Noises while tripping.

[Guest]

I have had hundreds of geese honking their heads off at zero dark thirty. The worst though is Whippoorwills.OMG. I have been tempted to fire a banger at them to get them to shut up.

We were camped at a swamp site in North Carolina in the company of another tripper family with young kids one spring. Just about the time we got the kids bedded down the mating frog calls started. Bull frogs, carpenter frogs, tree frogs, cricket frogs, frogs that bellowed and barked and laughed and chorused.

They would start slowly, build to an absolute cacophony and then abruptly all stop for a few seconds of silence before slowly starting again. Every time they stopped and slowly started again the kids would start giggling in the tents and the adults would start laughing too. This went on for hours and it was a late night for everyone.

I later came to know the head Ranger socially and he related that this was commonplace, and that some folks would pack up and leave the next morning, asking for a refund because of the “noise”.

 

[southcove]

'Bout 30 years ago my younger brother and I were up in the Tangle Lakes district off the Denali Highway in Alaska, summertime (such as is in early August) we found an decent area to camp that had obviously been used on and off for years (this being well prior to ATV and UTV usage there) and settled in fairly early because of a ceaseless, chill wind.

Sometime during the night I woke in a start and fright...click, click, click...WTH! Bolt upright, when I could stand the suspense no longer, head out the vestibule and what do I see - critters (Caribou) all around the camp, within 25', easy to see in the twilight of summer nights...the noise was their tendons (?) in their legs that make a very distinctive noise when they walk. Two nights later we were back near the McLaren Lodge and a dirt road and said brother slept in the cap of his pickup, though he wouldn't admit to the fright that was initially mine...

Another trip just nearby, there was a 1000lb boulder that had moved about 10' during the night and a small crew busily excavating underneath overnight, all very silently and with very strange boots on...your guess?!

 

[MacCamper]

Where in the BWCA? Some say there are a few haunted lakes and camp sites scattered in the area. I too heard unusual noises and slept through many more. When concerned, I say to myself, "if this is my way to go, no better time or place." After reading this thread I hope it isn't a herd of toads that 'get me'.

 

[hidden_lo]

Probably was a big foot...lucky the didn't chuck any rocks...lol

 

[Peach Canoe]

Camping in the Rockies can be a noisy pastime because these giants are in transit toward the oceans; they're coming down grain by grain, pebble by pebble, and rock by rock. Erratic cracks, rumbles, and big splashes! All day and all night-- they stand nominally at 10,000 feet now, but started out close to 30,000 feet-- eons of sleepless nights long before intrepid campers were fully evolved.

We used earplugs in the Rockies, and for some years on canoe trips-- but we can sleep without them now.

Needless to say, we've been terrified by the Bigfoot-like footfalls of mice, raccoons, chipmunks, and-- perhaps the old man himself.

We are fastidious about not not making the tent a target for inquisitive snouts.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

A moose cow and calf walked through camp one night. Hoofs on Canadian shield can be pretty loud. Later heard water dripping which was the cow feeding on water plants. I sleep with ear plugs because my wife missed her calling as a sawyer.

 

[lowangle al]

One of the neatest things I ever heard took place in a national forest outside of the grand canyon. While sitting around the campfire we heard the sound of a car door close and that was followed by a Native American singing a Native song. The guy had a really good voice, the song was both beautiful and haunting and sounded like a sound of nature rather than that of man.


I awoke to the sound of something peeing on my tent one morning, it turned out to be a wolf.


Of all the times I've heard footsteps in the leaves only once did it turn out to be a bear. It was a small black bear that walked through my camp about 15 feet behind the tent.

 

[yellowcanoe]

A moose cow and calf walked through camp one night. Hoofs on Canadian shield can be pretty loud. Later heard water dripping which was the cow feeding on water plants. I sleep with ear plugs because my wife missed her calling as a sawyer.

Or not. My moose in camp pair was heard when they walked through the water near my tent. Thought they had walked away. Surprise! They had covered the 50 feet from shore to tent in silence.

 

[Guest]

The most disconcerting thing I have heard in the wild was distinctly identifiable.

