Random Wildest Stories About Hiking In US National Forests (15 items)

• (#7) They Heard Gregorian Chanting, But Saw No One

  From a former Redditor:

  Didn’t see, but heard. My husband and I were hiking in a state park on the east coast. It was midday during the work week, so we maybe encountered two other people the three hours we were out and about. The only sounds we heard were from ourselves, our dog, and some birds/animals.

  All of a sudden, I started hearing mild chanting. I asked my husband if he heard it too and he nodded but signaled for me to be quiet. My dog's ears were at full alert and the hair on his back was standing straight up. We continued walking and the noises turned into full blown monk chanting. Think Halo Gregorian chant. It was clear as day. Like I was standing right next to a speaker.

  To make myself feel better, I convinced myself some teens were hiding down somewhere playing it on their phones. After 5 minutes of hearing it, it disappeared and we barely spoke a word the last 3 miles back. Still creeps me out.
• (#14) They Found The Bones Of A Recent Meal

  From Redditor u/theomniscientcoffee:

  The most surreal experience I had was during an off-trail hike in the Rockies (CO). I was extremely depressed and spending a day away from an awful ex. I wasn't really sure what my plan was but I fell on my ss through ice into a shallow stream I was crossing and just said f*** it, I'm not going back to my car.

  Well just near the top of a steep hill I almost stepped on some sort of leg bone. I was like, "Oh s***, that's cool." Until about 3 ft away I saw several more limb bones and most of a spine between a couple mounds. I didn't see fresh blood but was certain it was regular territory for something that could f*** me up. I kinda froze and looked around me since I hadn't heard anything so far, so decided to get a few pics and then slowly left down the hill. About halfway down I turned back up the hill cuz I figured I was overthinking it and I really didn't want to go home.

  About 5 steps back up and I definitely heard some animal walking around at the top of the hill and I didn't stick around to see it. I slipped in the water again on my way out.
• (#12) They Interrupted The Hunt Of Something Big And Hungry

  From Redditor u/Blampfno:

  Was in Big Bend National Park about 20 years ago prepping for a backpacking series presentation for REI. Big Bend is the western portion of Texas that dips downward along the bend of the Rio Grande that forms the border with Mexico; it's mixed high desert and smaller mountains, gorgeous place, great history.

  I was hiking the area near Santa Elena Canyon, probably a couple of hours before sunset, to try and get pics for the presentation. This area of the park opens into a comparatively flat section of the basin where the river broadens and the wildlife tends to be more diverse and obvious there (hence there I was).

  I was several hundred meters away from my van, which was parked in a designated lot at what passed for a trail head at the time. As I approached the river basin near the mouth of the canyon, I saw something really unusual. So unusual in fact that it took a few seconds for my brain to sort out the puzzle.

  Something was moving on the other side of the river, and it was big. Man-sized, BUT low to the ground. The color of a deer maybe? And shuffling along. It looked, for first impression, to be a medium sized white tail doe lying on its side and moving like a snake, but that's not a thing that happens so I moved a bit to improve my line of sight.

  It was a mountain lion. A big cat. A BIG cat. It was creeping along, low slung, hunting something that was probably no more than a stone's toss from where I was standing. I'd never seen one before and when the visual information finally parsed I think my blood froze.

  Then it looked at me. I'll probably never forget that bit. You could see that little calorie calculator turn on in its eyes.

  I've never been so thankful for a river in my life. Granted at this time (and maybe still) the river was very low due to drought and unauthorized/unlawful irrigation practices upstream, and you could likely cross at several points at this location with minimal risk, but it was still quite broad and definitely looked the part of a potent water barrier.

  DeathKitty does a series of double takes, head shifting from me to whatever the prey location back and forth rapidly, said calorie counter and risk calculator trying to get a fix on this evening's menu. I die a little inside, maintain my facing and begin slowly and quietly moving away.

  Not sure if I wasn't worth it, if the river was too much of an x-factor, or if the big'un just really wasn't that into me, but no chase was given and after breaking line of sight, I was able to get back to the van just fine with no sign of pursuit and some mild tachycardia. That was a longest short walk I've ever taken.

  Later that night, I was parked off of the main park road in an area where big cats commonly hunted. I'll always remember being parked there, in the middle of nowhere, munching on slightly stale Oreos and a bottle of water, listening to the occasional growl or scream of a big cat peal out of the darkness, and being thankful for my relatively fortunate position on the food chain.
• (#6) Their Dog Started Freaking Out

   From Redditor u/kubakabra:

  I was hiking in a National Forest with my wife and my dog. The first couple miles of trail led to a waterfall and swimming hole, so it was fairly well populated with people. We decided to hike past the waterfall, which involved a bit of a climb, enough at least to keep most people from going past the waterfall. We hiked another mile or two without seeing a single person.

  This whole time my dog was having a great time, happy to be in the woods and happy to walk 30 miles if we let her. Suddenly, in a particularly dense part of the trail, she stopped suddenly and stared straight ahead. She absolutely would not move another inch forward. We stopped and listened but couldn’t hear or see anything unusual. The dog, though, started whining and trying to pull us on the leash back up the trail towards the swimming hole. I had never before or since seen my dog act this way, but I believe she was legitimately afraid of whatever was ahead of us.

  Maybe there was a bear on the trail, or a coyote, or maybe a serial killer was hiding in the woods. I’ll never know, because we listened to our dog and decided to gtfo as fast as we could. Who knows, maybe we avoided some gruesome death deep in the woods.
• (#15) They Found A Sea Turtle In A Tree

  From Redditor u/1_Marauder:

  I live in a beach community with a maritime forest nearby and while hiking about forty years ago found a huge sea turtle hanging by its neck from a tree. I bet the shell was four feet across. I figured someone was hoping to recover the shell after the flesh had rotted away but didn't think the neck was going to hold up that long…

  Definitely weird.
• (#8) They Discovered The Grisly Evidence Of Some Kind Of 'Ritual'

  From Redditor u/Lelio-Santero579:

  I did some volunteer work helping clear brush in Texas state parks a couple times a year and we came across a trail of 6 dead animals that looked like they were torn to shreds. Pretty common, as Texas has mountain cats and coyotes.

  This was different though. They led off trail and into this dried up ravine where two armadillo bodies were lying spread open on a rock with blood and entrails everywhere.

  We ended up calling the Ranger to come down and inspect it. Turns out he experienced that kind of thing occasionally, but never more than one or two bodies. The animals weren't hunted, they were sacrificed by kids who used to sneak into the park at night and do “rituals.”

  After searching the area with him, guess what we found? Some animal entrails nailed to a tree. Below the tree the grass was cleared and a little rock formation was made at its base.

  I didn't think people actually did that crap.

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