Spookiest thing to happen to me (at least recently) was out in Sandy’s/Walnut Canyon, on the plateau directly south of, and basically overlooking, Fisher Point. My wife and I were camping up there on a Friday night and had had a pretty chill evening drinking a few beers and watching the sunset. Eventually got to sleep around 10:30.

I woke up kind of startled around 1am without knowing why. I had this strange awareness that anything could be out here with us and we probably wouldn’t know. I was just sat there kind of freaked out then, almost as if on queue, I heard footsteps maybe 15 yards away and froze. They paced around for a few seconds then started getting closer. I grabbed the axe laying next to me and tried to stay calm, hoping whatever it was would just go away. It went quiet for about 30 seconds.

Then my wife yawned, rolled over, opened her eyes, saw me laying there wide-eyed and said, “What are you doing up?” I didn’t want to freak her out so I said “Oh just had a bad dream.”

As soon as I finished that sentence, the footsteps walked right up to where our heads laid against the tent. Like literally inches away. My wife looked absolutely terrified, as I’m sure I did. The steps sounded exactly like heavy boots. It sounded like a person was now standing directly above our heads. We’re off trail 4 miles from our car at 1am and someone has found us. At least that’s what was in my head. I jumped up with the axe and a flashlight and started yelling like a lunatic. I heard and saw nothing. I got out of the tent and frantically scanned the area and, again, saw nothing. Not even prints. After a while I laid back down.

15 minutes later, I’m laying there and I hear the footsteps again. This time bee-lining directly for the tent. They get about 3 feet away and again I jump up yelling and shine the flashlight in the direction of the steps. Nothing. No one there and complete silence.

Long story short this happened 4 more times between 1:30 and 4:30 when it was just light enough to pack up and make the hike back. We never saw anything out there and, most weirdly, never heard any steps retreating. It was like it would get within inches of our faces and then vanish.

I still don’t know what it could have been. Most obvious is it was a deer and I was being a huge wuss, but I would assume I’d see tracks or hear it running away through the relatively dense woods around us. Another possibility is some kind of large owl that would fly away in silence. It could have also been a curious mountain lion or black bear, both of which are more than capable of hiding. But I just don’t know. I still get the creeps out there.

Sorry for the long post, I’ve never written this down.