Strangest Encounter on a Trail?

[Leo L.]

As fiddlehead was mentioning China:

One of my brothers-in-law had been to China on his own, many years ago, when getting a Visa was still difficult.
He intended to do some studies in Accupuncture (which he did), then took a week off to visit various sights, the Big Wall amongst them.
He told the story that while he was hiking along the top of the wall happily, he suddenly faced a group of Chinese. Which were puzzeled by his "long nose" appearence, hid their faces and started giggling helplessly with shaking shoulders and no help, no end to it.
He had to push through the laughing, roaring group and head on. The same happened at the next corner, and the next, the whole time he kept hiking.
After so many hours of being laughed at by everybody, he broke down and crept into a corner, weeping.

Obviously HE was the strangest encounter all of THEM ever had.

[JG13]

Late October 2018...headed south, just crossed Allen Gap about a 2 miles back. Run into a guy wearing Great Wolf Lodge wolf ears headed north. Said he slept in a brush pile the night before and kept a fire going all night. Was wearing Carhartt-like clothing with a tiny daypack. He didn't know where he was...told him Allen Gap was 2 miles away. He said he was gonna hitch a ride into Hot Springs. Hope he made it.

[Traffic Jam]

I was in the Smokies, hiking on the AT from Newfound Gap to Clingman’s Dome then planned to hitch back to my car.

Sitting on a downed tree and finishing lunch, a hiker walked by and stopped to talk. He was wearing flip flops, had mud splashed up to his knees, was using a student book bag as a backpack with a sleep pad hanging from the outside, and wore a cotton tee shirt and cargo shorts. My radar was screaming, ALERT WILL ROBINSON!

He stopped to talk to me but his thought process was not intact and I reached into my pocket for my pepper spray. He asked me if I had extra food. I told him that I just ate lunch and didn’t have anything left. He said, how are you going to get to clingmans dome without any food? (It was only a few miles away). I found an old, forgotten granola bar in my pack and held it out for him.

As he walked up to me, my life flashed before my eyes. I truly believed that I had made a grave error and it was the end. I envisioned him grabbing my outstretched hand and dragging me into the woods.

He did not but I decided then and there that I will NEVER again allow someone to approach me if I’m not feeling it. I should have thrown the granola bar to him. I will NEVER again defer to my southern politeness, even if means offending someone.

It turns out, that hiker was Paul Paur.

https://www.outsideonline.com/192420...nd-never-leave

[Mother Natures Son]

There was a state park that over looked Area 51 years ago. (Now closed.) The hikers in the area had many wild stories to tell. Anyone hiked that area before it was closed?

[RockDoc]

Last month on the PCT, Section K, we had heard there was a bear hunter on the trail. One evening we saw him walk by, with a high powered rifle in his hands. I called out "did you get a bear?", and he said "it's right behind me". Looking more closely, the bear head was mounted on his backpack, facing exactly at his own head.

[RockDoc]

On the rocky Pennsylvania AT in 1974 I met a bicycle touring rider, mostly carrying his loaded bike over the rocks. He had ridden all the way from Michigan. I asked what he was doing on the AT and he said that on the road map it was shown as a huge thick line, so according to that scale he figured it was good enough to ride his bike on (he showed me the map, and yes the AT line was as thick as lines for Interstate highways)... I saw him schlepping his loaded bike, and camping on the trail for over a week as I hiked NOBO.

[English Stu]

AT Story,
I will omit the trail names to protect the innocent.
I first did ten weeks in one section; approx. 720 miles
south to Mt Springer; I have been back a couple of times since to hike
sections.
I think this was in Tennessee in my first section. I hiked
with a guy for seven weeks and of that we hiked off and on with a couple of
females who I shall call Chris and Sue. In a trail town we met another guy who
we kept bumping into. He told us to be careful on the next section as there was
large black guy on the trail who could be difficult and had an axe.

