There are several things that are appealing to hikers.
Being out in nature and taking in some fresh air is a huge motivation for people to get out of the house.
Getting exercise is also a factor to maintain a healthy heart.
But there could be one unexpected element to a hike that can happen hypothetically, and it's sure to raise your heartbeat.
Specifically, seeing something shocking along the hiking trail, like, say, a naked person could make for an exciting–or disturbing–hiking outing. It certainly doesn't get any more au natural than that.
Curious to hear from strangers, Redditor spenf asked:
"What would be your reaction if you encountered a nude hiker?"
These Redditors assessed the situation and saw no harm.
Friendly Tip
"I have passed two nude hikers in my 35 years of hiking. One male, one female, years and thousands of miles apart. Both said 'hello'. I said 'hello.' One mentioned the trail was washed out ahead but a second trail has been cut. I thanked them for the heads-up. Some people like the wind and sun on their skin. Both had on hiking boots. To each their own."
– Zmirzlina
Sign Of Good Character
"I have. Three times! I'm an avid backpacker and you can usually find me in Yosemite, SeKi, Emigrant or Carson-Iceberg in California on any random summer weekend."
"My standard line: 'Afternoon, I didn't realize it was so cold out today!'"
"One of them didn't get the joke. The other two laughed their nude a**es off."
"Here's my reasoning. If you're naked and can laugh at a joke, you're probably not a threat."
– codefyre
Two Scenarios
"Depends. A hiker with hiking boots/shoes and a backpack, but otherwise nude, or a completely nude person on a hiking trail?"
"Scenario 1: I give a friendly wave and hike on."
"Scenario 2: I give a more tentative wave and hike on, maintaining a heightened awareness of my surroundings."
– Genshed
Casual Encounter
"I met one once. A middle aged man in ok shape. Had nice hiking boots, thick wool socks, fancy framed backpack, two walking poles, hat, sunglasses, and nothing else on."
"I said hi in a neutral voice, he replied hi in an equally neutral voice. We passed, I did not look back."
– SillyFlyGuy
Some hikers are suspect.
High Alert
"While backpacking out of Rocky Mountain National Park we encountered a dude wearing nothing but shoes and some very small shorts. He was off trail about 100' at the edge of a meadow, walking and swinging a machete. I...did not approach. He was probably a mile in from the trail head. I'm guessing drugs."
– DoctFaustus
Beware Of Black Magic
"Ha! There are a lot of superstitious rumors/stories circulating around scenario 2 in India. Apparently, people who practice black magic with the sole intent of harming someone are often seen walking naked in places you don't expect people, carrying weird items."
"Either you interrupt them by disturbing them (no clue what happens next) or you run in the opposite direction."
– longlegs25
You may want to take note.
"I live in the Bay Area and naked hikers are not uncommon."
"Good naked hiker: has appropriate shoes, a backpack or fanny pack, is hiking with intention and looks tanned and fit and like he does this regularly. Good naked hikers will give you room so you don't have to interact unless you really want to."
"Bad naked hiker: shoeless, visible sores, scrapes, or burns, moving erratically (i.e. really slow or in a zig-zag). Might be a drugged out person. Out-of-shape or pale are indications this is not normal for them and they may not have intended for this to happen."
"Exhibitionist: makes a point to make eye contact, smile at you, wave, try to involve you. Good naked hikers are usually on long, deep trails where they're less likely to encounter others, and they tend to give clothed hikers a wide breath out of a sense of respect and consent. Exhibitionists get chummy; it excites them to be seen naked."
– IAlbatross
"Also depends on the area. A deep woods area with long trails is ideal for naked hiking. Shorter and more accessible trails are less okay because there's a higher likelihood of encountering families with children."
"Also depends on if they're with friends or not. A group of naked hikers is less concerning than an individual."
