Latest / True Horror Stories / 3 Unnerving Forest Hiking & Camping Horror Stories That Will Haunt Your Wilderness Adventures

Transcript

3 Unnerving Forest Hiking & Camping Horror Stories That Will Haunt Your Wilderness Adventures · True Horror Stories

0:05
Speaker 1: My girlfriend and I always enjoyed going for weekend camping
0:08
Speaker 1: trips pretty frequently. We used to live right inside the
0:13
Speaker 1: Appalachian region in Virginia, so obviously we'd find new places
0:17
Speaker 1: on or near the Appalachian Mountains. Both of us had
0:21
Speaker 1: pretty stressful work lives during the weekdays, so getting out
0:25
Speaker 1: in nature and staying away from home on the weekends
0:27
Speaker 1: really helped us. At the time this happened, we had
0:31
Speaker 1: already been on dozens of camping trips in the Appalachian Mountains,
0:35
Speaker 1: but none of them had ever ended like this. It
0:40
Speaker 1: was Saturday morning, and we decided on a very small
0:43
Speaker 1: three mile trail that leads to a nice isolated camping
0:47
Speaker 1: ground on a flatter part of the mountain. We had
0:50
Speaker 1: never been to the specific spot before, but from the
0:53
Speaker 1: amount of reviews the trail had on Google, we assumed
0:56
Speaker 1: it was a pretty well known trail in campgrounds. We
1:00
Speaker 1: got our bags ready and packed the truck with our
1:02
Speaker 1: camping gear, and then we made our way out there.
1:05
Speaker 1: It was only a forty five minute drive from our house,
1:08
Speaker 1: but as we got closer, it began raining quite a bit.
1:12
Speaker 1: This was pretty normal around the mountains here, so we
1:15
Speaker 1: were used to being out in the rain and didn't
1:17
Speaker 1: bother us enough to turn around. We pulled up to
1:21
Speaker 1: the trailhead, which was actually just off the side of
1:24
Speaker 1: the road, and we saw one other car parked on
1:26
Speaker 1: the side. We actually expected there to be more people,
1:30
Speaker 1: considering the popularity of the trail, but we were glad
1:33
Speaker 1: it wasn't crowded though. As we started getting our gear out,
1:37
Speaker 1: my girlfriend pointed out that the parked car's passenger door
1:41
Speaker 1: was cracked open a few inches. We both looked around
1:45
Speaker 1: to see if the owner was nearby, but with no
1:48
Speaker 1: signs of them, I decided to go over and push
1:51
Speaker 1: it closed, as we assumed the owner must have accidentally
1:54
Speaker 1: left it open. The whole passenger seat was soaked from
1:57
Speaker 1: the rain already, but at least wouldn't get any worse.
2:02
Speaker 1: I came back to our car to grab my stuff,
2:05
Speaker 1: and then we both started making our way down the trail.
2:08
Speaker 1: We talked about how weird it was that the door
2:11
Speaker 1: was open, and how most people would probably notice that
2:14
Speaker 1: their car wouldn't even lock due to the open door.
2:18
Speaker 1: It's worth mentioning, too, that it was clearly a pretty expensive,
2:22
Speaker 1: newer car, which just made it more strange. Anyways, the
2:27
Speaker 1: rain started picking up at this point, so we began
2:30
Speaker 1: walking faster so we could get to the campsite and
2:32
Speaker 1: set up our tent. I want to say it took
2:36
Speaker 1: us about two hours to get to the end, as
2:38
Speaker 1: it was mostly uphill. Once we were there, the first
2:42
Speaker 1: thing we noticed was a tent already set up in
2:45
Speaker 1: the middle of the flat area. It was pretty small,
2:49
Speaker 1: definitely a one person tent. We figured they were probably
2:52
Speaker 1: in there sheltering from the rain, so we went to
2:56
Speaker 1: a far corner on the site and set up our
2:58
Speaker 1: tent there. Sat inside for an hour, eating some food
3:02
Speaker 1: we brought and laying some of our stuff out to dry,
3:05
Speaker 1: before hearing voices outside. The rain hitting the tent was
3:09
Speaker 1: too loud to hear what they were saying, so I
3:12
Speaker 1: unzipped the front and looked out. I jumped a little
3:16
Speaker 1: bit as there were two men kneeling down and looking
3:18
Speaker 1: at us from just a couple feet away, but then
3:22
Speaker 1: they smiled and introduced themselves. They said they were staying
3:26
Speaker 1: in the tent in the middle, and that they'd been
3:28
Speaker 1: here a few days. I quickly introduced my girlfriend and
3:32
Speaker 1: I and told them that we were just here for
3:34
Speaker 1: the night. Then they headed back and I zipped up
3:37
Speaker 1: our tent and looked at my girlfriend. The whole interaction
3:41
Speaker 1: seemed a little off, and they seemed to be acting
3:44
Speaker 1: a little strange. I noticed that both of the men
3:48
Speaker 1: were wearing tightly fitted jeans and regular T shirts, and
3:52
Speaker 1: their tent was way too small to be fitting two
3:54
Speaker 1: full grown men. It really just didn't seem like they
3:58
Speaker 1: were here camping or hike, and definitely not for a
4:02
Speaker 1: few days like they had said. We decided to leave
4:05
Speaker 1: the zipper partially open so we can keep an eye
4:08
Speaker 1: on them just in case. Another hour went by and
4:12
Speaker 1: we didn't see anything unusual. Actually we didn't see anything
4:16
Speaker 1: at all. I guess they were just cramped up in
4:19
Speaker 1: their tent the whole time. Anyways, it was pretty dark
4:23
Speaker 1: out at this point, so we decided to call it
4:25
Speaker 1: a night and get our sleeping bags ready. I zipped
4:29
Speaker 1: the tent back up and laid down next to my girlfriend.
4:32
Speaker 1: I must have fallen asleep pretty fast, though, because I
4:35
Speaker 1: didn't even remember anything after laying down, But I woke
4:40
Speaker 1: up a few hours into the night having to use
4:42
Speaker 1: the bathroom. It was still raining, so I put on
4:46
Speaker 1: one of my cheap plastic rain ponchos so that I
4:48
Speaker 1: wouldn't have to go back to bed soaked. Then I
4:51
Speaker 1: headed out a few feet behind our tent and behind
4:54
Speaker 1: one of the trees, but through the rain, I could
4:57
Speaker 1: hear voices. It was really hard to tell where they
5:00
Speaker 1: were coming from, though. I turned my head all around,
5:04
Speaker 1: looking in every direction as I started to get a
5:06
Speaker 1: little paranoid, but I didn't see anyone. Then I looked
5:11
Speaker 1: over at the small tent in the middle and noticed
5:13
Speaker 1: the front zipper was open. It was hard to see
5:17
Speaker 1: in the darkness and through the rain, but I was
5:20
Speaker 1: pretty sure that nobody was in there. I knew that
5:24
Speaker 1: the men had told me that they were staying the
5:25
Speaker 1: night in the tent, so they started to get me
5:28
Speaker 1: even more worried. I ran over to my tent and
5:31
Speaker 1: shook my girlfriend awake and told her about the situation.
5:36
Speaker 1: She was clearly tired, but I could tell that she
5:39
Speaker 1: was just as worried as I was. As we were
5:42
Speaker 1: discussing what to do, we both heard it voices coming
5:47
Speaker 1: from behind our tent. I wasn't sure what to do,
5:51
Speaker 1: but I knew sitting in the tent didn't feel very
5:53
Speaker 1: safe anymore. I told my girlfriend to pack the bags
5:57
Speaker 1: quickly and be ready to leave if we had to.
5:59
Speaker 1: Then grabbed a small pocket knife and quickly got out
6:02
Speaker 1: and looked over at the trees. I saw the two
6:05
Speaker 1: men from earlier standing there, just a few feet from
6:08
Speaker 1: our tent. I remember this moment very clearly, as both
6:13
Speaker 1: men looked at me with absolutely no emotion. They didn't
6:18
Speaker 1: make any facial expressions or even move at all. I
6:22
Speaker 1: knew at that moment that these men were planning on
6:25
Speaker 1: doing something horrible, and they were not scared of me
6:28
Speaker 1: at all. A second later, my girlfriend looked out of
6:32
Speaker 1: the tent, which took me out of my state of shock,
6:35
Speaker 1: and I yelled at her to go, pointing at the
6:37
Speaker 1: trail back down the mountain. I followed after her, leaving
6:42
Speaker 1: my bag in the tent behind. I looked back just
6:46
Speaker 1: as we made it to the edge of the campsite,
6:48
Speaker 1: and the two men were still standing there. They didn't
6:52
Speaker 1: even try to chase us or anything. They just stood
6:55
Speaker 1: and watched us as we ran away in total fear.
