it, this time striking the animal somewhere on its back. It ran about 50 ft to my right and disappeared. I kept scanning for a minute or so and then reached into the tent for my rifle again. Immediately I heard footsteps again, shot up onto my feet, just in time to see a juvenile black bear galloping towards me at about 30ft. I screamed at it, pointed the revolver, and was about to shoot when it finally veered away and kept on running till it disappeared into the woods.

I stood where I was, scanning around with the flashlight, until the sun came up. Once it was fully light, I looked for tracks and found a couple paw prints and a fresh pile of scat. Both signs confirmed it was a juvenile in the 100-150 lb range. I loitered around til noon, trying to talk myself into continuing my trip, but my nerves were fried. I ended up hiking back out.

Though I camped and hunted in that area several times afterwards, I never felt completely comfortable there again and always had difficulties with falling asleep. I never saw another bear there. Only deer, elk, coyotes, and a skunk. I also never setup my tent on game trails again either.

In retrospect, I should have just fired the revolver to scare it off. At the time, my brain wasn’t functioning properly. I’d never been in a situation like that and didn’t know how to handle it. Oh well.

 

[JustSomeGuy35]

My 2nd close call with a black bear was up in SE Alaska. I had spent the summer working as a deckhand on a salmon tenderer, earned a full share position for rock crab, but wanted to take a break before the salmon season ended and cod and crab began. The captain told me to stay out of the bars and go camp outside town. The plan was I’d have a couple weeks to do as I please, then meet them dockside on Kodiak.

Since I was such a smart guy, I decided to ask the cannery manager if I could crash in his office instead. He said yes so I quickly stowed my gear and then headed to the bar in town. Ended up getting drunk as hell and into an altercation with some other fishermen. I left to head back to the cannery and someone hit me in the back of the head with a blunt object (beer bottle maybe?).

I woke up at dawn, face down in the grass beside the bar, cold and drenched from a rainstorm that had passed while I was unconscious. I stumbled back to the cannery, washed the blood off my head, and checked into a motel. Took me a few days to start feeling better. The chambermaid brought me lots of soup to help with the mild hypothermia I’d gotten.

While recovering, I watched the Grizzly Man documentary. For some damn reason, that movie gave me the itch to go see some brown bears up close. I ended up paying the chambermaid to drive me to a gravel road that led towards a creek that the bears crowded into that time of the year. She drove me about 8 miles outside of town and I walked another 7 before I bumped into a black bear chomping away on berries, next to the trail.

I whipped out my digital camera and began filming it but most of its body was obscured by ferns. Looked like a female around 200-250 lbs. The bear was about 80 yds away and I wanted closeup footage so I kept inching forward until she finally spotted me. She stood up on hind legs and cocked her head. I chuckled a little at that. Then she dropped down to all fours and took a couple steps towards me. That’s when I thought, “oh crap”.

I started backing up and after a few steps, the bear ran up hill, presumably away from me. I felt relief wash over me and started talking to the camera about how “that was awesome” and “I can’t wait to see the brown bears”.

I waited 5-10 minutes before continuing because I wanted to give her time to clear out. I made it less than 50 ft before she came charging out of the bushes on a small cliff about 15 ft above me and to the left, clacking her jaws, woofing, and ripping up the bushes. I was caught totally off-guard by it and couldn’t even think. My body didn’t wait for a decision though. With no thinking whatsoever, I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could. Damn near puked when I finally got myself stopped. My throat felt a little sore later that day so I might have even been screaming while I sprinted away. Haha

And that was the end of my little excursion. Once I caught my breath and thought it over, I realized I was a total idiot for being 15 miles outside of town with no gun or bear spray. Can’t believe I watched a documentary about a guy who gets mauled to death by bears and felt inspired by it hahaha.

I hiked about 4 miles back towards town when a middle-aged woman drove by and offered me a ride. This is no bullshit: She made me get into a dog cage in the back of her SUV! I didn’t complain though because she was saving me from having to hike another 12 miles to town. Plus, I understood that I was a stranger in a remote area and she just wanted to feel safe. Along the way, she asked what I was doing out there unarmed and told me I was a dumb ass after I told her the truth.

