Stagnation the most frustrating part of Squatchitis?

[Kiwakwe]

On 3/3/2024 at 3:22 PM, CelticKevin said:

Excellent suggestions to be sure from everyone. It's not like I am a novice or completely inept. Just not equipped for it and am aware of my limitations. I enjoy camping and being in the woods, but I am sure if i took off on my own, I'd end up on the 11 o'clock news after having wasted tax payer dollars for the search party. I'm looking to get a few of my pals who know their way around the hills to join me for a weekend.

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

[Doug]

When GPSs first became available, I was using mine on the back side of the mountain near Three Finger Jack in the Oregon Cascades. I was using it to get back to our hike in campsite. I had never been there before or used my GPS in the real world scenario. I was following the arrow of the GPS back to camp and started noticing that something wasn't right. Turns out I was losing satellite connection off and on. The unit didn't have an indicator that this was happening. It was having me go in all sorts of directions and got me thoroughIy lost. Then used my compass and map to get back to the trail and then to the campsite. I never trust gadgets. I use them, but I have a back up plan. Always.

[MIB]

1 hour ago, Doug said:

Then used my compass and map to get back to the trail and then to the campsite.

 

I had both GPS and compass fail at the same time one day.   Inexplicable to me.    Neither would find north, the needle / icon just spun.    I was in a new-to-me (then) part of a basin / shallow cirque 5-7 miles across ringed by higher peaks .. and that moment, that day, the peaks were all obscured by a cloud deck that had settled to below rim level which was maybe 1000 feet above me.    THAT has not happened there again but I do seem to miss my intended travel route surprisingly often there whether I'm traveling by dead reckoning or gps.  

[Catmandoo]

1 hour ago, MIB said:

Neither would find north, the needle / icon just spun. 

 

Keep an eye out for Predators.

Seriously, the terrain could be a caldera / meteor strike hole. And when Mazama blew up, all kinds of chaos rained down on Oregon. For mineral prospecting I purchased maps for geology, gravity anomalies and magnetic anomalies. There is a magnetic reversal location in the Cascades of Washington. Gravity is not a constant value. No, we are not going to float away.......yet. The easiest gravity anomaly to post  here is about sea mounts in the ocean. Satellites that measure sea surface height have determined that sea surface height above sea mounts is lower than surrounding areas. Gravity influences sea surface height close to shore also.

My point is that when we assume that we are in a 'normal' constant environment, we can encounter 'high weirdness'. There is no such thing as a routine hike.

Analog is good. Trail marking can be laid out with relatively cheap surveyor tape. If you are green, biodegradable surveyor tape is available.

Between Washington and Oregon, I am not sure what area has more high weirdness. Mt. Baker has Jurassic era rocks. 

[Doug]

10 hours ago, MIB said:

 

I had both GPS and compass fail at the same time one day.   Inexplicable to me.    Neither would find north, the needle / icon just spun.    I was in a new-to-me (then) part of a basin / shallow cirque 5-7 miles across ringed by higher peaks .. and that moment, that day, the peaks were all obscured by a cloud deck that had settled to below rim level which was maybe 1000 feet above me.    THAT has not happened there again but I do seem to miss my intended travel route surprisingly often there whether I'm traveling by dead reckoning or gps.  

Yikes! That would make me nervous. Glad you made it out.

[wiiawiwb]

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.

 

 

[Doodler]

Interesting thread full of good points. The wilderness is enjoyable and the last day in the woods is the worst day in the woods, hopefully there's always one more. 

 

You could spend a lifetime in the woods and never hear or see anything out of the ordinary. You could stumble from your back door too your garbage cans and spot a bigfoot in your yard. I don't think there's a way to improve the odds other than to be out there, enjoying the fresh air.

 

As far as new innovation in the subject, and as much as he's a self aggrandizing showboater, "thinker thunker" promoting body proportion measurement of old photos and videos certainly sheds new light on old evidence. I've heard skepticism over his technique but it still holds true. Go grab a bunch of photos and measure relative length of arms, legs and torso and see what appears.

[norseman]

On 3/20/2024 at 5:59 PM, Doodler said:

Interesting thread full of good points. The wilderness is enjoyable and the last day in the woods is the worst day in the woods, hopefully there's always one more. 

 

You could spend a lifetime in the woods and never hear or see anything out of the ordinary. You could stumble from your back door too your garbage cans and spot a bigfoot in your yard. I don't think there's a way to improve the odds other than to be out there, enjoying the fresh air.

 

As far as new innovation in the subject, and as much as he's a self aggrandizing showboater, "thinker thunker" promoting body proportion measurement of old photos and videos certainly sheds new light on old evidence. I've heard skepticism over his technique but it still holds true. Go grab a bunch of photos and measure relative length of arms, legs and torso and see what appears.

