If you're around here in 2022, here's a new campfire story video! ukposts.info/have/v-deo/m3manXmfrY6BuKc.html

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.

Lack of sleep probably played a big role in this situation

"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?"

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!

imagine how scared the moon was...

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! 🤣

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.

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.

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!

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. 😊🤪

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!

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 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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I was sleeping in my hammock and I heard an animal underneath me... so I tried to listen and I could hear it scratching... So I slowly open my bug net grab my headlamp and whipped it underneath my hammock and yelled...there was nothing there nothing ran away.... I laid back down I heard it again I picked my head up and that’s when I realized I had gone swimming earlier in the stream before I camped and I had water in my ear so every time I lay down the water in my ear sounded like scratching..... oh my childhood monsters came out that night lol

Something I learned as a young boy is that the instant you give in to fear and start to run, fear turns to panic.

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

Biggest scare I ever had in my life was going back to my bedroom at night after going to the bathroom. We had just moved, and my "bedroom" was actually a sunporch with some curtains hung on the inside over the glass walls for privacy. Also important to the story was the fact that the floor of the room was down about 2 feet from the room I was walking through. I am a 6' tall adult male who's walk apparently broadcasts confidence and aggression. Other people had told me I can look kind of intimidating, but I never fully understood. Until, that is, as I was walking towards the reflective wall in the dark, I see this freaking giant standing on the floor two feet down, but still level with my head, marching toward me with that aggressive walk that I have. Seeing some 8 foot tall dude coming at me in the dark, at night, in my own home, scared me more than anything else on earth ever has. Freaking glass and it's reflective properties.

Love the story Dixie. I once, on a dark, foggy night at sea sailing off the Mexican coast near Acapulco, made quick and extreme evasive maneuvers to safely avoid a collision ... with Mars.

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

not a hiking story, but a camping story....I was maybe 15 or 16 and was camping out with a friend of mine, we had just turned off our lantern and were just sitting in the tent in the light glow of moonlight when I started to see little flashes of light outside our tent, like little blinks of light, I was really confused at first and ignored it for a minute, but started to notice more and more frequent little blinks, they were dim, but still bright enough to know it was a light of some sort just outside the tent. I nudged my friend, kinda freaking out because I had no clue what that could be...eyes? a flashlight of sorts? they sat up with me watching it for a few minutes as well, both of us getting more nervous and just uneasy not knowing what we were seeing. We got up enough courage to unzip the tent door and what did we see making these nerve-wracking flashes of light? a whole bunch of fireflies. I had never really seen them in person before so didn't even think that they could be the little lights I was seeing. Boy did I feel like such a dummy for a while after that...getting scared of some little fireflies.

I once was heading into the local woods at night, just navigating by moonlight when I suddenly heard what sounded like a big dog running straight at me from less than 10 feet ahead. I quickly turned on my flashlight, at which point the noise was less than 6 feet ahead, and so did he. We avoided frontal collision by 2 steps. Who in the friggin world goes running in the woods by moonlight??

Sage and I teamed up for the last few days of the CDT. We had continued hiking past sunset in Glacier, gaining a ridge where we began to set up a cowboy camp in the dark. Talked for a bit. Then just as i was almost asleep I heard Sage cry out; "Hey bring that back!" I sat up and saw she had her light focused on a nearby tree. "A rat took my sock.. and it's looking right at me!" Sure enough, a few feet away was a packrat with one of Sage's free-heel-&wheel socks in its mouth. I lunged to grab the sock. The rat was quicker and scurried to the base of the tree and disappeared down a hole in the ground. The sock made a little puff of dust as it got drawn into the den abruptly. We laughed. It was one of Sage's last good socks. She hadn't bought any nor sent any to herself since the trail was nearly ended. After a while the rat came back. Began tugging on the gear bungie of my pack under my feet. I lifted my legs in my sleeping bag and began to bring them down on the rat. Again, the rat was quicker and scurried down it's hole. We laughed again. In the morning Sage had only one sock and my gear bungie was in three pieces. Packrat 2- Thru hikers 0.

I haven’t been on a through-hike, so I applaud you for your continued bravery!! I was on the edge of my seat while you were sharing this story, then busted out laughing at the end! This is a great story that should have never been hidden. I can’t imagine any good person shaming you for this, especially since it was 2-freaking-AM!

