Weird things in the woods

This is more of a cherished memory than a weird woodsy experience.

As a kid I attended a Y camp near Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. In addition to the main camp area they owned a plot of land on an inland lake. Once each 'term' we'd spend a few days camping there in the woods. Evenings we'd sit around the campfire and tell ghost stories before hitting the sack.

Now, in the summer the evening bugs are really loud. It wasn't unpleasant, but was certainly noticeable. Often I'd wake up later in the night only to find that all of the insect noise had stopped and the woods were quiet as the grave.

That's when all the ghost stories started to seem plausible...

Oh, to be a kid again!
 
Years back a couple buddy's and I hiked up into an alpine lake. When we got to the lake, the first camp we came to had a jacket and a pair of hiking boots sitting next to a make shift fire pit. They were in decent shape, and it was brand name stuff, so figured maybe someone else was up there, but out exploring.

We searched around for other camp sites, but that first one with the boots and jacket were really the prime spot, and since we didn't see any foot prints on the way in (we went back and checked the muddy stretch we came in on, and it was only our footprints going thru what was pretty much the only way to get there), decided the jacket and boots were probably left by someone on accident and they weren't staying there. But if they did come back, we agreed we'd get out of their spot. So we started setting up camp.

As we were setting up camp, I started getting a whiff of something really foul and nasty smelling. Hard to describe. Whatever the smell was, it was pretty rancid and gross. None of the other guys said anything about the smell, so I didn't make a big deal about it. Figured maybe it was just me.

Later in the day, the smell had me curious so I went looking around to see if I could locate the source of the smell - I wasn't sure if there was a cache or something nearby. Didn't find anything.

I mentioned the smell when I got back and the other two guys acknowledged it, that they could smell it too and that it was a bit unsettling.

We started thinking about it a bit more. There were no tracks on the trail in, which meant the boots and jacket had been there a while. Also, your hiking boots and jacket aren't the kind of thing you'd just forget on the hike out. We examined them both, and there was nothing wrong with them, so we concluded they weren't left/abandoned there as derelict gear someone didn't want the extra weight in their bag on the way out.

We talked thru other scenarios, but never could come up with one that made any sense, other than: someone was on a hike and got to their destination, took off their boots and jackets and set them down and went off with their day pack to go check out the surrounding area, but ran into some trouble and never made it out. As we talked thru that scenario, the smell started making more sense - the smell was the dead hiker nearby...

We looked around a little bit the next day, noticed some cat tracks over along the other side of the lake. Figured if there was a cat in the area it could've been hungry and that hiker could've been his breakfast.

I don't know, we're probably just being dramatic and it was a dead animal and someone honestly just left their boots and jacket.

That smell was really odd though.
 
Years ago I was fishing in a beaver pond area in the Eastern Sierras. I clearly saw a large eight foot long, black, fury snake go slithering through the undergrowth. I said to myself "What the hell?" I was compelled to chase this thing down. As it turned out, it was a litter of minks that were moving along in single file from head to tail. I would have never mentioned this to anyone (for fear of being thought to be nuts), if I had not been able to get a closer look. Sometimes it is hard to believe what your eyes have "seen".
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
Years back a couple buddy's and I hiked up into an alpine lake. When we got to the lake, the first camp we came to had a jacket and a pair of hiking boots sitting next to a make shift fire pit. They were in decent shape, and it was brand name stuff, so figured maybe someone else was up there, but out exploring.

We searched around for other camp sites, but that first one with the boots and jacket were really the prime spot, and since we didn't see any foot prints on the way in (we went back and checked the muddy stretch we came in on, and it was only our footprints going thru what was pretty much the only way to get there), decided the jacket and boots were probably left by someone on accident and they weren't staying there. But if they did come back, we agreed we'd get out of their spot. So we started setting up camp.

As we were setting up camp, I started getting a whiff of something really foul and nasty smelling. Hard to describe. Whatever the smell was, it was pretty rancid and gross. None of the other guys said anything about the smell, so I didn't make a big deal about it. Figured maybe it was just me.

Later in the day, the smell had me curious so I went looking around to see if I could locate the source of the smell - I wasn't sure if there was a cache or something nearby. Didn't find anything.

I mentioned the smell when I got back and the other two guys acknowledged it, that they could smell it too and that it was a bit unsettling.

We started thinking about it a bit more. There were no tracks on the trail in, which meant the boots and jacket had been there a while. Also, your hiking boots and jacket aren't the kind of thing you'd just forget on the hike out. We examined them both, and there was nothing wrong with them, so we concluded they weren't left/abandoned there as derelict gear someone didn't want the extra weight in their bag on the way out.

We talked thru other scenarios, but never could come up with one that made any sense, other than: someone was on a hike and got to their destination, took off their boots and jackets and set them down and went off with their day pack to go check out the surrounding area, but ran into some trouble and never made it out. As we talked thru that scenario, the smell started making more sense - the smell was the dead hiker nearby...

