Creepy Night in the Woods

hi phil here from hike slam today i'm gonna hike into the woods a little bit here in virginia and do an overnight it's the day before thanksgiving it's supposed to be cold tonight but i'm looking forward to it this can be a lot of fun last time i was on this section of trail it was september so leaves were on the trees it was warm right now it's really nice it's probably low 50s but it'll be colder tonight so i'll have a fire have some food set up my tent and we'll see what we find so i'm gonna get going here and yeah find the camp spot and see if anybody's there [Music] so the hike's been awesome so far i mean i've only been out for about a half hour river behind me really pretty day um as i was walking up i saw some trash in the trail and i came across this so some bud light cans plastic bat some writing on some of this garbage this one hangman is coming down from the gallows song lyrics other weird things well hopefully i don't get murdered out here that would totally ruin my day well let's keep going [Music] that's pretty cool icicles on one side water flowing on the other if that's any indication it's gonna get pretty cold tonight because it's already three o'clock and it's probably about high 40s right now so those have had all day to melt still haven't gotten there we'll see what we're in for pretty cool though well look how calm that is it's like a mirror here's a tip um you should be a little careful when you're hiking when the trail is covered in leaves like this because you never know what rock or root is sticking out from underneath if you're going too fast you could wipe out or hurt yourself so yeah just take it easy and watch where you go i'm about halfway to the campsite and i just entered the wilderness sun is just starting to fall behind the hills so pretty shortly i'll be at the uh shelter in the campsite the weirdness continues what the hell and there's a dead duck here a very long note um and it looks like it was just put here because it's not wet um that duck is fairly recently killed all right kind of creepy there's a fire down there [Music] oh okay i'm almost at the shelter which was gonna be my camp spot for the night uh that scene back there really freaked me out though sun's going down i'm gonna get to the shelter reassess the situation let's see what i think about this whole deal i'm all out of breath because i'm trying to put as much distance between me and that sketchy camp spot back there as fast as possible so okay i'm gonna press down to the shelter and then reassess okay well that was really weird so um as i was hiking toward the shelter still considering what i was gonna do for the night these two women were hiking in the opposite direction they had a little dog with them they asked if i had seen the guy who was leaving the notes i said he has a campsite down by the river because i could hear the fire going i could see where his tarp was set up he was actually just sitting on a rock down there they were shocked i was still considering camping out there but i decided that um i didn't really feel like it and plus they said that they were kind of freaked out and asked if i would go with them and walk past his campsite so they could get back to their car so i did um and then when i got back to my truck i went over to the other side of the road drove up like a forest service road and i'm actually on the appalachian trail just going the opposite direction so instead of going north no instead of going south now i'm going north but i'm just going to find the closest camp spot to where i'm at because the sun is going down and set up camp and yeah settle in for the night all right let's get going all right so i'm on the appalachian trail just in a different part headed the opposite direction so there's john's hollow shelter in point six that looks like where i'll probably end up for the night hopefully there's no maniacs there really pretty out here but that sun is going down quick so i'm running out of options man my legs are killing me um a little out of shape plus i packed a ton of stuff because i thought i was gonna have just like a mile mile and a half hike in ended up being more than double that but i'm still having fun this weather is awesome it's so pretty out here and i'm just looking forward to finding a camp spot so i can settle down and yeah call it a night well cook some dinner maybe have a fire must be getting near the area now starting to flatten out up there a little bit nice water source here looks like it'll be a nice clear night which should be great starting to cool off already so i'm gonna find my camp spot here so i came across this fire ring so might end up just camping right here there's a flatish spot the creek is right there so this could be a really good place to camp i'm just gonna go up to the shelter see what's going on up there i came to this area and i was like wait where do i go next where does the trail go but if you see in this direction there's a white blaze on that tree appalachian trail white blazes never let you down all right let me find the shelter and see what the deal is it should be right around the corner all right there's the sign for the shelter and you can see it you can see it down there right through the trees it doesn't look like anyone's there i'm gonna go down and check it out all right approaching the shelter here there's definitely nobody here i think there's a knit cap there pretty clean shelter log pretty cool fire area there it set up kind of like a fireplace angled toward the shelter for heat which is pretty neat i'll have a fire in there in a little bit all right let's see i can hear water flowing down here yep perfect so we got water source right there excellent i feel way way better about this than the other one this feels way more secluded up here it's not near a major road such that far service road where i parked my truck um big area over here so behind the shelter it's a picnic table looks like another fire ring here oh somebody did a good job maintaining this someone was out here recently cleaning up all the leaves are swept away from the outside very cool then up there you got the privy hopefully i don't have to use it okay time