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View Full Version : I Hope this Guy makes it far!!! Read his last TJ Post, "Night Terrors"



wornoutboots
02-21-2013, 00:00
This should be fun to follow!! Try to imagine all the folks you've met on the trail, sleeping near this dude :D

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=400129

OzJacko
02-21-2013, 00:10
This should be fun to follow!! Try to imagine all the folks you've met on the trail, sleeping near this dude :D

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=400129
I start the day before him....;)

rocketsocks
02-21-2013, 00:17
I start the day before him....;)Perfect, I'll read his....and and then get your take, hehe don't forget your ear plugs Jacko

Zippy Morocco
02-21-2013, 00:27
Good for him. I'm glad he's not letting a little night terror stop him. Should provide an interesting trail name.

canoe
02-21-2013, 00:40
Rotflol .... oh wow I can only imagine... way too funny

TOW
02-21-2013, 00:44
at least he is not peeing himself....

OzJacko
02-21-2013, 00:50
I'm sure if anything the trail will help him.
I'm expecting broken nights of sleep the first four weeks anyway.
My experience tells me that people who sleep on their backs are the worst snorers (not the only - just the worst).
As sleeping on your back is about the only way to be comfortable on a self-inflating mat or foam mat, I try to not sleep in shelters unless there are a lot of neoairs and downmats etc, favoured by us side sleepers.;)

Kaptain Kangaroo
02-21-2013, 02:59
I'm sure if anything the trail will help him.
I'm expecting broken nights of sleep the first four weeks anyway.
My experience tells me that people who sleep on their backs are the worst snorers (not the only - just the worst).
As sleeping on your back is about the only way to be comfortable on a self-inflating mat or foam mat, I try to not sleep in shelters unless there are a lot of neoairs and downmats etc, favoured by us side sleepers.;)

hey OzJacko... you will be so jet lagged you will sleep like a baby !

But my best piece of advice it to take some earplugs. Seriously, they make a huge difference. I kind of liked using the shelters as it was quite a novelty to an Aussie used to only having the tent option & it was a great way to be sociable & meet other hikers... but they are noisy ! I'm a very light sleeper & the snoring, rodent noises, Neoair crinkling etc. would have kept me awake. Earplug take it all away & you can sleep blissfully unaware of the mouse ransacking your pack !!

OzJacko
02-21-2013, 03:06
hey OzJacko... you will be so jet lagged you will sleep like a baby !

But my best piece of advice it to take some earplugs. Seriously, they make a huge difference. I kind of liked using the shelters as it was quite a novelty to an Aussie used to only having the tent option & it was a great way to be sociable & meet other hikers... but they are noisy ! I'm a very light sleeper & the snoring, rodent noises, Neoair crinkling etc. would have kept me awake. Earplug take it all away & you can sleep blissfully unaware of the mouse ransacking your pack !!
Not as much as you think KK!
I arrive NYC 16th March but don't start trail until 22nd. Plenty of time to adjust.
As indicated I am a side sleeper.
I have a small radio (with a 1 hour sleep function) that I plug into the ear not on the pillow.;)

Mulungu
02-21-2013, 05:21
I start the day before him....;)

yes but he may catch you.........

Mulungu
02-21-2013, 05:23
Not as much as you think KK!
I arrive NYC 16th March but don't start trail until 22nd. Plenty of time to adjust.
As indicated I am a side sleeper.
I have a small radio (with a 1 hour sleep function) that I plug into the ear not on the pillow.;)

It seems to me that sleeping in a tent is at least a quieter option. perhaps a bit lonely.
question. What is the best way to stop people snoring when in a shelter?

OzJacko
02-21-2013, 05:44
It seems to me that sleeping in a tent is at least a quieter option. perhaps a bit lonely.
question. What is the best way to stop people snoring when in a shelter?
kill them
or wear ear plugs
simple choice really
easy to lose ear plugs
:D

Liminal
02-21-2013, 07:30
As the mother of a son who has night terrors (since he was a small baby) this is real concern. My son hiked the Long Trail last spring and seemed to do okay...

OzJacko
02-21-2013, 07:49
As the mother of a son who has night terrors (since he was a small baby) this is real concern. My son hiked the Long Trail last spring and seemed to do okay...
I think most people will be OK with it. He just needs to warn people. The shock of it unwarned would be far greater than a case of "oh - that's what he meant" when he has an attack at 3 am.

HikerMom58
02-21-2013, 08:05
We slept in our tents,close to the shelter in the Smokies with a teenage boy that had night terrors. I'm so glad "the aunt" warned us before we went to sleep. Every time he started screaming in his sleep, the aunt would poke him and he stopped. :D

Old Hiker
02-21-2013, 08:18
We slept in our tents,close to the shelter in the Smokies with a teenage boy that had night terrors. I'm so glad "the aunt" warned us before we went to sleep. Every time he started screaming in his sleep, the aunt would poke him and he stopped. :D

For decades, I was the same way. I would literally scream at night for some reason sometimes. Not every night, thankfully. I didn't ever remember if I had nightmares or not. My Scout Troop was used to it - someone would poke me or yell at me. When I was at summer camp one year as a "guest" Scout in another Troop, the first time it happened, I woke up with people running through the camp with flashlights, looking for whoever was being killed. :) After learning the truth, it was no problem, except for the teasing the next day.

Happens every couple of months still, just not as loud or as bad. Still don't remember any nightmares that may be associated with it. It's mostly talking in my sleep now.

