Weirdest Thing That Has Happened To You In The Field

[Guest]

I like this thread because it's kind of like sitting around a campfire with a bunch of new friends swapping stories.

This wasn't weird but it definitely was creepy. It was December in the 70's and a few friends and I were going to ride our trailbikes down into a river canyon just for the fun of it. It was late on a Friday night and we were hauling our bikes and gear up to the trailhead in my dads pickup. Far up the ridge we could see a USFS project fire burning. It was incredibly windy that night. We were curious so we drove past the trailhead looking for the fire. It was so windy that we parked outside the fire zone for the trucks sake and walked in. There were sparks and debris blowing all over the place. The whole place glowed orange. It was a select cut so there were still plenty of trees standing and they were just howling in the wind. As we walked along the logging road in this hellish scene the wind became even stronger. And then some of these trees started to blow over. They were three and four feet in diameter. When they'd crash to the ground the needles and twigs would burst into flames.

We got really scared for our safety, went back to the truck and returned to the trailhead where we had a very challenging night of sleep. By morning the wind had died down somewhat but there were still a lot of USFS firetrucks headed to the fire to try and put things back under control.

I'll never forget that night.

[Guest TooRisky]

My research partner and Co-Founder was up hiking in the Washington Cascades when he came upon an old grave marker of a civil war vet... A tree had grown around his civil war musket and now both were as one... Comes to find out this old guy long long ago used to love this one old tree to sit under and rest. well this was his last resting spot as he passed away under this old tree with his musket resting on the tree that now grows around it... His wife/friends found him and burried him right on this spot...

[kbhunter]

Now that is cool and weird Toorisky, thanks for sharing.

[Guest]

The weirdest thing I remember, was while backpacking in the Adirondacks, in the spring of 2001.

It was a spur of the moment decision on the trip, and I was not as prepared as I should have been... both gear wise, and mentally. I made some mistakes, and left too late in the morning for what I thought would be a long day hike. The trail into a remote wilderness area, was not a well marked one, and very overgrown and narrow. There were some colored markers painted on the trees, but they were a bit worn, and spaced far apart. At around the seven mile point of the hike, I decided it was about time to turn around and head back. I noticed a small pond that I wanted to check out first, and decided to blaze off the trail. I had my GPS, map and compass. I took a GPS reading and marked a waypoint, and headed toward the pond. I also used some trail marker ribbon (florescent green) , to mark the spot clearly, that I exited the trail. While blazing in, I marked the path with another color (blue) that I had in my pack, after I lost sight of the last main trail marker.

On the walk back out to where I thought the trail was, I somehow got turned around. I was in heavy tree canopy, and my Garmin Emap failed to get a reading, to reference me back to my waypoint of the trail. I tried in vain, to get myself into an opening, large enough to get a satellite fix with the GPS. I wasted too much time doing this, and should have been preparing to gather some wood, and find a spot to spend the night, as it got dark very quickly. I was trained better than this, but didn't use it well, and forgot a lot of it... I must admit.

I spent the night cold (temps in the low 30s) rapped up in an emergency survival blanket, and crawled under the branches of a large pine. It was indeed, a humbling experience. I woke up hearing coyotes, and praying they would not find me. Had my side arm, but only the 6 rounds in the chamber, and not the rest of the box they came in.

I survived the night (obviously ) and set out early to try and find the trail. I talked myself out of the panic that I was in, the late afternoon and evening, before. I walked for most of the morning and early afternoon, before I got to a good clearing. My GPS failed again, and would not even turn on. The spare batteries, were also spent, from the cold night outdoors. I took a compass reading from the map, and headed in the direction of what I thought would take me back to the trail. I had almost no food left (one protean bar and some candy), and about a days worth of clean water.

