#Location/Canada/Ontario #Area/Woods #Person/Stranger #Location/Canada/Ontario #Activity/Hiking
Hiking In Ontario
My fiance and I hiked into some forest in Ontario. We had a friend drop us off at the side of an old logging road in the middle of nowhere, and we hiked into the woods due east. The road ran north/south, so basically all we had to do was was stay due east hiking in, and due west hiking out, and we would reach the road again for our rendezvous at a pre-determined time a couple of days later.
There are no natural predators this far south such as bears or wolves, so for protection I only brought a k-bar knife and some bear-spray (in case coyotes took an interest in our 2 dogs that accompanied us). The logging road was no longer in use by any industry, and we had hiked into the woods a few kilometers, so the chances of running into another human were nil. In addition, hunting is not permitted in the area, and there is no water nearby for fishing. There really wasn't any reason for anyone else to be out there in the middle of the woods that far off the road.
No cell service, although I did bring a flare gun and multiple flares in case we ran into trouble to signal for help. No GPS, just a compass. We were careful hiking in, and didn't do anything risky to avoid injuries in this remote place.
It was early fall, but it was unseasonably cold. Well below freezing. Lots of leaves on the ground and still on the trees, but no snow yet. We set up camp in some thick woods. You could barely see 50 feet away the trees/bushes were so dense. We were totally isolated and felt completely safe.
It was so cold and so dark at night (it was moonless and cloudy), that we went to bed early to stay warm. I'm a heavy sleeper and next thing I know, I'm awakened by my dog pawing at my face. It is pitch black, and I can't even see him. I go to pet him, but something is wrong. As I touched him, I could feel his fur standing straight up, and he was completely rigid, facing the door of the tent. He was clearly on guard and very alert.
At first I assumed there was a woodland creature nearby, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. That is unusual, because I often camp alone no problem, and am not easy spooked. My dog and I just stayed there frozen and alert, for at least a couple of minutes. My fiance and other dog were still asleep next to us. It was 3:30am (I checked my phone after the incident). The fire was out. No moon. Complete blackness.
Just as I was letting my guard down, I hear the most unexpected thing....a notification going off on a phone just outside of our tent, maybe 15-20 feet away and I see a faint glow. I hear a male voice mutter "oh fuck", or something to that effect, and hear them running through the leaves away from our tent. They were clearly smacking into tree branches etc and swearing as they did so. At this point they turn on their flashlight as they run, and I can see the beam flailing wildly around in the woods, occasionally back onto our tent.
The dogs start going ballistic, I grab my knife and look at my phone (it's 3:30am). I screamed out "if you come back here I'll blow your fucking head off".
I'm assuming he had a satellite phone, or really good cell service to get a notification like that. The other weird thing was, he fled deeper into the woods and nothingness, not west towards the logging road.
Needless to say we packed up in the cold and hiked back to the road, watching our backs the entire time. We just walked down the road towards far-off civilization until we ran into some other campers set up right next to the road 7 or 8 kilometers away from where we came out of the woods. (It was just after first light). They let us use their satellite phone, and we called our friend to come pick us up a day early. Upon hearing our story, the campers decided they would pack up as well and get out of the area.
Lesson learned. I do not camp in the wilderness anymore without a satellite phone and a 12-guage.