My Creepiest Night Hiking Experience

* I do NOT accept anything from gear companies. I do not do paid reviews. I do not have any sponsors. All opinions are my own, based on my experiences. I do not plan to ever incorporate sponsorships on this channel in an effort to remain 100% impartial. If I were to accept gear in exchange for a review I would disclose it per FTC regulations.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate links in my gear lists and possibly in product links in this video description. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Amazon Affiliate Page: www.DixieAZ.com

WAYS TO SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL & MY 2020 Adventures (Pinhoti Trail and Te Araroa in New Zealand):

(You can pledge as low as a $1/month to support my upcoming hike.)

(Purchase an item from my gear wish list. Some of the items may require contacting me for shipping details. See address below.)

*Buy My Book

*ONE-TIME CONTRIBUTION:
-Bitcoin (BTC) Wallet: 1PLcRstR4bamTYKpwd9Nzus75WjfjMY6gG

Contact information:
twitter: @homemadeWL
Instagram: homemadewanderlust
PO Box 4192 Opelika, AL 36803

[francismoulds]

I feel your pain. As a young guy I lived in a trailer. Got up to go into the bathroom in the middle of the night, kept the light off so as to not wake my wife. On my way back I came face to face with a guy in the house not 2 feet away. In my panic I went into full attack mode, yelled and lunged it him. I crashed into the mirror that was mounted to the bedroom door. The person in the house was my reflection. 7 years bad luck, Broken mirror everywhere, wife woke up.

[Winterstormadvisory]

"this girl is night hiking by herself I'm gonna follow her to make sure she stays safe"
"Oh we're speeding up ok"
"Damn why's she running so fast?"

[HeyStevie]

Lack of sleep probably played a big role in this situation

[datra]

Cute! Loved it. I am a geologist and was working with my colleague, with permission of course, on the Ft. Irwin Desert Warfare Training Center south of Death Valley. There were many explosions from the on-going air to ground attacks by A-10's but they were a couple of miles off on a dry lake bed and nowhere near us, although the planes did fly right over. As the sun was going down, we had stopped way back in a canyon when partner pulled out his binoculars to recon the trail ahead. "Jesus!" he exclaimed. "We're surrounded by soldiers! We're right in the middle of maneuvers!" We grabbed our packs and ran as fast as we could back down the trail without stopping, panting and wheezing until we crossed out of the military zone. After catching our breath, I took out my binoculars to see the soldiers: hundreds of them stock still all clad in camo green, and all Joshua trees. We had run from cactus!

[terrym]

I heard something, then it got louder, and I started running, and it sounded like it was gaining on me...Then I realized that I was being chased by an air bubble in my Camelback!

[CarolynsRVLife]

That;s a great story.. and hey, it happens. It's so easy to get scared when we're on our own and to let our minds go to crazy places. I'm glad you did share it.. because we've all done similar things!

[mmudge]

Omg! My heart was racing as you were telling this!

[LostAgainwithJim]

I got lost on a trail at dusk, I followed some poorly placed cairns. I found the trail again, after dark. All day I had seen bear tracks and fresh bear poo along the trail. I was still hiking long after the sun was gone, and feeling pretty nervous. I was pretty close to the campground I was aiming for and up ahead I saw two small reflections from my headlamp and convinced myself it was a bears eyes. I starting screaming and hollering trying to try and get the bear to run off. Nothing. The eyes sat perfectly still. I couldn't really go back, because I was at least 6 miles from the nearest campsite that way. I started up with the screaming again, and threw some rocks. One of the rocks I threw hit something, and one of the "eyes" started to sway back and forth. I creeped up closer to see what was going on, and found that the "eyes" were the reflective tape on the trail marker for the campground. The tape had fallen apart due to age and weather, and all that was left was two little squares on the top of fiberglass post.

[DB-lktt]

Camping back in ‘91 on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, high up in the alpine. Young, inexperienced, knew nothing about bear cans or bear bags. Munching Snickers, Drinking gatorade, and my dirty plate from my steak and potatoes dinner sitting in the corner of my tent. Then, in the middle of the night I get woken up by a sound. Huff huff, huff, huff huff huff....
“Franz” my buddy in his own tent.
“Yah, I hear it.”
Sniff, sniff, sniff, huff huff
Minutes pass. The sound has moved to the left side of my tent.
“Franz, I’m going to try to peek out and take a look.”
“OK”
I unzip the tent door about a foot and start peeking around. It a full moon and nearly as bright as day. But I still can’t see what it is. I unzip the door another foot and poke my head out. Still nothing, but I can still hear it. Sniff huff huff.... huff huff.
I slip back in my tent. And slowly open the door the rest of the way. Poke my head and shoulders out and look over the corner of the tent.
There clear as day in the moon light was a big doll sheep who had decided that the gras we had camped on what the best grass on the mountain.