About an hour later, I came to a blue trail ribbon on a tree branch... which looked exactly, like the last one I left where I spent the night. The area looked the same, down to the tree layout, and pine that I slept under. I had to sit down, and got very disgruntled, to the point of being emotional. The sky was clouding up, and I knew if I got wet, I was in bigger trouble. I was mad at myself, and had visions of the movie " The Blair Witch Project " , where the couple had walked all day, in one direction... and found themselves back at their starting point.

I got myself together, and took off in the same direction of the compass reading. Not more than 5 minutes later, I came across what looked like the overgrown trail that I walked in on. I took another compass reading, and decided to stick to this trail. I immediately found a tree with the painted circle color, and knew I was back on the main trail, and hopefully heading out in the direction I came.

A half mile later, I found the florescent green ribbons I left, at the point I blazed off the trail, the day before. An indescribable feeling of relief came over me, and I proceeded down the trail, as the sun was again getting low, behind the trees. I walked the fastest 7 plus miles, I ever did, and made it back to my vehicle, just after total darkness set in.

Someone (not me), had left a new looking (not weather worn) blue tied ribbon, on a tree branch, in an area (a six hour hike away)... that looked identical to where I slept, while lost. I think that was pretty weird, and still shake my head , when I think about it and write about it here.

[Guest]

Imonacan that is really scary. I went for a "short" walk in Congaree National Park in South Carolina one time and got lost and walked right out of the park. The park is mostly wilderness area I had inadvertently taken the wrong fork in a trail and went to the old entrance. With a bad leg it made that much more interesting.

[Guest]

Imonacan that is really scary. I went for a "short" walk in Congaree National Park in South Carolina one time and got lost and walked right out of the park. The park is mostly wilderness area I had inadvertently taken the wrong fork in a trail and went to the old entrance. With a bad leg it made that much more interesting.

What was more scary, is discovering just how easy it is to get turned around and disoriented in this kind of wilderness environment (trail marks or not), and finally admitting to yourself that you are lost (took me way too long), so you can begin to take the best actions. Our own self control and decisions, plays a crucial role... in whether you walk out, or they eventually find you. My minor 24 plus hr adventure was all I wanted... ever, and can't imagine being in that predicament for many days or weeks..trying to live off the land.

Good to hear that your "short" walk ended well, fishnut. That looks like a pretty large area , that adjoins to another State forest.

[bipedalist]

My research partner and Co-Founder was up hiking in the Washington Cascades when he came upon an old grave marker of a civil war vet... A tree had grown around his civil war musket and now both were as one... Comes to find out this old guy long long ago used to love this one old tree to sit under and rest. well this was his last resting spot as he passed away under this old tree with his musket resting on the tree that now grows around it... His wife/friends found him and burried him right on this spot...

That paints quite a picture of the man behind the musket for sure. I have a few places I've come across that, in my mind, must be a lot like what he thought about that place.

[Guest]

This may not be weird enough but here goes. About a month ago I was rideing my small street/trail motorcycle up to the top of Camp Creek Bald Mtn. on Viking mtn rd. I was approx 3 miles past the last house when I saw a small round object flying toward me from the woods on the left side of the gravel rd. I noticed it before it hit me because I was only going approx 25-30mph. It looked to me like a "horse turd" the object hit my left leg and then my forearm. Left a mark on my jeans and my arm which smelled like poop! Lol. Well I was not at all happy that someone had flung poo at me so I stopped right there prepared to go into "cop mode" and chew someone out.

I got off the bike tore off my helmet and ran over to the edge of the roadway to find noone or nothing but empty woods for about 100 yards in all directions. I have no idea where it came from.

I was going to the top of the mtn to check on my cousins Ham radio repeater and had nothing else on my mind. I wonder if bigfoot flings poop like monkeys are known to do?

