I drove down the highway a bit, found the gate to let myself in, locked the gate after driving in, and proceed to drive as far as I could before having to stop and walk the remainder of the way out to the property. I wasn’t going to take a chance of driving all the way there since it was a bit muddy and I didn’t have a 4-wheel truck. I grabbed the backpack, strapped it on, retrieve the gun, and started walking toward the property. I got there with no trouble, entered, and began looking for a suitable spot to make camp. I found a bit of a clearing and decided it was a good spot. I used my feet to rake some fallen leaves into a little pile to act as a cushion for the sleeping bag, pitched the tent, then cleared the area further of leaves to make a fire.
It was January, not really cold, but I wanted a fire. When in the woods make a fire. That should be a rule, somewhere. I got the fire going, hung my backpack in a tree just in case there were bears about; they wouldn’t come into the tent if they smelled food in my backpack. I was feeling pretty good right about now.
It’s early, but it’s getting dark so I’m going to go to sleep since there was nothing else to do and I’m a little tired from the 5 hours of driving I’ve done today. I let the fire burn a little longer before making sure it was completely out. I climbed into the tent, situated myself, and prepared for sleep. The tent is not really big, although two people could sleep in it. I slept in a position that would allow me to stretch out completely, but my head and feet pushed against the sides of the tent.
It was pretty quiet out when I got into the tent, but as I got settled in for the night… outside, the leaves on the ground sounded like they were being crunched as if something or someone was walking on them and it sounded as if whatever it was, was coming towards the tent. The crunching grew louder and louder!
This was the kinda stuff horror movies were made of, but knowing what I know about real life I knew that was not happening here so I just laid there, waiting for something to happen. The noise of the crunching leaves grew louder as it moved closer to the tent, then all of a sudden it stopped. I knew I was surrounded …. that’s when I cocked the rifle I was given. My thought was, everything outside the tent was theirs (whoever, or whatever was out there), but everything inside the tent was mine. I was perfectly fine with everything staying as it was since the boundaries were already set. As I was thinking about what I would have to do to survive if anything happened; I felt something rub against the tent where my head was. It felt like something with fur because it was soft. It was low to the ground, which meant it was not very large, that was comforting.
It was so dark outside you couldn’t see your hand held in front of your face. I thought about opening the entrance just enough to shine my flashlight out to see what was out there, but I figured, I wouldn’t be able to see whatever it was, and if I did what could I actually do. Who knows, I might not have liked what I saw, it could be too scary, it could’ve been anything out there or any number of them. It could have been a bunch of whatever it was out there, which could have been scary, too scary, sometimes it’s best not to actually see the monster in the dark.
I continued to lay there wondering what was going to happen next. After a few more minutes I heard the crunch-crunch of leaves, but this time the noise was moving further away from the tent. That was a good thing, and after a few minutes pass, I could hear nothing. The woods became quiet once again.
I didn’t give it much thought since things were back to normal, but I figured since I was a stranger in the woods the animals had come out to investigate to see what or who had set up camp in their space. Once they were satisfied they seemed to have gone off to find food or do whatever it is they do out there at night.
The following morning I awoke, hung out a bit, set up the camera, made a fire, grabbed the rifle, and took a self-portrait with the tent in the background. I did this because it was the first time I’d spend the night in these woods and I wanted to remember it by having a photograph I could look back at when I was thinking about that particular trip. Afterward, I packed up my belongings and hiked back to the truck. I don’t remember if I spent another night in Alabama or not, but it was good to be there to clear my head and make plans for the next part of my life.