6:59
Speaker 1: I'd say we were full on sprinting for ten minutes
7:02
Speaker 1: before slowing down and walking quickly for the rest of
7:05
Speaker 1: the way. When we got back to the car, we
7:08
Speaker 1: saw the other parked car was still there, but the
7:11
Speaker 1: passenger door was opened again. I immediately drove us down
7:15
Speaker 1: to the nearest gas station, where we called the police
7:18
Speaker 1: and were met by them a few minutes later to
7:20
Speaker 1: talk about what had happened. A few days passed by,
7:24
Speaker 1: and then we get a lot more information, and it
7:26
Speaker 1: made everything even more terrifying. When an officer went down
7:31
Speaker 1: to investigate the area, they found that the car belonged
7:35
Speaker 1: to an older man who had recently been filed as missing.
7:39
Speaker 1: All of the belongings from the car had been stolen,
7:42
Speaker 1: and they were able to confirm that the tent on
7:44
Speaker 1: the campground was the old man's as well. They didn't
7:47
Speaker 1: find the two men, though, and they didn't find any
7:50
Speaker 1: real evidence other than their shoe prints. The old man
7:54
Speaker 1: wasn't found either, and as far as I know, he
7:57
Speaker 1: still has never turned up. Just made my girlfriend and
8:01
Speaker 1: I both feel sick knowing that we could have been
8:04
Speaker 1: just seconds away from something horrible. I guess we'll never
8:08
Speaker 1: know for sure what those two men were actually up to,
8:11
Speaker 1: but I think we can all make a pretty good
8:13
Speaker 1: guess based on the whole situation. But what I do
8:17
Speaker 1: know is that the image of those two men standing
8:20
Speaker 1: in front of me still haunts my memories to this day.
8:30
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough to have a job that allowed
8:32
Speaker 1: me to travel a lot in my late twenties and
8:35
Speaker 1: early thirties. I would usually only spend a couple of
8:39
Speaker 1: days in one location, though for work, so I was
8:42
Speaker 1: limited to how much I could actually do when I
8:44
Speaker 1: was staying somewhere nice. But I had a job out
8:48
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania for a week and ended up finishing a
8:51
Speaker 1: day early, which meant I'd still have to stay there
8:54
Speaker 1: for an extra day before my flight. Since I never
8:57
Speaker 1: got to get out much, I figured I should use
9:00
Speaker 1: this time to my advantage and do something fun. I
9:04
Speaker 1: decided on a long trail that went through some of
9:06
Speaker 1: the pretty forests and trees here. I've always really enjoyed nature,
9:11
Speaker 1: but I felt like my job forced me to be
9:13
Speaker 1: inside buildings or planes all the time, so this was
9:16
Speaker 1: a good chance for me to enjoy the nice weather
9:18
Speaker 1: and scenery. I woke up early, but I actually had
9:23
Speaker 1: to go to the store to buy some hiking clothes
9:25
Speaker 1: as I didn't pack any with me. The trail was
9:28
Speaker 1: about an hour away from my hotel and I ended
9:31
Speaker 1: up getting there just before twelve pm. It didn't look
9:35
Speaker 1: like anyone else was there, which I was pretty happy about.
9:39
Speaker 1: When I looked up the trail online, it said it
9:41
Speaker 1: would take about six hours there and back, so this
9:44
Speaker 1: was pretty much an all day thing. I had a
9:47
Speaker 1: little backpack with a water bottle and some snacks, so
9:50
Speaker 1: I brought that and started making my way down. The
9:55
Speaker 1: first hour was really nice. Just being alone on a
9:58
Speaker 1: path between the trees was really peaceful and a nice
10:01
Speaker 1: way to get some relief from my stressful work life.
10:05
Speaker 1: But as I was walking, I noticed a man sitting
10:07
Speaker 1: on the ground next to the path up ahead. He
10:11
Speaker 1: looked almost as though he were sleeping, with his head
10:14
Speaker 1: hanging down and a hoodie covering his face. As I
10:18
Speaker 1: started to get closer, he looked up at me, almost
10:21
Speaker 1: staring me down. As I walked past him. I had
10:26
Speaker 1: no idea what to make of him, but it was
10:28
Speaker 1: a little creepy, so I continued to check behind me
10:31
Speaker 1: occasionally for the next few minutes as I continued down
10:34
Speaker 1: the trail. After a couple hours, I got a little
10:39
Speaker 1: tired and hungry, so I found a small log on
10:41
Speaker 1: the edge of the path and sat down to have
10:43
Speaker 1: a snack. I was probably there for three or four
10:47
Speaker 1: minutes before the man that i'd walked past earlier appeared
10:51
Speaker 1: down the path, making his way towards me. He was
10:54
Speaker 1: still a good distance away, though, so I decided to
10:57
Speaker 1: quickly pack my bag up and continue down the trails
11:00
Speaker 1: so I didn't have to interact with them. Apparently my
11:03
Speaker 1: plan didn't work, though, as only a few minutes later
11:06
Speaker 1: I heard loud running footsteps coming up behind me. I
11:13
Speaker 1: turned around and saw the man jogging in my direction.