[Guest Tsalagi]

I don't if this is weird enough either, but it sure scared me for weeks afterwards. I decided to go alone on this hike on Anderson Mesa in Northern Arizona. The Forest Service had just put up a sign for a trail going to a forest lake and a gravel parking space. I set off telling no one where I was going, taking a backpack with one pint of water, two granola bars and a fleece jacket. I was wearing a t-shirt, jeans and hiking boots and it was early March and had snowed a week or maybe two prior. I followed the trail for awhile then the trail markers stopped. I could make out what seem to be a worn path in the forest floor so I followed that till it wasn't really distinct. I felt sure the lake must surely be close by though I had no idea just how far away it was suppose to be. By that time I was way out in the middle of wilderness and suddenly started hearing something following me. It seemed like something pretty heavy crunching along on pine needle and cone littered ground and several times snapping tree limbs. By this time I realized I was lost and noticed I had been walking in circles for the past half hour or so and whatever it was kept following me. I never saw anything not even a shadow. Aside from the sound of being followed the forest was dead quiet of bird or squirrel sounds. I wandered around for a couple more hours lost and couldn't find the path that I had come in on. At one point I descended down several feet into a ravine and found myself knee deep in snow in a shaded area. I thought to myself boy am I ever an idiot coming out here unprepared with little food, water and lightweight clothing and not considering there might still be snow on the ground and of course not telling anyone I had even gone hiking. I finally found my way out literally exhausted and running cause I was creeped out from whatever was following me. Never found that mysterious lake either.

Oddly enough there is another lake on other side of that mesa where I was fishing early one morning around 5:30am. As sun was coming up I heard these weird whoop sounds. Made the hair stand up on back of my neck and I suddenly felt like I was being watched. At the time the idea of Bigfoot never entered my mind, but I had no idea what it could be because it didn't sound human and didn't sound like any animal that lived in the forest. Years later a friend and I were talking about Bigfoot after watching a tv show. I mentioned someone who worked with the local Indians told me that BF's were in the area. So my friend looked up some BF sites online which eventually led me to sound files from Washington state of alleged BF's. One of the files sounded identical to the whoop sound I had heard at the lake. Ever since I've felt like I've had two close encounters with what could be the big guy in the same general area. While I lived in AZ I had several other strange things happen involving rock and tree knocking, but that's another story.

[Guest BCCryptid]

The weirdest thing I remember, was while backpacking in the Adirondacks, in the spring of 2001.

It was a spur of the moment decision on the trip, and I was not as prepared as I should have been... both gear wise, and mentally. I made some mistakes, and left too late in the morning for what I thought would be a long day hike. The trail into a remote wilderness area, was not a well marked one, and very overgrown and narrow. There were some colored markers painted on the trees, but they were a bit worn, and spaced far apart. At around the seven mile point of the hike, I decided it was about time to turn around and head back. I noticed a small pond that I wanted to check out first, and decided to blaze off the trail. I had my GPS, map and compass. I took a GPS reading and marked a waypoint, and headed toward the pond. I also used some trail marker ribbon (florescent green) , to mark the spot clearly, that I exited the trail. While blazing in, I marked the path with another color (blue) that I had in my pack, after I lost sight of the last main trail marker.

On the walk back out to where I thought the trail was, I somehow got turned around. I was in heavy tree canopy, and my Garmin Emap failed to get a reading, to reference me back to my waypoint of the trail. I tried in vain, to get myself into an opening, large enough to get a satellite fix with the GPS. I wasted too much time doing this, and should have been preparing to gather some wood, and find a spot to spend the night, as it got dark very quickly. I was trained better than this, but didn't use it well, and forgot a lot of it... I must admit.

I spent the night cold (temps in the low 30s) rapped up in an emergency survival blanket, and crawled under the branches of a large pine. It was indeed, a humbling experience. I woke up hearing coyotes, and praying they would not find me. Had my side arm, but only the 6 rounds in the chamber, and not the rest of the box they came in.