Welp, that’s it for my scary bear encounters. Luckily, I lived long enough to mature out of youthful recklessness. I hate to think what mess I would’ve gotten into if that black bear hadn’t bluff charged me and spooked me back to town. If I’d made it to the brown bears and freaked out like that, I probably would’ve been eaten.

 

[neil.hansford]

Was scouting for elk a couple of summers ago. Going through some fairly thick stuff and stopped for a breather. Couldn't shake the weird feeling that something was watching me. Looked over to my right and sure enough.......

I guess maybe not creepy, but funny, or strange, or something.....

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[tony]

Creepy with sad endings.
Been a emergency dept nurse for sometime, buddy I work with (his story) was in Colorado hunting with another guy. Said he broke off from him for the day and was making his way up a ridge and heard a guy screaming for help. Said he made his way down to about a 100 yards for his safety and seen a guy leaning over another guy on the ground. He figured the guy standing shot the other guy. Buddy took his rifle off his shoulder and had it low ready and hollered down to the guy. Guy said his friend collapsed and wasn't breathing. He made his way down as he could see the guy wasn't shot. Said guy was dead but he did some CPR for a minute or so and told the other guy he had passed.
Had the guy stay with the deceased and my friend made his way to his camp to get his phone. Said he had to drive like a half hour to the nearest town, I think he called it Ohio city and called the Sheriffs office. Whole ordeal took like 8 hours. Said the sheriff got to his camp and they hiked up to the deceased and his friend. Ran it like a crime scene and questioned everyone. Search and rescue came and got the guy and hauled him to a funeral home / coroner I believe. Weird thing, the deceased was from my hometown. Akron, Ohio.

Same guy was in Colorado again with a few other guys we work with for elk. Said the hunt was a bust and were driving back to Ohio and blasted a cow elk with his truck. They all had to get flights home. Lost a bunch of gear as he couldn't get back out to get it. Said insurance covered a good bit though.

I missed both trips

I used to run EMS a rural south east Ohio county. Lot of big city "hunters" flock to the area to hunt. Most have zero clue what they are doing. Local guy was in a tree stand and was shot dead. Sheriff and everyone else figures its someone from out of the area. Sheriff received a letter from the shooter apologizing for killing the guy. Letter was postmarked from Columbus Ohio. Didn't have enough information from it to find the shooter. Still remains unsolved. Crazy thing is, the shooter would most likely got a wrist slap per the sheriff.

Had two teen brothers hunting with crossbows one brother shot the other clean through the chest.
He lived

Couple deer hunters came out of the woods and hear a farmer yelling for help. Had an arm stuck in a tractor PTO. They got him out and to the road and called for help. We flew him to a trauma center and he did fine if I remember, didn't loose the arm.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Was scouting for elk a couple of summers ago. Going through some fairly thick stuff and stopped for a breather. Couldn't shake the weird feeling that something was watching me. Looked over to my right and sure enough.......

I guess maybe not creepy, but funny, or strange, or something.....

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Scary! Looks like Mr. Hankey from South Park.

 

[DESERT ED]

In the interest of keeping the best thread on Rokslide going, here are some stories from my time living in a creepy old miner's house in the Colorado Mountains.

Let me preface by saying that the house, located at 9,000 ft in Colorado, was built in the 1870's according to information from the historical society. It was built up against the side of a mountain and the entrance to an old mineshaft is directly behind the kitchen wall. It's also not far from several old cemeteries.

Within the first month that I lived there I woke up at 4am one morning to very intense pain in my foot. There was a little bit of light that came into the room from one of the street lamps outside so it wasn't completely pitch black. As I opened my eyes to look down toward my foot I saw the silhouette of a very short man at the end of the bed by my feet. It was only for a second but the details that are forever seared into my memory is that he was short, maybe only 5 ft tall, was wearing a top hat with a brim, and had a white or grey beard. The pain in my foot was very strange too, my foot was very hot and felt like it was being crushed or squeezed in a vice. I haven't felt a similar pain to that either before or after that night. The shadowy man fit the description of an old miner pretty well as far as I could tell.

