BFRO #16550: Solo camper's late night encounter outside Truckee

📍 Location

📝 Description

This is the honest truth of an experience I had 20 years ago. I�ve been meaning to submit this experience to BFRO for a while now but I wanted to find the right timeframe noted in my journal. I had lost this journal but I recently moved and found it in a box while unpacking. I still remember it clearly, although I have never submitted it to any site such as this before. I am an avid backpacker and have backpacked extensively in the western states, in the wildest and remotest regions, and have encountered many large wild animals including grizzly bears. Never before nor since have I had such an odd experience as this one. I left one Friday evening (August 1, 1986) by myself after work with my dogs (at the time my family had a beagle and a poodle, I'll take anything hiking with me!), and I was trying to find a lake up in Tahoe National Forest called White Rock Lake. I had never been there before so I wasn't familiar with the unmarked roads. According to the topo map I could get there via a 4-wheel drive road. Way back behind Truckee, northeast of Fordyce Lake, I found myself driving slowly, at night, on rough rocky dirt roads, trying to figure out where I was. Roads would seem to peter out, or bisect with other 4-wheel drive roads, and I had no clue where I was going. I was way out in the middle of nowhere... no lakes or significant creeks or any destination type areas within miles. I decided to wait until daylight before I confused myself anymore in the darkness. I'm sure I didn't even need to pull off the little "road" I was on since I hadn't seen anyone or anything, but just in case, I did. I pulled off the rocky road just a few yards, my Datsun 4-wheel drive pickup hidden by trees. I grabbed my sleeping bag, tossed it outside in front of my truck, and me and my dogs slept under a very starry night. Sometime early in the morning, around 3 or 4 a.m. (it was still pitch black), I awoke and heard something walking up the road in my direction. I could tell it was heavy, and it was walking steadily my way. At first I thought it must've been a backpacker, as it was obviously bipedal by the rhythm of the walk. The steps were distinct. Then I thought to myself, what would a backpacker be doing way out here on this road, in the middle of the night, with no light, with nothing but miles of thick forest in all directions? I knew it wasn't a bear (I've encountered dozens of bears in my years in the wild). I had no idea what this was, but a backpacker was still my best guess. As it got closer and closer, I wondered if I should say something, but I didn't want to scare anyone unnecessarily. I'm sure it would just walk right by. But, for some reason, I was getting increasingly nervous, and there aren't too many things in the wilderness that make me nervous. The odd thing was my dogs weren't making a sound, or a move for that matter, which added to the suspense. My dogs would have normally at least given a warning bark or two. This heavy, bipedal thing was coming closer and closer and was about to come to the point where I had pulled my truck off the road. I laid there very quietly. I didn't know what to expect, and hoped whatever or whoever it was would just continue on by, not even noticing me. It was so dark I couldn't see a thing. The closer it got, the bigger I realized it must be, because through the rhythm of the walk I could tell it was quite large. I stayed silent in my nervousness. A sasquatch was the last thing on my mind as I hadn't really given much thought in the past to such a thing, especially in the Sierras. That was about to change. It came up to where I had parked my truck off the road, and... silence. It stopped. Although I couldn't see it in the darkness, it was only a few yards away from where I was laying in my sleeping bag. I don't know if I made a sound, or one of my dogs made a sound, but something happened that made it react. This thing let out the most heinous, forest-piercing scream you could imagine. I can't even attempt to put in words what this thing sounded like. It had a set of lungs on it like nothing I could describe or accurately imitate. Then, still screaming, it turned around and ran back down the road in the darkness at a fast rate of speed. It screamed the whole time, echoing through the forest. It never let up. I could hear the screams fading in the distance.I laid there in total shock. I couldn't believe what just happened. Eventually I jumped up and tossed everything in my truck. My dogs acted just as freaked as me. I knew whatever it was a long distance away by this point, so before leaving the area I drove down the road with my brights on, trying to see if I could see any footprints or signs of anything odd. My adrenaline was flowing big time. Although I didn't actually get out of the truck, I opened the door and looked down to see if I could see footprints or any clue of what this thing was. The road was too rocky for footprints. I then let my dogs out, hoping they would pick

🔍 Circumstances

No, just me and my two dogs.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

It was early morning, approx 3-4 a.m., pitch dark, clear skies.

ℹ️ Additional Details

It was early morning, approx 3-4 a.m., pitch dark, clear skies.

🔗 Sources (1)

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