As a cyclist I have had dozens of dogs chase and lunge at me. A vet told me years ago, wait until they are close (10' or so) and yell as loud as you can, NO!!!! It suprises them, stops them in their tracks and most times they run away. I have used this over 100 times over the years, and it works every time.

The scariest thing that ever happened to me was hiking in the well traveled trails in Gatlinburg. Plenty of people around, we felt as safe as you can out in the woods. We rounded a corner with a drop off on the left side, and a bank preventing you from going right. As we rounded the corner, there were two cute bear cubs playing on the trail. I said, “Oh shit! Everyone stop and turn around!” When I yelled, the bear cubs looked at us and came running as if we were calling a dog. Then out of the brush on the left came the mother. We had about 50 yards between us with the cubs getting closer. I know they say don’t run, but adrenaline hit, and we bolted. We were flying back where we came from. I looked back and the cubs had stopped, but momma was closing in, about 40 yards or so. I knew we could still make it, and I tripped on a root while I was looking back. I rolled, and was back on my feet in no time. We passed two other groups and just screamed “BEARRRRRRR” as we passed and they joined us. When we finally hit the start of the parking/picnic area I felt safe and looked back. Momma bear was standing about 75 yards away, just staring at us. As she turned I felt brave and took some pics with my phone. Of course she was so far away she looked tiny with whatever phone I had then, I think an iPhone 6 and it didn’t have zoom or anything like nowadays, so when I show people, they say, “That little thing?” Damn, I was scared, and my shins and knees were all jacked up from the fall, but I felt exhilarated, like I’d cheated death! (Edited for misspellings)

Mine was a gut feeling. I had just entered the AT. I was less than half a mile up (it was super steep), and I just had this overwhelming gut feeling that something just wasn't right. I did what I've never done in my life and turned around and went towards my car. I was about 10 feet from my car and I turned around and some guy was coming around the gate I just left from and just stood there staring at me. NOT dressed in any way like he was there for a hike. My gut tells me I dodged a bullet that day. I'm a woman, and I carry 3 kinds if knives, and bear spray, but... it didn't make me feel any better.

Okay dog advice - I ran long distance for years - often in the country and almost always alone, here are two pieces of advice that really do work: 1.) pretend the dog is your dog and is being disobedient- now tell it to “get back to that house!” Do this while pointing towards the direction it came from. Like for real - get your butt back! It only works if you say it with authority and again really pretend it is YOUR dog. Don’t ask me why - it works. 2.) this has never failed me - NEVER. Get a hand held taser. Make sure the batteries are charged. When that dog comes at you, start moving towards it and pop that taser. I have never had a dog or horse not literally lose their mind trying to get away from me with that. It terrifies them. My favorite was some kind of pit bull cross that was charging me at a full on run and I hit that snap, crackle and pop and that dog straight up pulled a you turn at the same speed he was charging. 😂 P.S. I have never had to actually zap the dog! And they may keep barking at you - but it will be from a good distance. ❤

The girlfriend tale sounds like the start of that movie Back Country. Fellas, if your lady doesn't have a lot of hiking experience, don't take her to anywhere challenging, she will not be impressed no matter how good you are. Glad to hear you both came out unscathed, I love your channel.

As an Aussie I enjoy watching US trail cam content makers, because of the wide variety of animals they capture, especially at night, however…I was watching trail cam footage in the day, from a area where the public visit by day, with trails. There were quite a few people, including families with kids walking on a path that was visible to the right of the trail cam and running in the opposite direction. It was about an hour of condensed footage of the day, when towards the end something at the far top right of the screen moved in my peripheral vision. So I went back, slowed down the video and oh my gosh. It was a big cat. It had been up in the tree that people had been walking past all day, absolutely invisible because it was perfectly camouflaged against the colour of the tree and the landscape and once it got to dusk and people weren’t around, it got out of the tree and disappeared like lightning. But it was right there the whole day.

Some of the best advice I’ve gotten regarding sleeping bags is that temperature is for survivability, not comfort.

