“Footsteps Outside My Tent”: 43 Terrifying Experiences People Have Had In The Woods

I was camping in Northern California, like at the very tippy top of california, deep in the woods at a reservoir. I had to go poop really bad early in the morning before the sun was up and there were no bathrooms.
So I walked down a trail and found a little spot isolated away from the trail next to a blackberry bush and an outcropping of water from the reservoir. I heard some crashing in the tree line and it just started to become slightly light outside. I peeked over the blackberry bush and not 40 feet from me was a huge bear, around 500 pounds. I tried to sneak away but as I was stepping backwards I kid you not, I stepped on a twig that snapped. This bear and I instantly both turn our heads toward one another and lock eyes. I attempted to make myself look big and make noise. Bear didn’t budge. In fact he started to walked towards me. So many things were racing through my mind, the number one being, there is no way I’m curling up into a ball and allowing this monstrously giant bear mess me up, so I crouched down as low as I could behind the blackberry bush so he couldn’t see me, and started running as fast as I could whilst crouched/squatting down. My thought process was that if he couldn’t see me run, maybe he wouldn’t chase if I was already kind of far away before he actually saw my running over the blackberry bush.

It worked, he pursued around the bush for maybe 20 feet and decided it wasn’t worth it and allowed my escape.

I honestly thought I was going to be breakfast for this bear and that would be the end of me.

So not necessarily a "deep woods" camper but when I and my wife first met we did a lot of "off the trail" camping to get away from people. We would always go to the same spot, nothing strange ever happened until one time we woke up to the most beautiful native flute music, it was so peaceful that I wasn't as afraid as I feel I should have been.

We eventually got up and started moving around and the music stopped. We never heard it again and always joked that it was bigfoot serenading his mate.

At first it looked like fly tipping, but as me and my bf got closer, it was an abandoned campsite. There must have been 3 people, and one of them was a child because of the random kids toys left around, and they left suitcases full of leftovers and rubbish. The creepiest thing was the backpacks which were just filled with rocks!! And not just random rocks they found in the woods either, these were rocks from a train line. Someone had snuck on a train line, filled up several bags full of rocks, and dumped them here. Why? I don’t know.
Near the campsite up a tree was a seagull skeleton that had recently been picked apart because the bones were still bloody and the feathers still attached to the wings. It just added to the eerie nature.

Me and my Friend had just set up camp and chilled for a little bit not far from an pretty overgrown Trail that seem almost abandonded and forgotten. We were spooked by a noise and it was a mountain biker comíng down that steep and bad trail rather reckless, he than stopped, hastily pulled his shorts down and squatted down to spray diarrhea like crazy before he kept going, we were pretty camouflaged so he never noticed us watching.

I was camping up in Heber, Arizona with my brothers and my dad. I was 15 or so at the time and we were deep in the woods, far from most other camps.

Me and my brothers had our own tent whilst my dad had a separate one not far off. He likes to give us our privacy while we were camping. We would usually run around a bit at night before going to bed, entering our camp to sleep at about 11:00pm.

One night we were playing hide and seek when we heard a branch snap a few yards from us. We assumed it was an Elk or something since they were pretty common in our area. We would typically go to our tent if we saw one in hopes of not agitating it.

So that’s what we did. I called for my youngest brother who was still hiding and he revealed himself to be hiding behind a branch pile not super far from where the noise originated.

We went to the tent and I decided since it was already pretty late that we should just go to sleep. The next morning I went to check the spot for Elk prints since I found them pretty fascinating.

Instead, I found large cat prints. I knew they were cat prints because they had the four toe pads and the large center pad as well as no claw marks. I was honestly kind of excited.

I had always wanted to see a Mountain Lion or a Bobcat in the wild but it never happened. Knowing that I was that close to either one was very thrilling. It then occurred to me that my youngest brother was hiding, separated from us scarily close to the paw prints location.

It occurred to me that if that was a hungry Mountain Lion and it had taken notice of my 6 year old brother hiding alone it could have possibly taken the chance.

We stopped doing hide and seek at night to avoid those types of situations and we actually set up a roll call system to ensure everyone was together at night.

Now I know a Mountain Lion likely wouldn’t have done anything had it seen him but still, the risk felt very real and I worry that had I not heard it I could have lost my brother.

