Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[Voyageur]

I do float trips on the Colorado between Fruit and Westwater all the time in the summer and came to a point where I would just lay my sleeping bag out on top of a tarp on the beach at the edge of the water. Sleeping next to the water and hearing the current/rapids is soothing. One night I kept hearing the largest splashes I had ever heard and was wondering of rocks were falling off the cliff sides in to the river or what. Anyway my imagination got the best of me and I slept like shit all night being woken up ever 20 minutes or so by another huge splash. The next morning I was talking about it with the other people on the trip and everyone else was also wondering what the hell was going on all night.

Anyway, we pack up and put in and start floating down the river and almost instantly hear the same splash and this time I see it.. It was a beaver. Couldn't believe how big and loud of a splash those things make with their tails and also that they are active all night long. The splash was comparable to tossing a 12 inch round boulder off the end of a dock.

Appreciate the input def90. Good theory, but it definitely wasn't a beaver. I've trapped and hunted beaver for almost 50 years and this splash was way way WAY bigger. It was actually a concussion-like sound.

 

[snik]

Didn’t happen to me, but happened to a neighbor of mine. When he was in High School him and his girlfriend were up the canyon doing shrooms one evening. While on shrooms they were exploring different caves/ abandoned mines. In one of the caves they came across a body. Ended up being one of Ted Bundys victims (Laura Ann Aime, 17 • She disappeared from a Lehi park on Oct. 31, 1974. She was found a month later in American Fork Canyon. Bundy confessed to her murder.)

 

[bsnedeker]

Didn’t happen to me, but happened to a neighbor of mine. When he was in High School him and his girlfriend were up the canyon doing shrooms one evening. While on shrooms they were exploring different caves/ abandoned mines. In one of the caves they came across a body. Ended up being one of Ted Bundys victims (Laura Ann Aime, 17 • She disappeared from a Lehi park on Oct. 31, 1974. She was found a month later in American Fork Canyon. Bundy confessed to her murder.)

Well ladies and gentleman...I think we have a winner!

 

[Antarctica]

It was a freakin' fox.

First time I heard a fox doing that it was siting on a wood pile about 50 feet from the small place i rented on a farm. A buddy and I were sitting around drinking beer and playing guitar at about midnight.

I swear for about the first three minutes we thought a woman was getting torn apart right outside. Heard 'em lots of times since, but never like that first time.

 

[Swampyak]

Had an odd experience today while painting a timber sale. If got to this little balsam fir/cedar point. I was going to go around it the decided to cut through it.
All the sudden I had a load buzzing or wind noise in my ear followed by an odd eerie feeling the rest of the day.

 

[Coupe de Gras]

Mark another one down for the fox, first time I ever heard one I also thought it was an old woman screaming. Freaked me out for sure.

Hunting down near the border in Texas, worst I ever had was walking to a box blind in the dark. I went to open the door, and have the door cracked about a couple of inches and it slams back shut. I try again thinking it got hung on something and now it won't budge. I kept trying to open it with no success and it took me a minute to realize that I had an illegal sleeping inside the blind. Keep in mind I was only 16 and by myself, I yelled at them that I was going to walk away for 5 minutes and they better be gone when I get back, when I returned they were gone. I was spooked, considering how lucky I was it wasn't mules instead.

Also once had a ring-tailed cat curl up in my lap while hunting a sendero once. I'm pretty sure we both had the crap scared out of us.

 

[lyle_destroys]

Had an odd experience today while painting a timber sale. If got to this little balsam fir/cedar point. I was going to go around it the decided to cut through it.
All the sudden I had a load buzzing or wind noise in my ear followed by an odd eerie feeling the rest of the day.

This is something I've had happen several times in my life. None of them were incredibly memorable or happened while I was anywhere remote but;
Several times I've had a single ear start ringing, caused by something I couldn't hear but I could feel, like my body could feel the vibration of it. It always makes me wonder if there was some incredibly loud noise at a frequency I couldn't hear that was loud enough to still make my ears ring. Odd experience though.