"All this boils down to:"
"If you see a naked hiker, mind your own business. A good naked hiker isn't trying to bother you. A bad naked hiker is potentially dangerous. An exhibitionist wants attention so any attention paid to them will fuel them. Best thing to do is nod as you pass and carry on like you haven't even noticed."
"Edit: There are actually areas in the Bay Area where it's permitted to hike naked. Regionally, some places allow nudity. Also some places allow women to be topless so a topless female hiker might just be evening out her tan. It's best not to assume and to know the local laws before passing judgement on a person getting their nature on."
– IAlbatross
Guilty as charged.
The Name Is A Dead Giveaway
"No reaction at all, since I would be nude myself."
– NudistGeek
"Stare in disbelief. That's just very strange and coincidental for two nude hikers to run into each other."
"I guess make sure they have sunscreen also."
– miketdavis
To each their own, but if hiking in the nude is your thing, you do you.
And just a heads up: If you're walking around in the buff and happen to be wielding a machete, you're going to make people very jittery. So maybe drop the prop.
Also, wear plenty of sunscreen.
There's little more restorative than going on a hike.
Escaping from the hustle and flow, and enjoying the peaceful serenity of nature, and taking in all the beauty around you.
But every now and then, hikers may stumble across something a bit unsettling, even scary.
Making them want to return to civilization all the sooner.
Redditor purple_loves_bread was eager to hear about the creepiest discoveries made by experienced hikers while on the trail, leading them to ask:
"Hikers of Reddit, what's the weirdest/scariest thing you've found/seen during a hike?"
How did it even get there?
"A dolphin skeleton 50 meters from the water on a trail in Costa Rica."- argenntinosaurus
An unwanted visitor
"On a backpacking trip in the Sierra Mountains in California, my buddy forgot to put his toothpaste in the bear bag, which is a bag you put all food and aromatic items in to hang from a tree branch at night so the bears won't eat it."
"At about 2 a.m., we hear him yelling and get up to find a huge black bear on top of him in his tent trying to get at the toothpaste."
"The rest of us had to bang pans and throw rocks to get the bear to leave him alone."- The_Spyre
bbc one bear GIF by BBCGiphyLiteral grave robbers
"Hiking in Vermont."
"Saw a bright red shirt hanging in a tree off the trail, so I went to check it out."
"Saw a couple of freshly dug graves and a few really old headstones."
"Reported it - turns out it was someone stealing headstones from a local graveyard and relocating them."
"Don't know if they were stealing the bodies, too."- GravityoftheMoon
Improper hiking attire
"Me, my old roommate and a friend went hiking into the woods in Tennessee."
'We were going along minding our own business, then we came up on a stream."
"On the other side of the stream, getting ready to cross, was a group of about 5 or 6 dudes only wearing socks and shoes."
"Naked bros hiking in the woods."
"I'm all about being in your birthday suit or whatever, but it was weird seeing it for the first time and apparently its a thing."- BungJovi
Witness to a massacre
"I stumbled on a poaching dump when I was 14."
"I used to hike trails near our home, way out in the woods."
"I'd explore, and then have to find my way back without a compass."
"I went really far one day, probably 2-3 miles through these old logging trails."
"I started smelling something terrible."
"There was a rocky outcrop right before a steep cliff."
"At the bottom of the cliff, there was a massive pile of dead deer, most were decapitated."
"Some were fawns."
"Had to have been 20-30 of them at varying states of decay."
"The stench was mind-alteringly bad."
"When I thought I had seen enough, I heard 4-wheelers and decided to hide."
"Two poachers in camo rolled up and tossed two more deer carcasses on the pile."
"They smoked, talked, and then left after about 10 minutes."
"I was probably 15 feet from them the entire time, hiding under a hemlock tree."
"I did not recognize either of them, and I knew absolutely everyone on that entire side of town, it was only 15-20 houses in a 5 mile stretch."
"I ran home and told my parents."
"They didn't believe me."
