Petzl IKO Core Headlamp | Possibly The Best Headlamp Ever? | Initial Impression

[@buckibanker]

Thanks for all your videos, im headed for a 2 night trip to Zelseki Thursday first my backpacking trip in 10+ years. Watching all your videos has helped me feel more prepared and get some new light gear I needed

[@outdoorstransient1498]

I'm in. Craziest noise was at Lake Vesuvoius, Ohio. Pitched my tent at the beach section. 10:30pm, crazy noises like a woman being something or other. I yelled what the leap is going on, it continued. For another 20 minutes. I drank the last two shots of whiskey, and reluctantly deduced to slumber. Woke at 5:30am and finished the loop. Stopped into Lowes nearby to buy some supplies to fix my bed where I was staying. Got to talking to an employee about the noise...he said hold on ill be right back. He came back with a game cam photo of a mountain lion with a bobcat by the neck passing by. So yeah, I puckered up the next four times I stayed the night along the Lakeshore Trail. Terry

[@jackson4378]

I appreciate the posts! Literally was just starting to pack for a trip and started watching the video and you were immediately was like, ‘I would not take this backpacking.’ And I slowly removed my bigger lamp from my bag slyly like you could actually see me. Thanks for the content! Thanks for helping me out a ton with my packing and progressing in my backpacking and camping experiences!

[@bacchanal_brunch22]

Count me in! I once woke up in my hammock in the early hours of the morning to some rustling noises. There was a buck in my campsite, nothing out of the ordinary right? Then I heard a low whisper, on the other side of my hammock, there were 2 hunters cutting through my campsite, rifles in hand, in a standoff with the deer. Way too much action in my semi awake state, at first I though I was dreaming.

[@elrondain]

At Lake Vesuvius a few years ago, our group had just gone to sleep around 11pm. A group of people came down the horse trail banging drums the whole way. They went far enough away so we were able to get back to sleep. They woke us up again around 4:30am walking back out the way they came. Banging on their drums again the whole way. This was by far the strangest experience I have had while backpacking.

[@austinbainger4794]

I’m a long term Petzl user having graduating from real bulbs to LEDs and currently use a Zipka and a Nao 2. I love the IKO’s ability to be worn around the neck which should work better than a head-torch on cold, dark and misty runs where you can’t see anything every time you exhale. My story was from an exercise in the Borneo jungle some years ago. We were on a patrol and had set up an RV for the night with three of us sitting in a small circle with our backs to each other with the remainder doing a Close Target Recce. Night in the jungle is pitch black, you can’t even see you hand in front of your face. We had been sitting there for about two hours trying not to fall asleep when we heard rustling, movement and then the sound of an animal. It walked between the three of us stopped, sniffed, paused, and then ran off. We froze, we didn’t know what it was but it was big. We were grateful it was more scared of us than we were of it. Two days later I was so tired I slept where I fell, I snuggle into a nice hollow in the ground, half way through the night I woke up. I had chosen a red ant haunt and they had started to bite. I was so tired I didn’t care, rolled over and let them have their fill.

[@CanadianSledDog]

This looks like an upgrade to my petzl nao headlamp. It's large but has a long lasting rechargeable battery and a ton of power, enough for night paddling or scaring off bears. Which is my scariest night story, this spring I woke up to a mom and cub bear while camping on the side of a lake and I used the nao headlamp to spot them at about 200 feet. I yelled at them for a few minutes and they ambled off slowly, stopping to look back and make sure I wasn't following. Good to have a powerful light in that situation. It's surprising how quickly you can get back to sleep after that when you're tired.

[@willshoup721]

Went camping in Birkittsville, MD where Blair Witch Project was filmed. Never been scared in the woods, always comfortable by myself in the woods. Kept hearing noises all night. Didn’t sleep a minute, scared to move in my tent because I didn’t want to make any noise and draw attention to myself from the “thing” outside. Got up at day break only to find squirrels all over the place running around up and down trees making all the noise. Now I’ve heard squirrels in the woods and never paid any attention to them but when you might have a witch roaming around at night a two pound squirrel running through leaves is terrifying.

[@KyJohn08]

Boyscouts, scoutmaster spends all night telling scary stories around the campfire, then in the middle of the night screams and crashes through tents scaring everyone. We all run from our tents, and half of us end up crashing into the lake right buy the camp site. He spent next hour apologizing to parents, and helping us get warm and dry by the fire.

[@bobhazen8013]

Was at summer camp in 5th grade, we were sleeping under the stars on a small summit that was all exposed granite telling ghost stories during a full moon. While lying down getting settled for bed, someone was telling a story about vampire bats sucking the blood of their victims right as the story ended, a huge swarm/flock of bats flew through our group of over 50 campers - chaos resulted, campers screaming, running around, hiding in their bags, sticks swinging (one I believe had fire on its end), small rocks being thrown, etc. picture a bunch of pre-teen kids trying to cope.

