Creepy Hiking Stories: Hikers Share Their Creepiest Moments on the Trail

Hiking is one of my favorite activities, but it can also lead to some creepy and uncomfortable moments. I know I’ve had some creepy hiking stories along the way!

Hikers on Reddit shared some of their creepiest moments on the trails. Enjoy! (Or cringe.)

Lost Wallets

“When we were exploring the Australian outback as university students, my friend and I found an old, tightly wrapped plastic bag with five or six damaged wallets along shrubbery at the base of a cliff.

The only reason we opened it up was because we were so remote – hundreds of kilometres from any town or tourist attraction – that it was strange to see garbage out there. All the cards were in female names and birthdates placed them in their late teens to early 20s. Some lived in the Northern Territory but one was in Sydney and another from Queensland. At the time we figured rock climbers must have stored their valuables in the bag and then lost track of it. I’ll never forget the strange look the police officer gave us when we handed them in.” – manlikerealities

Cage in the Woods

“My boyfriend said that he and a friend found a cage in the woods with a mattress inside.

They called the police and apparently they were very interested in it. The police officer asked if anybody had heard screaming in the area because other people had reported screams.

Terrifying to say the least.” – Early_Interview_2486

Oversharing Trail Friend

“I was backpacking with a few friends. A few days in middle of nowhere a man approached our camp as we were cooking dinner to say hi. We talked about our routes for a few minutes. Out of nowhere he told us that he had had a vasectomy in his 30s after his 2nd child. Then somehow his wife had gotten pregnant with his 3rd child. He didn’t believe this was possible, so he demanded a DNA test to see if he was actually the father. He was. Still he explained that he had his doubts and thought that his wife must have fixed the DNA test.

My friends and I were in our 20s and had no idea why this guy was telling us this. We all just nodded and smiled.

The man stopped talking and then just walked away into the night.” – dring157

Shhhhh

I found a note that said something in French. When I got home and translated it, found out it said “Keep quiet Marcel, or we could all go to jail for 20 years.”

That’s not Kevin

“I was in the woods with three friends at night. A friend’s house was nearby and I was getting hungry so I went inside to find some food. Another friend came inside with me. Two friends were still outside.

Later on, one of the two who were outside comes in and sees the indoor friend on the couch next to me. They panic and immediately run back outside.

I poke my head out the door asking what’s going on, only to hear them yell as loudly as they can “THAT’S NOT KEVIN”

Everyone comes inside and calms down a bit, and the story comes out. They thought the friend who was indoors with me (Kevin) had been outside with them this entire time. Why? Because in the darkness of the woods they saw a silhouette about the same height walking alongside them silently, then at some point it ran away and they were chasing it thinking Kevin was running off for some reason.

The reason my friend yelled “That’s not Kevin” was to stop the last outdoor friend from chasing whoever was out there deeper into the woods.

We still have no idea who that was or why they didn’t ever speak.” – CookiesChoco

Good Doggo

huntsville state park texas — Photo Credit: Alec Sills-Trausch

Decided to extend a hike I’ve done many times before to see an old fire watch tower. Misread my map, thought it was 5 miles to the tower and back. Turned out to be 5 miles one way. Was woefully unprepared, ran out of water after reaching the tower, middle of August, not good.

Heading back from the tower and I started getting dizzy. Laid down on a boulder for a quick rest, ended up falling asleep. Woke up close to dark, started walking back and in my exhausted/dehydrated state wandered off trail.

A few seconds after I realize I’m off the trail a BIG brown dog comes up to me out of nowhere. No tag or collar. Let’s me pet it and then starts walking off. Figure people take their dogs hiking all the time, it’s probably headed back to it’s owner. Follow the dog for what seemed like a very long time. Step back onto the trail at the exact point where I decided to extend my hike. Doggo looks at me, walks around a big tree and either moves into the dark or vanishes.

No clue if it was a real dog or I was dehydrated to the point of hallucination but thank you Spirit Dog for saving me from a really sh!**y night in the woods.” – Mappy7778

Wrong time Wrong Place

“In the 80s my parents were backpacking in western Nevada in the middle of nowhere, and came across some guys in an suv. The guys didn’t see them at first and pulled a younger guy (late teens/early twenties) out of the car and started walking down a path into the thick brush. Again, this was strange because this was wayyy out there. They noticed my parents at this point and gave them a look that just screamed “get the #*$k out of here, now.” So they did. They were nervous to say anything, but decided it was the right thing to do to report the incident. Nothing really came of it. Fast forward 20 years and in 2015 a detective contacts them both about the incident, and they all meet up. Turns out these guys were part of a big time gang at the time, and they killed the kid and buried his body out there. Somebody had discovered the body or something like that, so they reopened the case.

The creepiest part? My dad and I went hiking there in 2014 a year earlier to the exact spot this happened. We very well could have been standing right over the dudes body and didn’t even realize it.” – Mirraco323

A Bit Further Away Than You Think

“Friend and I were exhausted coming off a mountain. We both saw the parking lot through the trees, it looked maybe 50 feet away. We thought it was odd that there were so many cars in the lot, and we were clearly seeing the exact same ones (my truck, red car next to it, then a black car, etc.). We kept on the trail and didn’t reach the parking lot for another 45 minutes. The parking lot we had seen was a complete hallucination, but we saw the exact same thing at the same time.” – SniffTheseFatNuts