Off we went and were heading towards a shelter; we were
spread out with Sue (not her real name or trail name) about a hundred yards in
front of me; the other two were way behind.
There was turn off the trail to the shelter and I saw Sue
disappear down it and I followed - to see her stopped a short distance towards
the shelter- she motioned toward it to see a large black guy (Matey not his
name or trail name) sat on a bear box. Off we went to the shelter I was a bit of
a fire bug and as it was late October often lit a camp fire. I proceeded to
collect wood helped by Matey who produced a saw, saying he had lost his axe!
His only food was a massive bag of Trail Mix, no stove; no waterproofs; no
shelter, just a large plastic sheet.
It had been wet and that night was my only fail to get a
fire going so we settled in early- the five of us to be side by side in the shelter. I
was notorious for messing about late and then saw the only space left was next
to Matey. As ever the snorers get to sleep first, as did Matey who snored like
a buffalo. Conscious of the notoriety and the axe story I was little
nervous and as we had been in his presence all the time we could not discuss
the issue. Therefore I decided to write a note and pass it along the shelter
asking if the others thought Matey was the mad axeman. I was then surprised to
get a separate note asking the same question passing from the other way. We
decided he was not the Axeman but clearly we were not sure.
His snoring was unbelievable and I vacated and slept under
the shelter were it was marginally quieter.
It turned out he was just out of the military and seeking a
bit of thinking time. We shared food with him in the morning.

[Grampie]

During my thru, hiking SOBO I stopped at Wilcox shelter North for a break. Two NOBO section hikers stopped by and we began to talk. They informed me that If I was planning to stop at Wilcox South shelter don't because there was a couple there that had the shelter reserved and I would not be able to stay. They had planed to stay there but had to move on. That was going to be my destination for the night. When I approached the shelter there was a couple occupying the whole shelter except for a small area on one side. They had a large air mattress, a large portable radio, a couple of quilts and pillows. They had a large fire going in the fire ring in front of the shelter and the guy was cutting more fire wood.
I entered the shelter and greeted them. They did not answer. I started to unpack and cook some dinner, wondering if it would be a good idea to stay or move on. The woman approached me and asked me if I was going to stay and that they had a permit for the shelter. I thought that that was unusual and asked if I could see the permit. They did not show me one. They started to pack up and leave informing me that they decided to go. I told them that I was sorry that they were leaving but they left anyway.

[Turk6177]

On my last hike, I saw a guy walking almost dressed like a wizard with a staff. He was collecting acorns in a mason jar. After conversing with him for a couple minutes, he was definitely out there.

[English Stu]

What happened to Paul Paur. I did read the above-mentioned link

[bad biscuit]

Had a few really weird things show up while in the Sipsey Wilderness, AL. Once we were hiking, in the spring time, WAY off trail and happened upon a "Christmas Tree" ornaments and all. I'm taking about in the middle of NOWHERE. TSent from somewhere in the woods.

Was this near Wolfpen Falls? I've seen it a few times until someone removed all the red Christmas ornaments.

[ocourse]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=3&theater

This wasn't an actual encounter, more like some folks living next to the trail who made a point of making their presence known. I hope they were aiming away from the trail.

Why were you worried about this?

[gpburdelljr]

Why were you worried about this?

Because he didn’t know which direction they were shooting.

[ocourse]

The shooter was very likely acting within his/her rights. The shooter probably knew which direction they were shooting. Absurd to be concerned about this. I was asking the poster for clarification but I see this instead.

[gpburdelljr]

The shooter ways very likely acting within his/her rights. The shooter probably knew which direction they were shooting. Absurd to be concerned about this. I was asking the poster for clarification but I see this instead.

Nobody said they were, or weren’t, within their rights. They may have been responsible shooters, or they may not have been responsible shooters. I’ve been around hunters, and other shooters, that were careless about where they fired. People get accidentally shot every year by careless hunters, and other shooters. If I’m in the woods, and hear lots of gunfire, and I don’t see, or know whether the shooter is responsible or not, then I’m going to be concerned. The OP stated that he hoped the shooter(s) weren’t shooting towards the trail, so I have assumed he could not see them, or they him.