EDIT: I’m glad my most upvoted post is about an animal that was apparently stalking my brother. That’s something I’ll forever have on my mind.

My boys and I were dry camping on a plateau above one of the many canyons in the Snake River Wilderness in late summer. The first night, at about 1am we saw several lights rise into the sky what seemed to be about 10 miles away. We immediately thought it was just drones and thought nothing of it. Then we started seeing flashing amber lights reflecting off of the canyon walls. So, naturally my curiosity compelled me to see what was going on. We got in the truck and started driving down the only road in the area hoping that we could get close enough to see. After about 30 minutes, everything went dark and we never saw any more lights. We never did find out what it was.

On the second night, we had just gotten to sleep when I was woken up by wolves howling. At that point I wasn't scared at all and was kind of fascinated by the sounds. They seemed pretty far off and it was cool to listen to. I drifted back to sleep then some time later was woken up by the sounds of running animals. I bolted upright just in time to see several animals that looked to be wolves (hard to tell by moonlight through a tent screen) running right past our truck. They never stopped. Just ran past us. It is the only time I have ever seen wolves in the wild and it was intimidating to see just how big they really are. But even with all of that excitement, that wasn't the scariest part of the night. About two hours after the wolf event, I had to get up to pee. I didn't even want to get out of the tent but the bladder kind of forced the issue. I worked up the courage to get up. slung my gun around my shoulder, and stepped outside. I was about mid-stream when a thud and the sound of footfalls came from the area just to my right. I spun in a full panic only to realize it was a cow rubbing against a small pine tree about 40 yards away. I have never been so relieved to see a cow in my life.



tl;dr: I saw a couple of UFOs and almost pooped myself because of a cow.

Was out with a friend a few miles from Pikes Peak in Colorado.

We were hiking on this trail and up ahead I see a blue windbreaker in the middle of the trail. We hadn't seen anybody else out walking all day (its pretty remote where we were staying) so it was weird it was placed right in the middle of the path, but hey things happen and people drop things so maybe it fell out of a backpack and nobody noticed.

The windbreaker was just a piece of this entire campsite we ended up coming across that was absolutely torn to shreds. There was a tent, a hammock, a cooler, and a backpack. Various articles of clothing thrown about as well. The tent had broken poles, was shredded, and looked like it was from the early 2000s with the fading that was apparent and the old style of it. Think of a basic 4 person Walmart tent, not a nice fancy lightweight backpacking tent.

The hammock was still hanging. Empty. The cooler was open and empty. A few shirts and shorts were scattered, and the backpack was empty.

We told ourselves it must be some homeless shelter and that was a good enough excuse for us to leave everything how it was and continue back to the cabin we were staying in.

My partner and I were deep in Mt. Adams wilderness area (Washington State, U.S) and there were no other campers around. We had spent the day fishing and exploring the creek around our camp.

Around 2am, he wakes me up and tells me to be quiet. Our little dog is quietly growling and looking in one direction. About 15 yards north of the tent, I can hear rustling and a woman’s voice speaking quietly to herself (couldn’t discern any words). There is no light, just the voice and the walking noise. It goes quiet and then picks back up on the other side of the tent (which is even deeper woods) then it faded off into the dense forest.

The fact that there was someone alone wandering around talking to themselves in the middle of the night without a light or camp is soo freaky and I still get chills whenever I think about it. The next morning we investigated and didn’t find any tracks, but there was a really haphazardly lit fire (charred remains) in the middle a forest/logging road about a mile up. It was still kind of warm.

I know there is a small town (about 150 people) about 10 miles south from where we were camped.. so maybe it was a drunk teenager? We were almost touching the Yakima Indian reservation also, and the logging roads were still actively used. But still, so bizarre. Sorry for formatting also, I’m on mobile.

I camped alone once in my life, though I have been in backcountry multi day treks about 3 dozen times with other hikers. I set up camp in the forest only a couple miles in but I was camping illegally so I went pretty far off the trail. Night was coming and I got a nice cozy fire going as the woods darkened. Around 11 I heard noises- purposeful, stalking noises in the undergrowth. I shone my headlamp out and saw at least 3 pairs of glowing eyes reflecting back. I know very well that coyotes almost never pick a fight with a grown woman. Yet they didn’t budge when I yelled and threw rocks. The circles just bobbed along, watching. Freaked me out. I packed my tent and walked to the road and asked my friend to pick me up (I’d biked). I’ll never do that again. I knew they would not attack, but being alone in the dark gives me such a primal fear of being eaten alive.

