A Midsummer Night's Scream

[Gam]

Wednesday, I caught a case of the "take this job and shove it" attitude so I just walked out the door and said I will be back in the morning.  Pigeon Mountain usually comes to mind at times like this, it's a nice ride and I can be back at work the next morning by 9:00.  The KLR has a broken speedo cable and a pretty good leak from the oil drain plug. I just changed the oil in it and I have never changed the crush washer, plus I tightened the plug without a torque wrench and erred on the side of caution. I don't think it's stripped. Too many trips with the KLR loaded down with guitars, grills, beer, and too much food. I look like a gypsy caravan wobbling down the road on that thing. The XT225 is running good and it has luggage racks and luggage.  Time to dust off the light weight stuff.  The XT doesn't have cradle for this fancy GPS, so I put it a zip lock and duct taped to the top of my tank bag.
I couldn't find the attachment loops for the luggage, they get gone after the first use.


Rolling through the Ridge and Valley Region.  Nice backroads in the valleys and always a dirt road to get over the next ridge. Headed for that mountain right there.


Up the mountain


I probably got 50 feet up that mountain before the zip lock freed itself from the tank bag sending my GPS tumbling to the side of the road. So, I put it in the bag and chocked it with a melted Snickers bar and a can of Skoal. I've ridden all these roads plenty of times, but I ride in Alabama so much I wasn't sure I could put them altogether and wind up where I wanted to be.


Down the mountain to another valley


Up the mountain


To another valley.


And so on until I reached my camping spot on top of pigeon mountain. Nobody else is ever up here the week.  Well whatta you know? Those loops were in a side pocket of all places.


Sleeping bag, pad, bivy, supper, camp shoes, kitchen.


I've had this bivy a long time, it has short poles that will fit in the luggage.  I had to perform a shockchordectomy to take the slack out, it's a pain when poles come apart in a tent sleeve.


It was made by Trek, I guess it was meant to be carried on bicycle. It's Gortex, so it breathes pretty good and keeps the rain out. Not a lot of room though.


Klymit X frame sleeping pad. The theory is that your sleeping bag won't compress where the holes are located, I can't tell that it makes any difference. It's comfortable enough for me, but I can go to sleep laying in the dirt.


RAB, 30 degree, sleeping bag.  What a joke, the only time I used this bag at 30 degrees, I nearly froze to death. It's a Summer bag now.


This is where the title comes in.  I wiggled into the bivy once the sun had completely gone down, it was still fairly warm, so I just laid on top of the bag in my skivvies. I was just about to slip completely into the realm of Morpheus when I was jolted wide awake by the most blood curdling noise I have ever heard from a living creature.  I can't really describe it in words.... It started out like uhg uhg uhg two or three times then it would launch into a scream that got higher and higher in pitch and then stop. And it was LOUD.  Maybe 15 minutes after the first time, there it was again. I was literally covered in goose bumps. I've solo backpacked and camped alone practically all my life, and I am not given to fright from things that go bump in the night.  I know what bears, bobcats, wild hogs, coyotes, peacocks, and every bird around sound like. This was not like anything I had heard before.  After that second time,  I was ready to get the heck out of there.  But there I was in my underwear and I couldn't get a clothes on in that durn bivy, if I could even find them.  If spent time stomping around outside putting on clothes, I might as well ask that thing if wants a pack of soda crackers to eat along with me. I thought about a mad dash for the bike and hightailing down the mountain in my underwear....no I'd rather just die up here.
I didn't hear it again and I eventually drifted off to sleep.  I packed and rode over to Hood Overlook to watch the sunrise.


I described what I heard to a friend who is knowledgeable in such things, and his best guess was that it was a Chupacabra. Which was completely silly, everybody knows Chupacabras are only found in the Southwest. But then again, the same used to be true about fire ants, armadillos, and coyotes. I won't quit going up there in middle of the week, but the load won't be so light, my Judge will be with me next time.

[Chuck A.]

Good write up!  The screaming could've been a big cat but we know the expert say they don't exist in  or a round Alabama  :o

[BuckeyeDoug]

Me thinks a great horned owl.  Or another big ass owl.  Had the crap scared out of me many times by them.  Hard to believe a 2' tall bird can make that much noise!

[klaviator]

Great writeup and fantastic pic of the sunrise!

[Gam]

Me thinks a great horned owl.  Or another big ass owl.  Had the crap scared out of me many times by them.  Hard to believe a 2' tall bird can make that much noise!

Maybe, they have a territorial squawk in addition to the hoot, but it's not the right time of the year for that, never heard one belt it out as long as that.

[Bamagator]

Great write up and I dig the minimalist approach you took on gear man.  Reminds me of a time when we camped and slept in the open and got awoken to a friend unleashing a death scream of fear.  He had a raccoon climb up onto his belly and awoke to it looking at him face to face in the dark. 

[Nice Goat]

... I packed and rode over to Hood Overlook to watch the sunrise.

...

That's a great photo.

[KrisCook]

Have you ever heard the wail of a fox?  They'll raise the hair on your head.  Google it and see if that sounds like it.

The racoon story reminded me of trying to sleep up near Maryville, TN one year, and I guess I'd pitched my tent over a mole run or something, since there was a small animal UNDERNEATH me in the night.  I was so tired, and it was freezing cold, so I didn't want to go running out of my tent, so I just tried to beat on it until it went back into the ground.  It just kept moving around underneath me, and I was half asleep and half awake, hoping it didn't have big teeth.  I could just see getting bitten up through tent, ground pad, and sleeping bag!  Worst night of sleep ever. 

[Gdenn]

I vote for a screech owl.  First time I was camping and heard one it raised the hair on my neck.  It reminded me of a upset gorilla.  Got a flashlight out and strarted shing it around to find the source of all that noise.  Up in the trees were several screech owls.

[kdtrull]

Beautiful country and a cool story.  Thanks for sharing.

[norton73]

I vote for a screech owl.  First time I was camping and heard one it raised the hair on my neck.  It reminded me of a upset gorilla.  Got a flashlight out and strarted shing it around to find the source of all that noise.  Up in the trees were several screech owls.

I'd second a screech owl.

they start with a rythmic throat clearing and then sound like something out of the worst horror movie you've ever seen.

Been woken up in the middle of the night a few times by one.