I was in Washington state spending several days backpacking through the national parks I was already about 20 M out from the nearest road and for the first 2 days I hadn't run into a single person it was the beginning of fall so the weather was a bit colder than most people would be okay with but I had all the necessary equipment anyway in the morning I got up and made a quick coffee over my pocket stove then headed out to the next campsite it was 6 M out which in the mountains is a pretty far
hike 4 hours into this walk though I suddenly heard footsteps ahead of me I looked up and saw a man walking along the trail going the opposite way as me I wasn't really expecting to see anyone but I smiled and nodded as he passed by but I noticed something really strange he had no backpack no water bottle literally nothing he was just wearing a longsleeve t-shirt and some old hiking pants I even turned around to get another look at him because I was so confused when I did though he happened to also glance back at
me so to keep things from being weird I just turned back around and continued walking after getting some distance I kind of forgot about it I think I came up with some idea that he had a campsite nearby and was just going for a walk but I also knew that no established camps were anywhere near there whatever the case I didn't find it worth thinking on too much the next several hours were difficult but eventually I made it to my campsite it was empty with just one small spot for my tent to go on it
wasn't as great as I was hoping though the view was supposed to be a lot better but from the actual campsite there wasn't really any View at all it was kind of covered up by all the trees the whole campsite really just felt like it was in the middle of a forest rather than on a Mountaintop I was rightfully exhausted though and went straight away to setting up my tent and then relaxing ing while watching the sunset as I sat there I randomly heard a shuffling sound behind me I turned and was completely stunned to
see that same man I'd run into earlier he still had no backpack or anything but even more confusing was why he was at this campsite he was walking in the complete opposite direction when I last saw him and for him to get here now he must have turned around around pretty soon after running into me as he walked up to the campsite he didn't look at me like he was purposefully pretending that I wasn't there or that he couldn't see me he went up to the other side of this small area we were in and
he sat down no tent no sleeping bag no anything just sitting on the dirt and looking out into the forest he was only 15 or so feet from me but with him looking away I was able to get a much better look at him the man looked like he was in his late 30s and had a short scruffy beard with short brown hair I couldn't help but feel really uneasy nothing about this was natural and as the sun continued to set it only made me feel even more unsafe who was this guy and what the
hell was he doing 25 mes out in the forest with no shelter or food or water about 30 minutes passed and he still didn't move I decided though that I couldn't stay there I had nowhere else to really go but I figured I just had to find some random spot and make sure he didn't follow me I began taking down my tent and packing up and it was only then that the man looked over at me and once he did he never looked away and every time I looked at him he was staring right at
me once I got everything stashed in my backpack I saw in the corner of my eye that the man stood up I began walking as fast as I could hearing his footsteps following close behind me I clutched my small knife tightly in my hands unsure what was going to happen after a minute I looked back a few times seeing him still following but getting further away then I took a risk I veered off the trail and into the woods it was Pitch Black by now so I hoped he didn't see me and would just keep
walking once I was maybe 20 ft into the woods I leaned out behind a tree and waited 30 seconds later his footsteps came down the trail but just as he was about to pass by he stopped I watched his figure in the dark looking around as if he knew I wasn't on the trail anymore then he started yelling he was trying to sound friendly too which made it even more disturbing after 2 minutes though he stopped yelling but instead of going back to the campsite he walked straight into the woods on the other side of
the trail his figure disappeared in the woods fell silent I must have waited there for over an hour before finally getting up and making my way back I forced my body to push through and skip the next campsite just to be safe when I was back in town I put in a report with the local police office they never followed up with me though I don't know if that man was living out there or was trying to rob or kidnapped people or maybe even both but I'm lucky to have gotten away when I did this
was just over 2 years ago my name is Jake and before this I had no camping experience whatsoever I really wanted to get get into it though and the only way to get into it is to go out and do it so this was my first camping trip I chose a campground 2 hours away from my city it was one that seemed like it wouldn't be too crowded but also I wouldn't be completely alone which I thought would be ideal for my first time I drove up there and arrived at the trail head around noon
then hiked for another few hours before getting to the campground there were a few Park style benches and a couple ground-mounted barbecue grills around the site a few short Trails split off and went to smaller campsites where some other people had tents set up I went down one of these trails and put my things down then spent the next hour getting my tent set up correctly and making sure everything was working properly by then a few people were in the middle area using the grills in chatting I'm not a super social guy so I didn't
feel comfortable inserting myself into the group but a half hour later a guy walked down to where I was set up and invited me to hang with them it was a nice gesture and he seemed cool enough so I went with it I followed him up and met a few of the others that were camping here everyone was cool so I hung around for another hour but after that some people split ways I said good night to everyone and headed back to my tent as well it was probably around 7 so just an hour left
of sunlight when TJ the guy from earlier came walking back to my tent for reference he was around my age like mid to late 20s when he came over he asked if I'd ever been to this area before I said no and then he asked if I knew about the lake that was nearby I said no again and he immediately started telling me about this amazing Hidden Lake that nobody knew about and how it was a super cool spot and that he was going to head there if I wanted to tag along again it seemed
