What was your scariest outdoor experience?

[DiscGo]

I was thinking back on some of my outdoors experiences recently, and realizing that I have had some close calls over the years. It got me wondering what everyone's scariest outdoors experience has been.

I have been chased by bears, fallen off of mountains, failed through frozen water and been lost for a few days, but my scariest moment was back in 2002 in Juneau Alaska. My friend and I hiked up to the Eagle Glacier, and while we were up there the Glacier calved and we were unable to return the way we had hiked up. While I was traversing the glacier (free climbing) the section of the ice to which I was holding on broke and I fell 15 feet and landed on a rock in a river. It wasn't a deadly fall or anything, but it did cause permanent damage to my back (my first permanent injury). My friend and I came to a section that horribly terrifying and we had to down climb about 300 feet down a VERY steep descent, with very little to hold on to, and with serious back pains. It wasn't until we reached the point of no return on that down climb that we realized how much trouble we were in.

It may not sound very scary, but it was terrifying. I don't ever remember praying as much in any one situation, as I did in that one. In the end we made it down fine, and my friend and I really bonded over the situation. But it was really scary.

Okay, how about you guys?

[uintahiker]

Last month down at the Fremont River Falls would have to be my #1. I was in the water with my nephew and the whirlpool sucked us back in & under. We went around a few times. It was black under there! My first thought was to get him out, then after that I'd figure out how to get me out. I'm a decent swimmer, but that water was something else. We made it out, but I was toast for the rest of the day once the adrenalin wore off.

We were driving by 2 days later and saw the construction/park trucks pull into the pullout to close it down. After we got home we found out that a few others had had some close calls as well.

[Dr. Nebz]

I have had so many "close calls" it is ridiculous. Grizzly Bears, Moose in the Rut, Cougars, Bigfoot ect., I have for sure had some scary ones.

By far the moment out there that scared me to death was in Grand Daddy Basin in 2009. We were camped just east of Lake Betsy. We had just finished breakfast and we were walking down to the lake when a huge lightning bolt came down not 15 yds from our location. I heard the snap, sizzle, pop and boom all in the same instance. I could feel it in the ground. I had lost sight of my friend Jared, and he came up over the rise white as a sheet. He was even closer than I was! We sat at our camp for a while just trying to calm down. I did catch the largest fish I have gotten in the Uintas just a few short hours later, but ever since, thunderstorms for sure get my blood pressure going. Lightning is scary shiz! :scared:

[Iceaxe]

Sometime in the mid 80's my buddies and I were riding our Jetski's (the old stand up style) on Echo Reservoir and decided it would be great fun to ride up the Weber River to Rockport. It was spring runoff and the Weber River was flowing strong.

We had some of the first Jetski's in Utah and at the time there were virtually no rules regarding where you could ride them and riding up rivers was nothing new to us. We had already been up and down the Snake River through the Jackson Hole daily and we had been through many of the rapids in Cataract Canyon so we didn't consider the Weber River to be anything special.

Anyhow, we took off up the Weber River and after about 4 or 5 miles I found myself out front by myself. I came screaming around a blind corner in the river and at the last instant noticed a barbed wire fence crossing the raging river with only the top strand of barded wire sticking out of the water about 12". The wire was almost impossible to see at 40 mph until you were right on top of it. I tried to bunny-hop my Jetski over the wire but the strand caught the nose of my Jetski and tripped the machine sending me over the handlebars and flying over the fence.

The initial crash was no big deal, but the strong river current washed me back into the barbed wire fence and I became entangled on the bottom of the river under about 5 feet of water. I was on my back and I could look up and see daylight but I couldn't escape the tangled mess I was in, the wire was holding me underwater.

I worked to escape for what seemed like forever but was probably around 60 seconds. I was running out of air fast and everything was beginning to run in slow motion. I distinctly remember looking at the daylight just out of my reach and thinking to myself "you have one more chance to escape and than you are dead", that moment is still embed in my mind as if it were yesterday.

