It’s spooky season, so we’re gathering across the campfire to share frightful tales from the good open air. We’re speaking epic gear fails, wacky climate days, and all of the creepy crawly creatures of the night time! For those who’ve been on path lengthy sufficient, you’re sure to expertise your personal story of two of plans, routes, and packing gone awry.
To rejoice the hauntings of this time of yr, we requested our workforce of name ambassadors to recount a few of their “horror” tales from mountaineering and backpacking. Under, you’ll discover 4 scary tales from the path in our model ambassadors’ personal phrases. We hope they don’t maintain you up at night time, but when they do, not less than be ready and comfortable in your ultralight tent shelter and hydrophobic down quilt.
NOTE: Given the character of those horror tales, none have been caught on movie to share right here. As a substitute, we’ve relied on Gemini synthetic intelligence to recreate the spooky scenes. These images are very a lot not actual.
1. “Mouse Lake” by Riley Ormiston
On the Pacific Crest Path in 2023, we acquired hit with a season-ending atmospheric river after leaving Leavenworth. Townsfolk instructed us to surrender on the path for the yr, come again one other time, however we pushed on, into the bitter chilly snap and fixed drizzle and/or snow that may proceed uninterrupted for weeks. I deal exceptionally poorly with being moist and chilly, so this was clever.
On four- or five-day stretches between cities, my gear would get wetter and wetter as I desperately tried to maintain my sleeping bag dry. My rain jacket would moist out within the first couple hours of every day. “How did my ramen get moist contained in the sealed bag?” I’d surprise. I walked with plastic luggage over my gloves to cease my fingers from going numb; in my tent every night time, I might take off my mountaineering garments and shiver myself dry earlier than getting in my sleeping bag. I might obsess over my tent pitch to eradicate splash.
One morning, after a pair days battling slippery blowdowns and dust in Glacier Peak, I woke as much as discover that my sleeping pad was floating in a really small lake, fashioned by the excessive partitions of my bathtub flooring, and a newly-nibbled mouse gap on the uphill facet of my tent, proper at floor degree. I took stock (cried), collected myself (cried extra), and finally tossed all my stuff underneath a tree whereas I turned my tent inside-out to empty the water. I want that I had improperly saved meals, however so far as I may inform, the mouse simply needed to say hello. Anyway, after this, I had a really chilly, moist two days into city, the place all of the lodges have been booked, and the rain continued. However that’s a unique story!
P.S. Via-hiking rocks, and days like this are a part of it. How else are you able to totally admire the actually good ones? Plus, now I’ve trauma-bonded with these associates foreverrrrrr.
2. “Tons of of Eyes” by Kathy Kimberlite
Whereas on a thru-hike of the Grand Enchantment Path in 2017 from Albuquerque to Phoenix, my mountaineering associate and I typically hiked into the night time. On this specific muggy night time in mid-summer, we had reached an outdated, rotting, cottonwood grove. A trickle of water ran down the adjoining creek, so we stopped to filter some into our water bottles. The roots of the large bushes have been principally uncovered, and my headlamp caught a whole lot of tiny eyes. In all places I glanced, I noticed increasingly pairs of those eyes, after which tiny, bushy legs tangled collectively. We had come across an entire setting full of harvestmen. These innocent, spider-like bugs have been gathered collectively on this gloomy night time scene, like a real horror story. They have been piled on one another, tangled collectively and evoking a really scary scene within the night time hours.
3. “The Soggy Day Hike” by Rochelle Altman
So, there I used to be, slogging by means of the Hoh Rainforest on what was speculated to be an informal day hike, the place the rain is not simply an inconvenience, it is the principle occasion. My “waterproof” jacket, which I might put all my religion in, known as it quits. Each step felt like wading by means of a creek, and I may really feel my digital automotive key drowning in my pocket, realizing full effectively it would not work by the point I acquired again. In the meantime, my cellphone was floating beside it, equally ineffective. So, after all, there isn’t any photographic proof of this catastrophe. That is when it hit me. The actual scare wasn’t the rain. It was realizing I had nothing left however unhealthy choices.
4. “The Deflated But Too Inflated Sleeping Pad” by Jeff Podmayer
In the course of the summer time of 2023, I hiked the Pacific Crest Path by means of Washington State. I deliberate the journey with the intention of going quick and light-weight, selecting the lightest gear I may discover. Little did I do know these selections would result in some critical penalties on my 14-day journey. The horror began early—on Day 2, to be precise.
For my sleeping pad, I had chosen the Thermarest UberLite half-length inflatable pad. I figured I may prop up my legs with my rain gear stuffed into my pack, whereas the pad supported the higher half of my physique. I’d performed comparable setups earlier than, however I hadn’t used this specific pad. Like a lot ultralight gear, it was fragile. On the finish of Day 2, after an extended day of mountaineering, I used to be excited for a great night time’s sleep. I arrange my sleeping space, inflated the pad, and laid down. That’s once I heard it: POP! One of many baffles—the ridged, air-filled chambers that give the pad construction—had blown out, proper the place my head would relaxation.
My first thought was, “Nice, now I’ve a built-in pillow!” I attempted to remain optimistic, however as I rolled over, I heard one other POP! One other baffle had burst, creating an uncomfortable bulge the place my shoulder was speculated to be.
By the subsequent night time, two extra baffles had blown out. Now the pad was virtually unattainable to lie on, with one monumental air chamber forming an ungainly lump. I attempted deflating it barely to alleviate the strain, however that simply made issues worse. It felt like I used to be mendacity on a loud, crinkly waterbed—and main elements of my physique have been actually touching the bottom.
For the subsequent three nights, I barely acquired 4 hours of sleep after mountaineering 30-plus miles every day. Exhaustion was setting in, and I knew that if I didn’t discover a answer quickly, I wouldn’t make it to the tip of my hike. Fortunately, my associate had agreed to help me through the journey, and he or she mailed me her sleeping pad—a full-length, sturdy, and blissfully snug one—to make use of for the remainder of the journey.
The ethical of this horror story? Typically, it’s value carrying slightly further weight to ensure you can really sleep. Power and restoration are simply as essential as going ultralight while you’re on an extended hike.
Share Your Horror Tales From the Path Throughout Spooky Season
Typically our “horror” tales from the path find yourself being one of the best a part of our journey when trying again in hindsight. They assist us study to be resilient, bond with our path companions, and depart with epic tales to inform. We hope you’ve loved this assortment of scary tales from our model ambassadors forward of Halloween this yr!
Have a great horror story of your personal from the path? We’d love to listen to it! Share your spooky mountaineering adventures with us by tagging Gossamer Gear on social media (@gossamergear) and utilizing the hashtag #takelessdomore.
Hungry for extra outside journey inspiration? Take a look at a few of our different articles on the Mild Ft weblog to start out planning your subsequent journey: