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My last backpacking trip this year was to Kings Canyon NP in late August. Did the Rae Lakes loop (counterclockwise). This was not a BF research trip and thus I did not bring any audio recorder or thermal imager. Nonetheless, I always kept my eyes and ears open for BF evidence given that BF presence was detected in 1968 at Bullfrog Lake (a lake side trip from the main loop trail) per the BFRO report link below. http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=2876 This area of KC is beautiful and the Rae Lakes loop trail is so popular that permits are required and there is a quota limit. So many people go thru this area every summer, that if BF was still present, we would hear more about it. I saw 3 bears during 5 days. Mother and cub up the Bubbs Creek trail and another down Wood Creek trail. On this trip, I finally made the switch from using a Garmin GPS unit to my i-phone using the Gaia GPS app. The topo maps obtained with the Gaia GPS app are much better than the Garmin maps and the iphone GPS appears to be more accurate than Garmin (when I tested both together earlier this year). The disadvantage of using i-phone is the short battery life. But I bought an Anker battery pack that can provide 5 full charges to my iphone.

Thanks, Explorer, for those spectacular shots. I also appreciated the inclusion of the map and the elevation plot, they add depth to the report.

Just a quick update on how this is going. So far, counting myself, there are now six people interested in the SRN concept. I am on the road still and sitting at a friend's house in Lake Tahoe. But these people all know I will be back in Maine around the 1st of October and so I am putting out dates for the first meeting somewhere around mid-October. Just waiting to hear back in order to nail down a specific day and time. I would also like to add that I don't think any of these people are current BFF members. They may have never been BFF members for all I know. I am mentioning this because of something I said before about there being people out there who are interested in the Sasquatch subject and we have no idea who they are. In a way they may be the best candidates for getting this plan off the ground and I have to say their responses have been positive across the board. Not too bad at all since my ad has only been up for about a month.

It had to just have been Happenchance, due to a varying schedule. I did go back there by myself at night, within a week or two of the encounter. You think you would hear insects or something, it was silent, and I mean silent for the 3 hours I was there. Thought that very odd, although nothing happened. I would also suggest, as soon as the car door shut, your presence is known.

One experiment that I did in order to better understand the capabilities of my thermal imager was to video record (using regular video camera) a forested area during day time at 50 ft, 100 ft, 150 ft, etc (I used a long measuring tape to get the exact distances). I set up the video on a tripod, and I walked to each tree at the different intervals. Then at night, I set the thermal imager on the same tripod location, and walked to each tree distance (and hid behind the trees). I tested the thermal imager with white hot and black hot (I don't really care much for the red hot feature). I learned several things from this test: 1) That the image captured in my thermal imager appears much closer and larger than the regular video. That was expected because my thermal has a 35 MM lens but not my video camera. 2) I was clearly able to detect and identify anything human size up to 150 ft away in total darkness. At 200 ft away, I could detect clearly but identification was more difficult. 3) White hot setting was the best for details on clothing and trees. My conclusion was that I should clearly be able to detect and identify any BF approaching my camp within 150 ft using my thermal imager, even if hiding among trees and peaking. I have done tests at 2,000 - 3,000 ft (looking at cattle), and all I get is a white hot or black hot blob with 4 legs. So, I can't reliable identify animals that far.

So do you guys think you were running a predictable schedule and it was waiting for you or do you think you were just busted this particular day. Reason I ask is that I usually did a predictable schedule thing during daylight movements through an area and one attribute of my schedule was picked up one night during one of my two overnites in a particular area. It was the shaking of a particular tall locust snag on a deer trail. Purpose was to gain recognition, advertise presence and probably gain acknowlegment that I would recognize the signal. Message received but I didn't intend on receiving a bipedal approach to my tent in the minutes following that. It was only the second time I had ever encamped on that ledge and I have not since. That was the only time I felt I needed to cradle a pistol during those several years worth of investigation. Yes they have the power of observation and of intimidation down pat. They definitely busted me on several occasions, day and night which was an odd experience for a person usually patrolling that particular area with a purpose for tens of years prior to those incidents; tables turned so to speak.

gigantor, that pic. took me back, it was just plain wet, as well as foggy. I did have a 38. ready, LOL. Never Planned on shooting anything, but it was that close, I felt the need to arm myself. WOW, was it ever close. Still, Blows my mind, no movement of brush, rhododendron thickets, was detected or observed, and the footfalls were so clear, hearing water squishing at the end of each footfall, due to the evident Huge Weight of it, that's Close.