At that instant a massive amount of adrenaline kicked in and I managed to rip myself free from the barbed wire. When I surfaced one of my friends was just rounding the corner and his eyes went huge when he saw me standing in the river. I was bare-ass naked and cover in massive amounts of blood, the barbed wire had shredded my body. I had been wearing a shorty wetsuit, swimming suit, high top tennis shoes and a 4-buckle life jacket when I was washed into the fence. I had somehow managed to rip free of all those items and ripped out part of the fence. I have no clue where the strength came from to do that but when I was trapped underwater looking into the abyss of eternity I knew I didn't want to die and was going to go down fighting.

That was about 30 years ago and my body is still covered in scares from where that damn fence shredded me. Occasionally I still have nightmares about that day.

[homerj]

It was the first time I had ever gone backpacking. We had just spent the most amazing week deep in the Wind River range! It was probably the physically most straining thing I've done! It was also the best fishing I've ever had in my life! We were on our way out. Our plan was to hike half way (we were ~16 miles in) out and stay at a lake that has monster brookies, but when we got to the lake there was tons of down fall from a fire that had came through a few years prior and there was no where to camp. We decided to hike down to the next lake 3 miles away. When we about 3/4 mile from the lake a thunder storm moved in. It was almost dark and the wind had really picked up! All of a sudden the lightening was all around us!!! This wouldn't have been too bad, but we were on this exposed ridge, about 200-300 feet above the lake, with nothing higher than a small bush or large boulder. I vividly remember seeing the lightning strike the lake below (the lake we were trying to get to) a couple times (Luckily nothing hit that was as close as in Nebz's story)! Someone yelled "WE GOT TO GET OFF THIS RIDGE NOW!" and with that we all took off running down the trail to the lake! Once at the lake we through up our tents and jumped into them just as the heavy rain hit!

So not only did we dodge being struck by lightning, but if we had camped at the lake with the big brookies, we could have had some trees blown down (there was still a lot of dead standing trees) on top of us from that storm that night!

[gloo]

Interesting thread!I've had my fair share of scary moments similar to the ones posted - bears, moose, cougars, being lost, being lost at night with a guide who didn't know where they were, large drop offs, etc. I bet every one here could throw down a "one upper" story haha.

Its hard to pinpoint the scariest, but one that ranks up there with them is an experience I had near browns park in Colorado in 2006. I was off the beaten path with my best buddy and my dog. We knew about some old Indian Ruins - medicine wheel, etc and were exploring this area. I had been here multiple times before so I was basically showing him around. This was the first time I was here when it could be quiet - I've always been in a group of 5-15 dudes yapping away. Anyways, I started to take my buddy towards a slot canyon when my old dog started doing his protective growl. The one he does when he is warning something and or us and you know something is up. This was a super buff assie Shepard. seriously, if he were human he woulda been a body builder and a sprinter at the same time. Loyal as hell too, i miss that dog :( Anyways, smart dog - he started urging us on towards the slot canyon, in a hurry. he wouldn't let any of us get behind him. And once we got into the beginning of the narrows (ahem, where nothing could perch above us really beyond hundreds of feet up), the dog stopped turned around and just had that face. And he didn't really move. By this point me and my buddy where pretty worked up, we had no idea what was working up my dog so much, but it had to be *something*. We sat there for a while, hung out, but on high alert thanks to the dog. I knew there were cougars in the area, I've been stalked by one not far in the past even, but nothing crazy (saw footprints in my footprints couple years earlier). My mind kept going to that. I did not want to encounter one. But sooner or later we were gonna have to head back to where my car was parked...We decided we would make an effort to get out of there in a hurry. Dog did not like this idea haha. As soon as we turned a corner out of the narrows, 30 feet above us a cougar pops up and just lets out the most blood curdling scream I've ever heard in my life. yikes. My heart skipped like 3 beats, and I still don't know how I didn't soil my pants. My dog wasn't phased, he let let out his own warning and if there was no cliff between us and that...my dog would a chased it (probably to his death unfortunately, I don't doubt his toughness, but against a coug...). After than, it was just adrenaline and a really hard time remembering what we did/what happened. All I remember was my pocket knife was suddenly in my hands and every bone in my body wanted me to book it. but I was frozen. But that was it

[DiscGo]

Wow! All of your experiences are way scarier than mine. Those are all pretty amazing stories, and I'm glad they are your guys' stories and not mine :)

[nelsonccc]

Once in the outdoors it really burned when I peed, then these little red bumps appeared near my weenus. Turned out I'd received Gonorrhea in the woods. That's the scariest outdoor experience I've ever had.....:lol8:

[moab mark]

Sometime in the mid 80's my buddies and I were riding our Jetski's (the old stand up style) on Echo Reservoir and decided it would be great fun to ride up the Weber River to Rockport. It was spring runoff and the Weber River was flowing strong.