11:17
Speaker 1: I moved over to the side, hoping he would just
11:19
Speaker 1: pass by, but he ended up stopping right in front
11:23
Speaker 1: of me. I'll admit I was pretty nervous and felt
11:27
Speaker 1: really uneasy about this guy. He didn't say anything and
11:32
Speaker 1: reached into his pocket, and then he holds out a
11:34
Speaker 1: wallet and says, I think you dropped this. The wallet
11:39
Speaker 1: definitely wasn't mine, though, and I could tell it was
11:42
Speaker 1: completely empty too. I told him that he must be
11:46
Speaker 1: mistaken and that I didn't bring my wallet with me.
11:50
Speaker 1: He responds telling me that he knew this was my
11:54
Speaker 1: wallet and I needed to take it back. I honestly
11:58
Speaker 1: didn't know what to do or say, but I could
12:01
Speaker 1: see in his eyes that he was getting mad. I
12:05
Speaker 1: was pretty sure this guy was trying to do some
12:07
Speaker 1: weird trick in order to rob me or something. But
12:10
Speaker 1: I didn't know what other options I had other than
12:13
Speaker 1: to just listen to the guy, So I just said
12:17
Speaker 1: okay and picked up the wallet from his hand. Then
12:21
Speaker 1: he looked at me in the eyes, smiled, and said
12:24
Speaker 1: you're welcome. Then he began making his way down the trail.
12:29
Speaker 1: I stood there for a minute, processing the interaction I
12:33
Speaker 1: just had. Then I held out the wallet and looked
12:35
Speaker 1: at it more closely. It was one of those typical
12:39
Speaker 1: brown folding wallets and looked pretty worn and old. I
12:43
Speaker 1: opened it up and checked every pocket in it, but
12:46
Speaker 1: there wasn't a single thing in there. I was so confused.
12:50
Speaker 1: I had no idea what to think, but I knew
12:53
Speaker 1: I didn't want to run into this man again, so
12:55
Speaker 1: I just started making my way back to my car.
12:59
Speaker 1: It was four pew and I had a little over
13:02
Speaker 1: two hours to go before getting back to my car.
13:05
Speaker 1: I tried my best to enjoy the walk, but I
13:08
Speaker 1: couldn't stop thinking about what happened, and it kept making
13:11
Speaker 1: me more and more nervous. I was constantly looking around
13:15
Speaker 1: to make sure he wasn't following me. But finally I
13:18
Speaker 1: could see my car up ahead. The sun was just
13:22
Speaker 1: beginning to set, casting a long shadow on everything, and
13:26
Speaker 1: my car was parked facing the trail, so I was
13:29
Speaker 1: walking towards the front of it. Once I was a
13:32
Speaker 1: few feet away, that's when I noticed a man's shadow
13:35
Speaker 1: coming from behind the car, as if they were crouched down.
13:40
Speaker 1: I stopped in my tracks, staring at their shadow next
13:43
Speaker 1: to my car. I knew that running away would almost
13:47
Speaker 1: surely end badly, but I also knew that he was
13:50
Speaker 1: probably going to try and steal my car and rob
13:53
Speaker 1: me once I tried to get inside. After a few seconds,
13:57
Speaker 1: I quietly reached into my pocket to feel for my keys,
14:01
Speaker 1: then started walking towards the passenger door. I quickly unlocked
14:05
Speaker 1: the car and got in through the passenger side. I
14:08
Speaker 1: could hear the man instantly jump up and run straight
14:10
Speaker 1: for the driver's side door, but I locked it from
14:13
Speaker 1: the inside just before he tried to open it. He
14:16
Speaker 1: started banging on the window. As I crawled into the
14:18
Speaker 1: driver's seat and turned on the car, I could clearly
14:21
Speaker 1: see it was the same man from earlier and he
14:24
Speaker 1: began screaming at me to give him the wallet back.
