Let's Talk Caves and Sasquatch

[SWWASAS]

I think that if BF use caves for shelter even occasionally then I doubt there would be little use for burial. There are only so many caves, and the stench of death lasts a very long time.We have discussed BF burial or internment in other threads but my theory is that while they may use caves for burial in areas where caves are plentiful, if they wish to keep scavengers away from remains, in or out of a cave they need to do something to cover the remains. Digging, especially in forest or rocky soil, which in the PNW tend to be the same thing, is difficult to impossible with bare hands especially to cover something the size of a BF. It would be a big job with a backhoe and bucket. On the other hand in the PNW loose rocks are plentiful in most areas. Build a rock cairn over a body and you keep predators away. Humans in rocky places do the same thing with their dead. I think I may have even seen a BF rock cairn burial site out on the lahar at Mt St Helens. Oddly shaped rock pile, rectangular in shape, about 4 by 12 foot, with a obviously placed rock stack at one end that looked very much like a bird. The head/beak of the rock stack was delicately balanced and not likely to be a natural formation. The rocks in the cairn did not have a random helter-skelter look but appeared as if they had been placed to layer and cover something. Certainly I will give the skeptics acknowledgement it could have been man made. Washington Mafia stashing a body? I went back the next spring to see if it was still there but could not find the location. The bank above the location had given way and the best I could figure, had covered it up. I could not find the big logs I had noted to pinpoint the location when I returned either. In the interest if furthering BF research, I will give away the location. Just South of the Ape Canyon trail where it winds along the forested area just North of the Lahar. Eventually the trail will also landslide out as the soil is being undercut by the spring runoff down the lahar. Presently the location is where the Ape Canyon trail winds along on the forested ridge just above the lahar. I visit the lahar, when the spring runoff starts, hoping to find, a skeleton killed and covered by the lahar flow when Mt St Helens erupted. If BF are burying their dead in the same area, eventually they will wash out of the rocks too. The area near the lahar is active as within the last 3 years I have found footprints there as well as rock stacks near the footprints. However be warned that in the Monument, going off trail is punishable by a fine up to $500 according to signs in the area.

Edited January 24, 2016 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[BigTreeWalker]

I wonder what bigfoot does to grave-robbers.

Interesting account SWWSP. I always thought the Smith Creek Trail would be a good place to spend some time too, since it leads up into Ape Canyon. But I've never taken the time to hike it.

[Guest]

When people  think of caves for a Sasquatch they are thinking that they need a entrance they can walk into. If caves are being used, then I subscribe to the theory of a self made shelter with a spider hole opening that can be easily covered by brush screen and must be crawled into. Using their hands or digging implement it would open up enough lay in comfortably and small enough to keep heat in and bats out. A river bank under a root system of a tree would be a great place. 

Not much foot traffic or boat traffic in winter and the running water would help conceal travel routes.

[SWWASAS]

I wonder what bigfoot does to grave-robbers.

Interesting account SWWSP. I always thought the Smith Creek Trail would be a good place to spend some time too, since it leads up into Ape Canyon. But I've never taken the time to hike it.

Thom Powell discusses BF graves and grave robbing in his fictional book "Shady Neighbors". He has mentioned more than once in presentations that although that book is primarily fiction, everything in it is based on reports or personal experiences of himself or that people have related to him. I asked him specifically if the grave robbing sequence was his experience or someone else's. He said it was told to him by someone else. It apparently played out like the book where the humans that robbed the grave had dreams independently each demanding that they return to the grave and rebuild it. The humans returned the next day and put the stones back on the grave. In my case, when I was examining the suspected grave cairn, I had the feeling I was being watched and should not touch a thing. I had already read "Shady Neighbors" at that point. I photographed it from about 4 feet away then moved on. There was also a cave in the cliff side nearby that was large enough for a human to get inside. I was thinking bear hibernation so did not try to explore it. Also there were scuffs that indicated something with soft feet and climbed the incline and gone into it. If you leave the trailhead for the Ape Canyon trail and head West, the best way to determine the location of this find is where the trail is close enough to the edge of the little cliff that parts of the trail have already fallen away into the lahar. When I was there in the Lahar after spotting the suspected grave, I was spotted by a ranger from the road who stopped his vehicle and was out looking at me from the road. So I climbed up the embankment, changed color tops, and exited by going down the Ape Canyon trial to the parking lot. The ranger had gone when I got back down or was satisfied that I was back on trail and did not want to bother chasing me down. It would have taken him two hours of scrambling in the lahar to get to me.