"Plus, they didn't know I was running off to those trails, so I got in huge trouble for that."
"I mentioned it to our neighbor who was big into hunting, he seemed very concerned and brought it up to the game warden."
"They investigated it, found the dump site, but never caught anybody."
"I am 100% certain it was not my neighbor." - User Deleted
Up close and personal with nature's beasts
"Mountain lion came very close to me."
"It didn't seem aggressive but it was curious."
"After a few minutes of us staring at each other and me pissing my pants he finally lost interest and disappeared into the forest while I got the f*ck out of there."- -MultiF0rms
MOUNTAIN LION cougar GIFGiphyAn underground operation
"I've seen mountain lions, I've seen bears."
"The scariest thing I've seen was an elaborate grow operation in Northern CA."
"I crested a hill and walked 20 yards into this valley when I realized there were irrigated pot plants for as far as the eye could see."
"Reservoirs, hoses, camouflaged netting."
"My friend and I noped out of there as fast we could, both expecting to be shot on our way back to our car."- Zmirzlina
Not so itsy-bitsy...
"Hiking early morning in Hawaii and my stomach notifies me that it’s time to go #2 ."
"I find a porta potty near the trailhead and jump in to do my business."
"Once complete, I flipped my headlamp on to find the toilet paper, but instead find a huge, 5” in diameter, banana spider hanging out in the corner of the porta potty."
'Trying not to spook it I slowly reached for the 1-ply."
"As I do, my headlamp shines on this monster and it proceeds to FREAK TF OUT!!! "
"It runs in circles for a bit, both of us losing our minds at this point, and ends up between my legs inside of my underwear!!!"
"I’m at a complete loss for what to do, but eventually begin wiggling back and forth in an attempt to get this spider to remove itself."
"That didn’t work at all! Instead of exiting the premises, this MFer runs up my leg."
"This is the point where I give up and storm out of the porta potty yelling and screaming, pants around my ankles."
"No clue what happened to that spider, but it disappeared in a flash…just like my dignity."- Kamala__2024
Spider Web Halloween GIFGiphyFree spirtis
"This was lower Escambia county in the early 2000's, more likely some rich hippie wanting to get back to nature."- driver_dylan
Major disaster averted
"I was on the 8th grade D.C trip."
"We drove out to a rural historical town in Pennsylvania for the day."
"We had a buddy system going, and honestly they didn’t really care where u went as long as u made it back on time."
"While everyone else was walking around and shopping at souvenir shops, me and by best friend decided to go on a hike into the woods nearby, which i later learned was part of the Appalachian trail."
'I was a little on edge about it, since there’s a lot of bears in the area, and we were completely alone."
"About two to three miles in we both kept noticing noises, nothing too out of the ordinary, sticks breaking, leaves rustling etc, but what really made us stop in out tracks was the sound of a man’s voice coming from the trees."
"The trees were completely overgrown and you would have to go seriously out of your way to even try to go in them."
"We just stood there, nervously looking around."
"We jumped when a man approached us from behind asked what was wrong, I constantly checked behind us to make sure we weren’t being followed and I never saw him while we were walking."
"I said that we just heard a noise and got startled."
"He then proceeded to ask us why we were out there, and that it was dangerous."
"I explained we were out here for school etc."
"We knew this wasn’t a chaperone, because they all wear blue, but what was strange was that he wasn’t wearing any hiking gear, not even a water bottle or backpack."
"Mid-explaining why we were out here my friend just tightly grabs my arm and doesn’t say anything."
"I knew something was wrong."
"The man takes another step towards us and my friend just grabs my arm and yanks it, we sprinted for at least a mile before we were far enough."
"I caught my breath and asked her wtf happened."
"She was on the verge of tears at this point and told me that that man’s voice we heard in the trees, was watching us from the trees making gestures to the man talking to us."
"When we got back to camp we told her mom, who was a chaperone, and also a deputy what happened."
