I heard about a hike that has a haunted cabin and the legend of a lost hiker. I new that doing this hike today might be a little spooky, but I thought that if I did it early I'd be okay. As I headed into the woods, it occurred to me that I hadn't seen another vehicle on the road since I left the city limits. Hmmmm. Last weekend the woods were full of hunters and woodcutters, but nothing today.

Even the deer were skittish, hanging out on the road instead of in the woods. I saw a few squirrels running quickly up trees.

I was alone at the trailhead and no one had signed the register since two days ago. Usually I like to hike alone, but today it felt creepy. I headed down the trail and immediately felt like someone or something was watching me. I felt the weapon on my hip and was somewhat reassured, but my "spidey sense" was on full alert.

I've passed by the "Treeman" before, but today he seemed very angry. I passed by quickly and continued down the trail. Deer tracks, elk tracks, bear tracks and dog/coyote tracks were seen in the mud along with people tracks. After a while I noticed that even the rocks seemed to be watching me. I hurried on down the trail.

I made it to the cabin, and saw the sleeping bag hanging from the rafters. It was there a couple weeks ago. The stuff sack full of food was also still hanging in the trees. No one or no thing had touched either. Could they belong to the lost hiker or his ghost? I heard creaking in the trees, but couldn't see what was making the noise. I found the "z" and made my way down to the creek, to a deep pool--a dead pool?! A raven kept circling overhead, cawing at me, unhappy that I was there.

Have you ever had the feeling you were somewhere you shouldn't be? That anxious feeling came over me and I lit up the trail as fast as I could. Even the trail blazes were strange today. About halfway up I ran into the ghost. Then I really hustled up to the trailhead!

I made it to the trailhead--no other vehicles in the area. Then I opened the box to sign out and saw that I did have company on the trail!