Last night I attempted to solo night hike. I only made it to 11pm before I had a bear scare. The night hike was going great, very enjoyable. The forest comes alive with stuff I had not seen yet.
Many new sounds and sights,
these really oily looking black salamander lizard guys are all over the trail. These purple flowers bloom at night everywhere and hang down towards to ground.
As it got darker and I made the summit of Tray Mountain and was able to connect to data and get the weather report, it was going to come down again hard about 11am the next morning.
So I decided to hike until then, through the night, then setup the tent and crash with the rain.
Around 10:30pm I came down into this valley and heard a spooked sound I’ve never heard before. I pause, then hear a large branch break. I imagine that sound might of been a spooked cub. And the large branch the mother repositioning.
I click my poles and holler out, hearing some more large rustling. I crash some rocks on the trail and make more noise. Nothing… I back up the hill 20 yards, make more noise, nothing. I wait 10 minutes imagining a standoff to protect my food, nothing… maybe I can continue now.
I hear a “huff,” nope! Screw it, I’m out. I have to hike up 1.6 mi back up to Tray Mountain and go to the shelter. There are bear cables and power in numbers…
In the end, I do think it was a bear. Never saw it, but there’s only one thing out here that can make it a noise like that and I don’t have spray, or a gun…
Days final stats:
Basically I climbed the Empire State Building (120 floors I believe) up and down twice with 40lbs.
Yeti?
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It’s Bigfoot down here, yeti needs arctic climates lol
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That is a lot of climbing. Your legs and lungs are getting in shape for hiking now.
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