Another night later that year I was watching a movie when my peripheral vision saw something cross the hallway from a room into the hall closet. By this time, I had lived there for awhile and was pretty freaked out by all this stuff so I literally just got up and left the house with the movie still playing and some of the lights still on. After clearing my head for about 20 minutes and feeling ridiculous for being so freaked out I returned home. When I went back inside I got even more freaked out because the tv had been turned off and the kitchen lights had been messed with. The kitchen lights were track lights and were all now pointed toward the back wall of the kitchen where the mine shaft entrance was. That event made me reconsider living there.

Several times I could just feel something "there" and the hair on my scalp would just tingle. That's a bad feeling if you've never had it.

Most of the weird stuff that happened was in the first year or so that I lived there and I got used to it eventually. I also got a dog and that helped a lot. The last several years I lived there were uneventful. I kinda want to contact the new owners and ask them what they've experienced. If you ever get the chance to live alone in a old miner's cabin for awhile, it'll definitely spice up some of your evenings.

Do you mind sharing where?

 

[OutHeavy]

I was spiked out in the Russian Wilderness (CA) and woken up at about 2AM by a sound that was just like a baby whimpering and crying. As the father of three I think there's something etched in my survival instinct that's triggered by the sound of a baby crying in the night. My eyes burst open the size of saucers straining to see beyond the darkness at the horror I knew had to be there staring at me. I laid there frozen for what seemed like minutes trying to wrap my brain around how a baby could be crying in the middle of wilderness, mere feet from my bivy none the less. I picked up my headlamp and turned it on expecting this to be the last memory I'd ever have before the child of satan devoured me. I scanned the slope behind my camp looking for anything that could be holding a crying baby; a deranged killer, a zombie mother, a rabid mountain lion. I remember the sound changing from a crying to almost an alien language that included little beeps and clicks. It was about two or three minutes of this not stop madness before something below the fan of my light caught my eye. I turned my headlamp toward the ground and there, about 3 yards away was what looked like an all brown guinea pig. Now I'm really baffled, how the hell did a guinea pig get loose out here? Well it eventually ran down a burrow below a tree stump and I never saw it again. I was still camped out for another 2 or 3 days before heading home then spent the next week googling "Brown guinea pig in the wilderness". Finally the mystery was solved. it was a Mountain Beaver. It's easy to find a picture of one but really hard to find the sound one makes when you're googling for guinea pigs in the wilderness. This is a terrifying sound when its a few feet away from your head:

Unidentified - Possible vocalizations of a Mountain Beaver (Sewellel) | Western Soundscape

Possible vocalizations of a Mountain Beaver

collections.lib.utah.edu

 

[cacklercrazy]

Those grouse will give you a heart attack for sure.

Quail!

 

[rclouse79]

This is not my story, and it did not happen while hunting, but it is without a doubt the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard of happening in the backcountry. And even though it isn’t my story, I fully believe the person who told it to me.

My friend’s mom is a big backpacker. In the 80’s she hiked a pretty large portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. On some of her trips she would go solo. This was one of those trips. She was out there for a little over a week, just hiking and taking pictures and camping along the trail. Anyway, trip goes off without a hitch and she had a great time.

Now mind you, this was back before digital cameras, so after she got back from her trip she went to get her film developed. She got her pictures back and was looking through them when suddenly her heart dropped. Amongst the pictures she took of all the great landscapes were multiple pictures taken at night of her sleeping. Remember, she was solo on the trip. Some one had seen her on the trail, snuck into her camp at night and took pictures of her while she slept. For some reason I want to say there were pics from multiple places she stayed, like the dude had been following her, but I might be making that part up.

She never went solo again.

I have been scrolling backwards reading any post that got more than ten likes to catch up to where I left off before. There were some pretty good ones, but this was the only one that made my hair stand up.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Do you mind sharing where?

Central City, CO

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

I have been scrolling backwards reading any post that got more than ten likes to catch up to where I left off before. There were some pretty good ones, but this was the only one that made my hair stand up.

Bought this nasty little tiny fold up .300 blackout rifle. It’s my pack gun. For reasons just like this, 2 legged danger everywhere. Times are getting crazier.

 

[Quadzilla32]

You heard someone yelling help and you sat there for over an hour without going to give them aid?

