Just about a year ago, I spent a solo week out on the Arizona Strip. At the beginning of the trip, the weather was classic fall perfection and I slept on the ground most nights, content, happy, and comfortable. On the last night of the trip, though, clouds and rain moved in and I turned north of Route 89 on some dirt and headed back into the hills to post up in my vehicle.
After a quick dinner, I stretched out inside, turned on some string lights for a little atmosphere, and settled down to watch an episode of American Horror Story on my phone. All of sudden, the patter of rain on the roof didn’t sound so benign. The tree branches rustling in the wind looked like accusatory skeletal arms. When I hustled outside to answer nature’s call, my skin filled with goosebumps–not from the chill, but from the eerieness I’d spun up in my own empty head.
I don’t get creeped out often, but when I do it’s of my own making. Come to think of it, it’s always of your own making. But sleeping in lion or bear country distills to a fairly logical, safe pursuit; hang your Twinkies from a tree branch and you’re probably fine. It’s those nights when you imagine jailbroken serial killers or cannibalistic redneck locals that you get yourself worked up—when the irrational lurks at the edge of your consciousness and occasionally dabs one foot over the line.
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When the dog gets scared I get scared!
My dog is the one who freeks me out then it’s no sleep.
I don’t know which is worse: to be cooped up in a tent/van without seeing what is making the noise, or cowboy camping and feeling vulnerable out in the open.
I am the one who knocks muhahahahahahahha
Absolutley, no shame in my game.
Those middle of the night pisses are the worst….
I was doing section hikes on the AT and one Thanksgiving week I hiked an area outside Damascus. It started raining and I was concerned that I may have camped too close to a stream. During the night I heard noise outside my one man North Face tent and was surprised by a bear sniffing the fabric pretty hard. My food was in a tree and I guess I didn’t smell like turkey and dressing so the furry fellar moved along. But did keep me awake a minute or two later.
i hear at least 2 bears or rednecks everytime i’m out.
my biggest worry is some of the people I see out there
yes I get spooked if I camp on my own
absolutely
when i hear something that sounds “yooooge” lumbering on 4 legs through the nearby woods and making non-human noises at 3am i think it is ok to be nervous….
Used to be bears. But i’ve since gotten over that fear. Now I only spooked when the rumors of mountain lions being back in the Appalachians are brought up from time to time.
Can we add “Deliverance” to the poll?
Had a night recently when I was woken by the sound of wolves howling around my camp … that was a first and it took me 2 hours to fall back asleep.
Def the 3 am pee sessions.
Yup, but less and less the more I camp. Mainly in grizz country.
Camping in Yellowstone’s backcountry with my 4 1/2 year old. It’s a whole ‘nother level when you’re responsible for another soul! I still don’t know what that crashing through the woods was, or the gutteral moaning that passed by our tent that night – but I was awake for ALL OF IT.
I enjoy the false sense of security provided by the walls of my tent, which also keep me from having to see my impending demise.
Oh hell yes. Working in the wilderness can be very humbling. Even after 25 years of guiding multi day trips, I still get spooked. Bug and small things alike do go bump in the woods at night!
Once read The Shining on a solo trip.
Yep
It’s normally the fear of large animals. I’m pretty sure I can outrun a serial killer. I assume they don’t exercise much.
When setting up my hammock at the edge of a treeline, and a friend says “hope you don’t feel a bear snout poke you in the middle of the night,” it keeps a guy up a night.
The last time my wife will ever camp ended after we had both worked each other into a fearful frenzy. We can laugh about it now, but it took same time.
Lots of stuff can sound or be spooky anytime of year when camping; especially solo. But when you have young Scouts and you go around the campfire telling ghost stories is when you get the best result. You can make any ghost story you have ever heard even scarier by changing the location to the area just across the lake!
Also my sunglasses were destroyed by my realtor and I would love these Smith sunglasses!
Oh yeah! First time sleeping in a hammock was nerve-wracking.
I try not to camp at the corner of “you gotta purdy mouth” and “hillbilly way”
Certainly gets creepy out there, sometimes.
My big camping trip across western states and national parks last year the first night out…”the 3am pee break” I’m “midstream” and suddenly hear twigs and branches crunching just 10-15yds away! It’s amazing how quickly the flight or fight response can suddenly give bladder sphincters the ability to rocket propel whatever liquid remains in one’s bladder. From that night forward I adapted by kneeling in my tent and voiding into a blue plastic Lays potato chips tube. Those containers work great also for pasta!
just when the coyotes start the call to their buddies
Got to a spot after-dark late. I swore there were axe murderers and didn’t sleep a wink. Next morning- nothing. Just a sweet safe campsite. On the return trip, same deal except that we are up in the Rockies. I SWEAR that I could hear something walking around the campsite except that we are too close to the creek to be sure. Boyfriend sits up and looks out through the mesh. Wisely tells me that it was nothing. The next morning after a particularly rushed exit he tells me that there was a large four-legged animal walking away from the tent. Real vs. imagined.
Don’t bring creepy books to read!!
weta are the incarnation of the devil
I blame the Blair Witch Project!
My first solo hike on the Lacloche Trail, Killarney Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. I caught the tail end of a storm on my first day and the wind was howling through the trees. My first night alone and the wind and the shadows played on my mind. It took a long time to get to sleep that night but when I woke up to a calm morning and the rest of the trip was great.
Always get spooked camping especially in a tent,knowing that there’s bears and other large animals out at night hunting for food,and all the crazy nature sounds you seem to hear always intensify the imagination
Worst creep ever!
Woke up with strange lights directly above my tent…
Looked out and was blinded by who knows what…
Woke up the next morning and the date on my watch was one day later then I expected!
I really don’t think I slept 24 hours!
Dark Canyon will never be the same!
oh yeah, whenever its something big, at first i’m like, yeah thats just a deer….. then i’m like is that deer drunk why is it making so much noise??? then i just hold my breath for 30 minutes and everything is okay.
As long as a bear doesn’t sit on me we’re good.
I camped within a few miles of a correctional facility last week on a well known trail. My buddy kept hearing voices and footsteps and kept me up all night whining about what’s outside. It turned out to be a mouse, jumping around in the leaves. I’m not sure if he loses his man card or not for that one. It was pretty fun nonetheless at his groan of discovery.
beee careful and whatever ya do watch out for the……………
Walking in the woods alone with a failing headlamp guided by the moonlight caused some anxiety.
In grizzly country only. But I prefer my Whelen tent in Griz country just so I can see ’em coming !!!
Yes, for sure. Especially near a running river or stream for some reason.
HELL YEAH!
Rationally, no but then again, I’m not always rational.
Especially solo camping! Having the dog with me helps 🙂
Yes, when solo camping sometimes the imagination can run wild…
I said no but sometimes I do. Don’t tell the rest of the family.
that cougar that crossed the trail earlier in the evening as the sun was just settling beyond the ridge…?
wonder where s/he was headed ever so nonchalantly & silently?
[shudder]
no … well, not that I’d admit to …
Threw my pad and sleeping bag out on a level piece of ground when I got into the campground after dark. Woke up to something galloping towards me. Turns out, I was sleeping on a game trail.
Had a friend (unbeknownst to me) bury a ham in the ashes of our fire to have it cook for breakfast. Three hours later a dozen coyotes were fighting over it a few feet from our tent.
And, raccoons sound like bears when they knock your coleman stove off the picnic table at 3:00am.
That was a great read a d yes I’ve seemingly jump out my skin more than once in the woods.
I’m scared right now. Thanks….
I always feel better when there are other campers around.
Camping at Lake Watauga several years ago with a friend, we were sitting around after dinner when we heard a loud rustling noise in the distance. As we peered into the inky darkness searching for movement, we finally spotted the shadowy figure of an enormous bear several hundred yards away down on the shore as he waded into the water, splashed around, then got out and vanished into the woods. The next morning, we found giant paw-prints all around the shore, uncomfortably close to our campsite. The front paws were a solid 8 inches wide, with some gnarly claws. We were glad that we’d opted to build a fire that night after the initial sighting…
When my dog gets jittery I get worried about what’s out there.
Things that go “bump in the night” can be scary! I don’t worry too much about the animals … it’s fear of the rednecks that makes me lie awake! I always try to camp away from roads,public campsites, and even trails while visiting areas that might harbor rednecks!
On one occasion I kept hearing sniffling noises outside the tent. I tried to ignore the sounds and finally, after the noise quieted down, drifted off to sleep. In the morning I found a very friendly (and hungry!) beagle hound snuggled against the tent fly. Some hunter was missing his dog!
And, speaking of rednecks … do NOT read “Deliverance” while on a camping trip. Do not watch “Deliverance” before going on a camping trip! And don’t say you weren’t warned!
When you can hear the distant charm of a silent banjo from a front porch in a dense forest you might be sleeping too close!
Anyone who doesn’t get a little nervious or scared in the back country isn’t human.
How can you not?!
When the rain drops falling from leaves and branches sounds like salivating monsters…
It’s the mysterious SCREACH (I’m guessing an owl taking out a rabbit) in the middle of the night and then the subsequent thoughts of bears carrying my kids off into the night and trying to figure out how to explain that to my wife that truly freaks me out.
The little sounds get amplified in your mind. A vole or a mouse sounds like a wolverine in a quiet forest when you’re alone.
Isn’t that why we go? To let nature amaze us and refresh our instincts and sharpen our senses?
I’m ok not sharpening my senses at the 3am pee. I’ve now adopted the ziploc or Gatorade bottle pee-inside-my-tent kneeling trick. The funny thing is that when I’m home, I NEVER wake up at 3 am to pee; in the wild, it never fails…
What was that?