for me to get settled in wow what a day so far okay well i still have a little bit of light i'm going to set up my tent i don't want to sleep in the shelter shelters can sometimes have a lot of spiders mice rats that kind of thing i'll chew through your gear or eat your food or whatever so i think i'm just gonna find a nice camp spot maybe back behind the shelter set up my tent find some firewood and then probably have some dinner all right time to get going look at this some kind soul has collected some kindling and pieces of firewood that's awesome so i'll use some of that and then try to replace what i used but that is really cool time to set up the tent all right i think this is the spot flat not a lot of big sharp rocks in the way so i'm gonna get to setting that up all right my sleeping pad is inflated and holding air got my sleeping bag in here we just put the stuff sack for the sleeping bag down there and uh yeah on to the next thing okay all right starting to get a little colder so i'm gonna change out some of my clothes here it's gonna be a cold night i can tell it's so clear and it's cold right now we're getting coolish the temperature's dropping quick so put on a second layer here this vest my friend mike gave me this vest it is super warm let's see i think i have a oh i should have a knit hat in here uh yup got my knit hat here okay oh this is helping already loving it ah let's see gloves there don't need those yet got a red bull i'm not sure if i'm not sure if i'm gonna drink that red bull i don't want to be up all night um but i am getting hungry so we can start getting some dinner going here okay that's nice so i've got my bag here that has all my lighters and camp stove and everything in it food bag here let's see what we got so got some white cheddar chex mix and conti chicken or picante or picante chicken flavored ramen that'll be nice warm me up i also brought a little thing of um oatmeal instant oatmeal not sure if i'm gonna get to that not sure how long i want to stick around in the morning and then i have a fork in here and some tea some tea bags all right since i have the firewood here i can help replenish it in the morning before i go um right now i'm gonna start cooking and have some dinner all right okay look at the pocket rocket here so just gonna guesstimate here and fire up the gas all right it's been a few minutes once that's boiling i can get the ramen in there and chow down ramen in there i almost forgot to bring a fork and i would have been eating chex mix for dinner but i brought the lightest cheapest fork i had in the house and the stamped metal ones ramen one great thing about ramen filling it's hot and it only takes a minute to soften up once the water's really going this wasn't quite boiling so it might take a little bit longer but we'll be eating here in a few minutes all right a little more light over here it's starting to get dark out so i figured i'd eat at the picnic table here let's see let's try this ramen never fails it's not as spicy as i thought it would be but it's got good flavor it's hot the most important thing because it's starting to get cool out here yeah lights going away pretty fast here so i think my timing is really good because i got my 10 set up um got my sleeping bag laid out got my dinner made so now after i eat this all i have to do make a fire hang out maybe read through that shelter log a little bit maybe have a little whiskey it's gonna be a good night what a what a crazy day oh my gosh so i had the one campsite in mind the matt's creek shelter and based on the crazy notes i saw and the dead animals and i don't know running into those women on the trail who were scared um i'm glad i made the decision not to camp down there because i would have just been freaked out the whole time this is only about two miles from that other campsite but it's on the other side of the road still on the appalachian trail but far enough away that i feel safe which is good fire's throwing off a good amount of heat right now it's nice feeling to have dinner done dishes done tent set up with a sleeping bag in it fire going so i'm gonna celebrate a little bit of a hobo blanket here a little whiskey so nice and warm in my jacket and my vest um i have a pair long underwear i'm not wearing it right now just uh my hiking pants but i'll maybe wear it tonight when it gets colder trying to sleep i brought two pairs of socks i'm only wearing one right now because my feet are warm enough i brought gloves too don't need them right now this hat's definitely keeping me warm i'm super comfortable right now which is awesome so i'm just gonna enjoy some of this maker's mark hang out by the fire for a few minutes um yeah just kind of enjoy the peace and quiet and reflect on the day a little and it is the day before thanksgiving so i stopped off at a convenience store on the way here and i got myself a little debbie apple pie to celebrate the thanksgiving holiday all right kinda got smashed but whenever you go hiking all your food gets smashed i mean i could bring a tupperware or something but this looks totally edible well it's falling apart well it's very sweet but i'm not surprised yeah little debbie apple pie all right so i'm gonna check out the shelter log here i hang out by the fire almost every shelter on the appalachian trail has a shelter log where people write in their trail names and what's going on they can write whatever they want in there so it's kind of cool tradition here so let's see what this one says little engine back section hiking again finally great day on the a t this was in august huh someone left some pbrs here i guess it's nice a little trail magic ah some comics and writing and stuff all right let's see what's happened recently holy crap wait a second let me adjust the camera here this writing looks almost exactly like the writing that was on that garbage a couple of miles from here let's see if this makes any sense sorry if the lighting's bad i'm just gonna see what it says clean the outhouse picked up trash collected wood for others see charlie daniels simple man lyrics which i used in 2013 facebook post and note the rope i found with the silicon sealant canned two miles south of that i left it