[@spikester40]

I’m in. My first solo was this year. Found a nice quiet camp spot all to myself. I’m in my tent when I hear voices. 6 20 something kids show up. Reassured me I would be safe as they were all packing. Don’t know about guns but they had enough smoke to last them all night. They giggled all night. Me, didn’t sleep a wink. They stayed and I moved bright and early the next morning.

[@-nepherim]

Camping near a lake in Kenya. We were woken in the middle of the night by a loud ripping huffing noise. And the the tent shook. And then the ground shook as multiple large animals fled from tripping on the guy line. In the morning we were told our tent was entirely surrounded by a herd of hippo. Fun times! :)

[@blacktoad11]

Hey Bryce, I'm in! I'll keep the story short. Woke up to 10 sets of waist high or higher glowing eyes looking at me and rustling around. Got out of the hammock to get a closer look only to find out it was a bunch of deer. Next morning I discovered I was sleeping near a mulberry tree. The deer must have come in for a late night snack. Thanks for the content - I'm still waiting for my LiteAF multiday bag to ship...I'm pretty pumped about doing a super light, no luxury loadout also. Cheers from Michigan.

[@thaddeusmikolajczyk9055]

Last week I was out on a overnight alone. About 2:00 am I had a fox come into camp and started screaming it woke me up. The fox spend most of the night screaming around camp. I enjoy your videos.

[@Maria-yf8fp]

My young daughter and I ended up as the only campers at a campground because of a computer glitch. Totally Alone was not what we mentally had planned for. To top that off the stream was roaring so we couldn't hear a thing outside of our tent. The bears could have been having a disco dance in our campsite and we wouldn't have heard them. I'm in!

[@wdaubner]

I'm in! I only have been on two trips, five nights total. Nothing too crazy, but a night hike in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park I got to see a long haired bearded guy hiking without any light and wearing combat boots and a sundress! The wife was certain we were not making it out of there alive.

[@sonnyboywannabe]

Camping at 10.5k ft unplanned on Froze to Death Plateau. All water sources were dried up or melted, 2 of my party were missing after attempting to summit a nearby peak. We got socked in with fog and couldnt see more than 20 feet. Pitched a tarp to sleep. Lit lights under it to make it glow. At about 9pm (5hours late) the two miraculously stumble into camp. It then rains all night, so I collect water waking up every 30minutes until about 3.30 when I fall asleep. Wake up to the sounds of nearby grunting animals. Look around to see 6" of snow and 15-20 big horn sheep wandering around our encampment. I've had scary moments near moose, but this tops all with worries for friends and the extreme conditions. I'm from Ohio, so everything about this situation was surreal and near terror inducing :-)

[@gilbertmedina1837]

I took a trip with a few guys from work, one who had never been camping. He woke up to because he had to pee but heard a growling noise and would not leave his tent. Because of this, he drank 2 bottles of water to make room (makes sense right?) and let then let go in those....Turns out the bear he 'knew' was outside waiting for him was me snoring in my tent 15 feet away...It made for great laughs at breakfast!

[@buckman840]

Backpacking trip in scouts in bear country for the first time with Midwest farmland scouts. Coming back from campfire only myself had a flashlight with everyone crowding around me walking just .5 mile.

[@billkehrwald7957]

I'm still too much of a rookie to really have any great stories, but while camping in southern IN and having the magic combination of hearing gunshots a mile or so away, my campfire shifting and flaming up so the light was cast from front to the back wall of my tent (so it looked like people were coming up the trail while shining a flashlight on my tent), and not yet realizing that in the dark sizes are magnified to the point that the raccoon exploring my camp sounded like a bear or human. Second solo trip and I didn't sleep much at all.

[@michaelharris4503]

On the Appalachian train. Got to Blood Mountain cabin on a Friday night only to be told I couldn’t stay there as they had 20+ kids already in there already . Spent the night on the ledge of the mountain only to be woken up by something at my feet at about 4:30 am. Shown a light and it was a skunk. Didn’t know I could jump straight up into the air and navigate the ledge in the dark. Made it to Neel Gap in about 30 minutes flat lol!

[@anthonylounsbury1866]

I went out to Eklutna lake for a 2 nighter this summer. I figured Friday I'd be able to stay at a car camp spot then hit the trail early Saturday. Ended up with all those sites full so I had to hike around the opposite side of the lake to camp. The site was awesome, near the water and beautiful views, but i was a solid mile from the trail head. Once I decided to turn in I woke up multiple times to the sounds of big mammals. I know one was a moose but I'm pretty confident I had a bear go by about 20 feet from my tent. I was a little uneasy but figured the tent was my best bet at that point. Lol

[@taylorriley5822]

I’m in. Thanks for your time and effort with great videos and content.