Hiking in Maine around Moosehead Lake. I was hiking with my Uncle. I was a Boy Scout and I saw a spot where it appeared that someone had walked off of the trail and into the woods toward a clearing. As a kid I got curious and we walked through the woods for about a hundred yards.

We came to a small clearing where it appeared that a religious ritual had taken place. a small campfire, an altar made of stones and a large circle burned into the brush. After about a minute of exploring, my uncle said that "we shouldn't be here." I agreed and we hightailed it back to the main trail.

So about 5 years ago a friend and I were hiking in the Oregon Cascades in the mid spring. We were about 6 miles in from the road nowhere near a trail on about 6 feet of snow. We were going out for 5 days to attempt to summit a few peaks, so we looked like grizzly mountain men.

Around a tree comes two guys and a dog. Mid 50s, his son mid 20s, and fifi. They are wearing trail running shorts, running shoes and a running water backpack. AKA, nothing of real use.

“PCT OPEN?” they asked. Friend and I looked at each other, looked at them, tried not to laugh and explained. We are 5 miles from the PCT and 2000 feet lower in elevation, what are you trying to do? They planned on doing a 20 mile run along the pct starting on the other side of the mountains but got side tracked due to snow. Again we explain that they are done for. I tell them that there is a road with cell service 6 miles downhill along our tracks and if need be we can hike them out. They refused and asked if the PCT was open again. I flat out told them “Let me hike you out” they were like “nah, weve got this” and ran off in the wrong direction.

We camped there for the night and followed their tracks for a half mile the next morning. They disappeared, no signs of them. After a few stormy days and failed summit attempts we hiked out. I drove around to the parking area they mentioned and looked through the wilderness permit tags to try to find a name. Nothing.

It gets weird though. A few years later, my parents ran into the same nondescript people in the same area again asking about a trail loop, same conditions. Late winter, snowshoeing far from a road and they were lost. My dad also tried to hike them out but they denied and took off in the wrong direction. He followed their tracks for a half mile before he lost them.

So if anyone sees the ghosts of the oregon cascades, let me know.

My wife and I were hiking on a remote trail. I had to pee, so I stepped behind an evergreen and started to do my business.

A ~60 year old woman came out of nowhere, dropped her pants and peed. Right next to me. As in my junk was ~30” from her face.

We strangely watched each other pee while chatting about the hike.

My wife saw this go down. 10 years later and she can’t bring it up without giggling.

This is more camping after a day of hiking but my husband and I decided to set up in a campground where no one else was. The gate to the area was open but weirdly deserted. We may have been too early in to the season (March) and we guessed the gate was accidentally left open but decided why not, enjoy some peace and quiet in a usually full campground. During the night we were woken up by noises and saw 2 trucks with their headlights on pulling in to the camp and people jumping out of the beds with flashlights. We were scared these people were going to find and hurt us. Probably sounds silly but we weren’t sure what these peoples intentions were. Sometimes humans are scarier than nature..after they looked around for a bit they got back in the trucks and left. Didn’t spot our tent in the trees towards the back of the camp but we were ready to go after that. They could’ve just been checking out the campground if they wanted to stay there but the vibe felt really creepy like they were looking for something.

Me and a friend were hiking in the mountains and heard what sounded like a hose bib running. We were deep in the mountains so there should not be water running. We tracked the sound to a large depression in the side of a hill and looked in and there was a mass of rattlesnakes mating. The mass was HUGE and there had to be at least a hundred of them all intertwined.

Apparently that’s how they mate. Massive snake orgies.

Edit. Hose bib= spigot= faucet= silcock. It’s where you connect the hose to the outdoor water supply. Different names for the same thing across the country.

