May 22, 2025 - Return to Bumping Lake: Our Eighth Trip of 2025
- mmartinson2
- May 22, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: May 12
Memorial Day Weekend, we returned to one of my absolute favorite places — Bumping Lake — and we did it with some of our favorite people. It marked our eighth adventure of the year, and while there wasn’t any unusual activity this time, it brought back vivid memories of a much more eventful trip last summer.
A Glimpse I’ll Never Forget
It was during a summer expedition in 2024, at a site we call “Rock Camp,” that I experienced something I’ll never forget.
That week, our group included John Ray and his son Michael, Nick Bell, his fiancée Rachel Turner and his daughter Lydia, and our good friend Tristin Yolton. Later in the trip, Jon and Sara Brown arrived with their daughter Sidney, along with Janice Snyder-Daughtry and her grandson Jacob.
I believe it was Wednesday, August 6th. Rachel and I were sitting in camp chairs facing north, chatting and enjoying the evening while Lydia rode her bike around camp, listening to The Lorax soundtrack. Tristin was sitting a little east of us in his own chair. John Ray had gone to bed early; he and Michael were heading out the next morning so John could get ready for a business trip to Australia.
Around 8:00 p.m., Tristin came over and asked if we’d heard a knock from the east of his location. We hadn’t — the music drowned out most of the background noise. He pulled up his chair to join us, and that’s when we began noticing subtle sounds coming from the northern part of camp, near John’s tent.
Around 8:30 p.m., I walked over to check on John. He hadn’t heard anything — he’d already taken out his hearing aids. I returned to my chair, and about 15 minutes later, something happened that I still struggle to wrap my head around.
I saw it.
A solid black figure moved across the area near John’s tent and walked into the woods toward the road. It wasn’t a blur. It wasn’t a shadow. It was a full, upright figure — black as night, like the silhouette you see in a thermal set to Black Hot. It took two steps and was gone.
In that moment, I was frozen. My thoughts were racing:
“There’s no way I just saw that.”
“I can’t believe what I just saw.”
On our expeditions, we have a saying: “If you see something, say something.” But I didn’t say anything. Not until the next morning.
I ended up texting John Ray to ask if he had gotten up and walked toward the road. His reply still gives me chills:
“My hearing sucks but I thought I heard movement back behind my tent after you came over and then left. I got a peaceful vibe and a ‘hello’ in my mind to whatever was out there.”
Reading that, my stomach dropped. I realized we had experienced something — maybe not together, but definitely at the same time. He heard it. I saw it.
I estimated the figure to be about 6 feet tall. The motion it made was strange — almost jerky — but smooth enough to seem purposeful. I’ve heard others describe similar movements, though I hesitated to say it at first. Who knows — maybe it was just grooving along with the Lorax music.
Fast Forward to This Year
This year’s trip was thankfully more relaxed — no strange sightings, no mysterious sounds. Just fresh mountain air, good company, and peaceful vibes all around.
We were lucky — no hornets, no flies, and beautiful weather. Cool nights, warm days. We rode bikes out of camp, Alan honed his drone-flying skills, and the guys took an overnight trip to the cedar grove — the same spot where they’d experienced some strange happenings last year.
All in all, it was a fun, calm weekend. Even though we didn’t have any unusual activity to report, being back at Bumping Lake with the same group of friends felt amazing.
Until the Next Trip…
Whether or not we have another sighting, these trips continue to be some of the most memorable and meaningful experiences we've ever had. There’s something about the wilderness — the silence, the mystery, the connection to nature and each other — that keeps calling us back.
And we’ll keep answering that call.
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