Scariest moment in the wilderness

“What's your scariest moment in the wilderness: lost, injured, encountered dangerous wildlife, or had to survive?

Reading that excellent lost article made me think of it. I've had only one serious time, but one time that also reminded me of the article on knowing when to turn back.

Our second backpacking trip was up to Snowy Mountain in Mendocino National Forest (CA) in June after planning the trip at the last moment. We called the ranger station for permits etc, and he said he'd have a map and permit waiting for us. That was the last time I trusted a ranger to give us a map. (Notice the subtle use of foreshadowing.)

Well, the trail kept getting lost in the snow, and we finally couldn't follow it anymore. In trying to figure out where we were on this horrible map, we encountered the only other people we saw the whole weekend. They showed us the trick of looking for notches in the trees to follow the trail. But even that failed eventually, and we were completely lost.

So I tried to use the topography to find the trail based on the map. (Did I mention is was a bad map, photocopied even?) I\'d like to think I\'m good at figuring out where I am based on a topographic map, but to be honest I'm new enough that I may not be. But in this case I was right. We followed the topography on the map right down to a steep valley that would lead us to our evening destination.

To make a long story short (Ha!) we had been trying to follow a county line on the map. The valley was impassable, and we had to choose. Forge on, or turn back (it had taken us 4 hours since a suitable camping area). Fortunately, we had the presence of mind to turn back, despite it being a fairly difficult task. But I could easily have seen us pushing ourselves forward hard enough that we would have regretted our decision, or worse, trying to pass the impassable pass, and not passing.

Anyway, that wasn't that serious, but it shows how often we face such decisions in the wilderness. We went to Kennedy Meadows and took a wrong turn after WAY too much hiking in one day, and were so exhausted that we stupidly crossed a very dangerous river on a tree, rather than hike back a mile to find the bridge.

The one that really scared me though was getting lost in a cave. When I was about 12 or so, we went cave camping with the Boy Scouts in the 2nd largest cave in Missouri. A group set out to the inner reaches of the cave, and me and another friend followed late. We took a shortcut by crawling through a river (stupid!) and we almost caught up to them (could hear them and see their lights) but we couldn't pass a ledge that we came to, so had to turn back. (Turns out later that we were in the right place, but had to blindly reach for a wire in front of us to climb down).

On our way out, we got lost. We thought we had found a narrow passage out called hairpin turn, and climbed down into it. But it was a crack that disappeared. So we climbed back out, and as I was climbing the wet rock with my hands and legs wedged across the widening crack, my flashlight went out and I lost my helmet.

My friend occasionally shone his pitiful KMart flashlight back for me as I worked my way up. As we got to the top, we realized we were standing on, essentially, a big tabletop, with a 30+ foot drop in every direction. So we jumped (on wet rock) across to another rock to get off.

Again, to make a long story short, climbed around, me essentially blind and scared out of my wits, until my friend says, "I think I've found the path." You'll have to jump. At this point, I can't see anything, not even his flashlight when he shines it for me. I've essentially been playing the "put your hand down by your knee and grab the rock there" game. You have no idea what trust is until you've jumped, blindly at the behest of a friend.

I dropped about 5 feet on moderately flat ground, and we found our way out, but that easily could have been a story people read about in the paper.

Sorry this is such a long post, but considering what we do, I think it's an important subject. I know I feel better in the wild having gone through things like this. Both for learning the lesson not to let it happen, and for knowing I can keep a cool head. I'd love to hear some of your experiences.”

“when I saw Towndawg..I still have nightmares”

“There was this one time....

A wild pig was circling the campground. And we all wondered when it would attack.
It never did, but it was very scary (at least for some)”

“My scariest moment is when I walk out to my car to go home. That really sucks!”

“My story is a bit embarrassing. I had been drinking whiskey at the campsite the night before and really tied one on. The next day we went rock climbing.

I was about 60 feet up in a rock crevice free climbing when I got winded and my hangover really caught up with me. I started getting light headed and nauseous and then started to black out. I tried to wedge my body into the crevice so that if I blacked out I would be stuck, but my legs started getting weak and I could feel myself slipping. I called for help and managed to stay concious, but the effort was making me more light headed. My friend finally scrambled up behind me and let me rest on him until I felt well enough to have him help lower me down out of the crevice. It was a very scary situation and one I put myself in out of stupidity.”

“The day I saw Capt Bobos's butt

still have nightmares about it.

*shiver*”

“I thought I ran out of whiskey & smokes before the last day in Glacier. You do not want to be in the same Park as me if I go through withdrawal.”

