On Friday, Oct 31st a friend and I were going to do some “dusk/night hiking.” The initial plan was to head in as the sun went down and continue to our selected spot as it got dark. Our plans did not work out exactly as we planned…. After waiting until dark (6:45 pm here) I decided I had waited long enough and that maybe he would meet me at the campsite as there are several ways to get there.
I have been in my share of spooky, creepy, and/or scary situations so I do not spook easily. I strapped on my pack, turned my headlamp on, and headed down the trail. This was a very familiar trail and I was only going about 3 miles – what could possibly go wrong???
After about 15 minutes I had traveled pretty far into the woods. Outside of my small circle of illumination it was dark and I was having to pay pretty close attention to the trail. I’m not sure if it was because it was Halloween night, or if this was my first solo night hike, or if there were creatures in the woods, or a combination of all of the above. I couldn’t get over the feeling that I wasn’t “alone.”
Needless to say, my blood was pumping and I was hyper-sensitive to every little sound (which did not help matters AT ALL). I picked up my pace, because NOTHING in the woods can chase down a fast walking hiker, right???? I hiked about three and a half miles in an hour. In the dark. By myself. I made it to the dark campsite and quickly started a fire.
Shortly my hiker friend made his way as he ended up only being a few minutes behind me. We compared out thoughts and both agreed that it was spooky in the woods that night.
bad biscuit 