Was hiking solo in the White Mountains, attempting to summit Mt. Adams via the Airline Trail. The Presidentials were totally socked in with fog, wind and some rain. Could not see more than a couple inches in front of me. I doubled back to the Madison Springs hut to review my options, and decided to climb to the top of Madison and go down the back side on the Watson Path to make my way back to my original trailhead. The Watson Path was tricky because a) it's all granite boulders at the top which were b) very slippery due to the weather and c) totally socked in from the fog and d) no one else is on the trail that day. And I start thinking, man, if I break an ankle or take a header on these slick boulders, no one is going to find me for a long time and I start to get the nerves, and I'm carefully picking my way through the fog, barely able to make out the next cairn... When all of a sudden there is a brief break in the fog and I see this giant black thing down the trail in front of me, inkily appearing and disappearing through the fog, and my mind immediately thinks bear.... It's not more than 150 feet from me... And I'm peering through the fog... And I edge closer and yell at the thing... And I'm squinting and trying to make out what is.... Ultimately a big upturned tree stump.

Yes, I had the bejeezus scared out of me by a tree.

That thing really got my adrenaline going. It was probably the best lesson I've had with how stress and adrenaline can really change your perception of your environs. I was absolutely convinced that thing was a bear. As I got closer to it, it was so obviously not a bear. But for those two minutes, I was seriously activated.

Epilogue: as I sat down, laughing and collecting myself, I encountered a small weasel living up in the rocks, not happy that I had stopped near its den. A very aggressive weasel as it turned out.

Wasn't technically hiking, but I think this fits. Once used a tree as a bridge over a little gap while I was exploring the woods behind my school. Didn't realize it was rotten until I was about halfway across, and the thing gave out from under me. I reached the botton (only about 10 feet, so no major injuries), looked up, and a few feet away from me was a deer carcass staring straight at me. It was like in a movie. Scared the heck out of me.

This summer i was hiking near old forge ny, and came about 30 ft of a 250-300 lb male black bear , i didnt realize there was an open dumpster nearby. Anyway he seemed pretty interested in me and started to stand up so i quickly backed away. Made my heartstop.

When I was a teenager we went away for a week of camping at the scout reserve. My dad was our scout master and we were mostly all friends from growing up. There was one kid Andre, the youngest, that we didn’t really know well and was definitely kind of weird - withdrawn and awkward, just kinda different, but still a sweet guy that everyone liked. Toward the end of the week we went out on an overnight, just the scouts without my dad or his buddy who was our other scouter. We took a boat across the lake and then hiked for hours into the bush. It was a really hot day and my older brother was leading us but not drinking any water and wearing a light jacket which made him extra hot. Eventually we found a sweet spot next to a huge cliff which we jumped off into the lake below for hours until we made a fire and cooked dinner. Eventually we all fell asleep under the stars.

Around 4:30am, just before sunrise, my friend Sean woke me up and asked if I knew where Andre was. I said no and that maybe he went to pee, but after 5 minutes he wasn’t back so we got up and started looking around and calling his name. Nothing. So we ranged a little further and then I saw his sleeping bag at the edge of the cliff. I freaked out and ran over to see if I could see anything at the bottom, but I saw nothing. We tried to get my brother up but he was pretty sick from heatstroke so I took charge of the situation. We started ranging out into the woods and calling his name. One fo the guy started doing the emergency whistle call, three short whistles - but we were really in the middle of nowhere. I started going deeper into the woods calling his name. Then I thought I heard something. I stopped and listened and heard a faint cry deep in the woods. So I started running, crashing through thick undergrowth, getting lashed in the face with branches and stumbling across fallen logs. His cries got louder and eventually I arrived to this huge clearing in the woods to find him sitting on a fallen tree, in his underwear and a tshirt. He said he’d been there for hours, having woken up on the ground in the dark and having no idea where he was so he just sat it out, waiting for dawn. It was really spooky. The craziest thing was that his watch had been reset so he didn’t know what time it actually was.

We all accepted that it was probably sleep walking, but he was so far in the woods and didn’t have a scratch on him, and this clearing was so bizarre because it was big and round in the middle of these really dense woods. To this day I wonder what really happened….

Me and my family were once on a night walk at the sea, when suddenly some strange lights emerged from it. My brother and I were 12 and 10 and were scared as hell and my mother was also freaking out. So we steadily increased our pace until we were running.

When we were back at our cabin again we were speculating about all sorts of things: aliens, fish people, the thing from the swamp…

The next days, the locals told my mom, that this were some night fishers with their lamps. So this was the very anticlimactic end for my supernatural experience.

Someone had pinned a Snickers candy bar wrapper to a tree using hypodermic needles, about 4 needles were used to do this.