We had some of the first Jetski's in Utah and at the time there were virtually no rules regarding where you could ride them and riding up rivers was nothing new to us. We had already been up and down the Snake River through the Jackson Hole daily and we had been through many of the rapids in Cataract Canyon so we didn't consider the Weber River to be anything special.

Anyhow, we took off up the Weber River and after about 4 or 5 miles I found myself out front by myself. I came screaming around a blind corner in the river and at the last instant noticed a barbed wire fence crossing the raging river with only the top strand of barded wire sticking out of the water about 12". The wire was almost impossible to see at 40 mph until you were right on top of it. I tried to bunny-hop my Jetski over the wire but the strand caught the nose of my Jetski and tripped the machine sending me over the handlebars and flying over the fence.

The initial crash was no big deal, but the strong river current washed me back into the barbed wire fence and I became entangled on the bottom of the river under about 5 feet of water. I was on my back and I could look up and see daylight but I couldn't escape the tangled mess I was in, the wire was holding me underwater.

I worked to escape for what seemed like forever but was probably around 60 seconds. I was running out of air fast and everything was beginning to run in slow motion. I distinctly remember looking at the daylight just out of my reach and thinking to myself "you have one more chance to escape and than you are dead", that moment is still embed in my mind as if it were yesterday.

At that instant a massive amount of adrenaline kicked in and I managed to rip myself free from the barbed wire. When I surfaced one of my friends was just rounding the corner and his eyes went huge when he saw me standing in the river. I was bare-ass naked and cover in massive amounts of blood, the barbed wire had shredded my body. I had been wearing a shorty wetsuit, swimming suit, high top tennis shoes and a 4-buckle life jacket when I was washed into the fence. I had somehow managed to rip free of all those items and ripped out part of the fence. I have no clue where the strength came from to do that but when I was trapped underwater looking into the abyss of eternity I knew I didn't want to die and was going to go down fighting.

That was about 30 years ago and my body is still covered in scares from where that damn fence shredded me. Occasionally I still have nightmares about that day.

There was an article a few years ago about a fly fisherman who slipped wading and had the same problem. Seems like there was a lawsuit filed over it?

[Iceaxe]

There was an article a few years ago about a fly fisherman who slipped wading and had the same problem. Seems like there was a lawsuit filed over it?

We had a couple fly fisherman throw rocks at us for riding our Jetski's on the Wber River.... but that's a whole different story. :lol8:

[Sombeech]

Back in '94 we were heading on down to a baseball game in SLC from West Weber, west of Ogden. My buddy's gas gauge was wrong on his car, we end up running out of gas right by the bridge on 12th street that crosses the Weber River.

As we were waiting for him to return with a can of gas, we decided to check out the iconic railroad bridge over the river.

We were checking stuff out, walking down a trail or two through the tall brush, checking out the river, just passing time while we waited. He shows up and we head back through the brush up to his car as he's putting gas in that he got from the Pilot station just up by the freeway.

I start to smell something horrid. To my terror, I discover I have stepped in feces.

Upon further investigation, I discover it is of human origin.
























I was wearing flip flops

[Dr. Nebz]

Back in '94 we were heading on down to a baseball game in SLC from West Weber, west of Ogden. My buddy's gas gauge was wrong on his car, we end up running out of gas right by the bridge on 12th street that crosses the Weber River.

As we were waiting for him to return with a can of gas, we decided to check out the iconic railroad bridge over the river.

We were checking stuff out, walking down a trail or two through the tall brush, checking out the river, just passing time while we waited. He shows up and we head back through the brush up to his car as he's putting gas in that he got from the Pilot station just up by the freeway.

I start to smell something horrid. To my terror, I discover I have stepped in feces.

Upon further investigation, I discover it is of human origin.

I was wearing flip flops

Now that is truly a "shitzy" situation. All I can say is wow! :scared: