>Be me
>Like rucking and camping
>Decide to push myself a bit and try a 2 day snowshoeing ruck and camp in Northern AZ
>Gonna hike around the wilderness west of Flagstaff
Obligatory loadout:
>16" AR with LPVO
>Granddaddy's wheelgat, a Ruger Security Six, and a couple of speed strips
>Chest rig
>40L backpack with dehydrated food, butane stove, meds, lights, two vacuum insulated water bottles, and a bladder I wrapped some mylar around for extra insulation
>Backpacking tent, pad, sleeping bag
>MSR snowshoes
>Jan 7th 2023, about 7am
>Park at a trailhead and head into the forest
>About 15, 20 degrees
>Friggin beautiful m8, super quiet too, not another person to be seen
>Jan 7th 2023, Evening
>Find a nice spot to camp, snow's not too deep here
>Break out the camp gear and set up
>Boil up some tea and some chili mac
>Pull Roadside Picnic out of my bag and start reading next to the fire under a full moon
>hellyeah.jpg
>Life doesn't get any better
That night
>Cozy af in tent, rifle by my side, not feeling too cold either
>Small fire dying down next to my open tent flap
>Trying to fall asleep but I'm feeling very alert for some reason, despite the miles of hiking that day
>Sudden shiver down my spine
>wtf.png
>Try to shake it off
>Check my watch, a little after 11
>Switch on my emergency radio and tune to the weather band in an attempt to chill out
>Droning NOAA voice not helping
>Heart's beating a faster than normal
>Fuck this
>Decide to get up and walk a bit, clear my camping area for about a quarter mile in every direction just to kill the nerves
>Start East, get a few hundred paces out when I suddenly hear a knocking echo through the woods from my left (I think -- the Razors I'm wearing amplify sounds quite a bit)
>Fight or flight activated
>Take inventory of the situation
>Got a compass, map, headlamp, rifle, mags, belt and pistol on me
>Camp's only a few minutes away
>Won't be able to sleep if I don't go investigate and figure out it's something mundane
>Deep breath
>Walk in direction of the sound ready to smoke whatever comes my way
>onlyjoking.webm, there's nothing out here
>Make it about 100 yards and my legs start feeling heavy
>Snowshoes drastically reducing my mobility, but this is something else
>Goosebumps, waves of tingling
>Actually scared for the first time in as long as I can remember
>KNOCK - KNOCK - KNOCK, much louder this time, but I still can't gauge the distance
>Freeze dead in my tracks
>Brain goes silent
>survival mode kicks in
>Instantly raise rifle to my eye in direction of the noise
>Squeeze the pressure pad for my weapon light
>1000 lumens instantly light up the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life
>About 75 yards out
>On all fours
>Covered in thick, NANJO fur
>Bristly... mane? I don't know how to describe it
>Exposed patches of greyish skin on scalp and body
>Abnormally muscular, and absolutely huge, I probably only stood to shoulder height on this thing on all fours in hindsight
>Two slit nostrils on a snout that barely protruded from its face
>Tall, dog-like ears
>Creature's eyes glowing in the beam of my flashlight
>Cheeks peeled back
>Mouth full of the gnarliest, sharpest teeth I've ever seen, set deeply into pink gums and a huge jaw
>IT STANDS UP
>WHAT THE FUCK
>Frozen in shock
>We look at each other for a moment, then this thing charges me ON TWO LEGS
>Huge strides, covers 20 feet insanely fast
>Snarling, slobber glistening in the light as it falls to the snow
>Have the biggest adrenaline dump of my life
>Break off like 5 rounds as fast as humanly possible directly at this thing
>Drops to all fours and accelerates
>Start backpedaling, still firing as fast as I can
>Get about 3 steps back and the tail of my snowshoe digs into the snow
>Fall backwards
>Lose grip on my rifle as I extend my left hand to break my fall instinctively
>Flashlight shuts off immediately
>thisisit.mp4
>Completely enveloped in darkness, moonlight not nearly enough through the trees to see anything
>Hear the dampened beats of the massive paws this creature has on snow as it closes the distance between us
>Completely frozen. I couldn't even think about moving. It was just sheer terror
>Time slows down
>Heart pounding so hard I can hear it in my ears
>The pawbeats slow to a stop
>I have no idea how close this thing is but I can hear it breathing heavily
>It pads off to the right, slowly at first, then breaks into a sprint
>In moments the sound of it running disappears entirely
>I don't know how much time passed, but eventually I picked up my rifle again and just held it in my lap
>Adrenaline starts to wear off and I can think again
>Never mind, can't think, don't even know what to think about, but at least my brain isn't on mute anymore
>Raise my rifle again and turn my light on, sweep the area it went to from my position sitting in the snow
>Nothing
>Stand up
>All the energy's gone from my body and I feel sick as hell
>Lean on a tree and puke
>Make my way on shaky legs back to camp
>Shove everything in my bag wherever it'll fit, roll up my tent and bag and walk the seven miles to the trailhead where my truck is parked
>Bail on this place and never look back
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>Like rucking and camping
>Decide to push myself a bit and try a 2 day snowshoeing ruck and camp in Northern AZ
>Gonna hike around the wilderness west of Flagstaff
Obligatory loadout:
>16" AR with LPVO
>Granddaddy's wheelgat, a Ruger Security Six, and a couple of speed strips
>Chest rig
>40L backpack with dehydrated food, butane stove, meds, lights, two vacuum insulated water bottles, and a bladder I wrapped some mylar around for extra insulation
>Backpacking tent, pad, sleeping bag
>MSR snowshoes
>Jan 7th 2023, about 7am
>Park at a trailhead and head into the forest
>About 15, 20 degrees
>Friggin beautiful m8, super quiet too, not another person to be seen
>Jan 7th 2023, Evening
>Find a nice spot to camp, snow's not too deep here
>Break out the camp gear and set up
>Boil up some tea and some chili mac
>Pull Roadside Picnic out of my bag and start reading next to the fire under a full moon
>hellyeah.jpg
>Life doesn't get any better
- Reply
>Cozy af in tent, rifle by my side, not feeling too cold either
>Small fire dying down next to my open tent flap
>Trying to fall asleep but I'm feeling very alert for some reason, despite the miles of hiking that day
>Sudden shiver down my spine
>wtf.png
>Try to shake it off
>Check my watch, a little after 11
>Switch on my emergency radio and tune to the weather band in an attempt to chill out
>Droning NOAA voice not helping
>Heart's beating a faster than normal
>Fuck this
>Decide to get up and walk a bit, clear my camping area for about a quarter mile in every direction just to kill the nerves
>Start East, get a few hundred paces out when I suddenly hear a knocking echo through the woods from my left (I think -- the Razors I'm wearing amplify sounds quite a bit)
>Fight or flight activated
>Take inventory of the situation
>Got a compass, map, headlamp, rifle, mags, belt and pistol on me
>Camp's only a few minutes away
>Won't be able to sleep if I don't go investigate and figure out it's something mundane
>Deep breath
>Walk in direction of the sound ready to smoke whatever comes my way
>onlyjoking.webm, there's nothing out here
>Make it about 100 yards and my legs start feeling heavy
>Snowshoes drastically reducing my mobility, but this is something else
>Goosebumps, waves of tingling
>Actually scared for the first time in as long as I can remember
>KNOCK - KNOCK - KNOCK, much louder this time, but I still can't gauge the distance
>Freeze dead in my tracks
>Brain goes silent
>survival mode kicks in
>Instantly raise rifle to my eye in direction of the noise
>Squeeze the pressure pad for my weapon light
>1000 lumens instantly light up the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life
- Reply
>On all fours
>Covered in thick, NANJO fur
>Bristly... mane? I don't know how to describe it
>Exposed patches of greyish skin on scalp and body
>Abnormally muscular, and absolutely huge, I probably only stood to shoulder height on this thing on all fours in hindsight
>Two slit nostrils on a snout that barely protruded from its face
>Tall, dog-like ears
>Creature's eyes glowing in the beam of my flashlight
>Cheeks peeled back
>Mouth full of the gnarliest, sharpest teeth I've ever seen, set deeply into pink gums and a huge jaw
>IT STANDS UP
>WHAT THE FUCK
>Frozen in shock
>We look at each other for a moment, then this thing charges me ON TWO LEGS
>Huge strides, covers 20 feet insanely fast
>Snarling, slobber glistening in the light as it falls to the snow
>Have the biggest adrenaline dump of my life
>Break off like 5 rounds as fast as humanly possible directly at this thing
>Drops to all fours and accelerates
>Start backpedaling, still firing as fast as I can
>Get about 3 steps back and the tail of my snowshoe digs into the snow
>Fall backwards
>Lose grip on my rifle as I extend my left hand to break my fall instinctively
>Flashlight shuts off immediately
>thisisit.mp4
>Completely enveloped in darkness, moonlight not nearly enough through the trees to see anything
>Hear the dampened beats of the massive paws this creature has on snow as it closes the distance between us
>Completely frozen. I couldn't even think about moving. It was just sheer terror
>Time slows down
>Heart pounding so hard I can hear it in my ears
>The pawbeats slow to a stop
>I have no idea how close this thing is but I can hear it breathing heavily
>It pads off to the right, slowly at first, then breaks into a sprint
>In moments the sound of it running disappears entirely
>I don't know how much time passed, but eventually I picked up my rifle again and just held it in my lap
>Adrenaline starts to wear off and I can think again
- Reply
>Raise my rifle again and turn my light on, sweep the area it went to from my position sitting in the snow
>Nothing
>Stand up
>All the energy's gone from my body and I feel sick as hell
>Lean on a tree and puke
>Make my way on shaky legs back to camp
>Shove everything in my bag wherever it'll fit, roll up my tent and bag and walk the seven miles to the trailhead where my truck is parked
>Bail on this place and never look back
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and eat wemy whale
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what did she mean by this?
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