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This is an interesting account....because it happened to me.

NO, I invited and appreciate discussion. I want other points of view. I appreciate the offer too. My summer season usually starts around June 5th the heat is hitting the triple digits in the valley, and the tourists are flooding my place up north. I hit the road with my dogs with a "general" direction in mind. But, if I can get this idea together, it's an early fall plan.

Yes, the Skagit River starts in Manning Provincial Park and flows roughly west, parallel to the border before turning south at Skagit Bluffs on Hwy 3, feeding Ross lake right at the border.

Hello... I'm Randor from north-central Wisconsin. I am just retired after a 44 year career in managing the development of Cray Supercomputers, so planning and execution for desired results using data is one of my strong points. I have had numerous "strange" experiences my entire life. My wife and I became very excited in regards to researching Bigfoot by attending two (2) BFRO expeditions in CY2023, Wisconsin and Minnesota... and are now signed up for two (2) expeditions coming up here in CY2024. I am hoping that we can contribute real data through the use of our equipment... audio recordings, video and personal/group experiences as we explore going forward!

Here's a 10 minute video of the Skagit Valley road taken by some local 4 wheelers on the same day that I was up there last weekend. They did a nice job of compressing the 60 km route down to 10 minutes.

Sorry. I kinda hijacked your thread. Anyhow if you wanna come up here and camp for a month? I would volunteer some of my time to help you select a spot or whatever you need to see this through. I cannot dedicate a month unfortunately, but would help as I could.

You were right. I misread the dart portion. Yes, a biopsy dart would be a great tool to have. Agreed.

As long as they're running away, let them run. They'll die.

Dude if they are real they will go down with center mass hits with any of those calibers . There's no guarantee on any dangerous game the animal will go down immediately being Bigfoot or grizzly Grizzlies have had their hearts exploded by a bullet and still ran 100 yards . I would feel more than comfortable with a AR10 .308 as a rifle as my primary rifle if a bigfoot hunt was the objective . I'm a no kill guy though and have posted that several times . I like the idea of darting one though if you could get close enough

Looks like you had better weather than I did, a 100km or so WNW of you. I saw a few sunny breaks, but mostly drizzle all day, with a bit of fresh snow showing higher in the mountains, when I could see them. I heard earlier in the week that the Ross Lake road system had finally re-opened after being severely damaged in the major flood event we had in Nov. of '21, so of course I had to go check it out. There were several sections of a km or more that had been completely obliterated by the Silver Creek, in the north section, and the Skagit River in the southern stretch. They've done a good job of rebuilding the damaged sections, raising and realigning the roadbed and putting huge box culverts under the cross creeks, with lots of boulder riprap to reinforce the banks. Hopefully it will withstand future 100 year rainfall events. The gravel surface was in excellent shape, making it easy to maintain the 60km/hr speed limit, with only very minor washboards in a few sections. Most of the side trails were still accessible, so I explored as many as I had time for, as far as conditions allowed, getting stopped by washouts, deadfalls and landslides on all of them eventually. One of our group's favourite camp spots is still in good shape, so we'll probably do our usual summer outing there this year. As far as wildlife goes, I was disappointed to see only 1 grouse, and no larger game at all, though that valley is known to have deer, bear, cougar, bobcat, and moose, as well as several Sasquatch sightings that we've followed up on in the past. The valley bottom is prime game habitat, with many small creeks flowing down from the mountains on each side, and willow swamps and cattail bogs adjacent to the rivers and creeks.

My HS buddy and his wife (with no shoes) and Canuck buddy and I got a day of exploring in on the east side of Priest lake. Lots of sledders parked all over the place to access all the higher snow. Ate lunch at the Moose Knuckle!👍 Lots of Moose sign. Saw some deer and that was it.

A few more photos from today's outing:

Two is one and one is none. Redundancy saves you life when it comes to fire, water, shelter, injury, crisis communication, and navigation. I never go out without two bic lighters, paper map and compass in addition to GPS, a 1mil plastic sheet in addition to my tent, two methods to stop bleeding, an InReach Mini and PLB, and two ways to filter water. All a waste of time, money and additional weight until the circumstance comes when things hit the skids; then you're reminded how preparation pays off. Search for local survival schools and you'll likely find one or two to join. Usually not cheap but a fun time while learning. YouTube has tremendous information about various subject matters related to the outdoors. Dave Canterbury, of Dual Survival fame, runs a school out of Ohio. He also does a ton of how-to videos that are excellent. I've learned quite a bit from them. https://www.youtube.com/@DavidCanterbury/videos You have to start somepplace. Pick an area of interest, say shelter, and learn what you can about how to build a shelter good enough to save your life. Practive in your local woods. It builds confidence. Then move on to the next subject and learn about that. Oftentimes, they build on each other so learning one benefits the other. Here are a few helpful places to look: https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/ --- a variety of outdoor topics in a forum environment https://www.survivalistboards.com/forums/ -- similar ot the one above https://www.adkhighpeaksfoundation.org/adkhpf/navagation.php -- the best source material I've ever come across about map and compass, terrain association, and wilderness navigation.

Barring a skilled pal to show you some ropes, a good place to start if inclined to venture out is a book on basic wilderness navigating with map and compass (learn about local declination), spend a bit of time practicing in an open field, park or somewhere known. Then pick up a good topo or DeLorme gazetteer for your area/state and find a suitable locale for investigating. If you can find a "boxed" region between a lake/pond, mountain or woods road to explore, knowing that if you become disoriented you walk to the perimeter-- lake which you know is E or the mountain/hill base you know is W, or woods road looping around from N-S etc. I've often used this strategy bushwhacking up in the N ME woods, 5000 sq miles of desolate working forest, unmapped logging spurs that go nowhwere etc, if I get it wrong, I could be bushwhacking for days through swamps and balsam thicket, war zone of blowdowns. I started with just map and compass but when the woods are so thick, one can only take a bearing out to 50' -- there is a lot of room for error, and I've made them, great fun, 10 minutes of really knowing you're alive-- til re-oriented! I've wised up in my old age, carry a back-up gps and plb now. I don't rely on the former and prefer NEVER to use the latter. But for starting out, that tech is good reassurance, maybe enough to override concerns and get out there, just don't get lazy with learning the basic skills and become reliant on battery powered gizmos. Good luck, have fun, stay out of the news! https://www.exotac.com/products/essential-wilderness-navigation-a-real-world-guide-to-finding-your-way-safely-in-the-woods-with-or-without-a-map-compass-or-gps https://www.mhprofessional.com/the-essential-wilderness-navigator-how-to-find-your-way-in-the-great-outdoors-second-edition-9780071361101-usa