"The Midnight Hike"

**"The Midnight Hike"** is the fourth tale in the eighth episode of the third season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a hiking instructor and his charges are joined by a malevolent presence. Written by Kelsey Donald, it has a runtime of 41:17 and was performed by David Cummings. It is the 227th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A hiking instructor, Owen, receives a call from his coworker, Marcus. Marcus says he can't lead his usual midnight hike up to Pine Ridge Lake that night and asks Owen to swap with him. Though reluctant at first, since he has a hike of his own and hasn't taken the Pine Ridge trail in the dark before, he agrees. Marcus seems anxious as he informs him that he must lead the group down the blue trail only and to never accidentally go down the red trail.

Owen meets his hikers late that night in the meeting spot: two college students named Kara and April, a city-dweller named Dave, a couple named Mike and Elena, an older woman named Monica, and a younger man named Jordan. He gives them an overview of the hike up to the lake before piling everyone into the van and driving up to the mountain.

The trek begins without a hitch, with everyone given their own headlamp to light the way. After about ten minutes, the group gets momentarily lost and Owen asks anyone if they see a marker, to which Jordan responds he sees a red one. Owen thinks this is impossible, because the red trail shouldn't cross the blue one for another few minutes. They quickly find the blue marker again and continue on their way.

A few miles later, Owen almost leads the group down the red trail again. Kara teases him for almost getting them lost. He notices that the red trail is exceedingly dark and seems to swallow up the light from their headlamps. Kara asks him what's at the end of the red trail, to which he responds that he doesn't know.

The group arrives at the lake and admires the moonlit water before having a campfire and roasting marshmallows. They count down the time to midnight and hang around for a few more minutes before deciding it's time to head back to the van.

On the way back, Owen keeps his head down, counting his steps. His headlamp begins to flicker. After not hearing any noises from behind him for a few minutes, he looks up to see a red marker before realizing he's been going down the wrong trail for a few hundred feet. He hears someone walking up behind him and feels a cold hand against his back. He turns around to address the person but realizes that the nearest person to him is Kara, still about thirty feet away. Panicking and wondering what it was that just touched him, she teases him again for leading them down the wrong trail before the group begins searching for a blue marker. Owen thinks he sees a pinpoint of light somewhere ahead but before he can investigate Jordan finds the blue trail again. Owen leads the way again, shaken and frightened.

After a few miles, he looks behind him, only to see eight lights floating behind him in the darkness instead of the seven he should see from the hikers' headlamps. He stops dumbly only to have Kara run into him, who asks if it's time for a water break. Panicking, he tells her no and begins leading the group again, picking up his pace and looking behind him at the extra light.

Nearly running by this point, he begins go so fast and is so terrified by the light that he trips and falls, spraining his ankle and causing his headlamp to go out. Kara approaches moments later and berates him for going so fast and abandoning the group. He points out the extra light to her, at which she is horrified. The hikers begin passing him as Kara helps him put new batteries into his headlamp. He drops one just as one of the final hikers pass. Kara offers to share her headlamp with him, but he insists that she runs. She does so and he notices the extra light is only a few yards away. He finds the other battery, snaps it into his lamp, and runs down the trail.

In the ten minutes it takes him to reach the trailhead, he feels the warm, lifelike light hitting his back. As he rounds the bend and finally exits the forest, he sees Kara standing by the van with the others, a look of horror on her face. Owen realizes she's not looking at him, but whatever's behind him. However, when he turns around, he sees nothing there but dark, empty woods. On the ride back, Kara talks with him but doesn't tell him what she saw.

After dropping off the van, Marcus calls Owen to ask how the hike went. He first asks how many people went on the hike, then how many more came back.