Noises at Night

“I was laying in my bivy last night listening to the sound of pounding rain through my pillow. I could actually hear the beating on the ground with each raindrop. It sounded like a stampede.

Has anyone else ever experienced any noises sobar or not while in the woods??”

“had a skylight just outside my bedroom in a place I used to live. When it rained heavy sounded something like that”

“yea but i dont wanna talk about it”

“must have been chili night for poppinfresh”

“i DONT wanna here.

DELIVERANCE style!
sqeel like a pig sqeeeeeel!!!”

“???? have you lost it? ??????”

“man is been ALONG day on the trail!”

“I like to sit very still and try to hear every noise I can.It's like a strange form of music.”

“I'm skeered of noises when they're in my camp and I'm soloing. Keep seeing bars.”

“I thought a elk was running towards my bivy. The little skunk ran up to my bivy, sniffing and waving its black & white tail, but it skeered the $hit outta me! My heart was pounding so hard I thought I would scare it. I didn't like his stinky butt that close to my face.”

“On my first solo hike a few years back the noises will never be forgoten.

Being that this was my first solo and that I was a little lonely, I lit this bon fire in an established camp to keep me company. Then later I realized that my fire was so big that I could probably be seen a mile away. Not wanting to attract attention I let the fire die. That night my crappy synthetic bag wouldn't keep me warm so I layed awake for a long while. Then I noticed how quiet it was. Suddenly I heard this Crackle. it sounded like something big breaking sticks. It was just my dead fire just talkin to me.

That night was soooooo quiet I could hear everything and at some points I thougth it was a little bit too quiet toooooo quiet. I only slept about 4 hours.

Now I hike with a new warm down bag and a little radio to comfort me when I'm a little skert. Then again, if I keep listening to Art Bell I might as well never sleep.”

“ok OK I'll tell you

I was walking down this trail ok. And I heard this soft mooing behind me.

"just some stupid cows" I thought

But the mooing kept getting closer
so I turn around and here come 3 large cows troting after me. so I move a little faster and they move faster.

finally I lost them.

but i kept hearing the MOOing from the trees

They were following us in the trees

And thats how my best friend was eating by cows later that night. They just dragged him off.

this is a true story...... well all except for my friend being eating

BUT WATCH OUT THIS COULD HAPPEN TO A FRIEND CLOSE TO YOU..... maybe even to YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“LOL!”

“Some years ago I was sleeping in a big burned out redwood (still living, of course) in Humboldt County at night when I heard a soft crack a couple feet from the opening. In my mind I saw a bare stepping on a branch and hovering over the opening, looking at me. After a moment I couldn't stand it anymore and pulled my head out the sleeping bag. Nothing there. Anymore, at least.”

“Rain on my tent is what gets me, not because of the sounds, but because I really can't hear anything and my imagination runs wild.”

“Im with ya! I get paranoid, and irritated at the rain after hours of it, dam "cant sleep"”

“Love the sound of the pitter-patter of rain on my rain fly. HATE the sound of the bear f!rting and belching after he devoured the last days food, even though it was hung high and dry---the food, that is!”

“I have a barn we put up a few years ago, and there is nothing I like better than hearing the rain hit the tin roof. I even know two good friends of mine who put a tin roof over their bedroom, just so they could enjoy the sound of that.

I am partial to water.. and brooks.. soft wind making the trees whisper and tease me with their callings.. I luv the sounds of the hawks and owl.. and an occasional fox or racoon.. it is magickal..

locusts and mosquitos I can do without, but give me the distinct sound of a deer breaking off a twig anytime... or even the howl of the coyote as they make their evening rounds.”

“My favorite two sounds (other than Newergirl giggling) are wind in Aspens and wind in a wheat field. Very distinct, very pretty.”

“A few months ago while backpacking, a serious wind picked up during the night. Couldn't sleep a wink...trees and branches were whipping, the wind was whistling all night and the falling leaves were crackling.”

