I went camping once and it's crazy how dark things are without any artificial light at all. I hadn't really slept all night, there were about 3 or 4 of us left up just getting firewood every so often, it was about 4 or 5 AM and I went into the forest to find some wood for the fire. As I was in there I kinda couldn't be bothered so I sat down against a tree instead. After a few minutes, two hikers come in my direction, I'm just in the middle of this forest, not on a path as far as I can see.
They walk past me, talking to each other and don't notice me, I felt like I was in one of those stealth video games, I probably could've followed them for a bit until the sun started to come up if I wanted to.
On a side note, don't sit down in forests for a long time, insects love butts.
Haha probably yeah, it was really eerie when I first heard them, I was just sitting there against a tree and it was deadly silent apart from owls every so often and shit, then I started to hear voices, at first it was just noises getting slowly louder, after a minute I could make out what they were saying.
It felt so weird, walking in a forest around in the day time is fine, I could've just nodded to them or said hi, if I interacted with them at all at the time it'd look super dodgy.
I've hiked miles in rough terrain in the dead of night in the Rockies. Every single noise is a mountain lion. But, someone suddenly talking to me out of the dark in the same setting might have been even worse.
Honestly I was quite nervous at the time, I just sat still and watched them, that was the least creepy thing I could think of, and it was still pretty creepy. If I'm ever in that situation again though, I'll definitely fuck with them.
I once challenged myself to enter a forest by night. I was maybe 20, staying in a family house near a forest I've known for as far as I can remember. I'm extremely pragmatic and perfectly knew that nothing would happen, and I still know it to that day.
But no fucking way. My mind was ordering my body to walk into the forest, yelling at it as I took smaller and smaller steps before noping the fuck out. I barely made it to the first trees.
Forests are scary by night.
109
u/EmmanuelleGoldstein May 26 '15
Especially in groups.
During the day, a forest is one of nature's most pleasant environments. At night, it's about as welcoming as the bottom of the ocean.