 

[BigDog00]

I wouldn't say I've ever had anything truly scary happen in the woods. About 10 years ago a group of us were hunting CO during 1st season with cow tags. Our camp was set up with a wall tent and a camper, three of us in the wall tent and another guy was in his camper. We had all the coolers lined up outside along one of the walls of the tent. We had just gone to bed and I was laying there trying to fall asleep and it sounded like the guy in the camper was digging around in one of the coolers. I didn't think much of it because we would routinely set out food that was frozen for the next day. This went on for a few minutes then stopped. I was just about to doze off when it started up again, only this time it sounded like something was coming under the tent wall. Now mind you, we're all zipped up in sleeping bags like big burritos. The other two guys in the tent were in their late 50's and were basically comatose. I start to freak out thinking its a bear and know I have no way to protect myself. Of course my pistol is in the truck, so I reluctantly grab my headlamp. Much to my surprise I've got a fox about four feet from me in the tent and he's doesn't seem too concerned. I've got about a 100 different scenarios going through my mind on what's about to happen. I make it known that we have a visitor and the other two wake up. We all kind of scramble out of our bags and take defensive positions. Turns out it took one of us throwing a boot to get him out of the tent. The guy in the trailer heard the commotion and came out with his .357 but no shots were fired. He thought it was a bear as well. After my heart rate calmed down a little bit we all had a good laugh. Needless to say my pistol that had been in the truck was right next to me each night after that. That fox wasn't too scared of us and we figured he had been either helping himself to other camps or being fed by others. We only saw him that night thankfully, I thought he may be back for seconds.

On a side note, my dad (he was there) got me a Roxie the fox stuffed animal for Christmas that year. We all got another good laugh out of it and it gets brought up from time to time.

 

[Fatcamp]

I do float trips on the Colorado between Fruit and Westwater all the time in the summer and came to a point where I would just lay my sleeping bag out on top of a tarp on the beach at the edge of the water. Sleeping next to the water and hearing the current/rapids is soothing. One night I kept hearing the largest splashes I had ever heard and was wondering of rocks were falling off the cliff sides in to the river or what. Anyway my imagination got the best of me and I slept like shit all night being woken up ever 20 minutes or so by another huge splash. The next morning I was talking about it with the other people on the trip and everyone else was also wondering what the hell was going on all night.

Anyway, we pack up and put in and start floating down the river and almost instantly hear the same splash and this time I see it.. It was a beaver. Couldn't believe how big and loud of a splash those things make with their tails and also that they are active all night long. The splash was comparable to tossing a 12 inch round boulder off the end of a dock.

Now imagine that six feet away in the dark while waist deep setting decoys. LOL. Dang things.

 

[1stGenOutdoorsman]

Summer before senior year of high school I took a trip to Germany. On mountain overlooking Berchtesgaden a friend and I were wandering, heard some drums, left the trail and followed the sound through the forrest. We found ourselves over a clearing where boys, aged roughly 10-18 were marching/drilling in plain white tees, khaki shorts, with broomsticks and plain white flags. Given the history of Berchtesgaden, their secluded location, and general vibe, we assumed they were some modern version of the Hitler Youth. We watched for a bit before quietly backing out. That was pretty freaky especially since we had just visited Dachau a few days before.

Along the same lines I have seen skulls and other bones washing out of shallow graves in the Khmer Rouge Killing fields.

I’ve had my share of things in the dark woods happening, eyes shining things crashing through brush nearby, a sixth sense of unease.... Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, the stories aren’t as good as others have shared. However, even when in the woods, if I’m worrying, it’s generally about what people can do to other people slightly different people.

 

[7718Sallee]

How many satellites could you see in a line? That's pretty cool you could see it. I really like what SpaceX is doing for NASA and space flight, but that starlink is the scariest proposition I've heard Elon musk make. And thus, the scariest thing to happen to the backcountry

Ive seen one of them and it freaked me out because they also seem really low more like an airplane then a satellite. Had to google it up. 34 in the one I seen

 

[Brancher]