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

😂 I can relate!. I may have mentioned this before but I was in a solo campsite through an outward bound type program. In the night I heard foot falls outside of my tent. I didn't know if it was a mountain lion, bear, or man? I could hear my heart beat I was so scared. I had an ice axe at my feet so I slowly reached for it and lying down held it to my chest. Then with the change of position I realised that it wasn't footsteps but just my eyelashes beating against my sleeping bag! And a wild imagination.

Thank you for sharing this! Knowing as much night hiking as you have done, if this is your creepiest experience, that gives me more confidence to night hike. We have tried it a couple times and it was exciting but a bit scary as everything sounds louder and closer at night. Can't wait to get out there and do it again.

Great story!!! Sounds like something i would do.

"She is like a cat in the dark and then she is the darkness" 🎶😂

One evening I was working doing owl surveys about an hour hike from my truck into the middle of nowhere. I finally find the owl I was looking for and it was about 20' above me in a tree. All of a sudden I hear a very loud fight between a mountain lion and/or bear. The owl I found hears it and instantly flies higher up in the tree I found it in. Well it was getting very dark so I GTFO immediately. I still don't know for sure what it was that I heard but I heard it again when I had to go back to do a follow up. I really need to buy a pair of brown pants.

Great story :D Reminds me of a camping trip a few years back. I was out in the middle of nowhere with my girlfriend. We were in a large tent with an extra sleeping compartment so we were in a different space to all our gear. The weather had been wild all day - rain, rain, and then more rain, and it whipped up into a proper storm overnight, the wind threatening to rip our tent out of the ground. Struggling to sleep (I had forgotten my earplugs) and in a dreamlike haze, I started to hear a noise. It was difficult to tell at first because the wind and rain were already so loud but I thought I could hear a plastic bag being rustled. It took a while for me to become convinced that it wasn't the storm and my heart started racing - someone was in our tent, going through our stuff. I started thinking through my options and decided that confronting them was the right thing to do so I jumped up and unzipped our compartment, turning on my headlamp to scare them. But there was nobody there. It was the wind and rain after all. Breathing a huge sigh of relief I tried to get back to sleep, dreaming of the bacon sandwich I was going to have in the morning to make everything right. I kept hearing the bag moving but now I knew that it was the wind I was annoyed rather than fearful. When morning finally came I went to make my bacon sandwich only to find we had no bread and suddenly everything made sense. Some creature had been in our tent and had eaten our entire loaf! It wasn't until later when we struck camp that insult was added to injury. The thief hadn't even eaten it. A whole loaf had been far too much for it and instead the remains of my would-be salvation were piled in a soggy heap under our tent.

Hiking in Polish mountains. I walked through a small village where there was a lot of free roaming dogs. Some barked at me so I picked up a pace and made my planned break a couple of minutes after passing the village. I`m really scared of these semi-wild dogs so I was happy it went without an incident. I had a snack and some water on the trail where it circled so I was out of sight. As soon as I started walking again I heard a dog barking nearby. Probably smelled my food. I looked back but it was not in sight yet. I thought if I walked faster it will loose interest if it won`t see me. So I kept walking but the barking didn`t stop and I was expecting to see the dog anytime from behind the hill. I walked even faster,now really worried about how I`m gonna deal with this situation. I pulled out my pepper spray,made sure my personal alarm is within easy reach and released my hands from the hiking poles straps so I can use them to defend myself. All that while almost running. The dog followed me now for some 8 minutes but every time I stopped to look behind it stopped barking and I could never see it. It`s like it was following me through the bushes without the intent of catching up with me. A freaking psycho dog. At this point I was really nervous,confused and pretty tired from the tension and walking as fast as I could. I grabbed my water bottle from a side pocket,quickly lifted it to my mouth and the water hitting the inside of the bottle made a barking sound.

I have one. This happened about the beginning of November last year on the Appalachian trial near three forks. The forecast said no rain. Temperature was very comfortable for hammock camping. About 4 hours after dark I wake up to my hammock violently shaking and I thought it was one of those camping with me just messing around so I yelled out “hang on I’m getting up!” There was not a response except a little bit more shaking of my hammock. I was terrified and yelled out again. It stopped. Then I heard a loud cat cry only a few feet from my hammock. I froze. Moments later I heard the grunt or growl of a larger animal nearby. Then throughout the night I heard and felt rain falling on the rainfly covering my hammock three different times. In the morning I woke and everything was dry and no one heard anything. I chalk it up to very vivid and freaky dreams. Just thought it was weird to have the same or similar dream several times in the same night.

Circa 1985 I went on a Columbus Day weekend hike with a guy I somewhat knew from high school. He had come to my bike shop to buy a bike, and we decided to do a backpacking trip on Franconia Notch ridge, going up the dreaded Flume Slide Trail, then over from Mt. Flume to Mount Liberty, camping at the Liberty Spring campsite. We had planned to do the Pemi Loop. A whole bunch a weird stuff happened. To keep it brief, I will just address getting bit in the night. No, not by the high school chum. He, Matt, was having asthma attacks for the first time in five years. He had kept me up all night wheezing and coughing while we slept in my car at the trailhead the first night, and he was keeping me awake the second night at the campsite. I was losing patience with him because aside from not being able to sleep, he was complaining about everything - the long hike to the base of Mt. Flume, the blister his boot gave him, the fast pace we had to make to assure a campsite (we got the very last one), and so forth. So there I was, in and out of sleep when around 11:30 p.m. an animal bit my hand. Through the tent. Through my down mummy bag. Through my mitten. Through my inner glove. And I froze. I could feel the four fangs press gently down on my skin, not breaking it and not hurting me - a test bite. I am not one to panic, but I was speechless. It let go. I began elbowing Matt to wake him. It took a lot of elbowing until he asked what was going on. I told him what happened. He did not believe me. He said I was dreaming. But I was wide awake. At 3:30 I was awake again because of Matt's coughing. Lying there, frustrated, I then I felt those fangs bite down on my scalp through the tent wall, the tent screen, my knitted hat and my balaclava. Another test bite. I again was frozen speechless, and I again elbowed Matt. And again, he did not believe me...until we both heard the critter brush up against the guy lines as it walked around the tent platform. Around six a.m., I had to get up and out for a leak, and when I hit the tent wall while getting out of my bag to exit the tent, we heard a nose against the outside of the tent that alarmed us both. "Was it back?" No. It was a heavy snowstorm, with about 10" on the ground and coming down at about 2"-per-hour - more craziness. The snow on the tent had slid off the tent when I hit the tent wall. It was supposed to be sunny, warm and clear through the long weekened, so it caught us off-guard. Such are The Whites. (And then our Coleman white gas stove flared at breakfast, but I digress.) For years I told the story as a bobcat biting me, though that seemed out-of-character. Thirty-some years later, it was a N.H. native that informed me I was bitten by a fisher, as he had heard of fishers being extremely bold and curious, biting with test bites. Suffice to say that while I was solo winter camping on the AT in CT last January, the sound of a pack of yapping fishers in the late night just yards from my tent site was a bit unsettling.

Ahhh! So glad to see your video and hear your voice !!! Haven’t been watching hiking vids since this covid19 stuff got crazy!!! I’m in north AL and the numbers aren’t too bad yet. Hope the area you’re in is doing OK!!! Best of luck and thank you for your wonderful videos. Loved this story

“The light still follows” this great inspiration for a short story

"I'm being followed by a Moon shadow". The next time I hear this song from 50 years ago I'll only be able to think of this cute story. Luv ya Dixie!

I was sleeping and in my sleep I started hearing footsteps coming closer and louder. I got concerned, who would be coming to my tent site. Then I started hearing the zipper being opened. I looked to see my wife in her side. I got my knife and stabbed right through the mesh of my tent. Then I woke up. Sitting up with the knife in my hand. The hole is still there patched up. I told that story to a native american here in SoCal. She said "that happens because there are spirits in these mountains. You were probably in one of the spirits' places." Creeeerpppyyyyy.

Oh, Dixie.. I feel for ya. Glad you are safe and well!! Interesting that the moon was gaining on you, but.. I can kind of relate to how the mind works in a time of fear. I once had a situation where I had to loose someone in the woods, it was night time, in late fall.. it was a pretty dark night, I didn’t have a pack on, no snow, but.. this guy was within 20’ of catching me. I ended up sprinting full speed through the trees changing course a few times and taking a face dive straight to the ground into what appeared to be a pile of leaves, then.. just laid as quiet and still as I could. It worked, but.. was my heart pounding!!! I have only felt actual fear a few times, but of those times.. it is wild to think what the mind is capable of imagining. Good still that you took precaution! I guess I never thought about it for hiking, but.. probably a really good idea to wear obnoxious bright colors that can be easily swapped for dark and inconspicuous, just in case you have to disappear.