[@tripppleDaddy]

Was hiking with my teenager and we slept in Hennesy Hammocks. I woke up in the pitch-black night hearing the, what i thought, was the noise of a badger. I was trying to make some noise to make it go away but I found out that I was not able to speak or move. I was caught between sleep/dream and awake. I fell asleep and then again I was caught in dream/awake state with the sensation of something pushing against the walls of the hammock. Like being in between two big animails leaning against the hammock. Not scary , just weird as I knew I was only dreaming somehow. Finally i woke up and turned on my PETZL Reactik plus. It's front heavy and needs an upgrade :D

[@danharrison5285]

I'm in. Best story is when headlamp was on in my pack and got to camp just before dark and had to set up with out a light.

[@UnlikelyHiker]

Last night while backpacking I was falling asleep and awoke to this whining howl. It didn’t sound too close but loud enough it made me nervous. I didn’t recognize it as an owl or coyote. Keep in mind I was stealth camped between two bushwhack peaks. Literally in the middle of nowhere, Catskills, NY. I sat up, opened the tent fly and listened carefully. It was fire house sirens...There apparently a rescue going on the next mountain range over. Eyes rolled, I flopped back down in bed glad the noise wasn’t something that was going to try to kill me. Interesting headlamp design!

[@timolig7054]

Got under tree at night to get out of the rain, heard slow loud drops all night awoke covered with blood as was camped below a deer hang.Dont enter me in the drawing as I have a great headlamp already. You inspire me to get out. I love when you record your thought process too...the Mt Hood one was really great.

[@JESTER2311]

We were doing a 48 hour survival training for a regional SAR team when it was almost time to go crash for the night. We heard a wrestle on the logging road above us and then thrashing. I look over at my Hammock set up and all of a sudden a buck come shooting off the hill through my campsite destroying everything and hit my pack so hard but it through my camp Axe 30 feet from my camp. Oh and I’m definitely in on the giveaway

[@spetret]

Really helpful review. Best overnight story--probably running Javelina 100 a few years back with my wife. She and I both had our headlamps go super dim around the same time. We pulled off the trail to rest for a bit and let another runner catch up so we could share their light. When they finally got to us we stood up and realized we were about 2 feet away from a giant tarantula. Guess not much bothers you when you are in the middle of a 100 miler--too tired to worry about giant spiders.

[@bgetz11]

Bryce I'm in just subscribed! That headlamp looks awesome

[@jonsanford2515]

Backpacking at Grayson Highlands, there was a thunderstorm after we went to sleep. We had lightning strike so close, the flash and boom happened simultaneously. We jumped up and opened the doors to look around, and there were 3 ponies curled up between our tents. We figured we must have picked a good spot if the ponies weren’t getting out of there, and went back to sleep.

[@mysterious.hiker.x]

Not my kind of headlamp, especially at that price. But it is cool to see Petzl continuing to try and innovate in an area that doesn't seem like there can be much growth in my eyes. I use the Petzl Bindi but I think the Nitecore NU25 still reigns supreme when it comes to backpacking headlamps. Going to submit a story but not to enter the contest. This is just for others who can relate: My wife and I went hiking last spring and we left right after I got home from work. We had to hustle to the campsite which was located only a few miles away. We got there at dusk, set up camp, and decided that we wanted to walk around a small loop that was about 2 miles near the campsite. So my wife loves to talk about supernatural tales from her culture and thought that some night-hiking would be the perfect time to do it. She began to tell a story about Pishtaco and how it makes humans into Chicharrones (which are delicious by the way). No sooner does she finish the story when we hear a sound like nothing I could remember in any of my nights outside. It sounded like "Who cooks you?" "Who cooks you?!?!" We scan everywhere with our headlamps, trying to find the Pishtaco. After 30 seconds (but what seemed like hours) of trying to find the creature, we see a barred owl in a tree and it calls out again. Damn, they make a haunting call at night but we were incredibly thankful that the Pishtaco had not found us.

[@kirkrozelle1900]

Love your channel. Looks like a great headlamp. The night before starting out on the High Sierra Trail we camped at Lodgepole campground in Sequoia N.P. In the middle of the night we were awakened by a HUGE noise that we at first thought was thunder nearby. Instead, it was a large Sequoia tree that had fallen ... and there wasn't any wind!!! It wasn't right in camp, but still was shocking!

[@JeannieBoltPhotos]

I’m in! Just returned from North Cascade and Paintbrush Canyon in the Tetons and a moose came through the campsite - the clothes hanging next to the tent must have scared him and he starred stomping- couldn’t get my light to turned on fast enough!!

[@pulserifle99]

Sleeping in my my hammock in the dinkey creek wilderness. It was incredibly bright night and in the middle of the night sometime, I heard some crazy sounding howls. Not like coyotes but deeper. In the morning I asked everyone else if they heard it and they all did. It woke up all 5 of us.

[@jeremythigpen2456]

Awesome headlamp, I would love a shot at it. While packing with a group of Boy Scouts , my uncle brought two mules to carry cooking supplies and food for the overnight trip. During the night one if the mules got lose and knocked my tent down, I woke up from a dead sleep and had no idea what happen and had a scared mule caught up in my tent.

[@barb61]

creepy camping story- with my teen kids in catskill mtns in NY. Campground was in the valley next to the lake and the Escarpment trail was up the mountain from the campground. Woke up at 5 am to loud shrieking over and over. I’m positive wasn’t fox or coyote or owl - I’ve heard all those plenty before. Sounded like came from the escarpment and like a woman in great danger. Thought maybe someone had fallen off the cliff (in the dark????) but rangers said no. None of my kids heard it. Still dont know what it was, but freaked me out!

[@jeffinBrooklyn1]

I was on a school trip in the BWCA and I was sleeping outside and heard a bunch of animals running and looked up and saw three wolves taking off with our food. Never been more scared in my life. Hope that qualifies for the give away

[@consumedesign]

The last night on a 7 day section hike of the AT I decided to just stay in the shelter due to the amount of dead trees in the tenting area (I hardly use the shelters). I had mice running around me all, all, all, night long and I couldn't sleep at all. I barely got 3 hours maybe and had a 12 mile hike to the end.

[@RC-vi6kk]

I'm in. My story really isn't creepy but more of a "was it a bear" story. Me and the wife were backing for 2 nights in Yellowstone a few years back. First day we setup camp at a campsite around a small lake. We were the only group there out of 4 campsites. The first night I left my sandals outside of the tent since they stunk of feet and river water. I saw them the morning of the second day before I went on a hike around the lake by myself. The wife stayed at camp in her hammock and read a book. When I came back, the tent looked like it was slightly bent. Like as if something pressed it flat to the ground and let it pop back up. There was 3 small holes in the rain fly and my sandals were missing. Nothing else was ripped up or missing. My wife didn't hear anyone or see anyone come down the trail to the lake. This was a fairly heavy undergrowth area around the lake. Not much traffic or trails leading into or out of the lake. If someone bushwhacked to the lake you would have heard them a good distance out. I keep telling myself that it was a small animal that thought they smelled like food. Since then I hang my camp shoes with the food bag so they don't go missing again when I go hiking.

[@JoelLackey]

Rolled up late one night to our campground minutes after a severe microburst. I had no idea it had just happened. Just throughly confused why big mature pines lay across the road to our site. Confused even more when other campers approached asking if we were OK. “Uh, yeah, I guess so? But I’d be a lot better if this tree wasn’t blocking my spot.”

[@Knightrider9091]

A group of us went out to camp under tarps, in the field next to us were sheep. When it got late the fog started to set in very low and it was a full moon which added the atmosphere. It was the perfect scary moving setting, and as the sheep moved in the other with the fog and the moon light it stretched and changed the shadows. You then had the low ba ba ba sound of a sheep and now and then you'd just see a set of eyes.

[@sammcdonald3443]

Bryce, I am in.... scariest moment ever for me was the first time I ever backpacked 25 years ago in the Cranberry Wilderness.... as we turned the corner sound a huge boulder, there was a moms near and her cubs. The cubs scattered up the trees and the moms started walking towards us up the trail. She kept coming... we decided to scramble off trail down the mountain.

[@TomyHovingtonHiking]

My last section hike of the VIT , camped by the side of the trail after hiking over 35 miles. At 4 am, I wake up hearing noise in the distance.. still not fully awake I’m debating if it’s my imagination. Noise are getting louder, mama bear and cub are coming my way on the trail. I keep telling myself that they will head back in the woods but when it becomes clear that they will definitely walk pass my camp site. I reached for my bear bell and rang it... At that point the very loud discussion between mama bear growls and cubs whinings stopped leaving the full quietness of the forest in full display. I heard mama bear’s low growl just outside my tent....! Then heard her roaring back and forth along the river bed, in what seemed to me like she was clearing a path for the cub up in the tree.... This lasted 2 hrs and during all that time I was hugging my bear spray ( with the safety off ) harder that anything I cuddled with before. I am grateful that after these 2hrs she called her cub from the river side. I heard him come down from the tree, claws scratching on the bark . And they were on their way... ( growling and whining). This was on my second night out on my EP.3 Video of section hiking the Vancouver Island trail. This seems like an amazing head lamp and would love to enter the draw..🤙

[@FmProdigyProductions]

Creepiest night of sleep while backpacking, was in Zaleski just about a month ago and was lucky enough to come across a baby tic nest in the middle of the night while trying to find fire wood. Let's just say we go out of there pretty early that day

[@brianadventures9622]

I'm in. Last year I went backpacking with a friend I hadn't seen in years, the next morning I woke up and mentioned to him about a crazy dream of somebody reaching under the vestibule and rummaging through my pack. He exclaimed he had the same exact dream! It was bizarre

[@draekko_]

I'm in. Craziest was stealth camping and having all manners of critters and ppls dogs stopping by. Didn't get much sleep that night was always expecting ppl to be coming after their pets.