I've been following this thread for months and enjoying what others have shared.
I've got two experiences worth sharing. I'll start with the less dramatic of the two.
Seven years ago 4 of us were on a July backpacking trip in the Wind River Wilderness Area. It was day three of our week long trip and we were stopped to rest at midday before pushing on over the divide and finding a suitable spot to stop for the night.
Our resting spot was on the shore of a small lake right around 10000' in elevation. It was nearing timberline...in the zone where the only trees were low growing bushes. The shore of the lake was mostly rock shelves right at the waterline and relatively level. After we shed our packs and got the dogs out of theirs we stretched out in the sun and just relaxed.
While we were laying there there was a tremendous splash about 30 yards down the shore from us. The kind of splash that would come from a HUGE rock/boulder being hurled into the water. At the concussion we bolted up and turned around to see what had caused the ruckus. We could see by the disturbance on the surface of the lake where the rock (or something) had entered the water 50' or so from the shore. As I said, the lake shore was level. There were no cliffs of any sort the rock could have fallen from. The only trees were low growing bushes. As we sat there and regained our composure we quietly discussed what might be responsible for the commotion. Our theories ranged from Bigfoot to meteors, and everything in between.
To this day we still discuss what happened there and I will occasionally pull up the picture I took of the lake shore just to remind myself how weird and unexplainable it was.
Like I said, not overly dramatic, but totally weird.

That would have been a beaver slapping his tail in the water. Most of those lakes below 10K up there have a beaver swimming around in them. Seen it happen often.

 

[Voyageur]

That would have been a beaver slapping his tail in the water. Most of those lakes below 10K up there have a beaver swimming around in them. Seen it happen often.

Appreciate the input, but it definitely wasn't a beaver. I've trapped and hunted beaver for 50 years and this sound was way WAY bigger. It was the sound of something boulder size hitting the water. I forgot to mention in my story that we heard whatever it was that made the splash strike the rocks on the bottom of the lake as well. Short of something falling from the sky we can't to this day come up with a logical explanation.

 

[Kobuk]

Several years ago a buddy and I are out on a late season hunt and there is quite a bit of snow on the ground. We are several miles back nowhere near any trail other than game trails. We came upon a small tent set up in a pretty thick area. I remember that we called out so not to freak anyone out and slowly approached. Thats when we noticed that there weren't any tracks in the snow at all and it was down in the low teens. Now we are trying to decide if we should look inside or just leave it and if we look, who is going to to unzip that door! I was worried that if someone was camping in these temps and hasn't been out in who knows how many days, it might not be good. After getting all worked up I opened the tent to find it empty. Thank God! haha It always amazes me how we can instantly imagine the worst senario.

 

[Headwatermike]

I had an upsetting experience while in the woods some years ago. My main squeeze and I were out for a nature walk. We were exploring birds and insects enjoying ourselves. I'd brought a nice little picnic with some celebratory beverages for the occasion. Sorry if it sounds corny but this lil lady was really special; she was hot-to-trot and was stacked, a little thick but that's how I roll. I had the whole spread out and buttered the biscuits. She was exercising, busting out some squats in the cucumber patch and I was fixing to really storm the pink castle with a friendly weapon when we starting hearing a very strange sound from the forest. Some sort of whooping, squawking. I thought for a minute a sasquatch might have been casting an envious eye on my conquest, you know, with designs on becoming the banana in our fruit salad. But then this weirdo perv came sneaking out of the woods. He was in all camo, I suppose just so he could sneak up on innocent picnickers and do a bit of peeping. I won't lie--it was more than off-putting, it was scary. We tidied ourselves up a bit, not having expected company, and I tried offering the guy a beer. My girl had an expectant look on her voluptuous face. I had a weird vibe from this camo-dude when he turned down a beer, who does that after 9am?? He was really making eyes at the fish I had landed and I thought it was time to get going so I asked him to move along. Not long after I moved from Missouri, there were just getting to be too many weirdos out in the woods...

 

[2-Stix]

I have a few minor ones.

1. Hunting a few weeks back on a logging road out of Cave Junction, OR, 2 small foxes lay in the road with their heads cut off. It was a few days before Oct 30th.

2. 5 years ago on a deep hiking in my front county out of Ventura, CA I was up looking for native art, found parts of a down plane.

3. Hiking cross-county across from the 5 and Tejon Ranch looking for fish, we came across a perfectly placed rolled-up sleeping bag. We have tons of illegal pot grows and we were off-trail.

