Once woke up in the middle of the night to a nudge from underneath and a SNIFF! SNIFF! SNIFF! Scared the bejeebers out of me and then it was a panic to find my headlamp, unzip, grab the bear spray and jump down to investigate. In the midst of all that confusion and before my feet even touched the ground, I heard a scurry and a SPLASH! followed by the classic Canadian sound of a SLAP! on the water.
Yup, beaver.
Closest I've got in the wild were some evening birds flapping about in the trees just above my tarp.
Domestically, my dogs sometimes sneak up in the middle of the night to say hello.
A day camping in the rain is better than a good day at work,
--Shaw.
tsshaw78 is too hard to say on the trail - Just call me Shaw.
A couple of times, small mammals have hopped or scurried through the leaf litter and smack banged the underside of my hammock...even had a small Sugar Glider (tiny gliding possum) thwak ! my tarp from above, then scratchily slid to the ground. Scared the bejesus out of me.
I've had the occasional nightmare of being gored by wild pigs in my hammocky cocoon in my tropical rainforests hangs, when I've seen thier diggings all day long...but that doesn't count.
Last edited by ofuros; 05-26-2020 at 15:38.
Mountain views are good for the soul....& getting to them is good for my waistline.
https://ofuros.exposure.co/
I’ve had small critters run across my ground Tyvek, nothing bumping into me.
I HAVE however, had unknown larger creatures walk OVER me in any old bivy setup, which at the time I thought was a good idea until it dawned on me I’m basically laying in a coffin.
I've seen or heard animals - deer snorting, coyotees yipping, etc. But mostly I encounter imaginary animals - those part of my active imagination. I once woke up for sure I heard a bear. Realized not long after it was a fellow camper snoring.
I too had a vivid dream that a warthog pushed me up in my hammock. Felt very real. I was camping solo in the snow and woke myself hollaring out. But alas...only a dream.
Always curious what comes to check us out in the night.
I always always check to make sure I am not camping on an animal trail!
Shug
Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven
Ahh...a weary wandering mind in the darkness.
Warm & snug in my hammock, breath by breath, slowly being coiled, caressed & constricted by a large python...
Mountain views are good for the soul....& getting to them is good for my waistline.
https://ofuros.exposure.co/
My “bejesus” moment was on the Oregon PCT as I neared Hwy 242. Only I didn’t know Hwy 242 was there (plot thickens). I had walked late into the night and was just looking for the first flat spot to lay my GoreTex bivi bag out. I knew I was near McKinsie Hwy 242 that I’d take down to Sisters the next day for a mail pickup. I woke in the middle of the night to the sound of a loud rumble and saw to large headlights bearing down on me. I was in a coffin (my coffin?) in that there was no time to unzip and get out or roll away. At what seemed the last moment, the headlights turned off and passed to my right.
The next morning I saw the problem. I had stopped about 6 feet from the Hwy - which I didn’t see ahead of me - on a curve. Decades later, I still hate setting up in the dark.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
I’ve had armadillos and opossums root under my hammock before. I welcome those kinds of animals anytime in camp, they are a comforting sign that a larger more menacing animal is not near, plus they eat the bugs!
If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.
- Yogi Berra
Had a mouse get between my hammock and underquilt in the Smokey’s and had a wild boar wake me up by bumping into my while rooting in Sipsey AL.
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