[@EdwardMcGovern]

Put me in the drawing ... My old Pr Petzel zipka just died. Two stories. 1) could have used this lamp function to watch the snow fall inside the tent during a brutally cold winter camping trip where our breath froze and came back down as 'snow'. 2. The time the neighbors in the next campsite started yelling and screaming and hitting their pots since they were sure there was a bear. Light would have been nice to be able to confirm the sighting or their craziness.

[@elliothirschfeld5224]

Went camping in upstate Arizona set up camp and went to sleep after a long hike. I woke up in a sudden cold snap and when I turned on my headlamp to look around my tent was covered in spiders crawling all over my tent.

[@codyis17]

First and only solo trip took my dog for his second trip. He kept waking up and freaking out from movements and sound out of the tent. Him being on edge but me on edge.

[@ronin43424]

I'm in - but maybe too late. 83 yrs old and still hiking - last vivit to Mayakka River State Park Bee's Island campsite at 5:00 a.m. heard a chilling bark from an unknown annimal. Sounded somewhere between a cayote and dog but not identified. Heard it then nothing and again about every 1.5 minutes and continued for 15 minutes. Hair raising for sure,

[@13dhomer]

I’m in Bryce! As far as stories go my creepiest nights in the woods are ones from my childhood growing up in the PNW. I’ve been around long enough to remember Leonard nimoy doing his show “ in search of” and the one about Bigfoot always got the hairs on the back of my neck raised going through the cascades😳 and I naturally assumed Sasquatch was roaming everywhere out there at night!

[@johnlafond2159]

Not the scariest, but earlier this year my hiking partner and I were testing out our new Kammock Mantis hammocks and enjoying a few beverages. 4:00 am i wake up to screaming and swearing. He had gotten into the whiskey and forgot to open the bug net after relieving himself. Ripped it wide open on his first night.

[@sugarfreeshootermilsim3129]

Second to last night on the trail at Philmont, my tent buddy and I woke up to something walking through camp. When we got out of the tent the next morning, we saw some big ol' cat prints about a foot from our tent.

[@FrozensAdventures]

Cool first look. Definitely a unique design on that one. I'll probably kick and scream when the NU25 gets discontinued.

[@dixiebling8599]

That thing looks awesome! (I'm in)- Haven't had anything super scary as of yet-critters sniffing at my tarp when i'm hanging in the hammock...but usually I'm so tired I just slap at the tarp and tell em to piss off then fall back asleep. However I also carry a "Bear alarm" named Jango (pomeranian) and a "Bear you're too close" (gun) when I'm out solo. You helped me decide on a pack-got me a 46 L Liteaf bag and lovin' it! Thanks for the great videos- always entertaining: ))

[@bearhawk426]

Craziest night in the woods was in high school. 4 of us camped out in January to see a lunar eclipse. Temperature dropped to 14° F and none of us had the correct gear for the weather. Spent all night collecting fire wood to try to stay warm.

[@ontrail4658]

I am in. This light looks interesting. No real crazy stories, except maybe not paying attention and having to jump a sleeping porcupine on the trail at Oil Creek State Park. I had to stop and see if it was dead, he wasn't. Lol Love your videos!

[@Ryezn5057]

Nice headlamp. What cam do you use here?

[@jeremygoldberg2952]

Im in. In my early days of backpacking several years ago, during a full moon, I woke up and saw a shadow reflecting on the inside of my tent what appeared to be huge animal. Scared the heck out of me. Turned out to be a field mouse.

[@keliblum6591]

Sleeping in tent long ago in Yellowstone. Thought a bear was outside the tent, was very scared. When we went out it was a couple of priest walking around camp just as it was getting light out.

[@AberKanobeeO_o]

Im in! Keep up the great vids.

[@slylyunleashed8419]

Not scary but pretty funny one time me and some marine buddys were in a tent in Afghanistan when a big rat ran in the tent everyone started freaking out trying to get away lol it reminded me of the cartoons where the girl jumps on the chair screaming and here we are supposed to be these big tough marines lol anyways keep up the great work man 🖒

[@KingJamez76]

That headlamp looks pretty cool. I'd say the scariest trip I ever had was. I was asleep in my tent when something walked by and brushed against the side. I never found out what it was. I assumed it was something small like a raccoon or a porcupine. Either way it gave me a good fright in the middle of the night.

