Field trips 2.0

[NatFoot]

Heading back up to Pike National Forest to do some camping this weekend. Same area where I saw the Nigerian dude dressed in all black running through the woods. 

[Pdub]

July 14 & 15 I spent the weekend camping at Yellow River State Forest in NE Iowa. Sound familiar?  Well it was the location of the Finding Bigfoot Iowa episode. Didn’t pick the place for this reason but went with the family to camp in a new place near Effigy Mounds National Monument (great place, highly recommend). Found the place online because it was only like $8/night and looked fairly rustic. After I booked it found the FB stuff. Really beautiful place, part of the Driftless Zone along the Mississippi River. Heavily wooded bluff country. Saw lots of deer, a couple turkey. It struck me as odd that on a weekend in July there was only 2 other campsites out of about 30 in use. Did some hiking and exploring Saturday. Highlight of the trip, I was walking down by the river Sunday morning and a bald eagle flew right up stream about 15 feet above me. 

 

Alas no sightings are strange occurrences. Told the wife and kid about the FB episode at the campfire Saturday night and it made them paranoid. The wife then found it necessary to wake me up at 1am to tell me she heard a small stick snap outside the tent. 

Edited July 25, 2018 by Pdub

[Cotter]

I've been on an outing at the Yellow River State Forest as well (before the FB episode by a few years).  Quite rustic and right along the Mississippi River route....

 

Like you, we didn't have anything too peculiar happen.  Other than a bright flash of light from one of the gully bottoms as we were out in the woods....coulda been anything really and something I didn't attribute to bf.

 

 

[hiflier]

Last Summer I stayed a couple of days at Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota. Gorgeous place high on bluffs with many trails and overlooks from its bluffs over the Mississippi. I just got back from two weeks on the Downeast coast of Maine, what is called the Bold Coast. We stayed in a state park about 30 miles from Canada right on a great ocean bay. Weather was wonderful and views were spectacular. No BF's but the story of the Meddybemps Howler is very interesting and not too far from where we were: http://www.bigfootencounters.com/stories/meddybemps.htm

[BC witness]

Pdub and hiflier, nice outing reports, where the heck are the pics???

[Explorer]

I went backpacking into the Siskiyou Wilderness (in northern CA) the first week of July.  Spent 3 nights in the mid-section of the wilderness; backpacked from end of northern portion of the GO-road (Boundary Trailhead) down to Elk Valley.  This trail is north of the Blue Creek drainage.  Elk Valley is where we camped and is the beginning of Blue Creek.  After exiting, we drove to the northern end of the Siskiyou Wilderness and spent another 3 nights.  One night at Sanger Lake and then we backpacked into Youngs Valley.  Youngs Valley is where Clear Creek starts and drains south.

 

We saw plenty of deer on the meadows.  We did not see or hear any bear or bigfoot. The wild berries were not out yet.

 

We did find what appeared to be 2 footprints on the Boundary Trail on the way back.  They looked like old footprints that were imprinted when the terrain was wet and muddy.  One print is human size but could be a double print from a bear or just random formation.  The other print is small (like from a toddler) and gives the appearance of showing the toes pushing the mud out.  They were not very good and I am not claiming they are from BF but I took pictures anyway in order to document.  I doubt that children will walk barefoot where we were.  The map below shows where the footprints were found relative to TH entrance and other key places in Siskiyous (like PGF site and Louse camp).

 

First photo is a view of Youngs Valley.

Second photo is a view of Blue Creek drainage on the backpack along the ridgeline.

Third photo is of what appears to be a small footprint

Fourth photo is of what appears to be a footprint

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by Explorer

[Pdub]

Nice pics Explorer, beautiful country. I love the mountains which are sorely lacking in MN. 

 

BCW for some reason I agreed to let my 8yo daughter to be in charge of photography for the weekend. She thinks she’s the next Ansel Adams...

[BC witness]

Looks like gorgeous country to hike in, thanks for the pics. The footprints are just weathered enough to make you wonder, without being able to say "AHA", but good spotting on your part, Explorer.

[SWWASAS]

Took a trip to the WA coast just North of Cape Discovery.     Walking a trail and heard a tree knock or to be more accurate three rapid knocks.    Possibilities are some human BFRO type but have no idea why they would be that far off trail.   The knocks were too rapid to be tree banging in the wind.   So that leaves a single event by a woodpecker that did not repeat knocking or a BF.      On the way back out,  did hear another repeating knock of much longer frequency in the same area but on investigation discovered it was a tree swaying in the wind knocking against another tree.     Things like this make me furious at the BFRO.   If BF knock, and most think they do, knocks used to be a way to know one is nearby.   However, now that humans are performing the knocking behavior,  it is more likely to be a BFRO type than BF, so knocks are not positive indication of BF activity.   I am surprised that the BFRO does not advocate using stompers to lure in BF with fake footprints too.   Makes as much sense as doing tree knocking when they have no idea what it really means.     