like a friendly gesture and honestly I was super intrigued I tossed my stuff back into my tent and left everything there Then followed him he said it was a 10ish minute walk through the woods so we definitely had enough time before sunset from the campsite we followed this really thin foot path through the trees it wasn't a defined Trail at all but it looked like it had at least been used a few times before 10 minutes pass though and there was no Lake in sight TJ also got weirdly quiet before he was very talkative and
charismatic and now he was suddenly giving one-word responses he also kept looking out at the Sunset and while he could have just been trying to make sure we had time something in me felt like he was doing the opposite like he was waiting for the sun to go down after 20 minutes of walking I started putting some distance between us I wasn't so sure anymore about what this was but I could feel my adrenaline kicking in so I guess my body knew the Sun was just barely lighting up thin rows of light through the trees
and it felt like the forest was so quiet all of a sudden when I thought I had a chance I turned and tried to quietly run back the way we came but he immediately noticed he called out once in a nicer tone as if still in character as my friend but then he quickly turned a frustrated yelling as I could hear him sprinting behind me there was probably an entire minute of him yelling and chasing me through the woods before I could hear his steps slowing down then I heard a loud metallic thumb right behind
me I looked back for a split second seeing what looked like a knife ricocheting off a tree a few feet from me I guess it was his last ditch effort to stop me after that I lost him I got back to the others and tried to tell them what happened and one of them called the police for me TJ or whoever he was never came back in fact everyone said he was already at the campsite when they got there and after a bit of looking he didn't even have a tent anywhere he probably targeted me
though because I was alone and he knew I hadn't had much hiking or camping experience thankfully I didn't have to find out what he had intended for that night though because if I had I probably wouldn't be here I was spending a couple weeks in Montana last year I had a camper I was living out of set up on the back my truck so I was usually parking on campgrounds or wherever there was public land this was one of my last days so I had to start heading back from the direction I came unfortunately I
had a bit of trouble with my truck that day and it took most of the day to fix so by the time the sun was setting I'd barely made any progress on my drive I got a coffee from a gas station and decided to go at least for 2 more hours then found find somewhere to camp out the night over the next little bit that I was driving the road cleared up and was pretty much all to myself I used an app to find the nearest place I could camp at and I found a spot
that was just off the road on public land when I got to the turn it was a thin dirt path that went about a/4 mile into the woods at the end was a small grass Circle surrounded by the woods and nothing else it was vacant of any other campers I parked on the end of the circle facing the exit then walked around to the camper and got in I think it was probably 11 or 12 by then and I was just about ready to fall asleep as soon as I laid down only a minute or
so later though a beam of light shined through the edges of the privacy screen that I had on my windows I sat up and lifted the corner just enough so I could see out the window someone else's headlights were coming down the path as they got closer and up to the end of the path they slowed to a stop it looked like they saw me and maybe didn't want to camp at the same spot but instead of turning around they just stayed there on the end of the path I could see that it was a
truck pretty old looking with rust all over the front bumper but the headlights were too bright to see much of anything else since they were still on the path too their truck was facing directly at me and blocking the whole way out something about this felt off it was just a gut feeling I guess but after a few minutes of them sitting there I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep here I folded up my bed and got up before I could leave the camper and get into my truck though one one of
their doors opened I looked back out the window they had turned their headlights off and two men were standing outside in the dark they began walking toward my camper and I could only see the outline of something in their hands I covered the window again and listened to their footsteps approaching they were trying to be quiet carefully walking around my truck until they both sudden suddenly stopped it was like they suddenly knew somehow that I was awake hey can you help us we're just in need of some directions can you open up I was terrified
now and from their voice I think they were drunk or something so I had no idea what they were capable of I snuck a look out one of the windows and could see one of them right up against my truck holding a type of crowbar Sledgehammer or something similar that confirmed their bad intentions but I still had no way to leave without getting out of my camper and into my truck one of them walked up to the door scraping something against it and pressing into it definitely trying to pop it open I don't know why
I was still trying to be quiet as if they didn't know I was inside but I put my legs against the door trying to hold it in place then completely out of nowhere there was a gunshot not from the men though it was from farther out in the woods that were surrounding the area both men stopped for a moment then sprinted back to their truck within 30 seconds they were gone I still had no idea what that was but I knew if I was going to leave now was my best chance I FL LED from
the camper and straight into the truck I did a quick glance around as I started it up but didn't see anyone in the woods that had fired their gun I drove down the path and onto the main road stopping an hour later at a relatively busy truck stop what really happened back there is Up For Debate honestly I think that by some miracle a hunter or someone camping had been close by and saw what was happening so they fired a warning shot to save me considering how remote I was though it's just so unlikely that
I can't say for sure but it's really the only thing I can think of if not for it though my truck en camper would probably be anonymously listed on Craigslist right now and I probably never would have been seen again [Music]