OzJacko
02-21-2013, 08:22
For decades, I was the same way. I would literally scream at night for some reason sometimes. Not every night, thankfully. I didn't ever remember if I had nightmares or not. My Scout Troop was used to it - someone would poke me or yell at me. When I was at summer camp one year as a "guest" Scout in another Troop, the first time it happened, I woke up with people running through the camp with flashlights, looking for whoever was being killed. :) After learning the truth, it was no problem, except for the teasing the next day.

Happens every couple of months still, just not as loud or as bad. Still don't remember any nightmares that may be associated with it. It's mostly talking in my sleep now.
I figure if someone near me does it, that's another hour the bears won't come near the food bags....:D

rocketsocks
02-21-2013, 09:01
I start the day before him....;)Trail name "The night hiker"

you may see em at coffee break, turn em around, and send him back to camp. he could get credit for a NOBO SOBO NOBO

Almost There
02-21-2013, 09:30
Hiked with a gal back in 2007. First night we camped with her and her boyfriend up on Beauty Spot, and she woke us in the middle of the night screaming as if something had a hold of her. We all came flying out of our tents, but she was fine. In the light of day she was a sweet and pretty girl, and so the next day she got her trail name, "Sweet Dreamz." Nothing gets you going like being woken out of a dead sleep in the pitch dark of night by someone screaming at the top of their lungs in terror.

max patch
02-21-2013, 10:12
Someone with that issue shouldn't even think about sleeping in a shelter.

Rhanis
02-21-2013, 10:35
Personally, I'd rather have the guy next to me in a shelter wake up screaming, where I could see it was just a nightmare, than someone in a tent I couldn't see scream at 2 in the morning, and wonder if this is a scene from Deliverance for the rest of the night. If said guy warns us before hand, then it's even better. However, if he warns us, then goes and sleeps in a tent, I still wouldn't know if he's just having a bad dream, or if there's a deranged axman trying to cut his way into his tent. Having a hyper-active imagination, I'm more inclined to go investigate to set my mind at ease, than to try to convince myself that it was just "that guy with the night terrors."

I hope he does alright, and is he reading this thread..?

grateful 2
02-21-2013, 20:30
Sew a pocket on the back of your sleeping shirt. Put a tennis ball in the pocket and you will NOT sleep on your back. (or you could just have a friend duct tape a tennis ball to your back each night. It would be a good wake up call removing the tape the next morning.)

TheGreek
02-21-2013, 20:36
Sew a pocket on the back of your sleeping shirt. Put a tennis ball in the pocket and you will NOT sleep on your back. (or you could just have a friend duct tape a tennis ball to your back each night. It would be a good wake up call removing the tape the next morning.)


Hell, skip the tennis ball and you've got a great way to wake up your heavy-sleeper friends.

"Dude, wake up we need to get going"
"Mnnnggghhh... *snore*"
"Dude, WAK EUP"
"Unnggghhhh *snore"
*RRRRRRIIIIIIPPPPP*


Beats wasting perfectly good water on em.

OzJacko
02-21-2013, 20:41
Personally, I'd rather have the guy next to me in a shelter wake up screaming, where I could see it was just a nightmare, than someone in a tent I couldn't see scream at 2 in the morning, and wonder if this is a scene from Deliverance for the rest of the night. If said guy warns us before hand, then it's even better. However, if he warns us, then goes and sleeps in a tent, I still wouldn't know if he's just having a bad dream, or if there's a deranged axman trying to cut his way into his tent. Having a hyper-active imagination, I'm more inclined to go investigate to set my mind at ease, than to try to convince myself that it was just "that guy with the night terrors."

I hope he does alright, and is he reading this thread..?
+1.................

Hairbear
02-21-2013, 21:50
Sew a pocket on the back of your sleeping shirt. Put a tennis ball in the pocket and you will NOT sleep on your back. (or you could just have a friend duct tape a tennis ball to your back each night. It would be a good wake up call removing the tape the next morning.)

pulling that tape off of a hairy back would lead to morning screams and terrors .

punkin pie
02-22-2013, 08:54
He's starting 4 days before me. I hope he is a fast walker and gets some distance between us!

rocketsocks
02-22-2013, 09:31
Sew a pocket on the back of your sleeping shirt. Put a tennis ball in the pocket and you will NOT sleep on your back. (or you could just have a friend duct tape a tennis ball to your back each night. It would be a good wake up call removing the tape the next morning.)Bag that dude, I'd use the tennis ball to hit the boogie man in the head to wake em up....good idea on the sewn pocket keeper waker upper ball keeper thingy.

wornoutboots
02-22-2013, 12:10
I posted this in jest, he seems like a great guy with a lot of miles under his belt, probably a great guy to have around. I don't want this post going sideways against him, he'll need all of our support just like all of the others. ~Peace~

ever4ward
02-22-2013, 19:07
I've slept with a night terror spouse for 28 years. (I should probably reword that sentence but can't come up with a better one just now). The first 5 years were traumatic for me but she'd go right back to sleep and do fine. Now I hear the beginning of one coming on and just nudge her to change position a little and we all go back to sleep. I agree that he should alert shelter mates before hand because there is no going back to sleep with that kind of adrenaline pumping through your system.

wornoutboots
02-23-2013, 14:35
Looks Like a Class Act, here's his latest Journal Entry.

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=400237

TheYoungOne
02-28-2013, 16:13
He has night terrors once a month, where he moans, and talks in his sleep?

Ohhh please...I rather deal with that then having someone who snores like a freight train every single night.