Winter - Where Do They Go

[BobbyO]

Yesterdays was all reports (A/B) H and today's was A's, they're both titled as such. You've looked at them already too, or am i misunderstanding ?

[hiflier]

Yes I have so don't know why I didn't remember. Probably my brain's version of a typo LOL. I guess I just need to slow down my thinking somehow as I seem to just have one speed.....hyperdrive. Don't know how to though. It does embarrass me at times. Uh...this is one of those times. You should see me when I'm in my truck.........nah, wouldn't wish that on anyone

[BobbyO]

Cool no biggie, it happens to the best of us..;)

[SWWASAS]

On 1/16/2017 at 3:07 AM, JustCurious said:

I did some research on temperature differences and found that the temperature changes by 3-degrees Farenheit for every 1000 ft difference in elevation.  It also changes by 3-degrees for each parallel (latitude) which is about 300 miles.  So, being at sea level in the desert at 90 degrees going up a 5000 ft elevation would change the temperature to 75 degrees.

 

So, when you're talking mountain ranges with peaks in the 12-14,000 ft range, the temperature variation rises to 36-42 degrees F between sea level and the peak.  Since we're basically assuming that Sasquatch doesn't come all the way down the mountain to sea level and not all mountains hit the 12-14,000 ft height, it would seem it can't be temperature that is driving movement. 

 

That drove me to dig into information sources.  I'm sharing the table I developed to use in my digging for whatever use anyone cares to derive from it.  There is much that stands out as not being an indicator of what 'draws' Sasquatch.  It isn't forest cover for example, despite what some theorize.  The one and only thing I found that correlates to states with the highest number of sightings is that those are the states where grapes are grown to any significant extent!  I don't think that by itself means anything because there aren't lot of sighting reports related to grapes.  But there might be something about climate and soil conditions required to grow grapes that does mean something.  I haven't dug into that yet.

 

The other thing I noticed is that where there are the highest number of sightings is also where the highest diversity of the most crops are found.

 

Sasquatch Sightings Analysis.xls

 

 

What you are talking about is the standard adiabatic lapse rate.     In the Pacific NW in the winter,   that lapse rate may not exist.     For example yesterday the surface temperature where I live at 300 feet was 29 degrees.    At 6500 and above in the ski areas on Mount Hood,  the temperature was in the 40s.     When the valleys are cold and often foggy the mountains are often much warmer and sunny.     It can do weird things like have ice or snow storms low and rain in the mountains.        I suspect that BF has some knowledge of this and just moves to where the temperatures are more moderate.    That may include moving higher to warmer temperatures.  

[hiflier]

SWWASAS, never considered inverted temperature gradients vs.elevation before. I know that in where light, deep, snow layers are present a heavier wetter follow up snowfall or even rain can make for some avalanche conditions. If as you say BF has this experience it may choose lower elevations to avoid such potential hazards. At the same time though it brings up finding remains in the Spring of a BF that was not paying attention.

 

[JustCurious]

SWWASAS, your background gives you far superior knowledge in this area than mine. 

 

The point I was trying to make though was that the temperatures are not so extremely cold that Sasquatches couldn't survive, so that alone couldn't be the reason if there is in fact movement in winter.  Avalanches could explain in mountainous regions why they might choose to move.

[BigTreeWalker]

16 hours ago, BobbyO said:

 

Cos they go west to the Olympics for the winter, with less cold ?  

 

Bobby I know you were being kind of tongue in cheek there, but it did make me think. Okanogan County, which is north central Washington, can get colder but snowfall is usually less there; being in the rain-shadow of the Cascades. There's lots of year round game in the area. There's even an influx of BC mule deer during the fall and winter. So plenty of food, less snow, actually not a bad place to hang out in the winter. Of course the Colville Indian reservation is a large part of that area and population densities are low for humans. Explorer posted a table showing that in one of the other threads. The snow increases again as you get into the Selkirks in far NE WA. 

I was thinking that in order to get into the Olympics from there, they would have to cross the Cascades then swim the Puget Sound. I would think that would increase beach and boat sightings on the east side of the Sound where population density is high. Of course they could move down the east side of the Cascades, crossing all the east - west arterial highways, (do sighting reports support this) then cross the mountains where the elevations are lower there. Then as we've discussed before cross into the Olympics from easier terrain. Just thinking out loud here. 

 

Hiflier and SWWSP, talking about inversions. When I left my place at 800' tonight at 10 pm the temp was 42°. When I arrived in town at about 20' elevation it was 34°.

In the case of avalanche danger, maybe they move to the ridges in such weather because being on the sides of the valleys could get dangerous. Since most of the valleys are narrow, anywhere in the bottoms could be potentially dangerous. 

