Hard time relaxing/sleeping in the wild. Any suggestions? Tips?

[AnthonyD]

I’ve had that feeling when camping alone too. It’s really pretty normal.

My half-joking, half-serious advice is to bring a small flask of your favorite liquid courage. Mine is a fine bourbon.


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[oldgringo]

I've been at this for a long time, and for the most part, night sounds sooth me. That said, an armadillo plowing through 6" of oak leaves will still put me on high alert. Oh, and once I stalked my icemaker, locked and loaded.

My point is this: you will probably never be totally shed of your anxieties, nor should you be; they got you this far. It will get easier, however.

[bigdisgrace]

Yes, it does get easier the more you go out. Just think of the critters in the woods you might normally see on a day hike.....would a racoon scare you during the day?? Of course not. A deer?? opossum? no. Same critters, different time thats all. Foxes crying used to scare the bejesus outta me. Now when I hear them I think of them frolicking in a sunny meadow.

[jeff-oh]

Your already doing the best thing, which is to get out there and do it. Soon the night sounds will be normal and you will identify most as raccoons, opossum, deer and our other eastern woodland creatures. I have had similar experiences as I learned the woods. One night at scout camp I heard this huffing,growling, snorting sound just outside of the tent, light reveled family of raccoons. One was in Canada way up North when a pack of timber wolves started howling. When I got back I learned they were more disturbed by me and the howling was to get reassurance from the pack. Knowing that doesn't keep the hairs from standing up on the back of your neck. Had a similar experience with Coyotes here in Ohio about a year ago. They were close and loud. Got up to check on my daughter... she was sound asleep. But what I did notice is in a hammock from the outside you are this amorphous blob. Particularly with under-quilts and tarps. In your hammock you do not look like anything alive, just a big cocoon hanging between trees.

So, keep going and embrace the night sounds and think how lucky you are for being able to know them.

[jeff-oh]

Foxes crying used to scare the bejesus outta me. Now when I hear them I think of them frolicking in a sunny meadow.

Owls... Man, can they sound like possessed demon spirits. Now they just make me smile to know the environment has cleaned up enough that they are coming back.

Whippoorwills... will someone shut them up at 4:30 am...

[LuvmyBonnet]

Whippoorwills... will someone shut them up at 4:30 am...

Yeah Whippoorwills can be annoying and also those little peeper frogs.
I don't camp in areas of brown bear or mountain lions so I'm not worried about the critters. Humans are the only thing I'm concerned with.
When I go solo I always seem to have a snorting deer visit in the night.

[canoebie]

These are great responses. I respond from both rational and irrational thoughts. The rational is that I know what could be the worst thing to encounter at night. Where I paddle in Michigan, I most fear late at night either a bear (has happened) or a human of less than noble character (has happened). I know I handled those quite effectively, so I am pretty confident in my surroundings being not too terribly threatening. Reality check. When I was a kid, my Dad used to tell me not to fear the dark, you gotta remember, they can't see you. Finally, and this is what I resort to most is that I trust my well-being to my skills and my surroundings. The river and the piney woods are really safe and enjoyable surroundings, it is just dark. And as to my skills, the school of hard knocks has honed them to a point that I crawl in my hammy, smile and fall into deep sleep.

[GeneH]

Finally - before you go to sleep: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Do NOT encourage him to put his hand in the fire box...just sayin'.

[GeneH]

...Try to re-train. Sit alone in the dark with no light and no fire. Get used to night sounds. Same as day but your brain is tuning in on them. It is our ingrained fear of the dark. A rabbit sounds bigger than a bear...Shug Van Winkle

This. Now I enjoy sitting with a very small minimal fire or just hot coals for all kinds of warm fuzzy security until well into the early AM. Your eyes will get so adjusted to the low light you can see everything. Offtimes I get up and walk around a little, head lamp off, just to stretch out the kinks. I keep all my lights off as much as safely possible.

Shug is right, small critters like a squirrel easily sound like monster whitetail, even during broad daylight, and the whitetail deer will walk up behind you and snort. So doesn't do any good to think about it. Have you had a chance to have packs of coyotes pipe up yipping and howling yet? Now that's a treat.

[Phantom Grappler]

If you go to sleep at sundown, you might wake before sunrise. Easier to worry if awake.
If you are out of sight of trail and do not have a fire and do not have lights on, then its unlikely any bad guy will stumble into your campsite.
If you have a medium size dog or dogs, bears are less likely to visit your campsite.
I guess a lot
If you play a recording of hounds barking and hunting bear—bears might hear and avoid your campsite. Lots of bears have been run by dogs and even if not they might have an instinctive fear of dog packs.
Lots of time I sleep less well the first night
I’m an old man and have to get up two to three times a night to find a happy tree
Sometimes if I’m lying in hammock in night and have been awake for a few minutes, I get up and whizz even though I did not feel the urge—then I can fall asleep easily
Look at it this way—if I croak while hanging in hammock, at least I died happy