We looked around a little bit the next day, noticed some cat tracks over along the other side of the lake. Figured if there was a cat in the area it could've been hungry and that hiker could've been his breakfast.

I don't know, we're probably just being dramatic and it was a dead animal and someone honestly just left their boots and jacket.

That smell was really odd though.
Click to expand...

Did you happen to check in with the local ranger if there was anyone missing?
 
Foraging for edible mushrooms in Northern California I followed a well worn path from the logging road to a rather large Marijuana grow that had recently been harvested. There I was, hoping to find $100 worth of Chanterelle's... and literally pounds of pot was left after they hastily harvested the grow. At the time, pot was selling for $3,000 a pound. I got a very strong urge to get the hell out of there, and left without taking a single bud.
 
Last year I was looking for mushrooms in the Cascades. I normally try to get away from trails when mushroom hunting, and I had crashed through the woods about a hundred feet from the road. I noticed a Mexican blanket with bones sticking out from underneath. It severely creeped me out, and I assumed I had found a murder victim.....then I found the deer skull. I laughed to myself, but wondered why anyone would use a wool blanket to wrap up a dead deer.
 
On two separate winter occasions in the last 5 years along the NF nooksack, I've seen large, human barefoot tracks in the sand along the river, on one time in the snow as well. Both have been miserable days, one was about 30° and sleeting and the other a miserable 17° affair. One time the tracks appeared to be coming out of the water.

I wear size 15 wading boots, and both times the footprint was nearly as large as my boot.

They were spooky and weird and I couldn't imagine a human walking barefoot out there any time around when I saw them.
 
Pink Nighty said:
On two separate winter occasions in the last 5 years along the NF nooksack, I've seen large, human barefoot tracks in the sand along the river, on one time in the snow as well. Both have been miserable days, one was about 30° and sleeting and the other a miserable 17° affair. One time the tracks appeared to be coming out of the water.

I wear size 15 wading boots, and both times the footprint was nearly as large as my boot.

They were spooky and weird and I couldn't imagine a human walking barefoot out there any time around when I saw them.
Click to expand...

Considering the location and big feet, you were likely fishing behind @Wanative 😂
SF
 
I have a good friend with extremely large feet. Extremely large. His sister calls him "big foot".. and he hates that. Another one of my friends "duck walks" with his toes pointed outward... and, at the beach his tracks are unmistakable.
 
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Once, I was doing some serious four wheeling/camping east of Mono Lake CA. Far away from any other people. I stumbled across a small dug out. It had three walls made of wood, the ceiling was 4 feet high. A small rock "fireplace" was at the back. A shelf dug out from the dirt, still held some very old cans of food. Some with remnants of paper labels. The only reason I found this dugout was because whoever built it, also built and displayed "Dream Catchers" in front of the dugout. These were extremely intricate, and made from rusty wire, antique bottles, stones, iron fragments and broken glass. This was a very special place.
 
One of my favorite trout streams in California happens to be next to an old "ghost town" that was wiped out in an avalanche in the 1800s. Nothing much is left, barb wire, some boards, broken glass, a cemetery up the hill. One day I was kicking around and saw an ax head attached to a broken handle. I picked it up and the wooden handle simply vanished as if it was made of fine sugar. That five pound ax head got a new handle, and has chopped a lot of wood for me. I still have it.
 
One time fishing in Vermont I followed a small stream up a ways and then bushwhacked through the woods to find the road.

I came across a small pond and was struck by the silence. No insects, no birds.

The pond was crystal clear and had no visible life in it (plant, animal, or bug), except for a couple hundred large mussels. Each was about as big as my hand and standing on end with one third in the sediment.
 
Notable things I have found on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie:

A realistic looking fake grenade rigged up with paracord attached to a stick to look like some kind of booby trap.

A fully functional three man Sevylor raft floating in the eddy next to a favorite fishing hole. It was full of leaves and fir and hemlock needles. I still have it and occasionally use it with the kids.

An intact, only slightly beat up PBR tall boy that floated right to me, and which I felt obligated to open and drink immediately. Just barely downstream from where I found the raft, come to think of it.

People doin’ the nasty.
 
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Mid 70s while Grouse hunting somewhere near Alder Lake; can't remember exactly where, hearing tenor flute-like whooops with a pitch I'm guessing starting near G3 (with a deeper resonance) up through C4 to around E4, seemed kind of a low pitch for a bird.
Mid 80s, on a trip up Little T, camped on a rocky "island" in the Emmons, heard loud yelling-screams coming up from the Fryingpan Creek valley.
June 28 2015, just off NF23 about 20 mi NNE of Trout Lake. The tree was ~12' tall.
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Near the tree was what appeared to be impressions of footprints in hard packed soil (size 12 sandal).
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The previous night about 11 miles away a friend's truck had been hit with small rocks as he was driving into camp. Nobody in the area besides us.
My nephew has some stories from up above the Teanaway - Liberty that are pretty compelling. There's some weirdness goin' on in 'dem 'dar woods.

To be continued...
 
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