This was epic to listen to. I was in suspense!! Well told!! Recently discovered your page and have been watching many of your videos lately during the Covid19 lockdown!! Your videos are great! Keep it up! 👍🏼

haha..... the mind can seriously mess with you! Been there done that... except I was a kid and singing jingle bells louder and louder when I running from ' i dont know what' on my grandparents ranch.....lol! AND it happened more than once...haha... don't know why jingle bells was my 'safe' song!

We have a lot of coyotes and some mountain lions in my area, so when I'm on an evening walk in the woods I get a little edgy. A few weeks before I'd come upon some larger coyotes, so was extra edgy. I was cruising along and had been hearing movement in the woods that truly sounded like I was being stalked. I started nearly running and was getting kind of panicked when I rounded a corner and there was a doe standing right there. I screamed, SHE screamed. Both of our lives were shortened that evening.

Loved it!! I just started trek hiking now at 63 yrs old this is my new hobby, (love it & all your videos) all I could think of while u were telling ur story is do i hv a knife, pocket handy, for protection lol. Loved your video Dixie, nice to see another side of u. Stories around the campfire r great aren't they, keep em coming, ya had me going right to the end! Take care moondodger!!!! lmao. P.s. any advice for us older gals starting out? I hv bought alot of lightweight gear and watching tons of videos from u Dixie, Darwin on the trail, bushcraft N fun with Heather(also older gonna do the 500 mile BT up here in Ontario in May), a must trek of beauty) and far north bushcraft and survival. Learned so much about everything ya need to pack and know. A month ago I never would hv known a fire could b lit with just lint and vaseline and ferro rod. Never to old to learn something new. Always loved the outdoors and now I feel like part of this huge community. A movie "my way" with Martin Sheen (el camino trek) got this whole ball rolling of trekking for me and ur videos are the best! Thx Dixie, love ya.😀🏃‍♀️🐾📉📈⛺🔥🌛🌛🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚 lmao.

Oh my gosh, you had me going. What a great story and twist at the end. Good stuff! You're a good story teller

Aww, bless your heart! You had me clinging onto every syllable...good one! Would love to hear more stories from any and all of your adventures! 🌝🖤

Bless your heart! That was a good story. After having that scare did you press on or did you stop for the night?

I had taken my wife and two young kids wilderness canoe camping on Leigh Lake in the Grand Tetons and we were warned on our way in by a couple that they had seen a grizzly bear at the same campsite we were headed to the prior year. There are only a few campsites on the lake, so that left us with the incredibly scenary all to our own for the entire weekend. I was having the time of my life, but the kids were hating the swarms of mosquitos and my wife was scared to death all weekend thinking about bears. Things were so bad that we had taken to relieving ourselves quite close to camp so no one would wander into the woods alone or have to face the ferocious swarms for too long. The last morning my wife woke me very early at first light saying she heard something outside the tent. I told her it's nothing and tried to go back to sleep. Then I heard coming up from the ground a very well defined thud, thud, thud. There was certainly something out there, and it was big! Bear spray in hand I offered to go outside and see what it was since our large tent had no windows and you had to go out through a screened porch area to see out. She said "you're not leaving me alone in this tent with the kids!". We were at an impass for what felt like 10-15 minutes, all the while hearing the heavy foot falls from different directions all around us. Finally I convinced her to at least let me go into the vestibule and have a peek out. I quietly crept outside the tent and pulled back one of the screen shades to have a look towards the last heavy thud I heard. There digging a bit at one of the places we had peed was a very large buck deer. Aparently he found the salts in our urine quite tasty and was going from spot to spot digging up and licking everywhere we had gone. It was both comical and relieving at the same time. The kids slept through the whole thing, but we got off to a very early start packing up. All in all it was an amazing trip with one spooky and hilarious scare at the end. I've also learned to pee much farther from camp now :-)

I was a preteen. My dad and I were on the AT from the GA end. Early summer. We had done lots of butt camping but this was like our second backpack trip together. Late at night, I am passed out exhausted, and my dad is awake thinking. He spots a light in the distance kind of surveying around. It would make that creepy sort of diffuse look as it penetrated the nylon of our cheap pup tent. No sound as it had showered earlier and everything was green and wet. Keep in mind this is long enough ago that Deliverance had been in the theaters the year before. My dad was concerned. We were camped off the trail, so when the light started to wander closer my dad started thinking up what ifs and action plans. As the light got close enough that my dad was about to wake me, he paused just long enough for the light to land on the tent. Firefly. Adrenaline kept him up most of the rest of the night. Best part of backpacking with my dad was that we could go on a weekend out-and-back and come home with multiple hours of tales to tell.