[@Starscreamlive]

Looks like a pretty cool headlamp!

[@sleepygrey8468]

I was trying out a new pair of gloves. They were too small but it was so cold and wet out, I couldn't really feel how tight they were. By the time I realized, circulation had been cut off so long I couldn't move my hands for about an hour. Really thought I had done some damage

[@slayer213345]

Woke up to the handles on my trekking poles partially eaten off. Apparently a porcupine or marmot got to them and really needed the salt so took chunks out of them with their teeth.

[@gboltonatrail1099]

No story, but I am in because your headlamp is so much cooler than OutLans! 🤣

[@drwisniewski]

Hey Bryce! Not a question about this video but I wasn’t sure how else to each out - thinking you would have good advice. We have a group of backpackers traveling from Michigan.to Red River Gorge. To cut some drive time, we’d like to use an evening to drive to somewhere around Dayton. While we won’t be backpacking that night per se, any recommendations north of Dayton for a group of backpackers to car camp one night?

[@alexwbanks70]

I was in Yosemite and had been drinking a little whisky after my hike up to Yosemite Falls that day. I decided to take a night hike "alone". I was way down the trail when I started to see signs posted saying (Mountain Lion spotted in the area. DO NOT hike at night and DO NOT hike alone. Well it was a little late at this point and yes a little too much whiskey made me think that this was funny. I just started saying out loud, bring it on Mountain Lion. BTW Bryce the lower section of site 10 in Mohican is shut down. :-(

[@hikethat401]

I’m in. Me and my 15-year-old daughter went on a short overnighter this spring. She was a little bit nervous and was asking me lots of questions when we were hiking in just a few miles in. One of her question was what animals where in the area that could be dangerous? In the Utah Wasatch front there are a lot of mountain lions, they don’t seem to bother anyone usually. But this was my answer to her. I always have a pocket knife with me. So she wanted to bring her cheap $10 pink handles pocket knife also. As we sat around the campfire roasting marshmallows it soon became pretty evident that she was quite terrified of being attacked by a mountain lion. “What’s that noise?” “Are we going to die?” After l pee-ed a protective circle around the tent (Best father ever) we got settled for bed. I was just about to drift off to sleep when my daughter woke me up pretty much crying that she was, “so scared”. So we set a little prayer that we would be safe and went to sleep. In the morning after a chilly night sleep my daughter mentioned to me that her hand was really sore...? “Why”, I asked? She said, “because I was holding my pocket knife so tight all last night. I even had to switch hands every now and then because my hand would get so sore.” Good times. See this is why we go backpacking to make good stories like this. Basically We were protected by an invisible pee ring, a prayer and a hormonal 15-year-old girl with a pink handled butter knife. I am so grateful I live to tell the tale. Hopefully next time I will have a sweet new headlamp to add to my security system. Keep up the great videos. And you should head out to Utah again to experience some more of what we have to offer here.

[@kellyky1969]

Swore large beasts were prowling around outside my tent all night on the Sheltowee. Come morning, realized it was nothing more than shelled beatles between ground polycro and tent floor....uuugghhh

[@GimpyCamper]

Headlamps make all the difference in the world. Then I got a cheap one and thought it was good until I got a good one. The first good one I had had a push button on it and I was less than intrigued just because the push button would turn on in my pack. So now I have a petzyl that has a turn knob. This one does look interesting though. If you want to join in, we have a FB group for camping/youtube channels (over 200 channels) called Camping KZbin Community Support. Feel free to come by and share your videos.

[@BryceNewbold]

Thanks! I'll definitely check it out!

[@squeakygiant]

After a long day rock climbing in Tennessee, we settled down to sleep when we were woken at gun point by rangers. They claimed we had alcohol, which we did not. I told them we did not have any, and I was threatened with being shot. We were forced to pack up by headlamp and were hiked out at 2 in the morning once everyone was packed and ready to go. As we were hiking in the middle of the one of the rangers remarked

[@squeakygiant]

Hiking out in pitch black in the middle of the forest one of the rangers commented that he had more bullets than people in our group.

[@dmn3773]

It's a long story but the scariest moment while solo backpacking had to be being woken up by people tapping on my tent in the middle of the night asking for help. How they were asking for help though was rather creepy... Two people were speaking to me in hushed voices and they wanted me to come help their 'buddy' who was injured down on the trial. idk about any of you but if I was night hiking and I needed to get someones attention for an emergency, I wouldn't be creeping about on someones campsite. Long story short and after some questions that I asked them I screamed at them to get the !@#$ out of here and I heard three people running from my campsite, yet only two were talking to me. The next day I hiked back up to the car where there was a forest cop parked near the TH. Apparently there was a report of an older couple people having been robbed 48 hours prior to my encounter. Leading up to this incident I never carried bear spray or a firearm with me while in the back country. Too heavy too bulky. That incident changed things for me and I am not going into the woods unarmed ever again.

