Speaker 1: My brother Jason, and I moved out to Colorado several
years back. We both wanted to live by the mountains,
but neither of us could afford to on our own,
so we split the rent on a town home in
the suburbs right outside of Denver. This worked out perfectly
because we were only ten to fifteen minutes away from
a huge line of mountains. One thing I will mention
about these nearby hiking and camping trails, though, is that
they're pretty packed. It's so accessible to everyone around and
to tourists that almost any time of the year it's
hard to find solitude. Because of this, me and my
brother decided to plan a three day backpacking trip that
would take us away from the crowd of people and
hopefully give us some peace in quiet. I trusted him
to route our trip, and a couple weeks later we
drove down to the trailhead. Only one other car was
parked there when we arrived. It was some old looking
suv covered in dust, looking like it had been through
a rough drive. Seeing as it was likely only one
other person was hiking this route, we went in with
a positive attitude. The first day of backpacking was an
eight mile hike. Most of the terrain was actually flat
until we got to the last couple miles, where we
started up a mountainside. It was pretty tiring, but Jason
promised that the camp site would be worth it, and
it turned out he wasn't lying at all. About three
quarters up the mountain, there was a small flat area
right on the side of the cliff with a view
of the whole valley. It was stunning, especially with the
sun starting to set. After taking in the view, we
started pitching our tents, then gathered up some sticks and
stones to make a fire pit with. Once the fire
was going, we sat down and just talked. I don't
even have any idea how long. We were talking for
at least two hours or something. When we both heard
something from the trail. We instantly went silent, listening as
footsteps started making their way up the trail in toward
our campsite. A minute later, a man came out of
the dark and into the far light coming from our fire.
He wasn't wearing a headlamp, which every hiker and camper
knows is an absolute must when there's even the possibility
of being out in the dark. As he walked up,
I think. Both Jason and I knew something was wrong.
He had a grin on his face just as he
approached the campfire. Hey, did you need something, Jason asked,
standing up. The man looked at Jason, then at me,
keeping his grin as he started to explain himself. He
said he was a park ranger and had been following
our trail for a while. He said this section had
been closed off for the season and we couldn't be here.
Something was really off, though, because we knew this park
was open, and we had even gotten permits from the
state the day prior to camping out there. We also
knew that park rangers would not be out here in
the middle of a mountain trail at night. But if
he wasn't who he said he was, then what was
he doing out here? I could tell Jason's mind was
racing two as we both looked at the man and
started asking questions, but he cut us off quickly. You
both need to leave with me right now. Pack up
and follow me. I'll lead you guys back to the trailhead.
We stood there in silence for a moment, taking in
what he just said and realizing that there was something
seriously wrong. Here. The man still stayed by the fire,
with that same grin on his face. No, we're staying here,
Jason said. The man looked at him again, then at me,
keeping that same eerie grin, as he just turned around
and walked away. Terrified, we didn't even speak for a
few minutes, just listening to make sure he didn't come back.
Then we grabbed some more dry sticks and rekindled the fire.
Neither of us were sleeping. We stayed up the entire night,
sometimes hearing what we thought were footsteps again, but never
seeing the man. Once the sun was up, we packed
and left, cutting our trip short and retracing the trail
back to our car. When we got back, that same
dusty suv was there, which got us both wondering if
that hiker had run into the same man as us,
and what happened to them. We notified the police, but
ultimately found nothing out of it. There was no doubt
the man was lying about being a park ranger, but
the fact that he tried to lead us out into
the woods in the middle of the night means he
was likely trying something horrible. What that was we don't know,
but it seems like the other hiker may have been
unfortunate enough to find out. I used to go camping
all the time with some of my buddies from college,
but once we graduated, we could never find time anymore.
Everyone's schedules were different, so I ended up going out
on my own. There was a camping ground that we
used to go to a lot, so I played it
safe and went to that same place. It was somewhat
far out and not the easiest to get to, but
that's why I liked it. Nobody would ever be there
because there were a lot of easier options nearby to
camp at. Knowing the route, I got there no problem
and set all of my stuff up. Not long after, though,
a man showed up. He looked like any other hiker,
but he only had a small backpack, so definitely no
tent or camping gear. The only thing that had me
questioning why he was here was that this wasn't a
very scenic spot or anything. It was a nice place
to camp because it was an open area with trees around,
but if you're not camping, then there would be no
reason to hike all the way out here. I didn't
think all that much about it at the time because
the man seemed normal enough. Maybe he just wanted a
quiet space to relax for a bit. I stayed by
my tent and the man stayed on the other side
of the campgrounds. Around six I walked away from my
tent to cook my food, and it was around this
time that I saw the man finally leave. I thought
it was a little late to be walking back, because
it was going to be completely dark in less than
an hour and the hike was probably three hours. Other
than that, I was just happy to be alone now.
I boiled some water with my mini stove and made
one of my freeze dried meals, then went back near
my tent and sat down. The sun was just about gone,
so I brought out a small lantern and hung it
on the side of the tent. As I stayed outside
and took in the atmosphere, it suddenly hit me that
I was alone out there, and that usually this is
when we'd all gather around and talk by a campfire,
but by myself, I didn't really have anything to do.
