3 Unnerving Forest Hiking & Camping Horror Stories

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 10 to 15 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 3-day backpacking trip that would take us away from the crowd of people and hopefully give us some peace and quiet I trusted him to Route our trip and a couple weeks later we drove down to the trail head only one other car was parked there when we arrived it was some old looking SUV covered in dust looking like it' 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 8 mile hike most of the terrain was actually flat until we got to the last couple miles where we started up a mountain side it was pretty tiring but Jason promised that the campsite would be worth it and it turned out he wasn't lying at all about 3/4 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 stick 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 2 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 too 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 trail head 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 the other side of the campgrounds around 6 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 3 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 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 20 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 15 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 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 campsite to the trail head 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 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 20ish minutes I'd glan over at the tent on the side of the lake but at no point during the 3 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 relaxed 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 30s or 40s 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 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 campsite 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 be gond lucky to have made it out with my life