I built a bush craft shelter once. It was in a natural ditch. I laid small logs across the top and hung a sleeping bag on the inside of it. In the middle of the night the whole shelter started moving. Freaking out I grabbed my machete. Waited.... realized it was me in the hammock moving the shelter 😬

Recently I trekked out with my dog to do some sun set photography. I was about 15 miles out and had to do the return trip in the night. The area I was in is well known for mountain lion activity. On that particular trail , I frequently would find mountain lion tracks and scat. My dog sprained his leg on the hike in, and we were making very slow progress out. The whole way out there were some glowing eyes behind me and very quite shuffling around. There was a mountain lion stalking my injured dog, something they are well know to do. My heart was racing the whole time, and the dog was totally freaked out. Once I got about five miles from the car we passed a popular rock climbing area. I was extremely happy to find a noisy group of climbers also returning to their car. The group of people were enough to scare the mountain lion off. I have never been so freaked out in my life.

Years ago in the central Scottish Highlands, me and a friend were hiking in december. So it was dark outside from 16.00 in the afternoon to 8.00 in the morning. We slept in a hut called "Corrour Bothy" for two nights .At one point in the night I had to go out for what you have to go out usually. So I put on the headlamp and opened the door and in front of me, maybe five metres away, were two pairs of glowing eyes!!! I jumped back and slamed the door. My buddy was not amused as you can imagine. But he also showed no fighting spirit and didnt't want to come out of his sleeping bag to help me against that, what was waiting for me in the foggy darkness. I thought about what it could be: American Werewolf, Jabberwocky, Jaws....?! And then I had the greatest idea that night. I took my digicam, opened the door a little bit and made a picture. Suddenly, because of the flash, i heard a trampling and as I looked at the cam I saw: NOTHING! I had hold it in the wrong direction. And I had to pee in some minutes or it would go wrong. So I sneaked outside and did what was necessary and then I saw the "monsters" again coming towards me. I ran back into the hut, took the camera and made a second picture. And now I saw what had taken me some years of my life: two curious deers. I was happy like a little boy under the christmas tree but woke up several times that night because of bad dreams. The next morning they ate our cookies out of our hands.

Another time was when I just had a shower.. I was alone at home and it was a late evening. The bathroom was the only lit room in the house and my imagination may or may not have been running high. I was standing with my back to the door and as I was putting my robe on the light suddenly went off. My reaction:spin around while throwing my elbow and fists into whoever was sneaking upon me! I felt hitting something hard,bounced off and felt pain. At the same time the light went back on. Nobody there. I elbowed the door and scratched my hand on the door handle. Turned out I managed to accidentally feed the light switch cord through my robe`s sleeve and pulled it as I was reaching for the other sleeve. Had a nice round bruise on my elbow for a few days afterwards.

lmao , the night Dixie gets mooned on the trail.

Rhiaaaaaanon....great, it's stuck in my head now

Glad I watched this video! Thanks for sharing. What a great story. What a relief it must have been to realize that you had only scared yourself!

You're a great story teller in addition to being a great source of backpacking information!

Brings a whole new meaning to being " mooned "

Loved the story, thanks. My favorite album is Tusk. Some great tunes to walk too on there as well.

Wow that’s scary, I was followed for 10 miles by mountain lions. I got lost but the little red eyes followed me all the way until I passed out at 2 am. I set up camp and said I’m resting here we can wrestle in the morning to tired now . To my surprise no one was there when I awoke . I’ll never forget the glowing red eyes.