4. I was riding in the So Cal desert out off the 14 by Ridgecrest and my partner and I sometimes take this tight canyon to a rock waterfall that is always dry. It's pretty tough and you gotta be on your game. We were picking our way up, and helping each other and we hear a bike roll-up. We scurried up and never saw dust, heard the guy, nothing. Just a bike comes within 30 yards, solo, shut off and nothing.

5. Another time riding dirtbikes in the So Cal mountains about 10 years ago on the top of the 5 by Tejon Ranch in the middle of know where a few trees were painted and some were wrapped with yarn.

6. Last hiking in the Wind River Range in WY the wife and I came across a moose hind end. It was a bit picked but there. It was super heavy timber, and the hair on my neck was up. I racked the .45, she had the bear spray out. 10 mins later we got rushed by a cow and calf. She stopped at 40 yards. That was scary, but I guarantee there was a brown bear in that area we were. It was hunting the meadow and dragging the kill up into the timber. It sure bonded we and the wife.

 

[Brancher]

3 years ago I was hunting antelope out in the northern part of the Red Desert in Wy, near an area called Bison Basin. I was hunting alone and put on a short stalk over a ridge on a group and picked out a nice buck and put the shot on him he dropped and I made my way out to field dress and tag him and get him loaded up. It was about 200 yards out to where he dropped and as I'm walking out and nearing him I look off in the distance towards the south and see an extremely bright light heading quickly in my direction.

I'm a little confused at first because there was no road out there, I thought maybe it was a game warden in a side by side coming to check my tags and what not after he heard me shoot. The light was about 2 miles off when I first noticed it. I get to the buck and see the light still zooming toward me, hovering about just above the sage brush, its about a mile out and I notice there is no sound at all expecting to hear a motor running at this point. I also notice that with the sun setting behind me and the light in front of me it appears to be almost a reflection from the setting sun, like a mirror zooming over the top of the sage. I started to get spooked at this point. I divert my attention from the light and quickly fill out my tag and tie it on his horn and I look up and see the still silent light is about a quarter mile off and it dives down behind some sage and I don't see it anymore.

At this point I'm ready to gtfo, I field dress as fast as I possibly can all the while peeking up to see if the light has returned, after about 2-3 minutes I look up and about 5 miles in the distance I see the light now zooming away from me across the prairie, its going faster than any side by side or atv could possibly travel in that terrain and it has covered about a 4-5 mile distance in a matter of minutes. I finish dressing and then nearly run/drag the antelope back to the road and run to my truck get the antelope loaded into the cooler and gtfo. No clue what that light was that day, I asked around if game and fish has been using drones to observe hunters and they have not been doing that, plus a drone would have made a considerable amount of noise given it came close enough for me to hear it especially given the size. Would love to know what I saw that day, spooked me pretty good.

 

[TonySkyline]

Woooow ^^^ dude, that would scare the hell out of me. You almost got abducted! Haha. For real though, what can explain that! I've seen similar off in the distance. One minute its there and then zooms off in a way that an airplane just can't fly. #thetruthisoutthere
Wonder if the government has alien technology and are testing it. Who knows but glad you are still here to post about it!

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Antarctica]

As an easterner, I'm just glad all this weird shit mostly happens out west. I'd never go in the woods if I witnessed half this stuff...

 

[Crusader]

This isn't all that creepy, but more like weird and certainly, unexplainable, at least to me. Kinda follows Brancher's post above about a light.

This was just last week Wednesday during deer season at my farm in NE Missouri. It was around 5:30am, it was a super clear, cloudless sky with virtually no moon, just tons of stars. We had just pulled into a pasture area off an unlit gravel road a quarter mile or so from the ground blind we were going to hunt out of. We were at the back of my SUV with the hatchback closed, no lights on, and we were gathering our gear getting ready to start walking. All of a sudden there was this instant, gigantic flash of light right on us and around us, maybe literally only a fraction of a second in duration. It wasn't lightning, wasn't on the horizon or anything, just right ON us. As if an enormous camera flash was triggered on us. I'm not sure I've ever seen a light as bright and as quickly on and off as that was. We both looked at each other and said what the heck was that? Neither of us had or has any idea what that was. But I'm glad my buddy was there as a witness because I don't think anyone would believe it if I told them about it.

Any thoughts on what that could have been?