I remember when the guy I was newly seeing made some remarks about not taking "girls" with him when he was camping. He camped rather regularly (as in, all summer long). When I'd press him on this issue, he would say some vague nonsense about how it's cursed. This unfortunately just made me more curious and I kind of insisted on going out there with him, deep in the woods, lots of bad decisions there. I've heard in a lot of hiking/camping videos that it's not very common for a bear to attack a tent. 5:45 am, the sun was just peeking up. I woke from my exhausted sleep (the kind you get from rigorous outdoor activities), thinking I had just dreamt of a loud sound. But my ears were actually ringing, the way they do after hearing a SUPER loud sound up close. I slowly sat up and heard it-- GIANT sounding footsteps, snapping twigs, that low growly-breathing... my boyfriend was already awake and on high alert. We sat stone still. BAM BAM BAM, the bear was almost knocking on the tent with its giant paws. It kept bumping up against the tent, walking around, and finally we could hear its footsteps going away from us. Something was wrong with my boyfriend too, he was white as a sheet and looked like he was struggling to breathe. I have no idea how long we sat there before he pulled his left leg up-- we were still trying to be silent at this point in case. I gasped in horror at the three DEEP claw marks on his bare calf. HIS LEG HAD BEEN OUT OF THE TENT. It wasn't bleeding very much either which was weird. He unzipped the tent and started vomiting... so much.. NO alcohol or substances were involved in this either. He told me to take various noise making things (a whistle, a pan and a spoon), said "I want to hear you screaming and making noise with these until you're out of the woods, please get help". I listened and RAN in terror making all the noise I possibly could, ended up getting help from an elderly man who was sitting on his front porch reading his paper. Still makes me shake just thinking/writing about it!

The Lightning/Thunder trick works, if you understand the speed of light vs the speed of sound. For us, the speed of light can be rounded to "instantaneous". And the speed of sound can be rounded to 1 mile per 5 seconds. The lightning and thunder happen at the same time, but the light reaches us instantaneously, and the thunder much slower. If we start counting at the flash and stop when we hear the thunder, we can estimate that the strike is one mile away for every five seconds counted. "One one thousand. Two one thousand. Three one thou...*BOOM*" would be about 1/2 mile away. Of course in the mountains the echos could play tricks on you.

My experience with dogs or packs of dogs has brought me to this successful plan of action: As soon as you hear barking, whether near or far, get your flashlight out and turn it on. Turn toward the approaching dog(s) and stop walking. In a commanding, booming voice (not panic-screaming) yell, "NO!" Start this from as great a distance as possible. Don't wait until it's within close range to start shining your light toward their eyes and yelling your commands. The closer they are, the better they can assess your level of fear, which you don't want, if at all possible. Imagine that animal is YOUR dog and you're stopping it from doing something bad. "NO! NOOO!" Stand still. Don't challenge it by rushing it. Every dog understands NO!

A black garbage bag with head and arm holes has saved me a few times as has a pladtic bag between two hats even after getting soaked. I learned this the hard way almost 40 years ago when I was 15 riding a mountain bike from Washington DC to Harper's Ferry West Virginia and back with the friend who convinced to bring a few extra garbage bags. I still use the Hefty Hefty Hefty bag trick today when clearing snow or playing in the woods during a snowstorm. Dave, Milton New Hampshire

I always carry bear spray because the distance and width of spray. Works for dogs , people and other random attackers ! 😊

Before I get into your scariest moments - Mine was about 20 years ago, and I was on a walk in NZ - the clouds and snow came in ultra quick and it was a ridge walk with next to zero visibility and just following a path you could barely see with winds from both sides! Ended up spending two days in the hut on top of a ridge, before we could hike out! I'm glad I always over-estimate when it comes to food, fluids and fuel!

my grandpa and I used to sit on the porch and count the storms in, ''one Mississippi, 2 Mississippi....." It works that's why the people who didn't have weather radio back in the day, relied on it :) You're fortunate. Worst hiking I had was in the late 80's Washington State. 3 of my friends and I were hiking on a very narrow trail outside the town of Index. It was steep almost straight up, and I wanted to sit down a minute after just over an hour(i was city girl, not used to this). One friend stayed with me, while the other 2 went to look around the turn coming up, to see where we were headed to. A few minutes later, her and I THOUGHT some small rocks were being thrown from- where ever up above, but then we hear "Run run run!"" and the guys were coming down fast- running/sliding, kicking rocks ahead of them. We were being shot at, and were shot at almost all the way down that hill/mountain. The shrubbery was so thick (colorful too, as it was Fall), we couldn't see where the person was and never did find out. It stopped when we were almost to the bottom. We ran and didn't stop until we hit the parking area. Later I was told that was very close to some claim someone had up there, so we were probably being run off. No signs posted or anything so who knows, who cares. I never went back, and wasn't into hiking after, except more well worn trails with humans around that were doing what I was doing. No more remote, out in nowhere crap. But it took up over an hour hiking up, and I swear like 10 mins or less down. I don't even remember my feet hitting the ground, we were so terrified.