[thruthebiblewithmicey]

I've been on the trail hiking and heard a mountain lion growling, stopping me in my tracks, only to realize it's my stomach, heaving a huge sigh of relief! 🤣

[paulmood]

I’m a cop. I was searching a building one night after responding to an alarm there. I opened a closet door and there stood a silhouette of a man, I began yelling verbal commands for the “suspect” to come out and get on the floor. My partner comes upstairs and I tell him what I have. He begins to open the door up and put some light in the closet for me to engage the “threat.” His light and the light on the end of my pistol came across an old movie cardboard standup. I felt like a dumbass needless to say and my shift buddies gave me grief for years. I finally lived it down after about ten years.

[mamamongoose]

Not night hiking but I was on the Superior Hiking Trail around dusk and came to a swampy meadow open area. Right across the field along the tree line was a black bear standing up staring at me. It startled me but I figured I could run it off easy (wasn't cub season). I raise my arms and holler "Ho bear!!" a few times. Still stood there staring at me, unimpressed with my display. I shake my arms and yell more "Git on bear!! Go!! Git out of here!" Still just stares at me. So I jump around waving my arms while yelling like an absolute fool. That dang thing just wouldn't leave. Probably because it was a giant burned out tree. Should've known when my dog was staring at me like the idiot I was for yelling at a hunk of wood for 10 minutes. 😊🤪

[aredman]

I hear you, Dixie. One night in the Cohutta Wilderness, I cowboy-camped under the stars on an unseasonably pleasant winter's night. I came to in the wee hours and rocketed out of my sleeping bag; terrified because I thought someone was standing right above me, shining a powerful flashlight in my eyes. I was so relieved when I realized that it was just the full moon that had risen over the ridgeline.

[BrandonCase]

You’re a good storyteller — more of these, please.

[cali]

Dixie: I just watched your video about Food and The AT. You have progressed so much and encouraged all of us. Creepiest experience happened during day along the Superior Trail...north of Tetteguche. This old guy with a huge black dog caught up with me...We talked as we hiked. He asked where I was gonna camp...I shared, just being friendly. He offered to give me a ride into town to resupply. When we got to the parking area, I saw he had a tan Chevy panel van. I thought...cool. He opened the back. As I got ready to heave in my pack...I noticed clear plastic covering covering all the carpet...and a chainsaw. He saw my hesitation and assured me he was headed to cut wood. I declined the ride...hoofed and hid. I hiked to town, hitched a ride from some stoners and never looked back.

[MrReviews]

This would have been a great story for a trail name. "Hey Moonshine, so how'd you get your trail name? You like to make moonshine or something?"


"I don't wanna talk about it."

[atomsmasher]

LOL! Love it.

I had a similar experience a few years ago while hiking at night. I was coming up on the crest of a hill and realised that the woods were flooded with a very bright light like I had never seen before (I used to hike at night alot). I stopped about 250 yards from the crest and crouched down as I gazed in wonder and apprehension. After a few mins I decided that in this case discretion was the better part of valor, I turned around and quickly went home.

The following day I kept thinking about the prior nights experience. After some deliberation I decided that whatever the anomaly had been, it probably would not appear again this night; so a little later than the night before I set off for the spot that the light had emanated from, hoping to find some ground sign of what might have produced it. I was about half way up the hill when through the trees I spied the moon in all its glorious fullness.

Then it hit me; the previous night, as I approached the crest of the hill from the west, so the moon in its harvest fullness, approached from the East. It was an "OOOH!" moment. The timing and angles had been perfect (a rather large oak tree had obscured the body of the moon itself).

The whole thing really was quite hilarious. Especially so, because I have spent my whole life wondering the woods day and night. I was giddy with laughing at myself.

[scottburkhart]

I once read an article in an outdoor magazine that was written by a firefighter. He chronicled 10 situations where people had survived what would seem on the surface, certain death situations. He highlighted the common thread to all of their stories. They all resisted the urge to panic. They remained as calm as possible and stayed mentally "in the moment." This allowed them to think through their situation and survive on a second by second, minute by minute basis until they could obtain assistance. This is the power of the mind. It can be your worst enemy or your best friend.

[AbyssalSoda]

Moon: Hi there friend! Need some light on your journey?
Wanderlust: Panicked screaming

[athiker]

Jake and I had a similar experience one night on the trail. It was 1975, and on the trail North of Wayah Bald, at Cold Spring Shelter. Not even sure if it's there anymore. I got up past midnight to pee and as I looked down from the cliff, I saw 2 lights coming up the trail, and one seemed like it was around a hundred yards in front of the other. I'm thinking, cool, we'll have visitors. I went back to lie down, and quickly dosed back to sleep, only to be awakened by the hikers. They were making more noise than what 2 hikers would make. So I got back up to greet them and say that there was plenty of room in the shelter for them. One asked, for 14 people? This drew my attention quickly, since I only saw 2 lights earlier. Come to find out, the 2 with the lights were the instructors of the class, from the school for the blind. It turned out to be a nice midnight visit before we all were sound asleep again.