I survived the night (obviously ) and set out early to try and find the trail. I talked myself out of the panic that I was in, the late afternoon and evening, before. I walked for most of the morning and early afternoon, before I got to a good clearing. My GPS failed again, and would not even turn on. The spare batteries, were also spent, from the cold night outdoors. I took a compass reading from the map, and headed in the direction of what I thought would take me back to the trail. I had almost no food left (one protean bar and some candy), and about a days worth of clean water.

About an hour later, I came to a blue trail ribbon on a tree branch... which looked exactly, like the last one I left where I spent the night. The area looked the same, down to the tree layout, and pine that I slept under. I had to sit down, and got very disgruntled, to the point of being emotional. The sky was clouding up, and I knew if I got wet, I was in bigger trouble. I was mad at myself, and had visions of the movie " The Blair Witch Project " , where the couple had walked all day, in one direction... and found themselves back at their starting point.

I got myself together, and took off in the same direction of the compass reading. Not more than 5 minutes later, I came across what looked like the overgrown trail that I walked in on. I took another compass reading, and decided to stick to this trail. I immediately found a tree with the painted circle color, and knew I was back on the main trail, and hopefully heading out in the direction I came.

A half mile later, I found the florescent green ribbons I left, at the point I blazed off the trail, the day before. An indescribable feeling of relief came over me, and I proceeded down the trail, as the sun was again getting low, behind the trees. I walked the fastest 7 plus miles, I ever did, and made it back to my vehicle, just after total darkness set in.

Someone (not me), had left a new looking (not weather worn) blue tied ribbon, on a tree branch, in an area (a six hour hike away)... that looked identical to where I slept, while lost. I think that was pretty weird, and still shake my head , when I think about it and write about it here.

If I had a dime for the number of times I have been standing on the tallest object in sight, my gps flailing over my head, at a 2 foot patch of sky, praying for a sat sig!

This is a good lesson on why you should ALWAYS carry a compass into the bush with your GPS, and know how to use it, take bearings ahead of time. Good thing you had that survival blanket! (even though I HATE those things)

[Guest BCCryptid]

Ok, I'll tell mine.

I was in the army, in northern Ontario, back in the 90's. We were in an exercise against the local militia, I was on a night patrol to probe their defenses, 3 man recce squad.

We had made it about half way, it was very dark, we were in dense bush, it was about 1 am. I was taking up the rear.

The two guys had already moved off from a rest and listening spot, when I spotted this darker patch of forest floor over to one side of the little clearing area we had stopped in.

It was just this circular 'blob' on the forest floor, no definition, all black, like a hole in the floor, couldn't even tell if it had height to it, zero smell, zero noise.

I moved closer to it, thinking it was a hole (or a dark thing huddled there)

I got closer and closer, and leaned in, squinting and trying to figure out what the heck it was.

Then it GROWLED at me. A low warning growl.

I backed off and moved after my buddies, pi-ssed that I didn't have real ammo in my M-16 A2. Never figured out what it was, probably a small black bear or something huddled up sleeping. Real glad he didn't nip off my nose!

[Guest]

Ok, I'll tell mine.

I was in the army, in northern Ontario, back in the 90's. We were in an exercise against the local militia, I was on a night patrol to probe their defenses, 3 man recce squad.

We had made it about half way, it was very dark, we were in dense bush, it was about 1 am. I was taking up the rear.

The two guys had already moved off from a rest and listening spot, when I spotted this darker patch of forest floor over to one side of the little clearing area we had stopped in.

It was just this circular 'blob' on the forest floor, no definition, all black, like a hole in the floor, couldn't even tell if it had height to it, zero smell, zero noise.

I moved closer to it, thinking it was a hole (or a dark thing huddled there)

I got closer and closer, and leaned in, squinting and trying to figure out what the heck it was.

Then it GROWLED at me. A low warning growl.

I backed off and moved after my buddies, pi-ssed that I didn't have real ammo in my M-16 A2. Never figured out what it was, probably a small black bear or something huddled up sleeping. Real glad he didn't nip off my nose!