“Thanks Mapes I was just finally able to lock that image away in my mind until that post. Now it's free to roam again. If I end up with any reoccurring nightmares I expect you to pick up the therapy bills.”

“no, send them to Bit. he owes me BIG TIME”

“I have encountered wild grizzlies in the most remote areas in the lower 48, been stared down by startled moose at close range deep in the wilds, slept in the open with rattlesnakes slithering just a few feet from my bag, survived intense lightning storms in remote barren cirques, but by FAR the scariest moment I've had in the wilderness was when a Sasquatch screamed it's head off just a few feet from my face. No lie.”

“Dang Buck....I've heard those things have BAD breath.”

“The only thing I smelled was my own fear. And the poop in my pants.”

“Actually, the sasquatch tried to eat Buck, but after he took one taste he spit him out.”

“That's why it screamed; the bad taste in its mouth.”

“And of course the sasquatch ruined his camera after some brilliant photos were taken.”

“Sasquatch ruined his camera taking a picture of Buck? WTF?

And I didn't even know that sasquatches take pictures.”

“when me and maple almost fell over that cliff”

“i want to here the whole bigfoot story.”

“Hey photoguy, here's my story, I posted this on another thread here a while ago at http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/26467,-1.php
-------------------------------

Here's my "encounter", and it's the God's honest truth.

This was about 15 years ago. I left one Friday evening after work with my dogs (at the time my family had a beagle and a poodle, I'll take anything with me!), and I was trying to find a lake up in Tahoe National Forest called White Rock Lake. According to the map, I could get there via a 4-wheel drive road. Way back behind Truckee, northeast of Fordyce Lake, I found myself driving slowly, at night, on rough rocky dirt roads, trying to figure out where in the heck I was. Roads would seem to peter out, or bisect with other 4-wheel drive roads, and I had no clue where I was going. I was way out in the middle of nowhere... no lakes or creeks or any destination type areas within miles. I decided to wait until daylight before I confused myself anymore in the darkness. I pulled off of the rocky road, just a few yards, which was surrounded by thick trees. I grabbed my sleeping bag, tossed it outside in front of my truck, and me and my dogs slept under a very starry night.

Here comes the freaky part. Sometime early in the morning, around 3 or 4 a.m. (it was still pitch black), I heard something walking up the road towards my direction. I could tell it was heavy, and it was walking steadily my way. At first I thought it must've been a backpacker, as it was obviously bipedal. The steps were distinct. Then I thought to myself, what in the flying flip would a backpacker be way out here on this road, in the middle of the night, with no light, with nothing but miles of thick forest in all directions? I knew it wasn't a bear (I've encountered dozens of bears in my years, both grizzlies and black bears). I had no idea what this was, but a backpacker was still my best guess. As it got closer and closer, I wondered if I should say something, but I didn't wanna neddlessly scare the feller to death. But, for some reason, I was getting increasingly nervous. And I spend months solo backpacking, even in grizzly country, so there ain't much that spooks me in the woods. The odd thing was my dogs weren't making a sound, or a move for that matter, which added to the suspense.

This heavy, bipedal thing was coming closer and closer and was about to come to the point where I had pulled my truck off the road. I laid there very quietly. I didn't know what to expect, and hoped whatever or whoever it was would just continue on by, not even noticing me. It was so dark I couldn't see a thing. The closer it got the bigger I realized it must be, because through the rhythm of the walk I could tell it was very heavy. No, it wasn't vibrating the ground like Godzilla, but it was close. I stayed silent in my nervousness. It came up to where I turned my truck off the road, and... silence. It stopped. It was only a few yards away from my face. I don't know if I made a sound, or one of my dogs made a sound, but what I experienced next was the most terrifying and strangest thing that's ever happened in my life. This thing let out the most heinous, forest-piercing scream you could imagine. I can't even attempt to put in words what this thing sounded like, but it had a set of lungs on it like nothing I could imagine. Then, still screaming, it turned around and ran back down the road in the darkness at a phenomenal rate of speed. It screamed the whole time, and I could hear the screams fading in the far distance, never letting up on the speed.

I laid there in total shock. I couldn't believe this just happened, that this was a real experience. I jumped up and hastily tossed everything back in my truck, my dogs just as freaked as me, and I backed out like a mad man. But before I turned away, my morbid curiosity got the best of me, and I knew whatever it was was LONG gone. Nervously, I creeped up the road with my brights on, trying to see if I could see any footprints or signs of anything odd. The road was too rocky for footprints. I opened the door and let my dogs out, hoping they would pick up a scent, but oddly they jumped right back in the truck. T his was out of character for them. I tossed them back out again, and they jumped right back in. I decided to get the freak out of there and drove many miles back towards the main road. I hadn't thought much of a Bigfoot before then, but now I'm certainly a believer. People try and explain it away to me, but I know what I heard. I didn't "see" it, nor did I smell anything, but it was so close I could feel it. And it was so close when it screamed that I'm sure I got some spit on me. Nothing in those forests could scream like that, nor run that fast, especially nothing that walked upright. I don't dwell on Bigfoot, or seek it out, but I know it's out there.

And that's my Bigfoot story.””

“Mine didn't happen to me, but I saw the whole event happen.

Canoeing up in Canada, we stopped on the first day of a 7 day trip for lunch. We happen to be eating at a campsite that had high cliffs that you could jump off of into the water 60 feet or so below.

We were being entertained by another group of peeps jumping into the water. We decided to wait until the last day to jump ourselves, we had a lot of ground to cover on day one.

One girl was afraid and didn't want to jump, but she tried it anyway. While running to get a good jump, she tripped and wasn't able to stop before going over. She bounced off the side of the cliff about 7 times before she hit the water.

I immediately put my sandwich down and jumped in. I was afraid she might have knocked herself unconsciousness and would drown. Before I was able to reach her, she bobbed up.

She looked like Freddy got her. Bumps and scrapes all over her body. Nothing broken though, she finished the trip sore and a bit embarrassed.”

“when the full moon shines bright i turn in to sasquatch....ok, when ive had too much corn likker it happens too.”

“Buck thats really cool. I have to much time it college and one thing i big into is reading about bigfoot encouters. I love a good mystery. You should check this sight out.

http://www.bfro.net/

There are sounds here.
http://www.bfro.net/avevid/SierraSounds/911.asp

and here

http://www.bfro.net/REF/bfmedia.asp#sound

and a cool pic.

http://www.lorencoleman.com/myakka.html

I guess my childish side loves this kind of stuff. Wish i could see one, but i know if i do i'll will wish i hadn't.
last edited: 2/03/05 6:23:32 PM”

“I would really like to see "Bigfoot"...preferably 50 yards away...and I'm in a Hummer with bullet-proof glass.”

“I didn't come as close to a positive ID of Sasquatch as Buck, but I had a very strange incident. I was on the Ptarmigan Traverse, which is a mountaineering trip that crosses a range of mountains in teh North Cascases. There is no trail, and most of the time you are snow, or crossing glaciers. You can do the trip in 5-7 days, and not touch dirt, or see another person, the whole trip. It is WAY remote, and unless there is another party on the same schedule as you, you and your party are ALONE.

One night we were camped on a meadow of alpine tundra, one of the few times I've ever been on grass on the PT, and we were all in our tents, dozing off to sleep. I am absolutely sure there was not another person around for MILES. I was sleeping out under the stars, without a tent, and just watching the stars. I heard a thud, like a rock hitting the ground nearby. I thought that was odd, because everyone was in their tents but me. In a small group like that, you know where everyone is. I heard another thud, like someone was throwing rocks into camp, like a rock as big as your fist. Over hour I heard about 6 rocks hit the grass in the camp. I never could tell where they were coming from, and after awhile they just stopped. I didn't feel like patroling the perimeter, and evenutally went to sleep. That is not a dramatic story, but I haven't figured out an explanation to it either.”

“I know that rock throwing is a well documented bigfoot behavior.”

“yes I have to second what scorch said.


going over a cliff will make you rethink life.”

“ok here is mine I have others but this is it.

I think the big foot thing would scare me more but here it is.

There was about 10 of us hiking around the Indian Trail at Hensley Settlement. We went through a spot that we knew had yellow jackets in the ground so everyone was trying to be quiet. I was last. All of the sudden they swarmed out their hole..they covered me trying to sting me everywhere. The kids were in front of me so I stopped and told them to run.....luckly I had on my heavy fleece jacket I held out my arms away from my face and started screaming "GET THEM OFF ME!" There were hundreds....but I only get two little stings.That goodness for heavyweight fleece, I wanted to take off my jacket but was afraid to put my hands near my face...so doc and my better half started hitting them off me as we ran down the trail...after we got down the trail a ways my knees turned to jello and I started crying I had to sit down and collect my thoughts...that was scary but all was ok...
To make it worst that was the year several people died from yellow jacket stings...”