Great story! Gave me a good laugh at the end. Reminds of a time when some friends and I, when we were teenagers, took off in to the mountains here in Ireland and hiked well in to the night. We were hiking along a remote road when we came across a logging road through a forest and decided to go up this road a bit and make camp in the forest. As we turned a slight bend, we caught sight, in the distance, of a large group of people bouncing, swaying back and forth and flailing their arms about in this creepy motion. They were silhouetted by a big moon behind them. It was probably about 1:30am in the morning. We were, by Irish standards, in the middle of nowhere. What the hell were these people doing? We really started to freak ourselves out and came to the conclusion that what we were witnessing was a secret Satanic ritual. We turned around, took off at speed and hiked a good half hour away to somewhere where we could safely set up camp without fear of falling victim to human sacrifice. The next morning, feeling confident that the satanists would be long gone, we decided to hike to the spot were the Satanic ritual had taken place to see if they had left behind any satanic paraphernalia. As we approached the spot where the ritual had taken place we noticed that some branches of some of the trees ahead of us were sticking out in to the road a bit and were bouncing up and down and swaying back and forth in the wind, much like the satanists had been a few hours earlier. That's when we realized that we had become totally spooked by a few branches silhouetted by the moon and moving in the wind and had let our imaginations run away with us. We did find a dead goat with a pentagram carved in to it's chest nearby though. Only kidding :-)

Whew, for a minute I thought you were getting chased by the Mummy! 😁

My very first campout, I walked 15(11)min by my windup alarm, to the far edge of the hay field, crossed the fence. Dad helped me build a fire, I set up my puptent with the wooden poles ate home fries and went to sleep. something huge was crashing through the brush towards me. I banged mothers saucepan on a rock making a terrible noise, but in vain. I ended up sleeping on the porch. In the morning I found my tent collapsed with broken poles. The cows were fencec out of the hayfield. I was on the wrong side of the fence. They were just being friendly.

Before I even get to the story, I absolutely love the setting for this story. The glow of the fire coming in is perfect. Every story video should be this way lol

Cute story. I believe we’ve all been there before...scared of something to find out it’s nothing. I like watching your hiking videos. I want to embark on my first hike soon, I’m older, single, and a little nervous. You’re an inspiration 😊

I needed a good laugh today, and ya really had me going there. The Moon Over Dixie, hah!

I love stories! More please!

Great story I can relate completely. There is something to be said about night hiking it is a different and creepy feel. Love your channel.

Great story! Thanks so much for being brave enough to share it. We have ALL done things like that.

This had my heart racing! All I could think of was “the Blair Witch Project”, (and I got caught up in that story too) What a great story! Belly laughed. Never guessed the ending! (Didn’t want to spoil ending )

"Dixie runs down the trail in the night, is a stalker close behind her? She hides in the brush and turns out her light, hoping now he'll never find her. All the while it was just the moon lighting up the trail behind her. Back on the trail, lived to tell the tale, with no stalker's light to blind her. She's ammmm-blin. She's rammmm-blin. Ammmmmm-blinnnn." (With apologies to Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks.)

Hey, I just found your channel. I've never hiked before but it's something I always thought was an awesome thing to do. Love your stories. Thank you for sharing your stories. I actually find your story may be funny but may also help keep someone safe who's not being chased by the moon. Be aware of your surroundings right😉

That was one of the best stories I’ve heard in a long time. It made me subscribe and ring your bell thanks Dixie keep them coming

"That's no moon" ----Obiwan Kenobi

Yes! I love story time. 👍❤️

Omigosh!!! Right there with you sister!! You had my blood pressure up there at the end. I was hoping you had left something important and someone was trying to return it to you.

I am so happy to hear that there are women out there hiking and camping by themselves. I just did my first ever solo camping trip and had the camping area to myself. I hear so many noises and thought of so many ways of been attacked. I also had my moment of panic until i realized it was all in my head. Stay safe and thank for sharing.

Lol reminds me of one time in the 90s some friends and I were camping and sharing ghost storys. And one of the guys asks if we want to go see a haunted mine. Now this was a strip mine that had shut down in the 60s or 70s so no tunnels but there were some old buildings that were caving in that were still there such as a bathhouse. So we hopped in a truck and headed there the 3 of us while others stayed behind. Now this was out in the country no street lights or nearby towns to add to the light and it was over cast so it was extremely dark out. The only light we had was from the pick up which couldn't get very close to the buildings, so it was very dark and creepy. I got out to look around while my best friend and her BF stayed in the truck doing things I wanted no part of. It was hard to see most buildings were just piles of rubble accept the old bathhouse which still stood but the roof caved in. To give the love birds a lone time I slowly made my way to the building which was a good distance from the truck walked around it peeking in windows till I came to the doorway which had fallen in. I could only vaguely make out the shapes of some sinks and a very dirty window on the wall opposite of me. It was so dark you could almost see things better out of your perifial vision. As I turned to walk away I saw movement at the window. Thinking it was my friends trying to scare me I called out but got no reply. I started to turn to look at the truck to see if they were still there when out of the corner of my eye I saw more movement and what looked like a figure standing outlined by the window. I froze watching the figure, barely able to make it out. My friends called to me from the truck asking if I were okay, I was terrified but yelled I was fine only to see the figure move again. Then I realized, I raised my arm and the figure also raised its arm. I wasn't seeing a window I was seeing a mirror! I laughed at my stupidity and walked back to tell my friends.