I was on a backpacking trip in the Wind Rivers with a hiking partner. We were a couple days back in a popular climbing area and taking a dayhike from camp into a area of sheer rock wall cliffs. We came over a ridge and into view of a massive amphitheater of towering rock walls curving for miles in the distance.

And suddenly heard a long and terrifying AAAAIIIIEEEEEHHHHHH Doppler scream of someone falling that terminated in abrupt silence.

We stood shocked and looked what-now at each other. We hollered Hello’s, anyone theres, everyone alrights and heard not a peep.

We looked at each other again realizing that it would take weeks to search the base of half the cliff walls in sight and went back to camp spooked and shaken.

 

[Grandpa Paddler]

The absolute worst noise I've heard camping is my son's chain saw snoring. Once (and only once) I made the mistake of hanging my hammock close to his. If the site is large enough, I stay 50 ft away. Can still hear him but at least somewhat muffled. Must have been a trait he inherited from his mother.

 

[Seeker]

All kinds of sounds get amplified at night... I've heard people speaking in a normal tone of voice a half mile away over a flat lake on a still day... I've heard mice, raccoons, possums, deer, bears, hogs, and coyotes at night, and they all can make a ruckus.

I'm guessing the footsteps you heard were from a young deer... they have NO sense at times, and at a certain age are more curious than frightened when it comes to humans, especially if it's a first encounter.

 

[forest runes]

Ofentimes, those strange sounds you hear are your own, I've experienced some pretty strange echos both in the woods & on lakes.

 

[Odyssey]

I'd like to think I don't make any noise when I'm out in the woods, but I'd be sooo wrong. Besides talking to myself I try to be stealthy. I turn off my "stealth mode" when walking portages or wandering for firewood. I hum a tune or happily mumble to warn any slumbering beastie of my whereabouts, but around camp I try to match the quiet calm of the forest around me. Any noise I make sounds like a rude interruption to the wild symphony of sounds seeping through the trees and across the water. A giggling trickling stream across the bay, balsam boughs sighing in the breeze, creaky old beech and birch complaining 'bout the wind. Some noises are what I've come for. The wolf howls at night and the hooting owls remind me where I am and why I've come to such a place. Some noises however are disconcerting and downright scary. It doesn't help that I'm uncomfortable with the dark. It's the thought of the unknown lying just beyond sight and recognition that makes me uneasy. Once I step away from the blinding firelight and melt into the inky shadows giving my eyesight time to adjust I begin to feel a little more at ease. Well, a little. Nighttime noises in camp have yet to be anything other than just bothersome. Me b*tching about intruders while I loudly unzip the tent is enough to make our 4 legged visitors vanish. I can't identify every night sound I've heard from our tent. The bristly brushing against the fly might be a bear or just as likely a mouse. The eerie sounds of tiny careful inspections of our kitchen kit could be a sasquatch but more certainly that darned mouse again. Not knowing what are the creepy thumps, bumps and breathing adds to the mystery and magic of canoe tripping. One trip I did eventually figure out the source of one late night sound that unsettled my sleep. While my wife was blissfully snoring I kept hearing an occasional scraping somewhere near. Too near for comfort; it was always right outside our tent. To make matters worse, every time I paused to listen it did likewise. Almost as if I were being stalked. In my sleeping bag! In my tent! Helpless! I'd ever so slowly turn my head to the left to look for shadows falling against the tent fly and it would scrape from that direction. I'd slowly turn my head to search for more shadowy movement from the other side and it would cautiously creep from that direction too. Two nights of this hide and seek had me bewildered and a little jittery. Nothing was ever disturbed around our campsites in the morning. Listening carefully on the third night however I finally discovered the culprit. It was me. My stubbly whiskers were gently brushing against my sleeping bag every time I moved to look for the midnight marauder. I wish I'd never figured it out. It took some of the intrigue out of the night time world of things that go bump in the night.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Oh the ol' bristlywbhiskered hidebehind. I've had him in my camp too.

Anybody ever think of setting up one of those trail cams to see what vedavoo was skulking through your camp?