Rich Jandt Adventure #7

I was camping this weekend and had an adventure.

All day Tuesday and all day Wednesday I heard a noise coming from somewhere near my trailer. I don't know what the noise was, but it sounded kinda like a loud growling grumbling noise. Short, reverberating, low in tone. For two days I hear this thing and I finally had enough of it.

It's Wednesday about dusk, 9pm or so. I grab a handheld LED light, put my German Shepard on his working leash, and strap on my Walther p22. The sound was emanating from about a half mile away from where I was parked. (In the Decshutes national forest). The terrain around this part of the woods is spider-webbed with dirt bike trails, yet there are thick brambles and bushes about eye level so you can't see more than 5 feet in front of yourself.

I start working my way to the sounds, criss crossing several trails and peering around bushes before I step into the clearings behind them. I am holding the leash in one hand, and the light in the other. As I near the sound I become a little spooked. I am not sure if it is the proximity to the sound, or My own feelings that set my dog off, but I could tell he did not want to continue. He was circling me, yipping and whining.

I am not good at judging distances by sound, but I was a lot closer than I started, and had gone about half a mile. My dog finally sat down and refused to continue, so i had not choice but to return to my trailer.

Upon entering the clearing where my trailer was parked, I remembered a second forestry road that flanked the sounds position. I turned down to the other road noticing that it was full on dark now. The sounds had never stopped, and had in fact increased in number. As I walked down this second road I relied more and more on the handheld LED than before.

When I came to a spot that seemed right in front of the sound, We started to walk onto the woods. After crossing a few of the trails my dog started his yipping again, and the noise was at it's pinnacle. I could feel it reverberating in my chest.

To be honest with you, I lost my nerve at this point. I was turning around and the light in my hand shone directly at the bush in front of me and it came alive. It was shaking, and I thought something was coming out of it.

I quickly ran back to the road, the sounds of something huge crashing through the bushes following me. When I reached the road I put the light into my pocket, and drew my pistol. With a loud "ck-chink" I loaded a round into the chamber and I spun to meet the charging animal.

Nothing emerged from the bush, but I could hear it breathing and making the same low sounds. I was at least one half mile from my trailer, and it was around a corner, so I couldn't take a short cut. I moved very quickly from my position on the side of the road into the middle of it. And moved down the road. My dog suddenly found his speed and dragged me faster than I had moved in a while. Hearing crashes behind me, I looked to see the front line of bushes crashing and moving as something huge was pushing into them from the back, following me back to the trailer.

Luckily I had left the door open, and we jumped into it and I slammed the door shut, setting the lock instantly. I looked out the window and saw the wave of movement behind the bushes stop directly across from me.

Yeah, real good night sleep last night.