I love story time keep them coming

Your videos are the best! I grew up in nature, hiking is my literal life. Love watching your experience!

OMG! I had a similar story as well one time out hunting. In the middle of the night the party dropped me off in this remote place, never been there before so I had no idea the terrain or directions. I climbed up a tall ridge to look for a tree to setup my deer stand. I got so exhausted that I didn’t have anymore energy to climb the tree so I sat at the base of this tree in complete darkness. At a distance of about 300-400 yards away, I could see a faint fire light. I kept thinking that if anything would happen that I could just run in that direction for help. The night time was full of activities, weird noises and wolves/coyotes howling nearby. It really freaked me out thinking of ghosts and such too so I really started to panic. I loaded my gun and told myself if I hear any more weird noises then I’m going to blast it, the noise creeping up closer to me turned out to be a possum, LOL ...boy was he lucky. Later that early morning before the night sky even started to brighten up, I just kept looking into that firelight and it comforted me knowing someone would be there if anything happened. As the sunrise started coming up, I finally came to realize that the firelight I’ve been hoping would be salvation or have people there was not really a firelight. Turns out, that the light I’ve been seeing was just a small creek river that’s been reflecting the moon all along. I nearly died when I realized. It was a crazy experience.

"Shame on the Moon"... Bob Segar... LOL

Love it! The moon scared both me and my friends in another tent one night. It was a full moon and we all woke up to it shining in our tents like a person standing outside with a bright headlamp. I woke up startled and grabbed my bear spray before I figured out it was the moon and not some weirdo trying to peer in my tent. In the morning my two friends said they woke up startled as well. 😱 🌙. The same friends and I just did a full moon night hike two nights ago and we laughed about that story.

Awesome, thank you! I really enjoyed the story and I could understand that feeling. Happy that it just turned out to be the Moon

I love this and was on the edge of my seat!! Please tell more stories you are a fantastic story teller. 🤠

Hahahahaha I experienced the EXACT same thing in my tent on the TMB this year!! Woke up in my tent and saw this light that was approaching my tent really fast. I also heard some footsteps that were coming closer so fast. I totally freaked out and grabbed my spare tentstake and some scissors I used for my fingernails and started to say ‘who’s there’ as confident as I could. After some minutes of doing this, I was brave enough to put on my contactlenses to find out the light was the moon and the footsteps were coming from some mountain goats 😂😂. I feel your pain so much on this one!!

I have heard of "Chasing the Moon" but that was a new twist on it.

What a great story. Maybe it also goes to explain why some people vanish mysteriously in the woods or behave oddly. No one is chasing them, it is just their imagination gone wild and they end up making bad choices and get lost. So glad you had the courage to tell us your experience.

That was a great story lol! You had me all the way to the very end, well done!

I’ve not had that much fun yet, but I have been hiking on “bear scat “ trail at night and heard lots of odd sounds off to the side of the trail, that my headlight could not reach.

LMFAO 😂 Great story. Thanks for sharing. I am completely comfortable in the backwoods. More so then in the city. Spend all my free time backpacking/fly-fishing/hunting in the backwoods in my 41 years of life. Was raised that way most in Idaho. But have had three experiences in three different states, Colorado, Idaho, California with what I believe is Sasquatch and it raised the hair on my neck, gave me goosebumps, had me on edge. I always carry a sidearm still felt vunrebal, take too long to go into detail but I believe. Get out and backpack!

I just wanted to say that I love your channel and I binged watched it on New Year's Eve.

Thank you so much for ALL of your information! You've been my favorite teacher!

0:39 little montana! she's so cute! that's a cute story...i like how animated you are when describing "trekking". :-)

Thank you for sharing that experience I've had some like that as well so you're not alone♥️

Omg! So scary and funny at the same time. I don't know how many of these story's you got, but this was great, keep em coming. An awesome idea for future video's .