Solo camper's late night encounter outside Truckee witnessed in Nevada County, California

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This is the honest truth of an experience I had 20 years ago. I've been meaning to submit this experience to BFRO for a while now but I wanted to find the right timeframe noted in my journal. I had lost this journal but I recently moved and found it in a box while unpacking. I still remember it clearly, although I have never submitted it to any site such as this before. I am an avid backpacker and have backpacked extensively in the western states, in the wildest and remotest regions, and have encountered many large wild animals including grizzly bears. Never before nor since have I had such an odd experience as this one. I left one Friday evening (August 1, 1986) by myself after work with my dogs (at the time my family had a beagle and a poodle, I'll take anything hiking with me!), and I was trying to find a lake up in Tahoe National Forest called White Rock Lake. I had never been there before so I wasn't familiar with the unmarked roads. According to the topo map I could get t...