[Bodhi]

Hiflier,

Are there many reports of miners coming into contact with sasquatches? My family comes from the black hills of south dakota and were all gold miners at one time or another. The next time I'm out there I do some looking around in deadwood and lead to see if there are any stories about encounters.  I hadn't thought about that until your post on caves, and I thank you!!

[Cotter]

^Hmmm...There are reports of miner's encountering a BF, Fred Beck's encounter probably being the most well known.

 

And of course you can find some on the BFRO.   One here: http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=36076.  I've done a few minutes of searching and haven't found any instance of a report of miners, while IN the mine, coming across a BF.

 

Most of the encounters read basically along the lines of "we were working mines, and when leaving, or camping, heard noises....insert fairly standard BF sighting....."

Edited January 25, 2016 by Cotter

[BigTreeWalker]

It kind of makes me wonder with all the mining and prospecting that took place in the Cascades of the PNW. How many of those prospectors had encounters. Because there are old mine claims everywhere in the mountains.

[SWWASAS]

The Tarzan Springs report in Oregon detailed in "Oregon Bigfoot Highway"   involved a prospector living with a group of BF in 1912.       I would say that report is as well documented as any we have since the USGS did the documentation with their field notes.    Tarzan Springs is about as remote an area as you can find in Oregon. 

Edited January 26, 2016 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Cotter]

It kind of makes me wonder with all the mining and prospecting that took place in the Cascades of the PNW. How many of those prospectors had encounters. Because there are old mine claims everywhere in the mountains.

 

I have a pal in the 90's that, while prospecting (and camping in the hills), had several encounters of gifting, several footprint finds, and a Class A sighting lasting for a prolonged period of time.  This was southern Oregon.  So, even in more modern times encounters are happening.

 

On an aside, he reported it to the BLM with no effect, well, other than the BLM suddenly had personnel in his area. 

[Bodhi]

I've sent out a few emails to my family back in lead/deadwood, sort of...really super vaguely asking if they ran into anything strange while mining in the old days. Most were panning/sluicing but some were actually hard rock mining. They aren't much for chitchat and this could turn bad, but I think hiflier's idea of caves is interesting and at worst they'll just stop coming out to vegas to visit so win-win.

[hiflier]

Hi everyone, Sorry for bumping a necro-thread bump (especially my own) but lately I've been wanting to take this cave idea further. I still think in summer that Sasquatch use them when the heat is brutal. But then they still have to get around and find food and yet still remain reclusive so remote habitat is still on the table. But what isn't on the table yet about caves? One of the reports I read that I'm searching for was about a creature or creatures that was seen going behind a waterfall. Waterfalls are naturally cooler simply because of the flow of water and the cooler air currents that they produce. Couple that fact with the cave idea and a perfect summer retreat might look something like this:

 

[norseman]

I'm not opposed to the idea IF there are undiscovered caves in the area.

 

Makes sense, so long as there are nearby food resources.

[BobbyO]

Good bump H.

 

I've read a fair few referencing caves and nests.

 

Can't recall too many at all of actual sightings in caves except this one.

 

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=24826 

 

http://www.bfro.net/news/arizona_cave.asp 

 

 

[hiflier]

The short response might be where there's water there is food. both plant and animal. Caves happen  I would think they are not all of the ancient variety and so are being formed as we speak simply through the action of water. They don't have to be large for a group to squat down and huddle into. Something little more than an indented shelf only three feet high by three feet wide would be enough for one creature to curl up on. A series of these would accommodate a group So it doesn't have to be a large domed space at all. Although there may be that but with a very small entrance. This is where body shape and intelligence say that Sasquatch doesn't have to stand out in the heat wave, even in shade, like unguilates, bear, or moose

[hiflier]

This is the idea here: