Recent Sighting; Take A Picture For Pete Sake

[Guest azguy]

Here's a recent report from the BFRO website.

Here is a great example why I'm sceptical.....In the first few lines it says she was there to take pictures, professsional photos at that. Well, if I was a professional photographer I would have been prepared for the photo op of a lifetime. I mean, you couldn't really be hiking and camping in the Pacific NW and not have any idea that BF's may or may not be there. Even if you were a non-beliver you may joke about having "your camera near, just in case".

I 100% agree that the story is very compelling and I truly beleive that people don't go out of their way to make up stories for 2 seconds of fame. Actually, I'm not even sure the BFRO website is 2 seconds of fame, but you get the idea.

Most photographers I see while on hikes have the camera around their neck or in their hand. It sounds like she made no attempt to score a picture.

Lastly, why are people so afraid ? When they heard sounds and picked up smells one could hunker down and really "maybe" get a good picture. Rather their first thought is look down and run....??

Again, I want to belive, but.....

LOCATION DETAILS: A foot path for hikers just above the natural bridges viewpoint. the trail was called loop trail. on the same path is a trail called coastal trail

NEAREST TOWN: Brookings Oregon

NEAREST ROAD: 101

OBSERVED: I took a three day vacation beginning on September the 14th 2012 from Northern Nevada to the Southern Coast of Oregon. I take professional photos for a website I operate and was hoping to get in some great scenic shots before it got to cold and lousy for the rest of the year.

My fiance and I were on a hike about six or eight miles above Brookings Oregon, in Curry county. We were on a hiking trail in a densely wooded area following a trail called the loop trail. This trail is about a quarter of a mile past the area called Natural Bridges viewpoint.

We had gone down the trail without incident, although it was getting dark and I felt as though we needed to hurry to get back, even though there was no reason to. It was just a feeling like the hairs on the back of my neck had started to stand up. I can't quite explain it, I just suddenly felt uncomfortable. We did not see any other hikers while we were on our way back up the trail, or on the way down.

We stopped walking when we heard some loud snaps in the forest around us, like something was breaking tree branches. We looked around, but did not see anything at first. We decided to keep walking, when we saw some bushes about twenty yards ahead of us sway back and forth. We stopped again and were then assaulted by a horrific smell that reminded me of garbage baking in the sun.

By then, the nervous feeling I had had intensified and I was really beginning to worry about the onset of fog and the fading light. The forest was misty and it was raining lightly. We were climbing a steep part of the trail and I gave it my best push to get to the end of the trail.

As we were finishing the final climb, I turned and looked behind me. I'm not sure why. It was like I knew someone was watching and yet I told myself I was just being silly. When I turned, I saw a head above some tree branches with the rest of the body obscured by the heavy vegetation. The head was covered in Dark, reddish brown fur and was impossibly far from the ground. If this was a man he must have been at least close to eight feet tall. I blinked a couple times convinced I was seeing things.

The thing I was looking at did not disappear. Instead it looked at me curiously for a few seconds and then moved out of my view behind a tree. I grabbed my fiance's hand, too afraid to tell him what I had seen because I thought he might go looking for it and then made my way back to our vehicle as fast as I could. I am not crazy. This was not a trick of light or fog. Something very large with the face of an ape was looking at me. I will never forget it.

ALSO NOTICED: the forest became unusually quiet a few minutes before the incident. it was like the crickets stopped and the birds quieted and everything went still. we attributed it to the onset of light rainfall.

OTHER WITNESSES: I was the only one who saw it but my fiance was there and heard the breaking branches and smelled the smell.

OTHER STORIES: I am not from this area but have visited this same stretch of coast many times without incident.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Evening, sometime after seven pm. It was foggy and drizzling.

ENVIRONMENT: heavy forest

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Geoff Robinson:

I spoke with the witness via telephone and during the interview she articulated an account that was compelling as well as detailed. She confided in me that she is a doctoral candidate in neuroscience for a prestigious New England university, and has always prided herself in her capacity to be "firmly grounded in reality," but that this incident has shaken up her view of nature in general.