[@larryl4881]

The head lamp is kind of sci-fi. My strange G rated backpacking story is. When I was hiking the AT of the Shenandoah I found an small clearing in the bush. I woke up to a baby bear crying and it was coming closer. Maybe 5 min past after the bear cub past me, something running super fast through the bushes and it ran into my tent. Idk what it was but it nearly flattened my tent.

[@jpriddle]

Soooo. What are the non-G rated stories? 😁

[@paulmoore8496]

Tent camping at Mother Neff State Park in Texas, I heard something chewing on my plastic tent stakes in the middle of the night. It may have been an armadillo, but I never saw it.

[@THERAPYINU]

2020 solo overnight at Allegheny NF, passed day hikers who reported a bear crossed the trail, heading toward the Reservoir inlet where I had planned to camp; got to my site hours later, set up my tent on the very edge of the inlet, near where it ran shallow to the forest edge. 30 minutes after my fire died, drifting off to sleep, bear-bag high and away in the woods, something the size of a chubby nine-year-old with pool goggles began to lose footing at higher elevation, opposite side of the inlet, spooling itself with hillside vines, tumbling faster in a race with debris and cramping, ultimately cannonballing into the Reservoir. Freaked out, I opened my tent door forgetting my headlamp wrapped around my wrist-staring at the churning inky water, and could barely make out the head of whatever it was as it thrashed a second then nodded and nodded as it swam like it had 2 summers of lessons toward my muddy banks side of the inlet. I crouched back into my tent for my knife, but when I looked back out all I saw-and heard-were the lapping waves of the splash sped up and cresting now as it must be nearing me, paddling and swallowing guts of unfiltered water. I wanted to shout ‘hey bear’-I wanted to scream ‘ice-cream’-but it never came out of the water. I’m in.

[@TheNypenfan]

I don’t want the headlamp, but I wanted to add my story, my wife went with me for her first overnight ever. We camped at bear pond in the adirondacks and all night long we heard loud splashes in the water.....she was convinced it was big foot...until the morning when she finally saw the beaver smacking the water.

[@cozmo3778]

Dude that’s a dope headlamp I’m gonna be getting one even if I don’t win so anyway I did have a kind of scary moment in the woods camping I was tent camping and it was 2 am when a stampede of elk or deer not sure but it was so close one snagged the tarp with his antler and tore it completely down so I just laid there and was glad it wasn’t me that got snagged !

[@johnbauman8926]

Woke up to what we later determined was a barred owl. I fell back asleep right away but not my wife. The next day I was scared I might say the wrong thing to her, as she needs her sleep! I'm in!

[@chrishanssen1980]

I was with friends in Dartmoor. As we gently whafting to sleep I started to hear my friend shouting "WHAT THE..." "ARRRR!!!" "FUCKING HELL!!! ARRGGGGHHH" "ITS A FUCKING HORSE!" A dartmoor pony had nuzzled into the side of his tent and awoke him in the middle of the night. Needless to say we all took a while to get to sleep; him from fear and us from laughter.

[@scottbutler1561]

I just took my wife on her first backpacking/hammocking trip last month to western PA. We were in a remote rarely used state forest and I had just assured my wife that wild animals avoid humans, when @ 2AM I felt a nose shove the side of my hammock. It wasn't aggressive it almost felt curious. Of course, I yelled and turned on my light then felt fur brushing underneath me as whatever it was, calmly walked away. I was lazy that night and hung the food bag at eye level @ 100 ft away. I think a bear or raccoon would have easily opened it. The food was untouched, so I'm guessing it was a curious coyote.

[@doubledsinthewild1855]

Camping along the river in the Wallowa Mountains. Less than 10 minutes after I later in my tent, I heard footsteps. Many more throughout the night😳 send me the headlamp please 😂

[@smokey9467]

Sleeping at the base of the South Sister and heard something scratching on my tent. I called out, who's there, grunt, grunt and then a groan. I unzipped my tent a little bit. Oh shhhhttttt and there was the Restless one staring at me with a really goofy grin. DANG, that was the worst nightmare of my life... By the way, is it possible that you have the new light upside down? 🤔

[@MonkeyMagick]

Alone on a trail in Borneo at first light and got chased by a sun bear. Never thought I could still run like that. lol.