Triton - I don't know for sure but will be going back there in the next few weeks and will find out and let you know. I will also record in a more open setting and post that video as well. Thanks for your thoughtful help as well. I appreciate it. Explorer - The battery that it comes with is supposed to last approximately 8 hours. I haven't fully drained mine yet and I I turn it off when not using it. I believe there is a power standby/sleep mode that awakens the unit quickly and will confirm that. The good thing about there battery system is you can pop out thexisting one and replace it very quickly with a second battery. I bought a second one for times I would have an extended backpacking adventure. You can also buy a 16-20 battery that fits into the Helions as well. They're a little awkward to use because their larger size cause them to stick out from the camera making access to the buttons a little more difficult. A few thoughts to consider when getting one: 1) if money is no object, consider getting a Helion XP28F. It has the 640x480 microbolometer resolution AND you can separately buy the XP50F or XP38F lens and detach the XP28F and put on a the larger lens which will provide optical magnification. That option is not available on the XQ line such as the one I bought. 2) It is important to know distance you expect your target to be. I've always known mine would be within 100 yards so getting the XQ50F model that extends the range of detection from 800 meters to 1800 meters was a waste. 3) Field of vision is important. The larger the lens the narrower the FOV. That means you need to be moving the monocular more to scan a desired area. I opted for the XQ28F because it has a wider FOV so I could see more peripherally. 4) Native magnification. This was a difficult one for me to understand at first and helps to understand whether you want to spend extra money for a 640x480vs 384x288. Let's compare the XQ28F to the XP28F. The XQ28F native (base) magnification is 2.3 while the XP28F is 1.4. If you were looking at an object 100 yards away, it would appear smaller with the XP than the XQ because the optical magnification is smaller. So let's say, for whatever reason, you want the size you see the be the same size as the XQ. In order to do that, you would optically magnify the image from 1.4 to 2.3. That would serve to degrade the XP 640x480 image by 1.4/2.3. That would result in the image quality of the 640 to be no better than the 384 once the image size was the same. That's why many people will opt to spend their extra money getting the XQ50F rather than getting the XP28F. The native magnification and 640 vs 384 can be seen visually here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5srQd6IuCio At any distance point, look at the image at the top (XP 640) vs the bottom (XQ 384). The image with the 640 is clearer, no question about it but if it were too small and you needed to magnify it, the image would degrade and have the same clarity as the 384 image below at that size. Also, compare the XP50 on the top right to the XQ38 on the bottom left. The XP50 is ~$1,100 more than the XQ38 but will provide a clearer image at nearly the same size. In the end, I was convinced that I wanted to identify something that was 8' tall from something that was a deer and I thought the XQ28F would provide a clear enough image for that to occur. Time will tell. Hope this helps and I will post up videos as I take them and get those questions answered as well.

Thank you all. I wanted to do this for some time and I received much prodding from my friends out in the field. I have more material I will be working on too! One short story I want to share that occurred this year on a group expedition. I was sharing a travel trailer with a friend, neither his wife or mine were interested in making the trip so I grabbed the sofa sleeper rather than stay in my camper shell. Late that night I hear this faint tap, tap, tap on the wall right by head. It woke me up and thought I was dreaming. Before I drifting back to sleep, I hear it again and I get that tingling feeling (The best way I can describe it when they are near). I spoke very softly fearing my friend would hear in the front area, "Look I'm tired please let me sleep". I know some will think B.S. but I'm just telling what happened. There was no more tapping. The next day I told my friend the Boogers were coming right up to the trailer. He is a field newbie and I could see that blank doubting stare and politely nodding his head. Fast forward to that night after we came in late to rest. He stepped out later to run a camp site errand. I could feel the trailer rock as he walked down the stairs, then this hard jolt hit and the door exploded open and he leaped back inside with both eyes wide open. "SOMETHING BIG JUST RAN AWAY FROM BESIDE THE TRAILER HE SCREAMED OUT!" I just sat there for a few seconds on my computer, then looked up at him and replied "I told you so" LOL! Folks I have a blast out there watching people when the Big Guys show out!! I'll stop for now thanks again!

Yes. Which surprised me. I thought they would stay sheltered because of the weather. So I agree. Class B encounters take me 90% of the way there. But I need to see one to be 100% sure.

So was the whole day as foggy as what you see in that pic? If so, I understand why they felt comfortable shadowing you, one of my earliest class B encounters which happened months before a class A was of clear cut "monkey chatter" above a small ridge above a logging road in a similar weather inversion with heavy fog after a thunderstorm. At the time I felt such chatter was directed at me. It was no other known animal, I know that. I was trying to sneak in and was busted somehow. It was a very creepy experience and of course I was not recording or forgot my recorder that day. Suffice it to say I did not linger given the very poor visibility. To stay on point, the totality of class B experiences in my infestation were enornous prior to my class A but in no way would the B's have sufficed for my own determination of existence without the A despite that. Later such things as recorded sumarai chatter, bipedal footfalls and imitated whistles and bird calls just put the icing on the cake for me.

Thanks for kind comment and for the birthday wish. You are right, the 19th; just happens to be my age as well.(That is if you add 66 to it.) We have tropical rain storms and flash flooding until Monday. I'll go up into the Ouachitas then and see if any of the Boogers drowned.

I'll go on resting assured in the knowledge that they do kill animals they don't eat; dogs for standing their ground to try to protect their pups, people and their home sites; coyotes for messing up their hunt or ambush of prey animals, and livestock whose owners took direct action against them for killing/carrying off such live stock. In such cases they don't just leave just body parts, they leave the whole critter.

Personally, I am very convinced that Bigfoot Exists, especially after the experience gigantor and myself had a few years ago. No other explanation. But, seeing one would be the difference between believing and knowing.