14:28
Speaker 1: I ignored him and reversed out of there and onto the
14:30
Speaker 1: main road, where I drove away as quickly as I could.
14:35
Speaker 1: As I was pulling away, he ran back onto the
14:37
Speaker 1: path and into the trees. I guess my planet worked,
14:42
Speaker 1: assuming it threw him off by not going to the
14:44
Speaker 1: driver side door and gave me time to get in
14:47
Speaker 1: and lock it. There was a police station I remembered
14:50
Speaker 1: seeing on the way, so I stopped there and went
14:53
Speaker 1: inside to report the man and give them the wallet,
14:56
Speaker 1: and then I headed back to the hotel. I called
14:59
Speaker 1: one of my friend friends to tell them about it
15:01
Speaker 1: that night, as it was just such a crazy situation.
15:05
Speaker 1: It's pretty obvious he was either trying to rob me
15:08
Speaker 1: or steal my car, But I find myself still questioning
15:12
Speaker 1: what the purpose of the wallet was, as it didn't
15:15
Speaker 1: seem to have any real significance. Anyways, I'm just happy
15:19
Speaker 1: that I was able to make it out safely and
15:21
Speaker 1: without losing anything. I always carry a small pocket knife
15:26
Speaker 1: with me whenever I go for walks now, as you
15:29
Speaker 1: never know what crazy situations you can find yourself in.
15:39
Speaker 1: It was near the end of October last year, which
15:42
Speaker 1: always makes for the best hiking weather as it's not
15:44
Speaker 1: too hot and not too cold. I had a group
15:48
Speaker 1: of friends that i'd go hiking with a lot, but
15:51
Speaker 1: most of them had jobs with no set schedules, which
15:53
Speaker 1: would make it hard to find days where we could
15:56
Speaker 1: plan a hike together, so often I'd go for some
15:59
Speaker 1: shorter hikes alone and just enjoy the peace and quiet.
16:03
Speaker 1: I had the weekend off, so I found a nice
16:06
Speaker 1: hiking and camping trail nearby and drove up there on
16:08
Speaker 1: Saturday morning. I had actually been on this trail a
16:12
Speaker 1: couple years before and had always wanted to go back.
16:16
Speaker 1: It was a loop trail, so it basically went into
16:18
Speaker 1: a big circle from the start, and it was around
16:21
Speaker 1: a day and a half long. I parked my car
16:24
Speaker 1: in a small gravel parking lot and made my way
16:27
Speaker 1: up to the trailhead. The first few miles were flat
16:31
Speaker 1: and mainly just went through grassy fields before eventually leading
16:34
Speaker 1: into a forest at the bottom of a small mountain.
16:38
Speaker 1: At this point, it was probably midday and I was
16:41
Speaker 1: well into the forest when I saw a man walking
16:44
Speaker 1: up ahead. He was too far for me to tell
16:47
Speaker 1: at first if he was walking towards her, away from me,
16:50
Speaker 1: but as I continued forward, I realized he was walking
16:53
Speaker 1: towards me. This wasn't a very popular trail, and the
16:58
Speaker 1: last time I hiked it, I don't think I saw anyone,
17:01
Speaker 1: but it was the weekend, and I figured maybe he
17:04
Speaker 1: just had the same idea as me. As he got closer, though,
17:09
Speaker 1: I noticed he didn't have a backpack on, and this
17:13
Speaker 1: was pretty unusual, as I was probably six or seven
17:16
Speaker 1: hours down the trail and there was no way someone
17:19
Speaker 1: would go this far without even a water bottle. He
17:23
Speaker 1: waves at me once he's a few feet ahead. I
17:27
Speaker 1: returned the gesture to be polite, but still being cautious
17:31
Speaker 1: due to being in such an isolated area. As he passes,
17:36
Speaker 1: I hear his footsteps stop and the dirt crumble, as
17:39
Speaker 1: if he turned around. I looked back, and sure enough,
17:43
Speaker 1: he's facing me, and then he asks me something really strange,
17:48
Speaker 1: where's your group at? I wasn't sure how to respond,
17:53
Speaker 1: as all I could really think about was whether this
17:55
Speaker 1: stranger knew that I usually had a group, or if
17:58
Speaker 1: he was just trying to figure out that I was alone.