Oregonian here. I know the Eagle Creek Trail well, especially that spot near Tunnel Falls. Two things: First, you would never catch my azz in a steep forest topography within 10 years of a crown fire that destructive. Everything that held the cliffs together has been burned away and erosion just keeps taking a bite every year. Sh!t falls down constantly--trees, boulders, landslides--it's not worth it. Second: Earphones? Dude, seriously? Never drown out or numb your senses in that sort of topography.

Like you were talking about climbing into your sleeping bag and still being cold, I have hunted in -15° weather, and after a hot shower and a warm hotel bed, we were still cold and shivering, this kind of cold is called chilled to the bone

Carry the big bear sprays. Good for 4legged and 2legged predators.

I really appreciated this video. Not many people will talk about the stupid mistakes they made or things they did to impress a girl or tag a bunch of summits in a rush. Well done

For the dog part of your video, the trail to bridal veil falls in NH, there is a property towards the beginning of the trail head. Twice, there were 4 aggressive dogs that came onto the trail angry and pack mentality was kicking in. Two of the dogs attacked our dogs that were on leash and tried to come at us. Our dogs broke off leash and it was game on for these 4 dogs attacking our dogs. I went after our dogs to get them safe and in the process became the subject of these dogs attention. The owner yelled at me to leave her dogs alone and get off her property. I yelled back to her that her dogs were about to get shot if they didn’t get away from me. She didn’t like that. Luckily it didn’t come to that as I’m a dog lover but not dogs that will readily attack. Also on the same trail, a guy that had property bordering the trail was shooting a rifle across the trail. Love the hike up there but not worth the hassle to do again.

I'm glad you're sharing these stories because the comments on other videos are SO HARSH. Everyone makes dumb choices sometimes but most people are lucky enough to survive them. It's just luck. There but for the grace of god go I or whatever

When I was around 17/18 I went on a white water rafting trip in May in Wisconsin. I didn’t realize how cold and long the rafting would be and when I went to sleep inside a sleeping bag and tent with layers of dry clothes and was shivering and couldn’t sleep I freaked out! I decided to leave the tent and go lay by the dwindling bonfire which helped a little until my bf realized I was gone and then made me get into his sleeping bag with him. His body heat saved me. I was hypothermic and it was the only thing that worked. It was kinda scary. I’ll never do that again! 😂

Crazy stories man. Thanks for sharing. I ran into a grizzly in Canada and I would never wish that upon anyone.

Thanks for sharing your encounters, Kyle. The second and third stories you told could save someone from a miserable night or even death. Lesson 1: don't try to outrun a storm. Lesson 2: never try to cross an angry, swollen river. Lesson 3: bring a tent even if the desination is a backpacking shelter. Lesson 4: wear appropriate clothing for the weather. Lesson 5: temp ratings on cheap sleeping bags lie. I'm pretty sure there were more lessons in there, I just think those are the ones that will stick with me.

Been there in a hammock in a wild thunderstorm. Been bitten by an unleashed dog. Met mushroom hunters that were scary weird. All part of long distance hiking.

The fact that youre willing to talk about your own shortcomings and embarassments shows how humble you are. Its a good thing to be able to accept that you made mistakes and learn from them, sadly not as many people nowadays have that.

I took a 3000 mile bicycle camping trip with 3 dogs in a doghouse bicycle trailer, this summer. Southern NM to Southern Maine. Im always solo with dogs. Its very life changing, to take on the elements with animals like that. Its hard enough without. My babies loved it, thats what matters. Lol. It almost unalived me several times at least. Dodge city Kansas had the worst eye of the storm I've ever been in. making good bye videos and everything 😅 Be careful everybody. Be smart, be safe

I've had multiple flooded creek crossings that were waste high and fast flowing while holding my dog by the collar so she didn't get swept away as she was swimming. I got flooded out next to a creek once and had to abandon my hammock and lay on a rock underneath an overhang. The scariest was getting caught in a prescribed burn. I was told it was in the opposite direction I was headed. I was covering about 25 miles a day so I was moving pretty quick until I smelled smoke. Looked up and saw a wall of flame. My dog and I jogged back to a rocky outcropping where i was safe from the flames but was worried about the smoke. I ended up sleeping on a big flat rock again under an overhang. I could hear the coyotes super close running away around the edge of the bluff. I had a small fire going and started banging sticks against the rock to hopefully deter them from coming mine and my pups way. Everything was torched around me the next morning all smokey and small fires still burning here and there. My old lady dog Miss Penny is a badass. Oh and the cold lol. Therese been a few times I tried to get away with an SUL pack and froze my ass off to the point my feet felt like blocks in the middle of the night. That and putting on shoes that were soaked the previous day and froze overnight. Sleeping with your water bottles and filters so they don't freeze. The list goes on and on. Type 2 fun lol

hey there, talking about wild dogs. I did the northern camino all along the the bay of Biscay/the Atlantic ocean, then down into Santiago 800 kilometers and there were wild dogs all along the way and I helped this lady that used to work for green piece. She was screaming and yelling, and I walked up by her, and I told her to stop her movements and I started talking, harshly and looking at them and saying no and they were both malinois if you know what that dog is, I knew that dog to tear the holy shit out of my buttocks in her, since she was a short woman, but acting totally the way you’re not supposed to act, and then finally, the owners of the Farm came out and she said that I saved her life. I wanted to say no I just saved your legs. So I just loved your dog story and I know you had to be vicious and then I had another encounter. I’m just so glad that I used to train with some of some of the wildest dogs and I learned so much about dominance I had some good teachers here in Oklahoma.

Always watch all your videos Kyle. Still here after all these years.

I have a good one, get a physical map, if you are hiking and get lost, turn back where you came from, never assume it is a loop. I made a terrible mistake hiking with my parents a few years ago. A 4 mile hike turned into a 10 mile hike. Fortunately my parents are in good physical health and we made it back to the car, dehydrated and with a few cramps, but we made it.

Hi Kyle, Your content is excellent! 1st off I am a lover of dogs. My dog is my best friend. That said you haven’t mentioned carrying any defensive weapons No need to give your op-sec here but Bear-spray, a large hunting knife and a concealed compact firearm would be advisable. As they say to hikers in Montana … “You are not hiking through a zoo!”. God Speed Kyle!

Kyle, glad you are honestly relaying these experiences to your audience, us!

I had a similar incident to your last, happen to me while hiking the Kalalau Trail in Kauai, HI. I had just passed the infamous Mile 7 going towards the beach, and had just made the turn that hugs the side of the mountain. Without warning, several large rocks (slightly larger than bowling balls) from above go flying across the trail. I look up and there are a family of goats or possibly feral pigs just prancing around, likely the ones that had kicked up the loose rocks. If any of the rocks hit me or the other hiking group members I was with, we would not only have been knocked out, but the force would have sent us into the 200 ft drop of the ocean below. I always check above when I pass areas that appear to have rock slides, and take out my headphones. It's still hard to know are definitely just freak accidents, but still take what you can get from understanding the environment.

My great grandfather Dumont would have loved to hear this, living in White River Junction and hunting in the White Mountains in the years after the Civil War. We inherited hundreds of his photographs taken in different formats during the 19th and early 20th centuries that depict these very places Kyle describes.

I've been so close to a lightning strike. I did not hear the thunder. Plus I've ridden my bike through some storms that was so bad, I figured I was dead a few times. Thunder Storms are not fun.

Doubtlessly expressed by others, but I love your honesty and your self-checking, not a hiker myself but appreciate you owning these lessons learned and also not really apologizing for it, they are just life learning opportunities...

I once found a good area to camp while hiking in NW Pa. in March. I took off my pack to search for that exact spot to put my tent- (haven't we all). It was snowing and late. I was so concentrated on looking for a resonable spot for my tent. I meandered further and further away from my pack. Once I found the spot for my tent, I forgot the way to get back to my pack. I was turned around and everything looked the same After an hour, I finally found my pack and just pitched my tent in the dark in the snowy and rocky area where I was. If I did not find my pack and wihtout a flashlight, lighter, or warm dry clothes in the wet snow it would have been, at best, a miserable night. I would have had to "swallow my pride" and flag down a car at a road or knock on someone's front door.

Just to let u know, I have subscribed to u 3x. KZfaq keeps unsubscribing me. It's not just ur channel but it might be hard to get to 500K when they unsubscribe a bunch of us at random. 🤬

That dog story bothered me a lot. I love dogs, I have 2 now, and my last dog was with me for 17 years. The owners of that dog are doing neither the community nor their dog any favors allowing this situation to continue. If the dog is aggressive with the wrong person, it can obviously suffer violence, even death, either drawn out violence or a quick gunshot, either is horrific. Apart from that is the obvious risk to every person who passes the property. A child, an elderly person, or just someone unprepared, someone could be badly hurt, even killed. ❤ Glad you survived all those crazy adventures! We could be watching a story about a young hiker crushed by a freak rock fall!

“I’m not going to lie to you!” You say “I’m not going to lie to you a lot!” 😁 Thanks for the videos.

I honestly learn so much from your channel. I hike, but I am getting into longer hiking / back packing slowly. I have done long day solo hikes. I feel like by sharing your mistakes, I learn what to do if I am in a similar situation. Thanks for opening up and sharing!

Animal behaviorist Ian Dunbar describes a technique to stop a dog attack in one of his books. I have used it twice and both times it worked! Both dogs were pit bulls owned by homeless people. The dogs were changing me and within ten feet. You turn your head , look down to the ground and yawn. It stopped both dogs. Dunbar is a dog trainer and vet and described imminent attacks on himself he has stopped. Apparently it's dog speak for "I'm no threat , you are the boss."

If you weren't telling me & showing me the pics of you at 18 I wouldn't have ever guessed that was you !!! Look completely different now budz 😂

For someone who hates hiking, you know a hell lot about hiking ...I think I love the click bait..keep it up bruv..!!😂

this is the best "find channel" in recent time :) thanks mate, happy recording :)

I don’t hike or camp, but I love your channel. The stories are so interesting and I’m learning things about hiking I’ve never even thought about.

Li'l Baby Kyle looks nothing like Bearded & Seasoned Kyle!

My worst thunderstorm experience was in the Gore Range of Colorado. I was several miles into the wilderness on a backpack fishing trip, and this storm hit about 1 AM. I was camped on the valley floor, so probably about as safe a location as I could have been in such a storm, but there was a almost an hour of very close lighting strikes, just a few seconds apart, along with pouring rain. There was no way I was sleeping through that. I wasn't extremely scared. I figured the lighting was either going to hit me or it wasn't, there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it except stay in the tent, wait it out, and hope for the best.

Your Trail Tales videos/podcasts are awesome! But I feel like this video on your Kyle Hates Hiking channel hits more personable. Keep up the great content my guy!

I talked sweet to a mountain beaver once and it tried to attack me 😂 *this happened at home though. It was so mad it chased me, went right past everyone around me, and I had to jump over stuff in the yard. I got away but a little bit later i was standing in the house with everyone, facing the open sliding door, talking to someone in front of me, and I saw it behind that person, on the track of the door, watching me haha. Apparently they can hold grudges

For charging dogs, I've seen The Hiking Rev (KZfaq channel) has a little device that he used when he was on the Pinhoti. He got charged a few times by dogs, and he hit the button, and they turned around and ran back home! No harm, no foul to either human or canine. It’s an electronic thing, high pitched noise dogs don't like.

Dogs are actually the 4th deadliest animal to humans. The first three are mosquitoes, other humans, and snakes. I actually started carry a knife after several run ins with dangerous dogs.

Flash-to-bang time is super useful. While not sounding super-scientific, it's good enough to estimate a storm threat. Also, bear spray works on dogs.

I feel you on how scary thunderstorms can be. I trail ride and didn't look at the weather, it seemed great. Half way thru my ride a storm started and it was horrific thunder, wind and rain out of nowhere. I hated every moment of it and could hardly ride I was so cold from the rain and wind.

"dangers animal encounters"... "bears, mountain lions, snakes" - probably the animals MEN think of first. Women would add other humans to that list... and probably way out front. other humans is the #1 reason I don't hike alone. I've encountered way more scary people in the bush than scary animals.

Brave move to tell these stories Kyle, thank you! Hopefully we can all learn something from each others mistakes and challenging experiences. I know I've made my share of mistakes...luckily I survived and have been able to learn from them. Content idea: what would you think of reading/telling scary/survival stories from your subscribers?

Got to watch them squatches boulders are their favorite things

I really hate the outdoors, bugs , wild animals , sweat , cold , snakes and all the rest. I do not work hard to sleep on the dirt lol..I will never understand why people do it. But I love hearing all these stories!

Another time my friend, her daughter, her daughter’s friend and I were hiking in sc. Weather was great when we started. Got maybe a mile in and it started pouring. Kept going. Started lightening soon after. We made it up to the waterfall. Stayed for a couple minute. When we were going back the rocks were covered with rushing water. Only had sneakers on. Was not a fun hike back. Afterwards we felt awesome though. Don’t hike without hiking boots anymore.

Kyle, your humor and humility make these vids super fun to watch. Thanks for being a man who can admit when he's wrong. That's how everybody learns!