[georgerm]

22 hours ago, Cotter said:

I've been on an outing at the Yellow River State Forest as well (before the FB episode by a few years).  Quite rustic and right along the Mississippi River route....

 

Like you, we didn't have anything too peculiar happen.  Other than a bright flash of light from one of the gully bottoms as we were out in the woods....coulda been anything really and something I didn't attribute to bf.

 

 

Cotter, the bright flash probably meant something. Seems like bigfoot dwells between a flash and an outright appearance. This is where I begin to pay attention.

 

My home town is Coos Bay, Oregon, and we have, what some would say is Squachy Country. Some events and eye witness reports have occurred that caused me to stop my field work and BFF participation. My field work began 15 years ago around southern Oregon. Events such as wood knocks, whistling, quick appearance, and one solid appearance have me questioning my judgement.

 

Now, a youtube channel called 'PacWest Bigfoot' has many reports from Oregon. A fair percentage depict bigfoot as a scary, dangerous animal responsible for horrific events, abductions, and human deaths. If anyone, brave at heart, wants to join me on some hikes and sleep outs, then just ask.  

,

Dr. Mathew Johnson says bigfoot (and my spelling is off)  jawnew and treykons are the two species in the northwest.  The second group are dangerous animals. Dr. Johnson sleeps under the stars and is quite brave. 

 

Cotter thanks for the reports.

[Cotter]

Hi Geo!

 

It's hard for me to grasp that a BF would be associated with something like that, but your account, along with others', do make me at a minimum ponder the possibility that these creatures are well.....different.

 

Part of me wonders if eyeshine could cast a light that bright and quick as well.  It really was like a camera flash.  We also had a thermal with us that didn't pick up anything when we attempted to scan the area it came from.  But it was quite a ways away in the thick stuff, so who knows.

 

Can I ask whereabouts in Southern Oregon you go?  I spent some time out there over a 4 year period doing some prospecting and BF searching.  On Peavine Mtn north of Grant's Pass.  A pal had some experiences (escorted off the mtn, camp circles several times, and a prolonged class A sighting) on Peavine in the early/mid 90's so we thought it was a good place to start.  Unfortunately, the area he had his experiences in had been clear cut so we expanded our search area. I had sent a couple messages to Dr. Johnson as I had hoped to speak with him about his experiences, but never heard back.

 

I would totally take you up on your offer, but the next couple years are a bit 'tight' for me.  Plus, I've got some plans in the works to spend a week at the ECETI (James Gilliland) Ranch next summer....so there goes my vacation time...ugh..

 

 

[MindSquatch]

Took a trip up to the Northern Oregon Coast area recently and then went down to the area east of Mono Lake off of hwy 120 east. There's a really nice campground in the area called Nehalem Falls Campground right along the river, This is a very lush part of Oregon and spent a lot of time on this river as a young kid and is one of my favorites. The forest in this area is very thick to hike in and would be hard to have a sighting unless you are on the river and happen to see one foraging for food in the water. I then went to a dry climate east of Mono Lake taking route Hwy 120 east. To me this is one of the nicest drives in all of California, totally untouched, very pristine environment. I believe there is a healthy population of Bigfoot's in this area due to the food sources and places to remain hidden. Would be hard to find tracks due to the sandy conditions though. The river photo is 12 miles in off of Foss Rd on the Nehalem River. The other photo is of Boundary Peak which is the highest peak in Nevada and sits at the northern end of the White Mountains. Photo of cave is in the Eastern Sierras in my Bigfoot Research area which is my preferred area to hike in finding tracks and having encounters and sightings of Bigfoot.

 

7-13-18_121.MTS

Edited July 26, 2018 by MindSquatch

[wiiawiwb]

5 hours ago, SWWASAS said:

Took a trip to the WA coast just North of Cape Discovery.     Walking a trail and heard a tree knock or to be more accurate three rapid knocks.    Possibilities are some human BFRO type but have no idea why they would be that far off trail.   The knocks were too rapid to be tree banging in the wind.   So that leaves a single event by a woodpecker that did not repeat knocking or a BF.      On the way back out,  did hear another repeating knock of much longer frequency in the same area but on investigation discovered it was a tree swaying in the wind knocking against another tree.     Things like this make me furious at the BFRO.   If BF knock, and most think they do, knocks used to be a way to know one is nearby.   However, now that humans are performing the knocking behavior,  it is more likely to be a BFRO type than BF, so knocks are not positive indication of BF activity.   I am surprised that the BFRO does not advocate using stompers to lure in BF with fake footprints too.   Makes as much sense as doing tree knocking when they have no idea what it really means.     