"It was reported, and turns out both of them were part of a sex trafficking ring, and the man talking to us was carrying a knife."
"It’s scary to think what could’ve happened that if we didn’t run when we did."- -i_d_k_·
Did he ever find it?
"Me and a group of about 9 other guys were hiking in Isle Royale leaving camp for the morning to hike up the Greenstone Ridge."
"We came across a guy who had long hair, was barefoot, had one croc and a plastic bag in his left hand, and a Pepsi bottle in the right."
"He looked hungover and didn’t respond to any greetings."
"He had no pack and was at least 20+ miles from any ranger station."
"After hiking for several hours that day while on the Greenstone Ridge, underneath a tree overlooking a beautiful view of the isle southern side."
"Underneath the tree angled like a shrine was the other croc."- Greatfulgrey
Waving through a window...
"Here’s the true story."
"This happened to me when I was 17 years old, 12 years ago."
"I was on a week long Scout trip at a place called Big South Fork up in the Cumberland region on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line."
"We spent the first half of the week backpacking up in the hills, and the second half was spent taking it easy at base camp.'
'This happened our last day in the trail.'
"We had finished eating breakfast and we were ready to break camp and head out."
"Our campsite was at a place called the Litten-Slaven farm."
'We camped in a patch of woods in a little valley where they had once had a cattle pasture."
"At the top of the valley was a small shed, a spring-fed pond, and the old farmhouse."
"It wasn't a big house."
"It was a wooden house, with two rooms on the first floor and a loft on the second floor.'
"I would have loved to go inside and check it out, but nobody was allowed inside so it would be easier to preserve."
"Anyway, after breakfast I realized that I had left my walking stick up at the top of the hill by the old house."
"I went back to get it, and my friend, Chris, went with me."
"Rule #1: always take a buddy."
" We hiked up the hill and I got my stick."
"Then we made the hike back down to camp."
'We were halfway across the pasture when something told me to look back."
"I looked behind me and saw someone in the upstairs window waving at me."
"It looked like a woman dressed in white, but I glanced so quick it was hard to make out the details."
"I turned to Chris and plainly said, 'There's someone in the farm house'.”
"What follows is my thought process that occurred in the space of about half a second."
"There's someone in the farm house."
"There's nobody else here."
'Nobody is even allowed in the farm house."
"There's someone in the farmhouse."
"Sh*t."
“'There's someone in the farmhouse!' I screamed."
"I took off running as fast as I could."
"Chris had no idea what was going on and ran with me."
"We didn't stop until we got back to camp."
"I told the others what I had seen."
“'You should have gone in', said our scoutmaster, Chris’s dad, 'She probably had breakfast ready'.”- Jaustinduke
Predators are everywhere
"When we were about 11,10, and 9; my brothers, some friends and I, in Arkansas, we would spend a lot of time in the woods."
"About an hour away from any road, we had this cool tree house with a swing that was a set of handlebars tied to a rope."
"This swing was 30 feet in the air."
"Very dangerous... Anyway."
"One day, hiking to the tree house, we stumbled across this guy."
"He did not look homeless, but did look scruffy."
"He tried to convince us to hang out with him, saying he had porn and booze."
"We noped out of there."
"The guy was later arrested for molesting at least one kid."- redfeather1
Everyone needs an escape to the great outdoors every now and again.
Even though one never knows what lies in store, or what they may find.
Making the feeling of coming home all the more comforting.
Hunting is an activity that comes with a certain amount of risk, and hunters know that. Just hiking in the woods can be risky, even if you do everything right.
When something out of the ordinary happens while you're out in the woods, it can be enough to scare the pants off even the most seasoned of hunters.
Speaking from personal experience, there are fewer things as freaky as the scream of a cougar in the middle of the night when you're sound asleep.
Reddit user u/CB-Nomad asked:
"Hunters of Reddit, what did you see out there that made you not want to go back into the woods?"