I think body proportions are very important in studying films. The tracks I saw in the snow were not human. They could not have made by a human. Unless it was Robert Wadlow walking barefoot on a mountain in December? Many people just don’t understand. They imagine wooden feet tracks in 6 inches of snow. Nothing like that. The snow was deep.

[Skinwalker13]

Lots of great info and resources here as usual.

 

The subject hasn't gotten stagnant to me personally, however I am bored of a lot of the "production" efforts. There's only one group (small town monsters) currently turning out good content on bigfoot and it's because there's little to no fluff for viewers. You get the story then make up your own mind. As for research I kinda stopped watching every one else except the OP, Darby Orcutt, and the kid from the UK with the old world primate DNA showing up. Kinda got me out of the mindset of keeping up with the Joneses on hardware and technology and just sticking to doing what I do best, and that's tracking and ecology studies.

 

I just go out, enjoy the wilderness, take pics, and conduct the occasional survey or official study. If your close to WV I'm open for any of y'all to come out with me anytime. I've got some updating to do over on the southern WV/ Wineberry thread. Good topic 

[NorCalWitness]

12 hours ago, Skinwalker13 said:

Lots of great info and resources here as usual.

 

The subject hasn't gotten stagnant to me personally, however I am bored of a lot of the "production" efforts. There's only one group (small town monsters) currently turning out good content on bigfoot and it's because there's little to no fluff for viewers. You get the story then make up your own mind. As for research I kinda stopped watching every one else except the OP, Darby Orcutt, and the kid from the UK with the old world primate DNA showing up. Kinda got me out of the mindset of keeping up with the Joneses on hardware and technology and just sticking to doing what I do best, and that's tracking and ecology studies.

 

I just go out, enjoy the wilderness, take pics, and conduct the occasional survey or official study. If your close to WV I'm open for any of y'all to come out with me anytime. I've got some updating to do over on the southern WV/ Wineberry thread. Good topic 

Small Town Monsters is the same thing over and over and I fast forward through most of their content nowadays. Now they are branching into aliens, ghosts and dogman. They seem desperate to me. 

[Skinwalker13]

4 hours ago, NorCalWitness said:

Small Town Monsters is the same thing over and over and I fast forward through most of their content nowadays. Now they are branching into aliens, ghosts and dogman. They seem desperate to me. 

They started out with aliens and monsters, then got into bigfoot. They are just going back to their roots and covering all the weird stuff again and focusing less on bigfoot. We've helped fund their projects since their second year being a company, they didn't get bigfoot heavy till a few years ago.

Just now, Skinwalker13 said:

They started out with aliens and monsters, then got into bigfoot. They are just going back to their roots and covering all the weird stuff again and focusing less on bigfoot. We've helped fund their projects since their second year being a company, they didn't get bigfoot heavy till a few years ago.

Go watch some of the older stuff from 2018-19, may or may not recognize the face in my avatar in a couple things lol. 

[NorCalWitness]

19 hours ago, Skinwalker13 said:

They started out with aliens and monsters, then got into bigfoot. They are just going back to their roots and covering all the weird stuff again and focusing less on bigfoot. We've helped fund their projects since their second year being a company, they didn't get bigfoot heavy till a few years ago.

Go watch some of the older stuff from 2018-19, may or may not recognize the face in my avatar in a couple things lol. 

I've seen that mug! My only point is that their content is a little monotonous after watching all of their sasquatch related content for years. That said, I am looking forward to their next installment haha

[CelticKevin]

On 4/8/2024 at 9:29 AM, NorCalWitness said:

Small Town Monsters is the same thing over and over and I fast forward through most of their content nowadays. Now they are branching into aliens, ghosts and dogman. They seem desperate to me. 

I don't know if it is desperation as much as branching out to get more dollars flowing into the coffers to do more research. But I do agree every video seems to be more of the same. And I realize one realistically can not expect them to get footage of a Squatch all the time... and maybe, not even once. But if you can't put out a video that has any decent evidence such as quality tracks, sightings, howls, etc...then don't put a video out there until you can. I don't need drone shots of treetops and "amusing" montages of breakfast being fixed or slo-mo walks along the trail. We need substance. Quality not quantity.

[jdiebolt]

There's really not that many people dedicating time to researching Bigfoot. 

 

I think there are very few Bigfoot in existence and a small amount of people actively searching. Yet, people still report sightings and encounters somewhat often.

 

Even people that say they've spent their whole life hunting or hiking are only in the woods for a portion of a day. And they only visit portions of land to do a specific activity. 

 

I believe sightings mostly happen when a Bigfoot wants to be seen or is overly interested in investigating the humans and/or trying to threaten them. Turning the corner on a road and seeing one crossing has to be like hitting the lottery.

 

It's hard to have a lot of progress when the majority of people don't care/believe and the animal is extremely rare and only existing in extremely remote areas.