After a while, I turned off the lantern and went
inside my tent, laying down and turning in for the night.
Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up
to the sound of footsteps nearby. When I opened my eyes,
it was pitch black, and I had no idea how
long I'd been asleep for, but the footsteps came closer
and closer, until they stopped on the other end of
the campground. After a few seconds, I felt around for
my lantern and turned it on, then unzipped the tent
and looked out. Twenty or so feet from my tent.
There was the shape of a man standing right by
where I'd seen the guy from earlier standing, and from
what I can make out, it was likely the same person,
but they were just standing there, not doing anything. It
was far enough into the night that this was immediately disturbing,
no matter the context, and having turned my lantern on,
he definitely saw me. Hey, are you okay, I called
out to him. I waited a couple seconds, but he
didn't show any signs of acknowledging me. I couldn't even
tell which direction he was facing, but he was either
facing away from me or directly at me, and I
don't even know which way was more disturbing. I reached
for my pocket knife from my backpack, then did the
only thing I could do, which was stay sitting there
and wait. The most increasingly uneasy fifteen minutes of my
life passed as I looked at this man standing there
and barely move before he suddenly turned and walked off
in the same direction he had gone before. And I
could see from the way his figure moved when he
turned that he had been facing me, so that whole
time he was there, he was just staring at me.
I felt chills run through me as the man's footsteps
got quieter and quieter, fading out in the distance. I
didn't know what else to do other than stay up
in case he came back, and as far as I know,
he never did. I left in the morning and got
back safely. But since then I haven't been out camping.
I don't know what that man was doing, but there's
no world in which that wasn't extremely disturbing. Maybe I
scared him off by waking up and watching him to
make sure he didn't do anything, but that just terrifies
me to think about. If I hadn't woken up that night,
I was out camping in the back country near where
I lived. I'm not much of a hiker, so I
never take trails more than a mile or two. This
one was just over a mile from the camp site
to the trailhead where my car was parked. I'd been
spending the weekend there camping out by the lake and
was planning on staying for another two nights. On the
third day, I spent the morning hiking back to my
truck and grabbing my fishing rod and some spare food,
then hiking back to the camp. I thought i'd try
my luck at fishing while I had the time. When
I got back to the camp, though, there was another
tent set up. It was farther down on the edge
of the lake, and I didn't see anyone by it.
Initially I didn't care, but then it came through my
mind that I hadn't seen anyone on the only trail
leading to this part of the lake. Then again, there
could be some other path that I just didn't know about.
Whatever the case, I set up my rod and got
to fishing. Every twenty ish minutes, i'd glance over at
the tent on the side of the lake, but at
no point during the three hours I was out there
did I see anyone. Once the sun was starting to
get lower, I packed up my rod and went back
to my tent. I ate and got some sticks for
the campfire, then waited for it to get a little
darker before lighting it up. As soon as I did,
I saw someone's shadow move in the forest ahead of me.
They were just far enough for the light to not
reach them, so after that quick glimpse, all I could
see was total darkness. I made the assumption that it
was the person with the tent down by the lake,
probably gathering sticks for a fire. It was weird that
just when I lit up my campfire, they were right
outside my camp but I chose to not overthink it.
I leaned back in my chair and reli looking at
the fire, the sky, and the lake. It was so
calming I almost wanted to fall asleep in the chair.
But just a half hour later I looked past the
fire and saw several figures coming from the forest. Once
they were closer, I counted four men, all coming right
up to my campsite. There was a lot going through
my head, but I tried to suppress any nervous feelings
and hoped it was just a nearby camping group in
need of help or something. When they came into the light,
I could see that they were all in their thirties
or forties and had straight faces. Once they were just
a few feet from me and were still walking, I
got up from my chair and nervously began asking what
they needed. None of them responded, only continuing to walk up.
Two of them went behind me, going straight from my tent,
as the other two pushed me aside. There was no
doubt what was going on now, but I knew fighting
back would only make things worse. I watched the two
men start searching through my things as the other two
continued to push me further away. I tried saying anything
I could, but the men had an emptiness to their
eyes that showed they did not care at all. I
was telling myself in my head to just stay calm
and let them take what they want, but the two
men kept pushing and dragging me further and further out
away from the camp site and away from the light.
After a minute, I could barely see where we were
going and couldn't hear anything but our footsteps in the
silent forest. Then we stopped. I turned and faced them,
and as we stood in the darkness between the trees,
all my fears just hit me. At once. One of
them reached for something and I instantly took off running.
All I could hear were my footsteps pounding against the
leaves and grass. As I got further out, I still
had a general sense of direction, so I tried to
get back to the trail. When I did, I went
straight from my truck, and from what I could tell,
nobody followed me. I reported the case to the police,
but in the end almost all my stuff was stolen
and no trace was left to help figure out who
they were. What they were dragging me out into the
forest to do is probably obvious, so I think I
was beyond lucky. I've made it out with my life.