My Dad and uncle were camping out on a fishing trip many decades ago. My Dad wakes up because something ran across his chest. My uncle whispered very emphatically don't move and shut up. My Dad complied. Couple of minutes later my uncle tells my Dad the a momma skunk and babies ran right over him.

#1 scariest:
We had a queen bed in or p/u with a shell on it.

We could crawl from the cab through the rear window and in too the cargo bed.

Worked great.

After five hours of driving it was midnight .

Too late for a fire, we shinnied in bed and under the covers.

I was out in no time.
Then soon after I felt the kicking.
Her head was near the end gate and mine was near the cab.

Bear , bear, bear she said.
I looked back to see a bear with its paws against the top of the cap hatch and it was looking in the back window Wich was ajar.

I grabbed the Ruger revolver and aimed it at its mouth

Then began screaming like a tornado siren, long and loud.

After 15 seconds smokey decided to hell with this ,
Turned around dropped down and wandered off in too the woods.

Not before or since did the adrenaline kick in like that night.

Lubriderm moisturizer works like candy or honey to attract bears.

My experience has been the big animals can't get away from you fast enough. I've ran across one cougar probably 30 yards away. The wind was high and I must have been down wind. Never seen an animal run that fast. On the Rio Grande one year kicked up a bull elk. It crashed through the brush which was a good thing. The only thing I had was a fly rod and was a bit behind on my fencing lessons. Now a squirrel running around can make you think a bear is after you. We stayed at Wason Ranch for many years and they had cows. Now one year for some reason one cow would go out of its way to get a shot at you. So, we'd stop on the highway. Find out where the cows were and picked the part of the river farthest away from them. Same place I'm in the full fly fishing outfit, and I'm crossing a train bridge to get to the other side. An animal jumps up on the track. I'm watching it thinking its a whistle pig. I get closer it charges forward a few steps. Not a whistle pig its a badger and its not giving ground. Quickly decided I didn't need to be on the other side of the river.

I've met a few older guys that swear the woods here are full of sasquatch, yeti, bigfoot, or gigantopithicus, depending on who you are talking to. Never ran into one while solo camping.

Wildest experience I had was a hell of a thunderstorm that hit while I was asleep. Got soaked, no tent. Just a tarp across a rope. Rope made a mess of my tarp, and the rest of the night was spent in the cab of my truck.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
It was digging through our ice chest and punctured a Hamm's beer can and drank it.

Ah, yes; a bear with very discerning tastes.

Aw, all he wanted was a ham sandwich. ROFL

I wasn’t camping, just walking our old Lab at night. I was using a flashlight about every 50’ or so to look for rattlers warming themselves on the road. We must have been downwind, because as we rounded the corner I hit the roadway with the flashlight beam and surprised a mountain lion, at least the size of my Lab, eyes shining back at us. I don’t know who was more surprised, but the big cat took off like a rocket and disappeared in the brush on the other side of the road.

I never had a scary experience camping or hiking, though.

Again not camping but probably the most startling incident I've ever had. We used to have a hobby farm but I still worked a full time job in the city. I would leave early in the morning while it was still dark as it was a 45 minute drive. I would park the car in the garage and in the summer months I wouldn't always close the garage door it would stay open.

So I get up one morning go out to the garage get in the car and leave. About ten minutes into the drive something jumped onto my lap out of nowhere! Holy shit I damn near drove off the road! I instantly grabbed whatever it was and nearly threw it out the open window. As I raised it off my lap to eject it from the vehicle it was just getting light enough out that I caught a glimpse of it and realized it was one of our farm cats!

He must have went in the garage and got in through the open car window and was napping on a rag laying on the passenger seat floor. We were dealing with a rat problem in one of the barns at the time and my first instinct was I thought it was a rat. That cat never realized how close he came to finding out if a cat can survive hitting the pavement at 60mph. My guess would be no.