What's great about stories like these, besides the fact that the personal telling the tale is telling it, so you know there's a happy ending, is thag it provides everyone who hears it the chance to learn from the mistakes, especially when the storyteller gives an honest and humble assessment of their own mistakes and what they would do differently. I was involved in creating policies and procedures for risk management in professional outdoor trip organizations and one of the most valuable ways to keep a program running safety is to do incident and accident reports. Incidence reports are when something could have happened but didn't, giving often valuable insight into what actions prevented a worse disaster and what preparations made the difference. The White Mountains are notorious for exteme amd unpredictable weather events, making them a timeless test piece for those preparing for major high altitude mountaineering who want to test their skills and decisions in extreme conditions without having to deal with altitude yet. People should view the Whites that way all year round. They really can be like doing big mountains just without the altitude. Great job, Kyle!! I hate hiking, too 😅

Your videos are so good. You'll reach a milli in no time! Keep up the great work!

I'm just a regular hiker, usually never going more than 8 miles on a day hike. I mostly just have to watch out and not slip, because that's my specialty. I've come home with a bruised forearm that went from wrist to elbow, but thankfully didn't actually break anything despite it hitting a boulder. I've of course been chased by bees (thankfully not allergic). And once in Washington state, I stepped into a covered hole that was several feet deep. That was the incident that reminded me I needed to let someone know where I was going on any given trip.

I've been on the Eagle Creek Trail in that spot and it is incredibly beautiful but also incredibly dangerous. I'm so glad you and your buddies were okay.

My kids are in their 40s now but they still talk about (with wide eyes lol) the time Grandma and Grandpa took them camping in a remote area of Eastern Oregon and a storm just like that encompassed their campsite. They were probably 6 and 8 years old. I am so grateful that they had these experiences with my very outdoorsy parents because it is not my cup of tea!

I was taught by the Navajo to "Move the fire". You start the biggest fire you can, when it gets small after a few hours you kick all the coals a few feet away, you wait a while until you can touch the ground where the fire used to be then sleep on that ground feet towards the new place the coals are. You will be warm all night. I have done it in weather below freezing and didn't even use a tent. In fact I crawled out of the bag because I was too hot and I was still warm in the morning laying there in the open, and the fish we caught the day before were about 10 feet away and were still frozen solid!

Whew! I'm so glad you made it through those experiences. My scariest experience was coming up a trail in the black hills and right above my brother's and I was a mountain lion on a large boulder. It gave us a warning snarl. We slowly backed down from where we just came, and when we thought we were safe we ran back to our campsight. I assume she was warning us that her cubs were near.

Thanks for sharing these stories! I gotta say LMNT is really good and it boost me up midday hike. Bought it along for my EBC hike back in Nov last year.

Had a friend freeze to death in the Sierras. Two friends seperate incidents attacked by vicious dog. After being biten made a 3 legged dog out of the once 4 legged dog. He sued owner and won. Other incident Monument Valley friend bitten by rez dog. Dog ran away. He had to take rabies shot. Worked incident of lightening fatality.

Rewind: 1984. My family and I were hiking the north slide on Mt. Tripyramid in the Whites. The party ascending before us had apparently dislodged several sizeable rocks. I will never forget my seven year- old self hearing my dad yell as we looked up, paralyzed in fear. One was the size of a dorm-sized refrigerator, the others equivalent to that of a small toaster oven. The largest was bouncing like a beach ball, just like the movies, gaining ridiculous speed with every inch of ground it covered. By the grace of divine intervention, the four of us were positioned in the scruff, right along the trails' fringes. No alert given before us, but we certainly vocalized to those below.

Nothing like a good thunderstorm in high altitude. Makes you feel humble. But if you’re not prepared, your going to have a bad time

Love your stories. They are so real & so true. I like that you don't present yourself as perfect. THANKS!

Worst holiday is camping and the more I watch about camping n hiking the more confirmed this option is. Just really enjoy hearing about crazy people and their C and H stories.

I like your stories bacause a) they are interesting but don’t end in tragedy and b) I can learn from your experience. Thanks!

When I was a kid in my early teens, I was a paperboy, and on my route was this aggressive German shepherd that would chase after me every morning during my deliveries. It got so bad, that it would make me late for school in the mornings because of the long delays at this house. I finally got fed up and screamed at it while chasing it back to its house. It pretty much left me alone after that, and we eventually became friends. It took awhile, but it would later run up to me to say hello rather than bark and snarl.

Love your new format. First got introduced to you, learning about hiking and gear. You taught me a.lot.