“On the admittedly few backpacking trips I've made, the morning discussion always included everyone's interpretation of the night noises heard, along with the surprise that some people heard very little.”

“I'm one of those sleepers Splash is referring to. If I don't hear the noises before slipping into la-la land, I won't hear much at all (except for when my snoring wakes me up). Next morning, I hear about the noises from the others, and wish I didn't sleep so darn well. I'm sure my dog Sparky hears 'em too, but he never wakes me up to listen.

These posts remind me of a great song by the Crash Test Dummies. Here are some of the lines...

When you go on camping trips
Your stuck right out in nature
Foraging the forests like a primate
Using sharpened tools instead of hotplates

Your thumb and forefinger
Supposed to show your not a wild beast
You can hear the noises at night time
They don't have to keep a certain bedtime

Sometimes when I lie awake
I hear the rainfall on my tent fly
I think of all the insects that are sleeping
And wonder if the animals are dreaming

And when I finally get to sleep
I dream in technicolor
I see creatures come back from the Ice Age
Alive and being fed inside a zoo cage”

“Whoa, ...deep.

I would like to get to a point where I listen to the noises when I want and sleep through it when I want. Some night noises make my heart race, like the screech owl we heard one night. It sounded more like a wolf howling with a sore throat. If I had known it was a screech owl, I would have slept much better.”

“where's Marvin Gardens! he always hears noises”

“Coyotes are my favoite night time sound.

The freakiest thing I ever heard was a wild turkey walking through camp. Freaked me out pretty bad at first.”

“Splash - I concur. Screech owls make a wierd, but cool, sound. Amazing how such a little creature can make such a racket. Raccoons make a pretty crazy sound also when they start bickering with eachother.

My favorite sound is the "who... who who who... who" of the great horned owl. Very relaxing, and lulls me to sleep.”

“Barred owls over the tarp.”

“heard coyotes howling last night and dreamed that packs of hungry wolves were snuffling around my tent all night. Khatru (my dog) and I sat bolt upright out of a dead sleep when the howling started, he looked at me and his face said protect me, don;t let the wolves get me. It was so comical, finally, I laid back to down and fell fast asleep.

It is nice to know that all you "experienced" hikers and bacpackers, still start at the sounds of the night...LOL!!!”

“It was strange but last night I heard nothing but a breeze....Thats it.....I slept so good last night......:)I wish I was still backpacking......:(”

“I dig the sound of mice scurrying around in a shelter. I draw the line though if I hear them on my food bag though. A well placed boot through gets them off though.”

“Wham!!!!!!!Right walkindude...:)”

“Late one night all alone my eyelids flew open, I heard the footsteps, crunch, crunch, crunch
I closed my eyes and hoped what ever it was, was passing by and not stalking me as lunch
coming dead at me, right as rain and on a true and steady course
I laughed out loud when it snorted, Thank God it`s only a horse”

“Yeah, Big Foot, but what about the confederate ghost that was riding that horse (or was it the headless horseman?).”

“Thats true....:)It was headless.......Arggggggggggg..:o”

“If you two keep that up I`ll be forced to tell you one
about how it all happened and how my life just came undone
Sleey Hollow revisited, or so now it would all seem
I`ve tried to put it behind me and think on it as a dream”

“I nearly crushed humanpackmule the first time I went carcamping with him. Something woke me from a very sound sleep and I had no idea what it was. My face was only inches from the wall of the tent. Then the side of the tent got pushed in and I heard a pretty good "snort." It startled me so bad I jumped over and landed on top of HPM, who had no idea what just hit him. Poor thing. The critter by the way was an armadillo trying to nose its way under the tent looking for goodies.”

“That gave me a good chuckle! What would have happened if you were in a tarp? I always wondered if the tarping people awake to find various critters checking out their faces.”

“Our local Boyscout summer camp reservation is primitive camping only. We stay in traditional canvas wall tents with wooden pallet floors. It is not at all unusual to wake up being investigated by the wildlife (usually skunks). I have never had this happen while tarping it or cowboy camping but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Of course, you have to really watch the snake-thing in all of the above situations.”

“Okay, generally I like to avoid the whole snake-thing discussion; but what are you saying? That when I go to girl scout camp (we have the same type of permanent tents), I might find a snake looking for a sleeping bag to snooze on? It's funny, but the other Moms keep telling me how they like those tents because then they don't have anything to set up, and I keep reminding them that the floors have gaps and the corners marginally tie shut. WHy is it that this bothers me and not them, when they are city people and I'm not?”

“They don't know what's lurking out there. You do.”

“It doesn't really bother me, I just make sure I thoroughly inspect my bedding inside and out for any kind of insect/arachnid/reptile life forms before turning in. Of course, our boys like to play jokes on the adults like tossing food under there bed or pallet to attract wildlife in the night. There has been a time or 2 an adult has found a snake or spider in a securely zipped and anchored sleeping bag (I wonder how that got in there?). I haven't yet had a problem with this, but I've made it no secret that I check for these things frequently. Some of the funniest summer camp stories we have stem from these little night time pranks.”

“I've never had problems with animals trying to get in my sleeping bag before. Not even shelter mice.
Splash, If it makes you feel better, I've heard that snakes won't go in sleeping bags on their own because they don't like the smell of people.
I've had skunks scratch on the tent before. Once in the Cahuttas (north Georgia)I was pretty sure I heard something sniffing around outside my tent. The sniffing seemed to have been about 3 feet from the ground (maybe a bear). The next day my buddy said something hit the guy line on his tent and was pulled tight for a second then loosened. Our food was away from camp and I was glad!”

“You guys are scaring me!!!

OK Big Foot, spill the beans...”

“When we were on the JMT last summer we made camp down the trail from bull Frog lakes(bad bear area) we settled in about 10..It wasn't 20 min. till we hear this muffled "Bear" from Pantscandy...He though I was messing with his pack at his feet..sure enough it was a big ol black bear right at his feet..My cousin Joel and brother Daniel hopped up and started throwing rocks at it...After about 30 min. of running it off we all went to bed... I was having this dream that one of my college buddies was so successful in his career that he had built his mom this huge house...In the dream he had these dogs that were scratching the banister to the stairs..sure enough I woke and it was the bear climbing the tree to get at our food... I hollered at Joel and Danny...They hopped up and Joel beaned the bear with a good sized rock..it slid down that tree like it was a fire pole, and left 6 feet of claw marks on the sides...I guess after that it'd had enough and that was it for the night....”

“A few years ago at Iva Bell Hot Springs, the local bear got a bag of stuff that didn't fit in one guys canister. He hung it on a low branch (duh!). We heard something rip, and hit the ground. SnowDude, Tim and I chased the bear around camp. Our friend Alex was in his bivy asleep, while we were running around him. In the morning he asked "what bear??"”

“One more. SnowDude and I did a 6 day backpack with a friend, then followed it with a group from work for a 7 day trip. On the first trip, the guys kept hearing a bear, but it was only me doing stuff around camp (insomnia). On the second trip, they heard noises at midnight, but figured it was just me. This time it was the 3 bears. It was a pretty exciting evening chasing bears!”

“Next time I hear something outside my I'm going to just say to myself,
It's not a bear. It's just Snow Nymph. She can't sleep.”

“Sometimes it is a bear. Jerbear getting up to get chocolate, that is!”

“I usually sleep like a rock outdoors.

We had those canvas walled tents on platforms at Boy Scout camp too. One night I woke up because it was pretty windy and saw a skunk under my buddy's cot eating his Turkish Taffy. I lay very still and let him finish it.

The biggest fright I got was when we were sleeping in a meadow under the stars and some deer nearly stepped on us. I didn't know they could make such a blood-curdling scream. Scared the #&%!$ out of us!

For what it's worth, I've also heard that snakes won't really want to get into your sleeping bag. Warm or not, we are pretty gross.”

“I've back packed on catalina island and had a few boars check out our campsite. I buddy of mine got a buffalo eye peaking in his tent too.”