[Traveler]

The shooter was very likely acting within his/her rights. The shooter probably knew which direction they were shooting. Absurd to be concerned about this. I was asking the poster for clarification but I see this instead.

The converse of this opinion could be easily written as, "The shooter was very likely in the AT Right Of Way (easements in some areas) and subject to weapons discharge laws of the overseeing federal or State authority. The shooter probably didn't know there was a trail 50 to 100 yards distant in the line of fire. It's not at all absurd to assume there is no danger from a shooter firing many rounds in a short time that cannot be seen."

This is a fairly uncommon occurrence and having had this happen a few times I developed a plan of sorts. While it certainly is a right to fire weapons under legal hunting or private property law, when there is a question of safety when trajectory direction cannot be determined, get loud. Make noise by yelling "on the trail here" or some other hail and pick up the pace if you can to put some distance between you and the shooter. You may hear a reply, though my experience suggests you won't, but gunfire typically stops. The only inference I can draw from that is the shooter stopped following my yell because they; a) opted to stop firing until known trail foot traffic passed by; b) became unsure of where they were and where the trail was, presuming they knew there was a trail in the first place. If you can hear projectiles snapping through brush near you, quickly get under cover of a tree or rock THEN get loud, you may very well be the target regardless of how rare that circumstance is.

As an added measure, around the middle of September I start to wear orange and keep it on through mid January to be as visible as possible to legal hunters and poachers who may be hunting out of season.

[OwenM]

Oops.......

[madfarmer]

So many from which to choose (from my 2011 thru hike alone)!

Stumbled upon the Vermont Freehikers or something like that. Of course, before making conversation, we just saw 9 naked old men. No shoes, socks, or gear. They were skinny dipping, and so were we, in one of the many ponds on that part of the trail. Only once we came to shore did we realize they had nothing to put on. One of the 9 went over to a bush and retrieved a small dayback (bookbag style). It was full of only 1 thing: oranges. They gave us an orange, which was quite a treat for some pop-tart overloaded SOBOs. They took turns carrying only this one small pack. Most were retired doctors, lawyers, and such. They meet up every so often for a nude hike, and found each other online if my memory serves (who knows).

Then there was the whole stalking by a naked man in Virginia right around the area where Scott Lilly was murdered. Followed me for 16 miles, again no shoes or water or gear. Popped up again 100 miles down the trail. Called police who referred me to the FBI. They flew black helicopters over the area and tried to find his vehicle as he could have been a suspect, but they never found him. He must've bushwhacked down the mtn to his car after I called the police.

[Astro]

So many from which to choose (from my 2011 thru hike alone)!

Stumbled upon the Vermont Freehikers or something like that. Of course, before making conversation, we just saw 9 naked old men. No shoes, socks, or gear. They were skinny dipping, and so were we, in one of the many ponds on that part of the trail. Only once we came to shore did we realize they had nothing to put on. One of the 9 went over to a bush and retrieved a small dayback (bookbag style). It was full of only 1 thing: oranges. They gave us an orange, which was quite a treat for some pop-tart overloaded SOBOs. They took turns carrying only this one small pack. Most were retired doctors, lawyers, and such. They meet up every so often for a nude hike, and found each other online if my memory serves (who knows).

Then there was the whole stalking by a naked man in Virginia right around the area where Scott Lilly was murdered. Followed me for 16 miles, again no shoes or water or gear. Popped up again 100 miles down the trail. Called police who referred me to the FBI. They flew black helicopters over the area and tried to find his vehicle as he could have been a suspect, but they never found him. He must've bushwhacked down the mtn to his car after I called the police.

Bushwacked naked?

[JNI64]

Ouch!! Watch that thorn bush!!