 

I would agree with you in general but there are exceptions. Last year, I was at a secluded pond which is a favorite location of mine. It is ~1/4 mile long and 600' across and is surrounded on three sided by swamp/marsh. Beyond that, is just forest. I wood knocked at 10pm and received a return knock some 6 seconds later from across the pond and down the pond. A second knock occurred some 3-4 seconds after the first one from the same side of the pond I was on. Both knocks were close to camp not in the distance.

 

There is absolutely no way the first knock could have been a human hunkered down just waiting for someone to knock so they could hoax a return knock. The area of the first knock has one way in and that was through the area I was camped. Moreover, I had been in the area across the pond earlier that afternoon and saw nothing suscicious. On two followup visits I reenacted my wood knock and the "echo" I got was immediate and from a totally different direction than either wood knocks.

 

I can't prove anything but am totally convinced I received two woods knocks that night from two sources, both non-human.

Edited July 26, 2018 by wiiawiwb

[SWWASAS]

As I said I do not doubt that you probably heard BF making the knocks.    But what do we learn from that?   First we have to assume that BF is making them instead of some human in the area.     The problem with humans making them, is that we can only guess what they mean to BF.    My first experience with them was when one nearly ran over me and made 4 rapid knocks.     I suspect it was to warn the other it was moving through the woods with.  In the years that follow, often when I would slam my truck door before heading out, I would hear a distant knock in response.    If the rapid knocks were a danger warning,   why would any human want to make them,  warn BF, who would simply  move away.     Hypothetically lets say you frequent the same area for years.    You knock,  and  there knocks in return.    Sure you can scout around and probably be comfortable that the knocks were made by BF instead of humans.     Beyond that, it might be informative to know that when there are return knocks something is there making them.     That is always good to know.    But you could spend decades doing that and not learn anything more.      You knock they knock,   and that is all you know.  

 

 I want a visual encounter.        My theory is that most BF encounters are with a BF that has no idea you are there.    They prefer not to be seen and if they know you are there, they are more careful to avoid you.    Knock and they know not only you are there, but where you are.  That makes it much easier for them to avoid you and eliminates most chance that you can see them.  I prefer to park and insert into a distant area, be a quiet as I can be, listen for movement,  and make random changes in direction.   Making it hard for any BF to know where I am and harder for them to avoid me.    To date that has worked once for me, out of pure chance, and now I continue to use the same field technique.    As I age that technique is getting more difficult for me, especially in the mountains.     I may have to just find an active area and wait for them to come in.     Some claim that works, but I guess I don't have the patience yet to do that.    i guess what I am saying is do what seems to work for your BF and your area.      I would like to find an area with a grumpy BF that wants to escort me out.    That aggressiveness might result in visual contact or better yet,   video.    One can only hope.   

Edited July 27, 2018 by SWWASAS

[georgerm]

On 7/26/2018 at 10:47 AM, Cotter said:

Hi Geo!

 

It's hard for me to grasp that a BF would be associated with something like that, but your account, along with others', do make me at a minimum ponder the possibility that these creatures are well.....different.

 

Part of me wonders if eyeshine could cast a light that bright and quick as well.  It really was like a camera flash.  We also had a thermal with us that didn't pick up anything when we attempted to scan the area it came from.  But it was quite a ways away in the thick stuff, so who knows.

 

Can I ask whereabouts in Southern Oregon you go?  I spent some time out there over a 4 year period doing some prospecting and BF searching.  On Peavine Mtn north of Grant's Pass.  A pal had some experiences (escorted off the mtn, camp circles several times, and a prolonged class A sighting) on Peavine in the early/mid 90's so we thought it was a good place to start.  Unfortunately, the area he had his experiences in had been clear cut so we expanded our search area. I had sent a couple messages to Dr. Johnson as I had hoped to speak with him about his experiences, but never heard back.

 

I would totally take you up on your offer, but the next couple years are a bit 'tight' for me.  Plus, I've got some plans in the works to spend a week at the ECETI (James Gilliland) Ranch next summer....so there goes my vacation time...ugh..

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply Cotter. We all seem to be finding decent areas to explore, and study Sasquatch. I'm beginning to think that when we enter bigfoot's territory they know we are there. If we sneak around they simply remain hidden or as some believe the cloak. One place that is located north of Coquille, Oregon that began with me hanging apples from some trees by using a wire hook that held the apple at the 8' height. A week later I returned at dusk and was just leaving and whistles came from the dark forest. My wife said oh, kids are up there. Kids were no up there. Then I saw a figure appear then disappear in some bushes. It seemed to me they wanted to talk and not have me for dinner. I will get back there soon.