[@troykallister5138]

I'm in... Was doing camp chores and hearing what sounded like someone banging logs together. Went on a short hike after for some views and heard it again. Got a small fire going and heard it again. Went to sleep and about 2 a.m. with one of the most windless nights I ever camped in, I mean not even the slightest breath of air was moving, and I'm awoken by the cracks of a tree starting to fall and then relief as it crashes to ground like 25 yrds away. I'm not saying it was bigfoot but...... It was bigfoot

[@jeremerandles7373]

The Barn Owl screech really gets m my attention .

[@MightyMidgey]

Most of the creepiest moments happened in one night. While trying to fall asleep, I heard coyotes barking and howling in the distance. Then while sleeping I was awoken by the beavers having what I was pretty sure "sexy time" in the lake. Lastly, I was awoken to squirrels throwing pine cone bombs on the top of the tent. Much like the Farmers Insurance commercial: www.ispot.tv/ad/dO0i/farmers-insurance-hall-of-claims-vengeful-vermin

[@bretthikez6567]

When you doing the super heavy gear trip?that'd be interesting to see ..maybe call it the NOOB trip..🤓

[@brent_f]

Nothing like waking up in the morning to find bear tracks by your camp site.

[@gretchenlopez787]

I was doing my 1st solo trip and was at Mohican. All of a sudden I hear these demon like noises in the woods that scared me to death. Luckily i had cell service and started googling animal noises. Only to find out what I was hearing was barred owls. (Im from Puerto Rico,no barred owls there) anyway, i hear them now all the time when i backpack and always think of that night and how scared I was.

[@dwayneg8486]

First of all, thanks for doing the giveaway. Great video as well. That light looks pretty neat. So story time. I had gotten back into backpacking and dying to go on an overnighter. First mistake Was going in July and I live in Georgia. Luckily we only had a little over a mile to camp from where we parked. We got to camp and set up. I was excited because I brought my new hammock. Second mistake. Was a double layering hammock again July in Georgia. Next we were not going to have a fire but the bugs were so bad we needed the smoke. So we built a fire in July in Georgia. Next we decided to eat. Why I cooked a hot meal is beyond me and after fixing it did not want to eat because it was so hot. We lay down at hiker midnight so about 8:30 with no cell signal and just laid there melting in the hammock with nothing but boxers. Had to use the bug net for the aforementioned bugs but no air movement turned the hammock into a sauna. Finally stared to drift off a little and then the screeching started. Finally figured out that 3 bard owls had made their way into out camp forming a triangle around us and made the most awful noise and would shut up. My son and friend chased them off with their own screeching and curse words. 30 minutes later they were back. Finally about 2:30am. I fell asleep. Woke up at 6 and looked at the weather report. It was going be mid 90’s by 10 am. I slumbered out of the hammock and packed up. Skipped coffee still to hot. Woke my son and friend and told them if they did not was to self combust they needed to get up. We got back to the car and headed straight to a McDonalds for breakfast and then home for a nap. No more summer trips in Georgia since. Lesson learned. Cheers

[@wilkescustomkniveswilkes9664]

One time I was camping on a sand bar late at night laying in my hammock trying to fall asleep and heard sounds like a metal canoe hit rocks on the creek I was camp on which no one would do cause its to shallow jumped up and ran to the creek and there was no one there at all no canoe... ghost canoe ? BTW I really like the design of that light.

[@icepick6270]

I'm in for that new Petzl lamp Bryce, looks really cool! Scariest time was in August 1980 with my little brother (6yrs) & me (16yrs) in Shenandoah NP, when at pre-dawn we heard bobcats going at each other. Sounded like someone getting murdered. #*@&ed-up!!

[@nobison6185]

I heard the loudest damn bird call ever at dusk and again at dawn. Hiked out the next morning and down the trail was a house that owned peacocks! Google peacock call- really loud birds.

[@garrycollins3415]

Craziest story. Overnight near Grayson Highlands on the AT in Virginia. I stowed my food bag in a bear box nearby. In the middle of the night I'm woken by heavy breathing, sniffing, snorting. I turned on my head lamp. A bear was pushing it's snout against my rain fly. I yelled, it didn't move. I punched it, it left. Turns out I forgot to put my trash bag with my food bag. Not making that mistake again.

[@woodchip2782]

Loved the closing images and music😊 As for the lamp...meh! It’s too big for me. But I like the bag\lantern. I prefer my Petzl Bindy, it’s also rechargeable and takes no space at all compared to this one you show and has a shock cord for a headband. It folds up smaller than the battery you showed and weighs 1.1 ounce (3.1 g).

[@eckythump8318]

First multi day hike, we got that drunk, my mate kept yelling at his reflection to turn its headlamp off it was blinding him.

[@mikeghost7788]

Sorry I have nothing, no scary night hikes. But last labor day weekend down in red river gorge my son got so creeped out by the sounds he went to bed lol!!! "Some knocking and stuff like that." Are there more comments than usual? Wonder why? Your moving up in the world!! "Carol Baskins!!"