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Well, I made it up there and back today. My girlfriend asked how long I was going to be gone and I said I figured since we were leaving at 10 am, it was 2 hours up there, 2 hours to find the site, then 2 hours back. So, around 4pm? She giggled. We got back at 8:30pm... The trip was a success. But it wasn't looking like it was going to be. About half way up to the site, our guide remarked that there was quite a bit of new growth in the 10+ years he'd been there and wasn't sure where he was. The terrain was steeper than he remembered and covered in thick overgrowth and downed trees everywhere. He had to stop frequently and rest (he's 85...) and we had to back track a few times to get our bearings. Finally, at around 3pm, he finally spotted a huge dead tree that he used as a marker on a map years ago... We found the site about 15 minutes later, 100 yds to the North. We took a bunch of photos, cleaned off the plaque, said a few words, then got teary eyed as the old man said his goodbyes to a spot he would likely never visit again. On the way up, we went through several huckleberry patches and stumbled across an impressive pile of bear scat. This was likely from a Grizzly. I took a photo of it with my sidearm, a Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley in .45 Colt. As to any Bigfoot evidence... Really nothing concrete. Tons of elk and bear sign. I found this tree that was pushed over and raked up pretty good, likely from a Grizzly. I found a few springs and checked them all for tracks. This one had a very distinct print that looks like a large footprint that was about 18" long. But, it was old.

I also found an unusual sign. A rather large, flat rock was sitting on top of a fairly freshly broken off branch. The rock was obviously thrown and landed on the branch. This was in the middle of an old skid trail where no humans have been since the last time my friend visited the site, over a decade ago. I don't know of any animal that can pick up a rock and throw it so it lands on a branch. Odd. It was a great day, and I am always amazed by the sheer vastness of the wilderness out here. On the way back, we stopped at an overlook to take in the view.

A solo adventure means that you are out numbered. You have to be out numbered. Herds of people are questionable. ( In Montana, anything more than 3 is a 'herd' ). I have not seen any posts about other animals in research areas relating to giving up your location. Animals watch and listen to other animals. Birds see you, regardless of camo / no camo and start squawking. I like ravens. I pack treats for ravens. They are smarter than apes, are capable of abstract thinking and have been held as 'tricksters' before we started recorded history. They always inform other animals of my locations. Ravens can work 2 ways in the way of leading an apex predator to your location or warning you of an approaching apex predator / danger. Either way, they have dibs on your eyeballs. Never try to fool a raven. Be normal, be safe and no tricks.

A human can cover 21 feet in 1.5 seconds over level ground to attack. Given that Sasquatch is often reported as possessing almost supernatural speed, I would assume that they could cover ground much quicker and over rougher terrain...if they decide to attack you. That being said, I am going to try and get as close as possible in order to attempt to obtain clear video. The reward outweighs the risk in this case.

What actual evidence of paranormal activity surrounding BF have you put under a microscope? I’m genuinely interested in your response and not just trying to further a debate. I am admittedly not a very scientific person so I’d be interested in what you have come across and found.

Fundamentally untrue. Any body of evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, can be examined for consistency, for apparent patterns of cause and effect, and for alternate explanations. If none are found, then you have an opportunity to discover something new, you know, do **REAL** science, rather than just acting as an apologist for the current state of science. If humans did not have the capacity to wonder beyond the bounds of the known, then attempt to test and explore beyond those bounds, the world would still be flat. Stop being so stodgy, such a stick in the mud. Look at the things you do know and try to imagine ways to apply them to explore the things you do not. It may be out of fashion now but it is what we do when we are being the best we can be. MIB

My hiking / hunting / bigfooting buddy and I just did our annual backpacking trip. Like last year, the 2nd night's camp didn't pan out so we wound up pushing hard and finishing with a 2 day hike in 1 day. This year, his 30-ish year old son came along .. first time. He's also a multiple witness. Though I calculated the time to be prime, there was not a hint of bigfoot activity. They heard ambiguous tree crashes and a critter or two run off in the brush. I don't think it was bigfoot, the area just didn't have that "heavy" vibe it gets when they're around. It was a success in other ways though. Couple years ago my GF gave me a clear lake flyline as a gift. Lee (the son) and I went down to the next lake below where we were camping while Bill (dad) watched camp. Last year Bill and I had seen a school of hundreds of brook trout in the lake but they would not bite, would not even acknowledge a spinner or bait. This year I hoped for something better with flies ... and I got it. I caught 8 brookies between 10 and 11 inches long in about 30-45 minutes before the bite went off. We kept 2 to spice up dinner a bit. All in all a good trip. I was thinking of going again solo but we're starting a 10 day string of 100 degree or above temps. I think I'll wait 'til mid September or even October. MIB

@BlackRockBigfoot yes, I did. I used an old stainless steel mixing bowl...not parabolic, but it does work. If I recall correctly, you can pick up just the dish, an actual parabolic shape on eBay, but they were a little out of my price range at the time, and a cook at work was tossing out the mixing bowl, so I used it instead. I posted photos of the build somewhere in the In The Field section, I think. Here's the link:

Be aware that the Ketchum data is questionable. More data is needed. I'm an educator, so I will lead you through this one, hiflier. 1. On http://phylotree.org/resources/rCRS_annotated.htm look up the human mitochondrial genome and locate the mutations found in my book, Table 22. The phylotree table will show you the mtDNA gene involved and the three base codon which was changed by the mutation. They are abbreviated in column 3. Column 4 gives the corresponding AA. 2. View the table of codons as Table A1 (Appendix A) in my book. Locate the particular coden which was mutated and determine which amino acid it changes, if at all since some codons are redundant. 3. Go to the NCBI website https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ and type the accession for rCRS,NC_012920.1, in the search field, with Nucleotide as the database. 4. Click "Protein" on the right column of the page and see all the protein sequences for human mtDNA. 5. Scroll and pick the accession of the protein of interest with the longest sequence (some are partial sequences). CLICK on it. 6. At the bottom of this protein accession you will find the corresponding protein sequence to the gene you picked in 1. 7. Use the short AA abbreviation in Table A1 of my book and the rCRS table in phylotree.org in 1. above to locate the AA affected by the mutation in the overall protein sequence.. 8. Find a reference on this protein structure which indicates the position of the AA found in 1. and see whether it is near the active site and could possibly influence the protein's function. Congratulations, you are now at the forefront of genetic research. Good Luck!!

Um...or books?

I think when Patty turned to Roger Patterson, he determined that was close enough. I would hope to be at the closest vantage for clearest video, without stressing the subject...

@Rockape I love your answer Rockape. I think that some might just freeze and forget they even have a camera around their neck. The freezing part might be for a moment before the decide on what to do. It is the whole intake of the sighting that grabs you. Like jumping in freezing water. It catches you in complete amazement. My sighting was 20 - 10 yards and i was bare footed when it happened. My legs were weak while I had the sighting. But at the same time it was exciting. Talk about a rush of adrenaline. I had that rush that people in fear talk about. Loved every second of it and miss that rush to this day.

The solution is simple, grab the cameras, shoot your friend in the foot, and vamoose

Lol. I may be in the minority here, but if I was planning on running as soon as I saw one...I wouldn't go out in the first place. Especially with just one other person at night. Again, I might be singing a different tune when it happens, but that's the plan at least. It's weird. I am not particularly brave. You couldn't convince me to skydive and it would be difficult to get me into a shark cage. But, the thrill and lure if the unknown in this case makes it worth the risk. If course, the particulars of the encounter would dictate my response. We were basically run out of the woods the first time we casually went out. I saw a face disappear into the trees about 3/4 of the way through the outing, but it was about 50 feet away and it was quick. I honestly wasn't prepared for the other things that happened at that time though.... possible infrasound, equipment failures, rocks and sticks being thrown at us, strange voices. Who knows? It might not have even been Bigfoot related. That patch of woods might very well be haunted. Now however? If it was just a single creature standing there with none of the usual accompanying craziness? Yeah, I would try to get close enough to get some decent footage. Not going to walk up and touch it. But, I would move towards it with the intent to film it.

Be sure to leave a DNA sample with relatives. Maybe wear Depends in the X-large capacity. Pre set your focus to 30'.

@PNWexplorer Thanks for sharing this with us, man. I really enjoyed reading this.

Lol. Trust me. I have thought about that... I remember an interview with Josh Gates several years ago. Someone asked him what would happen if they actually had a close encounter with one of the things that they usually go out hunting for. He said basically the same thing, that he hoped that some of the equipment survived with usable footage... because he and the crew would probably be dead. May be the biggest mistake that I ever made, but I would attempt to get as close as possible in order to get clear footage. At least I would like to think that I would. I had a sighting that terrified me as a kid, one that I am still not totally certain was real or just a waking dream. I've seen shadows and shapes running through the darkness since I have been doing this as an adult. Found prints and glyphs, heard samurai chatter, other weird stuff...but no face to face sighting. Who knows? When the moment comes I might $@### my pants and haul butt out of the woods, never to return. I am going to give it a shot if the opportunity presents itself. Figuratively and maybe even literally.

Beat me to it. I was going to say that hiflier's 10 yards and two seconds were extremely optimistic. Hope your phone/camera/video equipment is not damaged to the point that we cannot get the video off of it when the search party finds it out in the woods; it will be the greatest found footage yet! (think Michigan dogman video)

Not gonna lie, pretty sure I'd run away screaming like a little girl.

Well I trust my vision having had LASIK eye surgery but I’m still not sure if BF is not just naturally blurry. One may be lead to believe so based on pics. That being considered I’m not sure how close I need to be!

Wow, what an amazing adventure! I am so happy that you both got to go and then actually found the memorial! Great photos. Congratulations! ❤

I would be more comfortable with that answer, no doubt about it, but I'm not absolutely sure it is correct. There's stuff in the report data that gets filtered out because the groups that publish the reports are trying to "buy" credibility by appearing strictly scientific. That filtering itself is unscientific. It creates a misleading picture of what the data really is. I think we have to follow the data ... wherever it leads, whether we "like" where it is going or not, but few people, other than those who work within those groups, actually know what the data shows. Because of our discomfort with the topics involved, we are often willing to be mislead if not actively working to participate in misleading ourselves. IMHO that's where I come in .. I am willing to look at all of the evidence, not try to hide or bury any of it no matter how uncomfortable the implications of it proving true are, but then I put it under a microscope to try to determine fact vs fiction. There's a saying, not bigfoot related, roughly translated "people don't want to hear your opinion, they want to hear their opinion coming from your mouth." Telling a truth, telling THE truth, is not a good way to make friends in the BF world any more than it is regarding politics or religion. People don't want truth, they want validation. MIB

If you have some time, watch / listen to the Bigfoot Odyssey interview with Mark Barton. What if he's right? He might be delusional, so he might be wrong, but I do not read intentional or knowing deception from him. So the possibility he's right, no matter how far out his account is, shouldn't be discarded merely because the content is uncomfortable. What if we are messin' with something other than what we think we're messin' with and we are completely over our heads, outclassed. Human arrogance doesn't like to consider that .. but we should. The quickest way to lose is to underestimate your opponent. We always lose, but we refuse to consider that this "opponent" might have an advantage over us ... again, human arrogance. Not rational, reasonable approach to the "problem." In the back of my mind, I have to ponder "what if ... ?" ... then I have to look for ways to prove or disprove it 'cause I"m too dang foolish to walk away. What has been seen can't become unseen. ... or, put another way, I've taken the bait. MIB