Originally Posted by
PedalingWalrus
When I am camping with others I usually wear earplugs - that is pretty cool way to block off worrying sounds of the night. However, it is much better to learn to get used to the creatures of the night...one thing is for sure... a hedgehog or similar small creature makes tons of noise in the quiet of the night. Those sounds usually worry people. A much bigger creature usually makes much much more noise in the woods as they go about. Deer stepping on a dry branch causing a crack in the night is like a gunshot (almost) etc etc...
Heh. The first time I camped at a primitive campsite was when I camped alone at the joint USFS/Adventure Cycling site a few miles up the west slope of Togwotee Pass in Wyoming. Up until that time I had only camped at developed sites like state and municipal parks and private campgrounds. This place had a stunning view of the Tetons. Wild flowers still in bloom. The facility consisted of a bear locker and a picnic table or two along with maybe one fire ring. There were what appeared to be moose tracks in the dried earth. And there was at least one tree stump that appeared to have been scratched apart by bears looking for grubs or something. I was sufficiently off the highway and out of site that no one would have heard me scream.
When I was ready to turn in for the night I realized I had pitched my tent close to the bear locker. (It was the only location that had a soft surface of plant growth. Every creak of a branch and fall of a pine cone in the nearby woods spooked the hell out of me. I got very little sleep, and I still had to finish the climb the next morning. As soon as the sun started to rise I got up and packed in a hurry to lessen the chance of any critter encounter(s). Fortunately, there was a dude ranch a few more miles up the climb that had a restaurant open to the public. I felt much safer there.
These days, I rarely think about things like that, event after coming face to face at about 25' with a giant black bear as I was about to leave camp during my 2017 cross-PA tour.