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Some say it was Ben Franklin, while others claim it was the movie mogel Samuel Goldwyn, but someone once quipped something to the effect, "The harder I work, the luckier I become." Many people get into sasquatching thinking they'll step up to the plate and hit a home run on the first pitch. They quickly become disillusioned because it's cold, wet, a lot of work, tiring and they have nothing to show for it.   To truly enjoy sasquatching, you have to love being outdoors in nature with all its beauty and misery. You also must have a tenacity to accept failure time-and-time again. Many young people grew up with the notion they should get a trophy for just showing up. In real life, and particularly with nature, it doesn't work that way.    MIB...you've been at it tirelessly for a long time and kudos to you. You also have a lot to show for it. Kudos again.    The best we can do is to accept we're dealing with a long shot and evaluate all the variables to try to narrow the odds, even if only slightly. For example, I used the SSR Database and worked a number of variables into the search of sightings into my region. Moon phase, elevation, access to water, number of people involved, etc.  I was surprised when I found the most likely time in my area to have a sighting was between 9pm and 11pm. Activity dropped off after that. Once I changed my approach and was fully operational and ready at 8:30pm, I had more things occur then in prior outings.    Never give up and enjoy every moment out there regardless of whether you have a sighting, find a footprint, or hear a howl. Those are the icing on the cake.  

I think unless you fall into a habituation setting the math is always against you.    Both were accidents / surprises, but the more time you spend in good spots at the right times the less unlikely fortunate accidents become.   That, combined with being willing to accept what you see.      I'll share a story as an example of what I mean by that.   My father is a scoftic though he tells one story which suggests he is also a witness.   As an early teen, dad accompanied his father who was working as a construction engineer when the ski lift at White Pass in Washington was first built.   (I'm not personally familiar with the location.)   Apparently dad was in the back of the crummy with the crew and as they drove up the highway, there was a break in a line of trees separating the highway from a field.    Through that gap, dad says he saw something out in the field that looked like what he imagines a bigfoot would look like "if bigfoot existed" and that something was not there when they came back at the end of the day.   Hmmm.    You have to not be so afraid of ridicule that you deny / distance yourself from your own experiences.  I doubt most people here would do that but I have to wonder how many people have experiences they just don't want to invite ridicule for.   If you separate positive ID sightings from process of elimination sightings, then I've had 2 others.    I think both were the same year, 2013, but I can't swear to it, and they were along the same ridge system, within 10 miles or so, of the second of the positive ID sightings.    Again, it is being in the right place the right season presenting an opportunity for blind dumb luck to help .. and then not being in denial about what is going on, just matter of fact about pros and cons of what seems to be happening.   I hope you have a sighting.   Hope it is long enough to satisfy any doubts.    My main tool, even though it is only through 2015 or so, is mangani's bigfoot overlay for Google Earth.    By messing with the time sliders, if there are enough reports in an area, it suggests seasonal movement.   So .. figure out when that's going to be most likely to happen and try to be in place ahead of time.   It really helps to have some other reason to be there so boredom doesn't interfere.    For me, hunting, fishing, exploring off-trail, a little bit of feeble photography really help the effort.     And yet, at the same time, at the moment I can't think of any fairly certain activity I've experienced in several years .. it's been pretty quiet.   MIB  

He lives and operates in top shelf sasquatch habitat. It's sorta' like running into polar bears in Honduras or around Hudson Bay. The Hudson Bay adventures will have the greatest odds of polar bear encounters.........if you're crazy enough to want one........

In just 20-30 minutes shadows change quite a bit.  I was seated outside for lunch with too much sun on my face outside the large table umbrella.   I put on sunglasses.  In no time it seemed, my face was in the shade by the time the appetizer arrived.   By the time my lunch arrived I was nearly fully in the shade.   Just like Gimlin that day, I was not noting the exact times.  It was just early afternoon lunchtime.       Hard to know about Gimlin's statements as 30 min one way or another could make a diff on shadows.    I remember Bill Munns showed this effect with a board in his book, "When Roger Met Patty"     Assuming it got noticeably dark around 5pm or so.  I'll accept whatever the best facts can tell us.  If it's 2 pm great.  If it is 3 pm fine by me.    My hope is the high tech recreation made by Lazy Cowboy could help us determine this as well as many other facts.         My hope was/is Lazy Cowboys recreation would act as an accurate sundial esp. matched up with the PGF images.    

^^^ You're lucky to have had two encounters.  While I'm in the woods a modest amount, I know that the math is against having an encounter.  Thus, I do work where I can on the topic.