She went on to tell me about her trip to Oregon and how she grew up in the region and loved hiking in the area near the coast. During a hike in the late afternoon she and her fiancée began to hear what she said sounded like "good sized trees being broken at ground level." She described this sound as incredibly loud in the relatively serene surroundings of the hiking trail. She said that her initial feeling was that the sound was created by a bear, and began to urge her partner to start heading back to the trailhead as it was getting close to dusk, there was a light drizzle, and the air was starting to get a chill. She said that all the while she felt uncomfortable, as if "someone were watching her." She also stated that there was a smell of "sour coffee grounds" or "rotten garbage" in the air.

As they headed down the trail she noticed that wildlife sounds in the area all at once became silent. This was particularly curious to her as well as her fiancée, so they hastened their pace in a steep part of the trail only to hear more very loud "breaking trees" again thinking they were in the presence of a bear.

At this point she caught movement out of the corner of her right eye and looked around where she saw from a distance of about 25 feet a very large figure, obscured from the chest down peering over a tree branch at her. She gaped in disbelief for about 3 seconds and grabbed her partner's hand. By the time she turned to look again, the figure was gone. Her fiancée was seemingly unaware and later reported that he did not see the subject.

While the glimpse was relatively quick, she said it felt like "moments" because of the unusual nature of the eight-foot figure. She described the face as that of a "person" but "twice as big" with a long, reddish-brown receding hairline and light brown, human-like facial skin. She said that the nose was proportionally long compared to the rest of the face, and rounded with wide nostrils. The large, dark eyes were greenish in color, with no whites visible, just irises.

She said that the subject's very muscular ("bulging") right shoulder connected to its head at the jawbone, with no real sense of neck at all, and that the chest was "as wide as a person is tall." She described the most fascinating aspect of the incident was the complexity of the subject's exp

ression. She detected genuine curiosity emanating from the figure's face as if it could not help but reveal itself to her because of that curiosity.

As the couple rapidly descended to the trailhead they discussed what they had just heard and what she had seen, and neither had any tangible explanation. The witness went on to express how this event had changed her assessment of wildlife and the outdoors and instilled a new fear of hiking and camping.

I found this witness to be extremely credible. Her discussion of the event came from a scientific vantage point, and she expressed curiosity regarding why this particular subject had singled her out, and the meaning of the apparent behavior.

[Guest DWA]

This is how photos of elusive animals happen: the top experts on that animal, in the world, do things you and I would never do, for years.

Period.

Jeff Meldrum is at a talk on wolverines. Amazing shots! He can't believe how this guy got up close and personal with an animal, well, fewer people see them than see sasquatch. So he asks one of the top wolverine experts, anywhere: how did you do that?

The guy responds: Captive animals. But for one. I got one. Remember that shot of a beautiful snow scene, with a black dot in the middle? That was a wild wolverine.

This whole thing about snapping gigapixels of sasquatch with camera phones has to go the way of the dodo, soon. The big guy is sitting behind a tree, 300 yards from you, thinking, whew, that was close! as you are flipping the phone open for the money shot.

People have looked down after their sightings, more than once, and gone, hey, camera!

As someone once put it: when you see something that you have been told your whole life isn't real, you don't react the way people think you will. That people haven't gotten a great shot yet (um, hey, one guy got a MOVIE) is the worst reason to be skeptical; it's by far the least likely thing to happen.

"Most photographers I see while on hikes have the camera around their neck or in their hand. It sounds like she made no attempt to score a picture."

In their hand, only when they are actually taking a pic. Around their neck. usually in a case or turned off or both. For anything other than semi-domesticated deer, that won't be enough. Been there. You make the first move for the camera, poof, gone.

Edited November 28, 2012 by DWA

[Guest]

+1, perfect.

[Guest DWA]

+1, perfect.

Not quite.

That phone would probably be open. You would be waiting for the power to come up so you can switch to 'camera' setting LOL.

[Guest BFSleuth]

I believe the answer lies within the sighting report of the OP:

"She gaped in disbelief for about 3 seconds and grabbed her partner's hand. By the time she turned to look again, the figure was gone."

