Last summer while on a multi-day work trip to western Maryland I did as I usually do and set up camp rather than stay in a hotel. I was the only person in Big Run State Park, a remote spot deep in Savage River State Forest where I've stayed most years since the late 80's. The campground has no power so it's as dark as can be. I set up, took a long walk, had a couple beers by the fire and ate a leisurely dinnner.

This is bear, bobcat, redneck and rattlesnake country so I'm always a little bit on my toes. This warm August night was no exception. I always hear things in the dark when I'm by myself. After 30 years of this I pretty much ignore whatever I hear. It's always a deer or a small mammal. I was tired from diving so not long after dark I settled into my Warbonnet and fell fast asleep. Being over 50, at some point in the middle of the night I had to pee. It was much colder and I didn't mess around. I sometimes struggle to fall back asleep after this and I tossed and turned for a while.

I drifted in and out of sleep, and was adjusting my bag when out of the corner of my eye I caught a light in the campground. I figured someone set up after I went to bed, which happens. I tried to go back to sleep. Suddenly I woke up to someone shining a flashlight into my eyes from under my tarp close to my feet. My heart started pounding a mile a minute as I contemplated what my next move was. Still half asleep my mind raced. I thought of kicking out at the light to knock it down. I tried to remember where my knife was. I was panicking.

I decided to yell, so I sat up and tried to yell but what came out was a weird moan. I think I was too scared to really yell. I fumbled for my zipper to get out of the hammock and as I did it realized that the light hadn't moved. I looked right at it for the first time. Then I grabbed my glasses off my shelf and put them on. The light was the moon, which had risen to just the right point to shine under my hammock. OMG.

I laid back about as awake as I've ever been- breathing really hard and trying to calm down.

Fifty one year old man scared half to death by the moon!