Did you bayonet it? Did they give you a bayonet?

I ask cause in Basic and AIT they didn't give us bayonets or bayonet training. They wouldn't even let us near anything sharp.

[Guest]

This is a good lesson on why you should ALWAYS carry a compass into the bush with your GPS, and know how to use it, take bearings ahead of time.

This wasn't weird or scary but pretty dang funny.

My buddy with his son were in his motorhome and my sons and I were in my pickup with a camp trailer behind out in the Black Rock desert of northern Nevada for a long weekend of camping and motorcycle riding. There was about 20 miles of flat tire inducing gravel road to our camp spot, Frog Pond so rather than risk a flat in the dark we decided to stay on the pavement, drive to the other side of the huge dry lake bed and take a compass reading across the lake bed to the pond. Once out on the lake bed my buddy decides to play NASCAR in his motorhome. It was kind of fun for a little while but I got bored pretty quick and just stopped until he was done. When he finally pulled up along side my truck he yelled out, "Well, which way do we go?". "How should I know?" I yelled back.

It was at that point that my buddy had his first lesson in orienteering: A compass bearing only works if you travel in a straight line!

We slept on the lake bed and went to the pond in the morning.

[Guest Sonny]

Woke up one morning to mountain lion tracks in the sand all around my tent. Decided to track it, very fresh tracks. Got about a quarter mile away and there it sat, right on a rock above me. We looked at each other for a bit, then I left and it left. Cats are very elusive where I live, afraid of people, but this one wasn't.

I decided to try it another night. I swept the old tracks away from around my tent to see if I'd have any more visitors. The second night it came back. I was awake and could make out the shadow of something next to my tent (almost a full moon). I started talking to it, just like you would a person, kind of low. It sat there awhile, then slowly got up and I assume it left. I wasn't sure what it was until the next morning, yup, same tracks.

I decide to not tempt fate and left that next day.

[Guest]

This happened in the early 1980's to my cousin who was 24 and I was 20. It was the last day of deer season in Georgia and was a *doe* day. Meaning either bucks or does could be harvested. And we were really intent on putting meat in the freezer.

We hunted a private tract of land that was several hundred acres in size. Problem was it was rainy and the wind was really blowing. So, we thought it would be fruitless to hunt from deer stands and decided to still hunt through an extremely thick portion of the property that we knew the deer would be bedded down in as a result of the inclement weather.

So we spread out about 50 yards or so apart. One of us would walk about 10 paces and stop for a few minutes and then the other would do the same. We were hoping one of us would jump some deer and push them towards the other who could then get a shot. Both of us left our rifles in the truck and were equipped with 12 gauge shotguns loaded with 00 buckshot because the deer would likely be moving when/if a shot was taken.

After a half an hour or so, Bret came trotting over to me and it was clear that something was very wrong. He was white as a ghost and looked spooked. He said, "I found a dead man laying under a tree by the old logging road." I asked him if he was sure he was dead and he said he was but wanted me to come see for myself.

Sure enough, as we walked up I could clearly see a body lying face-down on the ground at a very odd angle. There was a gun awkwardly lying on the ground beside him. Now this was before cell phones so there was no calling for help. We'd have to go back to the truck and drive to a store that was located a few miles away to call the police and report what we had found.

I told Bret to nudge him and make sure he was dead. Well, Bret's idea of nudging wasn't exactly what I had in mind and he took his boot and gave the guy a decent shot to the nether-regions. The guy shot about 5 feet straight up in the air revealing 2 empty bottles of MD 20/20 and another welll on its way.

He took off running in one direction leaving his gun behind and we took off running in the other.

Needless to say, we didn't harvest anything that day since we ran anything off that was there.

But, we experienced something then that we still chuckle about now everytime we see each other. Now, at every family reunion, someone asks for us to tell the story again.

I always wanted to run into the *dead man* again to hear his version of the story.