on a stump in 2018 while i was incarcerated at the okaloosa county jail what the heck in solitary confinement i figured the following out refer to isaiah 28 15 through nine here in early 2017 trump nebo allowed obama to have the special use of the air force one for a trip to palm springs this is the same ramblings from the guy that was on the other side of the river that's kind of scary um kind of weird those those women down there said they were going to call the police on the guy um i know it's really hard to read in this light sorry about that let me move that there wow this is weird it's just like it goes in one direction then immediately goes in a completely different direction and there's just so much of it like like this line up here think grave robbery in an attempt to obscure the reality of little mrs wolf content come up with some more of those wicked schemes jb and company so i can show some more of your true character in the past the russian collusion assertion have been followed up on many occasions with the advancement of illusions that would show discord and fiction between the colluding parties you're falling faster obey your master and metallica lyrics what the heck okay that's crazy okay emergency press conference so i thought it would be a fun little thing to look at the johns hollow shelter log that's where i'm staying john's hollow shelter and just check out trail names and what people's experiences were on the trail and it was it was fun at first um but man once i came across that guy's writing it was so weird it was like i felt like i was i don't know the plot continues or something you open it up and it's like that writing looks familiar oh my gosh it's the same writing as that guy that's three miles away that i hiked this far away to get away from the dude and now um yeah man i guess he was just here a few days ago um ranting it's like music lyrics and political stuff and um you know talking about people leaving trash and just weird rants and bible quotes and it's just like all over the place kind of sketchy kind of weird um it's just really weird to have that feeling of like relaxation like i'm away i'm here i'm hanging out in the woods by myself and then to read that just kind of like oh that's a little odd um at least he is he seemed to be settled down for the night in his weird camp spot there by the river um so i feel like he's not going to come up here hopefully we'll see um but yeah all right i'm gonna um stop drinking the whiskey and start we switch back to water just in case i gotta have my wits about me um and let the fire burn down douse it with some water from the stream and then i'm gonna head off to bed all right dude what the hell is going on here i'm in the shelter i'm packing up my stuff to go into my tent and they have these things that they put in shelters a lot to hang your food bag from so like mice can't get to it look at this one what do you know same handwriting as the one in the book and garbage on the trail from that same dude so it says watch out for yeet mouse the dead do walk and talk like what the hell is going on um all right i'm going [Music] to go into my tent now so i'm in my tent now fire's been put out all my gear is in here um i'm a little on edge i keep watching the hill behind the shelter to see if i see a headlamp coming down there um the hike in here there was nobody there's no cars along the side of that forest service road except mine it was super quiet here i haven't heard any sign of a person at all i hear animals up in the woods but um yeah i don't know i kept i stole my shoes on i guess in case i have to run man i think this is a combination of the weird um the weird dude down the trail in his cryptic writings that i keep finding everywhere and also in the woods the uh your mind plays games with you every sound every light is something to be concerned about so um just gonna hunker down in here for a little bit and see what happens okay all right so um i lied down for a couple hours um nodded off to sleep just on top of my sleeping bag but man every crack and crunch i hear outside of an animal walking by or a branch breaking i don't know it's just like it's freaking me out um so i'm gonna try to get some more sleep here and um yeah hopefully i just kind of pass out there's really nothing to be worried about it's just like just a weird night you know okay i'm out on the trail um it's the middle of the night uh i was down in my tent not asleep kind of just like lying there staring at the tent walls listening to all the sounds and then i heard somebody down by the shelter so at first time to convince myself it wasn't what i thought i heard uh but it definitely was somebody down there um so i didn't even wait to see or go down to see who it was see if it was like a bunch of teenage girls or something i don't know i was just like i am getting out of here so i uh packed up all my stuff and i packed it up very quickly i don't think i left anything behind um and i just walked past as i walked past i did look it did look like a single guy um hanging out in the shelter he had a headlamp on um all i could really see was the light from the headlamp so i could have been wrong um but man it was uh yeah so i don't know i just i just got out of there and like that's the thing it's like it was probably a guy who was out like me like out and wants to just go camping or spend a night out beautiful night um but i wasn't gonna hang around i don't know i guess i got scared but um so i decided to pack up all my stuff and hike back uh looked back behind me a bunch of times um as i was hiking to see if that light was following me it sounds silly but i mean like i didn't see the light following me at first i thought it was following me just because i could still see it through the trees because it's fallen there's no leaves in the trees um but now i think i'm almost back at my truck and i'm just gonna get out of here and go home [Music] you

Channel: HikeSlam

Views: 238,088

Keywords: hiking, camping, trail, overnight, solo, hike, scary, Appalachian Trail, gear, camp, woods, fire, Virginia, creepy

Id: BhSGsci7UlI

Length: 30min 49sec (1849 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 19 2021