Aggressive driver seemingly trying to run me off the road at 4am in the middle of a forest
I was driving alone to Mount Rainier National Park to go hiking. It was completely dark out, around 4am, and there were no other cars on the road. I was on a two-lane highway in the middle of the forest, with limited cell service.
I was driving the speed limit with my headlights on and was doing everything normally. Out of nowhere, a car appeared behind me and started tailgating me extremely closely while flashing their headlights.
They then pulled around me very closely and cut me off. They immediately slammed on their brakes, forcing me to brake as well.
They drove very slowly for a while and then sped back up, but continued driving about 10 mph under the speed limit. After driving like this for a while, they pulled over. I passed them, and they immediately got back behind me and started flashing their lights and tailgating me again.
Then they went around me on the right side, driving onto the shoulder and into the dirt, and once again cut me off extremely closely and slammed on their brakes.
They drove slowly again for a while, then sped back up to about 10 mph under the speed limit.
At that point, I slowed down immensely to keep as much distance between us as possible.
Eventually, they pulled over again. I passed them, and this time they ended up making a U-turn and drove away.
That was the end of it.
What made the whole thing so unsettling was the situation. It was 4am, completely dark, I was alone (I am a woman btw), there were no other cars around, and we were in the middle of a forest with limited cell service. I couldn’t understand why someone would repeatedly drive aggressively around me, pull over, wait for me to pass, and then do it all over again.
I have no idea what they were trying to accomplish, but it creeps me out to think they were trying to get me to pull over (or run into them, which then would make me have to pull over) and do God only knows what to me.
Was this just an extremely aggressive driver, or does anyone have another explanation for what might have been going on?