When I was a kid, we would visit the Sierra mountains in California not far from where I grew up. In about 1975 I was hiking just ahead of my parents. I saw something big moving just off the trail. Thinking it was a bear, I turned around and followed the narrow trail back towards my parents. But they weren't there. We were at a very narrow part of the trail so there's no way I could have passed them.

I stood there a moment, having walked back towards where they should have been. Then I looked back up the trail and there they were, walking towards me. In other words, coming from where I saw movement off the trail, and heading back towards the camping area.

They didn't act as if anything odd had happened. I'm sure now I just was confused. It was probably them not off the trail, but on it, and around a corner or something. There must have been a place where the trail branched off and circled around.

But at the time I was 10, so it really freaked me out. LOL