Glad you are still with us buddy! Thanks for the content, and kudos for owning your errors👍

I admire your bravery in going on these hikes and sharing your nail-biting experiences.

I live in Oregon and have been hiking Eagle Creek since I was young. It's a sketchy trail as it is! I'm glad you're here to talk about it though. Have you ever done Multnomah Falls?

Nice to hear YOUR hiking stories again!

I had a very similar dog encounter in the Sinkyone wilderness. There's a private in-holding right next to a knife edge section of trail that skirts a 500' shear cliff that drops down to the Pacific ocean . Hiking in, I was accosted by an exuberant border collie who started jumping up and down like popcorn in front of me. Tho the dog was super friendly, I had to grip bushes to not be knocked off the cliff. The owner came out and got the dog who was called Arthur. A few days later on the hike out I prepared myself to again encounter Arthur. I'd just about passed the knife edge and cliff, when I heard a dog running toward me, only it wasn't Arthur , it was a snapping snarling German Shepherd. The encounter was very similar to yours. I had to keep facing it. It would lunge if I turned my back. I kept my poles between us. I told it to go home, every time I said " go home " it turned around and looked toward the house. I almost pulled out the bear spray. I finally got far enough off it's territory it did go home. It's enough to put me off hiking that section of the trail.

LMNT is going to be in sons football bags for sure. Especially during HOT summer camps and HOT games in late summer/early fall.

I'm so glad im an introvert, and im glad you came out of all these so humble too.😊❤

You have great story telling skills. Love your content and your videos, please keep them coming!

enjoy your stuff, im from r.i. and did a lot of hikes you mention. keep up the great work

I always go solo.. Love it. Winter ADK solo. Winter in the Whites solo. The quiet and solitude is so peaceful.

Nice of Kyle to share a breakup story with us(2nd story)😂

You are a fantastic storyteller. I learn something every time I watch you. Thank you!

I have been subscribed for a while now. I have not been unsubscribed as far as I know. Enjoying your videos from North Western Canada!

This is the second video of yours that I've seen and I'm impressed!! I am now a new subscriber. I see that you have 335 thousand subscribers and that's no joke!! 💜✌🏼️

Your dog encounter reminds me of a time my pal and I encountered a couple of Bison on a leisurely day hike at Elk Island National Park in Ab Canada. I am from southern AB and am very well versed in mountain safety and wildlife. I had never been and didnt realize how close and abundant the Bison are at Elk Island, and also didn’t look up bison safety. We encountered two, first a big male eating beside the trail in front of us. And then a big female came out of the trees behind us. I named them Frank and Wanda and all four of us walked down the trail in that formation for a while. Then Frank buggers off into the woods out of our way, while Wanda keeps up her trail. We calmly talked to her and kept walking, but the kept charging when our backs were turned! We would hop to the side and turn to half face her and she would stop. We were reasonably a bit scared, but after she got bored of us she left the trail back to the woods. A bunch of families with children and old folks passed us going towards Frank and Wanda and we definitely warned them.

I agree- in my experience, off leash dogs are the biggest animal danger by far. We have irresponsible dog owners to thank for this. I’m aware of a man in my city that adopted a pitbull, and decided to hike with the dog off leash- one week after the adoption. The dog bit a mountain biker that day. So irresponsible!

the boulder story reminded me of something similar that happened to me... i was driving to my canyon hot springs. the road is narrow, cliffside, windy, boulders EVERYWHERE... the car in front of me had swerved & flipped upside down cuz a huuuge boulder came smashing down right in front of it. it rolled into the river. the thing is, these canyons, if ur a slow driver, u have to pull over into these lil spots to let faster cars go passed... but some drivers are assholes and dont do this. they just drive slow as hell & make everyone else clog up behind them. this was one of those assholes. but had this asshole been driving just a lil bit faster, that boulder wouldve fallen right on me. id be dead. so... guess he wasnt an asshole afterall. but had he pulled over in the first place, i never wouldve experienced any of that boulder falling.

Great video. i will assign it to my upcoming beginner backpacking class.

The scariest thing that happend to me on trail was crossing a wide creek at the Sipsey Wilderness that filled up 14 feet overnight due to a flash flood, and it was 30 degrees out...we were .5 away from the car and it seemed like the only option was to cross it....i learned a valuable lesson on turning back around the loop for a safer path, and to sit and stay and not risk your life...if only we had rope

Camping and hiking solo is awesome. You just gotta be more aware of your surroundings and yourself than you normally would be with others. Obviously if something goes wrong it's on you and you alone to get yourself to safety which is the most dangerous part. With the right knowledge, skills, planning, and precautions, you can mostly compensate for a lack of support from others, especially on more popular trails where you can get help from strangers in the case of an injury

Thank you for your stories ,I listen to your stories to help me relax

See the flash, count to 5, lightning one mile away. So cold that the bottom of all your beer cans have bulged out. Your girlfriend "came along for the ride" but I don't imagine you got lucky that weekend Nar Nar. A rolling stone gathers no moss but plenty of unsuspecting hikers.

