BFRO #2954: A field researcher describes the events of his two week long solo backpacking trip in the Bluff Creek area

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📝 Description

As a young person I vaguely remember hearing something about a creature called "Bigfoot". I suppose I thought he was something the Indians had conjured up. That is how others seemed to think. Then approximately eight years ago, my sister gave me a book to read during a visit in Florida. I think it was called "Mysteries of The Unexplained." I found it to be an interesting book, especially the story about a creature called "Bigfoot." I don't remember the details, however, I do remember thinking that there is much more to this so-called myth than meets the eye. Sometime later I saw the famous "Patterson Film". A film of a large, heavy, hairy, bipedal subject quickly walking away from a startled cameraman and his horse. My curiosity at that point had me wanting to find out for myself what the truth was. Was this creature real or just a never-ending series of hoaxes and grossly exaggerated stories? I was in no position at the time to set out on an expedition so I promised myself and a few close friends that someday I would head to the northwest corner of the United States, the reported home of this creature, and answer the question for myself. Years later the opportunity finally presented itself. I started purchasing enough supplies for a thirty day solo expedition into the northwest. Having recently read three books on the subject of Bigfoot, I thought my best bets were either Washington State, Oregon, Northern California or Idaho. Sightings were consistent in and around the large forests of these states. While purchasing supplies, I picked up the August issue of a camping magazine that, as it turned out, contained an article about backpacking in Northern California. The article stated that you are more likely to see a bigfoot in the forests of this region, than another human being. I took the article seriously. Northern California here I come. At this point I had read enough material to have a plan that I was confident would bring me face to face with one of these creatures. My plan was not to go after one. It was to give one the opportunity to come to me. I just had to put myself in itsbackyard. As I made my way into the northwest corner of the state, I realized I wasn't in for a casual stroll through a forest. This forest was thick with undergrowth and either going almost straight up or straight down. One week into my "hike" into the back-country I decided to change my plan. After reflecting on conversations I'd had with the locals, I decided to turn around and head for an area about twenty-five miles from where I was now standing. The people that had talked openly with me about bigfoot activity, all mentioned geographical locations that were in the same general vicinity. They also said that there hadn't been any activity there in the past ten or so years. After making my way to this new location, I met a man that had lived there for the past thirty years. He said pretty much the same thing everyone else said. I had come to the right place but I was about ten years too late. He then pointed to a spot on my map that to the best of his recollection was the area many footprints and sightings had been reported over a decade ago. That would be my final destination. At this point my feeling that a bigfoot was no longer in this immediate area was growing somewhat stronger. I considered the possibility that bigfoots had lived here at one time and now lived elsewhere due to the logging activity in this valley some ten to thirty years ago. The forests of this area are large enough to play hide and seek with the entire U.S. Army. Dense forest covers the land further than the eyes can see and these creatures could be anywhere in it. I pressed on. As I made my way toward my final destination I continued to look for signs of something big and heavy leaving some kind of marks on the earth. If they were still around I should find something. I came across what looked like a bedding area for a creature that could fit a bigfoot's description. It was a bowl like depression in the ground about eight feet in diameter. Everything within this circle was flattened. It was only fifteen feet from a stream. Convenient I thought. There was also what looked like a large print on the side of this bowl headed toward the water. Many small to medium sized trees in the immediate vicinity were bent over or broken off at the base. It all fit, but it could be a bear's resting place, I thought. I left without bothering to take a picture. That same day I followed an old logging road to a point that it turned into a poor excuse for a rabbit trail. Along the way I found three depressions, about 14 inches long and 7 inches wide, in the soft mossy like growth between two old fallen trees. It appeared to be three steps taken by a very large and heavy bipedal animal. Coincidence, I thought, and pushed on. By this time on my trip I had seen several bear, a couple of deer and two mountain. Their tracks were all over the place -- especially bear tracks. Be

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