Right? that is what I was thinking. Someone yelling for help and you just thought let the yotes have them?

 

[blackdog of vt]

We (wife and I) take expeditions to backcountry Vt fly fishing in the spring and usually do really well on brookies. We hike downstream, camp and fish back. We generally will put on 10-15 miles on a long weekend. Anyway, so this spring we were doing our usual hitting nice pools and catching natives. One afternoon we were hiking back to camp on the bank, we came over a rise and about 40 yards away was a barefoot man, grey breeches, long untucked white shirt standing on the river edge below us. I froze, he was staring straight ahead across the river and then his head jerked at our direction. The whole person was a strange color, like a foggy scene almost. I was fixed on him, maybe 4-6 seconds and looked back at my wife. The look on her face told me she had already seen it too. I looked right back, and the "person" was gone. No way a living human could have fled without us seeing. We chatted bewildered for a few and then I had to go to check for tracks. Nope. Not any sign. Yeah, that was interesting.

 

[Jstumbaugh]

We (wife and I) take expeditions to backcountry Vt fly fishing in the spring and usually do really well on brookies. We hike downstream, camp and fish back. We generally will put on 10-15 lies and long weekend. Anyway, so this spring we were doing our usual hitting nice pools and catching natives. One afternoon we were hiking back to camp on the bank, we came over a rise and about 40 yards away was a barefoot man, grey breeches, long untucked white shirt standing on the river edge below us. I froze, he was staring straight ahead across the river and then his head jerked at our direction. The whole person was a strange color, like a foggy scene almost. I was fixed on him, maybe 4-6 seconds and looked back at my wife. The look on her face told me she had already seen it too. I looked right back, and the "person" was gone. No way a living human could have fled without us seeing. We chatted bewildered for a few and then I had to go to check for tracks. Nope. Not any sign. Yeah, that was interesting.

So you packed up and headed home? No way my wife would have spent the night after that.....

 

[blackdog of vt]

So you packed up and headed home? No way my wife would have spent the night after that.....

Nope, spent another night. Let's just say the fire that night was way bigger than normal lol.

 

[manitou1]

We (wife and I) take expeditions to backcountry Vt fly fishing in the spring and usually do really well on brookies. We hike downstream, camp and fish back. We generally will put on 10-15 lies and long weekend. Anyway, so this spring we were doing our usual hitting nice pools and catching natives. One afternoon we were hiking back to camp on the bank, we came over a rise and about 40 yards away was a barefoot man, grey breeches, long untucked white shirt standing on the river edge below us. I froze, he was staring straight ahead across the river and then his head jerked at our direction. The whole person was a strange color, like a foggy scene almost. I was fixed on him, maybe 4-6 seconds and looked back at my wife. The look on her face told me she had already seen it too. I looked right back, and the "person" was gone. No way a living human could have fled without us seeing. We chatted bewildered for a few and then I had to go to check for tracks. Nope. Not any sign. Yeah, that was interesting.

I was standing on a river bank watching the trout rise one evening, trying to decide where to cast my #18 Adams and enjoying the solitude when a creepy couple came crashing down the trail that paralleled the creek. Figured my serenity was gone and the once rising trout went down, so I left.

 

[blackdog of vt]

I was standing on a river bank watching the trout rise one evening, trying to decide where to cast my #18 Adams and enjoying the solitude when a creepy couple came crashing down the trail that paralleled the creek. Figured my serenity was gone and the once rising trout went down, so I left.

An Admas on a Vt stream? Now that would be paranormal.

 

[manitou1]

An Admas on a Vt stream? Now that would be paranormal.

Ha, never fished VT. Live in WY, so I just threw out the first fly that came to mind!
That being said, I bet you could get one of those brookies to take an Adams. Heck, they eat about anything here.

 

[JustSomeGuy35]

Right? that is what I was thinking. Someone yelling for help and you just thought let the yotes have them?

Well he did say that it was the last evening of the season and that he thought he heard a deer below him. I reckon the urge to fill his tag outweighed any ideas of heroism. Lol

On a brighter note, he reported that he stuck around for an extra hour to hunt coyotes near the guy's possible carcass. He didn't list retribution as the reason for it but I like to think so.

Hahahaha