I'm not going to lie ... I am confident that your viewers believe what you say. You don't need to constantly tell us you're not going to lie. Please consider this as constructive criticism. Love your channel!!

Thank you for sharing these stories and for also being self-critical. Admitting where you yourself made some mistakes in the past, especially when less experienced fellow hikers relied upon you. It's good to have that sort of self-reflection. I can relate to a lot of your experiences (though I thankfully never had to guide a less experienced hiker and then cringe at messing up something in the decision-making). I've mostly had good luck with weather during my hikes (though I usually do single-day ones, so that makes it easier to deal with the weather anyway), but I've had an experience with a huge downpour during a thunderstorm in a forested piedmont area (about a quarter century ago in my childhood). It was basically a cloudburst storm. Unpleasant in terms of nervousness and left me soaking wet to a degree I hadn't experienced before or since. I did had a fair bit of heightened respect towards storms afterward. Just a few years later, on one occassion, I waded through an overgrown field area on a lowland, for a few short miles, as a summer storm was brewing above. Luckily, the storm only started once I returned home. Almost a decade ago, I was also worried that a brewing storm on the horizon might spoil a hiking trip I was doing that day, to a large castle (under conservation work) in a neighbouring region. The open plateau of a castle hill is about the last place you'd want to be during a storm, but other than a slight drizzle, the storm largelly passed by and I hid from the rain in a visitor centre established in one of the restored towers. Most of the storms I've had to face either passed by, or didn't start by the time I was already away from a location, or were over really quick, often in a nearby area. The aforementioned castle trip was interesting, because on the return trip, I took another marked trail, this time down hill. Though there was a slight drizzle again, I had a good time, as I was largelly walking down a forest trail. The storm was already over, so I wasn't trying to outrun anything - the downpour during the thunderstorm experience years ago showed me it's a fool's errand - and I didn't worry about the rain either, since I brought along a rain-resistant hiking coat. I will say, though, that the weather is often the number one challenge to any hiker, in any country anywhere in the world, with the trail and surrounding terrain either a close second, or roughly at the same level. This counts double in environments where the weather is known for being able to change fairly rapidly. I've walked some mountain ranges in particular where the weather can change really, really fast. Including the one where I experienced that downpour and thunderstorm, in a more forested area. Threats like wild animals are far down the list, including my personal list of realistic threats. Wildlife in general is a very overrated threat to hikers, largelly due to media sensationalism. (I'm from one of those European countries where wildlife could actually be a potential threat while hiking, but even here, it almost never is. So I largelly don't worry about it at all, even if I know of a few measures to deal with certain kinds of potentially dangerous wildlife.) I don't know about trail marking in the US or Canada, it can likely fluctuate a great deal based on how remote certain areas are (or not), but over here, I find it basically unthinkable of getting lost on the trail, unless a hiker specifically seeks to get lost in the wilderness. Trails are marked very well in my country and the neighbouring countries, to the point some foreigners have even They have a simple, consistent marking design, and are also consistent in terms of frequency and how they're implemented in the local terrain. You're never faced with the issue of "losing the trail" or being unsure if you're still on the right trail. The people who developed the hiking trails already decades ago have been very dilligent about their constant maintenance and updating when necessary. Something I and hundreds of thousands of hikers are grateful for. I've thankfully never come across falling rocks or boulders on any of my hikes, and I hope it stays that way. Though I would definitely exercise caution in rocky areas, known for occassional rock falls or avalanches, and recommend the same to everyone, regardless of what continent you're doing your hiking on. Concerning dogs, though I don't think I've ever had problems with any dogs during a hike, I've had the occassional encounter with a (usually small to medium-sized) dog that wouldn't stop pestering me. Not just dogs owned by strangers, but occassionally even some neighbours in my own village here in Europe. I have my methods (all non-violent) to scare away such dogs, including the ones mentioned by your acquaintance from the Oklahoma/Arkansas hike. Most of the dogs I've encountered are thankfully only annoying (or curious, in an angrier way) and don't want to genuinely hurt me.