 

[BigTreeWalker]

38 minutes ago, JustCurious said:

SWWASAS, your background gives you far superior knowledge in this area than mine. 

 

The point I was trying to make though was that the temperatures are not so extremely cold that Sasquatches couldn't survive, so that alone couldn't be the reason if there is in fact movement in winter.  Avalanches could explain in mountainous regions why they might choose to move.

 

I would agree with you on their abilities to survive the winters in the southern cascades. The country is rugged  but it isn't all mountains. The majority of it is below 4000'. Lots of livable country there in the winter. I actually think cold snowy weather is easier to survive than the usual rainy 40° winters we see in the lower elevations. I have a hard time understanding how they survive the winter wet. That was the very thing Lewis and Clark complained about when they spent a winter in this country. 

[BobbyO]

4 hours ago, BigTreeWalker said:

 

 

I was thinking that in order to get into the Olympics from there, they would have to cross the Cascades then swim the Puget Sound. I would think that would increase beach and boat sightings on the east side of the Sound where population density is high. Of course they could move down the east side of the Cascades, crossing all the east - west arterial highways, (do sighting reports support this) then cross the mountains where the elevations are lower there. Then as we've discussed before cross into the Olympics from easier terrain. Just thinking out loud here. 

 

 

 

 

IMO BigTree, what you're saying would be classed as migration, and I'm not sure they need to do that in WA in the very true sense of the word.

 

I think we have more chances of little population pockets of these animals, and I may be wrong on this but I think we'd have these little pockets within these different geographical zones with movement between areas/zones for breeding purposes but I don't see a real need for anything else such as weather conditions or winding food sources etc.

 

There are movement trends within the numbers for sure, there are the decrease/increase in reports from Eastern WA moving west to the South Cascades geographical zone, which the timings coincide with the bigger fires of the last few years.

 

You will see very obvious heat maps density in certain areas within a few miles of the Fort Lewis area which I feel may be a travel corridor from the South Cascades to the Olympics, which also misses out Puget Sound as we are talking about an area further south of the Sound, and the main Seattle metropolis area which is to the north.

 

I look at that area because it falls within the general area of that potential breeding area I told Hiflier about, an area which should be noted is exactly where a point/marker would be positioned if you drew a straight line from the interior of the Olympics North to South and then a line from Mt Rainier National Park East to West.

 

If that is real, then I'm pretty sure that would be a general corridor of movement that is used.

 

Edit : And that's the reason why I was interested in the I-5 crossing points that we talked about a while back too.

Edited January 18, 2017 by BobbyO

[hiflier]

7 hours ago, BigTreeWalker said:

In the case of avalanche danger, maybe they move to the ridges in such weather because being on the sides of the valleys could get dangerous. Since most of the valleys are narrow, anywhere in the bottoms could be potentially dangerous. 

 

 

A very good point.

2 hours ago, BobbyO said:

I look at that area because it falls within the general area of that potential breeding area I told Hiflier about, an area which should be noted is exactly where a point/marker would be positioned if you drew a straight line from the interior of the Olympics North to South and then a line from Mt Rainier National Park East to West.

 

If that is real, then I'm pretty sure that would be a general corridor of movement that is used.

 

Edit : And that's the reason why I was interested in the I-5 crossing points that we talked about a while back too.

 

That was an interesting conversation. I mentioned before about two sightings of females about 20 years apart that were West of Matlock and North of Hoquiam. It made me think of a generational breeding or mating area. I also strongly thing brainstorming on these kinds of ideas help to define some of the data we have. Procreation is a major, major drive in all creatures and for a social species that has been witnessed in groups of both large and small individuals then a family unit may be more important than we realize. There may be time when a female needs more in the way of support from a male for protection as well as for food provisions? It dynamic doesn't seem to affect bears but it does Humans. I would be curious to know how apes fare shortly after a birth event but then we know they are a social animal already.

[BobbyO]

128 reports of actual visual sightings of "Multiple Creatures" in the SSR H, with the most common month for these reports ? November.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

That definitely seems to correspond to the movements of these creatures approaching the winter months, whether that be for mating purposes or simple food resources. I somehow think they must gather into several family groups for a time to diversify the gene pool. In my area I suspect the Seneca area because of all the sightings clustered. It is a fascinating study of the data, that is what sealed the deal for me studying this area.

 

[BobbyO]

Seneca, Crawford County Wisconsin ?

 

Only thing i'd say Lake is that for the county and the surrounding 3 in WI (Richland, Vernon and Grant) you've only got a total of 3 BFRO reports between them all.

[Redbone]

probably Seneca IL. Search Grundy, La Salle, & Kendall Counties (I love our new search capabilities!)

[BobbyO]

Aha cool, thank you. I'll look later....;)