Three seconds.

I challenge anyone to uncap the camera, point and shoot for the cover shot of National Geographic in three seconds.... let alone fumble with your "smart" phone and get to camera mode.

[Guest Texar]

Notice in the report that she also said that it was drizzling. If it were me, my camera would have been immediately put in its bag the minute any precipitation began.

[Guest DWA]

I believe the answer lies within the sighting report of the OP:

"She gaped in disbelief for about 3 seconds and grabbed her partner's hand. By the time she turned to look again, the figure was gone."

Three seconds.

I challenge anyone to uncap the camera, point and shoot for the cover shot of National Geographic in three seconds.... let alone fumble with your "smart" phone and get to camera mode.

Professional photographer does not equal professional grabshooter.

Best case scenario and I bet I'm not alone: I'm fiddling with the focus because to convince the mainstream this has to be PERFECT...

[Guest BFSleuth]

I used to carry a very nice SLR camera during my days as a climber. I remember a particular moment that happened while I was holding the rope for my partner, turned around, and was looking eye to eye with a bald eagle that was hovering in the wind about 30 feet away. It was an absolutely amazing moment, he hovered for about 10 seconds before tilting his wings and rocketing up and over the top of the cliff. In spite of the fact I had the SLR slung around my neck I never got off a shot.

[NathanFooter]

I think the encounter it's self seems to make taking pics for most people hard, during my sighting I wanted to run so bad but my body whent into a lock down, the only parts of my body I could move was my head and upper torso, my arms and legs just did not work. I think that the person stands there for a few moments trying to understand what is happening and by the time they relize whats going on the encounter is over. It also does not help that most cameras on phones do not produce quality images except for a few high end models. It also does not help that these creatures like to keep brush, trees or any other cover between you and them witch makes the auto focus on most cameras clarify the objects in front of the subject rather than the subject behinde the objects.

[Guest]

I can't even get a picture of my cat when it's doing something adorable or hilarious.

[Guest BFSleuth]

It also does not help that these creatures like to keep brush, trees or any other cover between you and them witch makes the auto focus on most cameras clarify the objects in front of the subject rather than the subject behinde the objects.

Which is a great reason to set the focus on infinity and leave it there. Turn off the autofocus!

[Guest]

Azguy...it seems you are determined to make a "point" of how easy this whole prove-it thing is with this creature. It's not. I drive deserted mountain roads, hike deserted mountain trails - often - AND with a camcorder IN MY HAND, ready to go. Last September, I was lucky enough to get a fleeting shot of a black bear as it ran up the mountain. Go try yourself and get back to us.

[Guest DWA]

...and of course (I did mention it but substantiation is happening) there's how you feel about the encounter, technical issues be hanged.

OK, document, is not the first or 34th thing in the mind of the witness (and you don't want to compare reports read with me). They are still trying to convince themselves that was a bear, or cow, or something...sometimes years later.

Again, one can't dismiss the mountain of evidence with "someone shoulda" suppositions.

...and before we go there, Patterson rehearsed so thoroughly what he was going to do should he encounter a sasquatch (including movie camera in special saddlebag, ready to pull and roll) that he got the film on the run, after falling off his horse.

I have seen only two bigfoot films in my life that didn't have shady camera movement issues. That, of course, is one.

[ohiobill]

I can understand the excuses put forth for a fleeting glimpse when you are not prepared but I don't think they translate well into habituation scenarios. Why do you feel that the same creature who is apparently not worried about living in someone's pole barn, isn't scared to come into a gazebo, and isn't afraid of a pair of hikers w/camera gear can't be photographed?

[Guest azguy]

I can't even get a picture of my cat when it's doing something adorable or hilarious.

I can relate to that, lol....How true, how true.

Thanks for the comments guys, it's just frustrating when someone that is in the woods to shoot pictures, sees one and can't get a shot off. Maybe the rain played a large part in the camera being put away.

I guess my frustation lies in the fact that with such a great recent sighting I would return, put up some trial cams and check them every week until I hit on something if I was the one that had that sighting.