18:02
Speaker 1: Either way, it was unsettling and made me really nervous,
18:06
Speaker 1: I responded, telling him that they were on their way
18:09
Speaker 1: a couple minutes behind me. I couldn't think of anything
18:12
Speaker 1: else to say, but I definitely didn't want this man
18:15
Speaker 1: to think that I was alone. Good, he replied, then
18:21
Speaker 1: smiled and began walking again. I continued on in the
18:25
Speaker 1: opposite direction, further down the trail. A few hours went by,
18:30
Speaker 1: and I spent most of the time thinking about that
18:33
Speaker 1: guy and how weird the whole situation was. The fact
18:37
Speaker 1: that he didn't have a backpack so deep into the
18:39
Speaker 1: hike made the whole thing even more unsettling. I decided
18:44
Speaker 1: i'd find a good place a little ways off the
18:46
Speaker 1: main trail to set up my campgrounds, just to be safe.
18:50
Speaker 1: I found a nice flat area about half a mile
18:53
Speaker 1: from the trail and pitched my small tent. The sun
18:57
Speaker 1: was starting to set, so I sat outside my tent
19:00
Speaker 1: and just tried to stop thinking about the guy. I
19:03
Speaker 1: had a prepacked lunch made for the trip, so I
19:05
Speaker 1: got that out and finished it before laying in the
19:08
Speaker 1: tent to try and get some sleep. I was laying
19:12
Speaker 1: there for probably over an hour, unable to sleep, before
19:16
Speaker 1: I started to hear footsteps coming from the trees behind
19:19
Speaker 1: my tent. I froze listening to them moving towards me.
19:28
Speaker 1: I tried to reason with myself in my head that
19:31
Speaker 1: it was probably just some animal or something, but the
19:34
Speaker 1: steps were all too recognizable as a person's. It sounded
19:39
Speaker 1: like they were fifteen to twenty feet away when they
19:41
Speaker 1: suddenly stopped. I waited there for what felt like hours,
19:47
Speaker 1: laying still and listening intently, with my heart racing, but
19:51
Speaker 1: there were no more footsteps. I knew they had to
19:55
Speaker 1: be waiting nearby, as I would have heard the footsteps
19:58
Speaker 1: fade out if they had left. Eventually, four hours had
20:02
Speaker 1: passed and the sun was just starting to rise. I
20:06
Speaker 1: knew I had to get out of here at some point,
20:08
Speaker 1: and I was so tired that I was questioning if
20:11
Speaker 1: maybe i'd somehow just not heard the footsteps going away.
20:15
Speaker 1: I unzipped the tent and lifted the flap up a
20:18
Speaker 1: little to peek outside, but I didn't see anything, so
20:21
Speaker 1: I got out and looked around. It was very quiet
20:25
Speaker 1: and the trees were blocking most of my view, but
20:28
Speaker 1: from what I could see, nobody was there. After a
20:31
Speaker 1: few minutes, I cautiously packed up my tent, still looking
20:35
Speaker 1: around frequently, as I was definitely on edge and every
20:38
Speaker 1: small noise would make me jump. I attached my tent
20:42
Speaker 1: to my bag and started heading back towards the trail
20:45
Speaker 1: as quick as I could, but I only made it
20:48
Speaker 1: a few steps before noticing clear footprints in the dirt
20:51
Speaker 1: just behind a tree that was right by where I
20:53
Speaker 1: had my tent. I began panicking and didn't even look
20:57
Speaker 1: for any more footsteps as I sprinted towards the trail.
21:01
Speaker 1: I was terrified now as I knew there was someone
21:04
Speaker 1: stalking me in the middle of an isolated forest, hours
21:07
Speaker 1: away from anywhere safe. Once I got back to the path,
21:12
Speaker 1: I quickly began walking back down the way I came.
21:16
Speaker 1: It was probably quicker at this point just to continue down,
21:19
Speaker 1: but I figured that whoever was watching me would probably
21:22
Speaker 1: be waiting for me to continue that way. Luckily, nothing
21:26
Speaker 1: else happened the whole way back to my car, which
21:29
Speaker 1: I didn't get to until nearly sunset. I told my
21:33
Speaker 1: friends about the strange man and what I heard and saw,
21:37
Speaker 1: and they all said that I was lucky to get
21:39
Speaker 1: out of there without anything else happening. I contacted the
21:43
Speaker 1: police just to report the suspicious activity on the trail,
21:46
Speaker 1: but not much was able to get done about it.
21:50
Speaker 1: I'm definitely more cautious when hiking and camping, though, and
21:53
Speaker 1: I rarely go without my group of friends anymore. I
21:57
Speaker 1: will never know what that guy's true intentions were, and
22:00
Speaker 1: I hope nobody else has to know either,