BFRO #27819: Three brothers have multiple observations west of Yreka [Includes audio of knocking]

📍 Location

📝 Description

Year: 2010Season: SpringMonth: MayDate: 5/12State: CaliforniaCounty: SiskiyouDirections to location: edited out, per request of the submitter.Observed: This trip was, in actuality, an expedition my brothers and myself had planned into the mountains of Siskiyou county. Our rationale came from an obscure Californian document called "The Hermit of Siskiyou," which records one of the earliest Sasquatch encounters in the state as having occurred in this area. In addition, the book also goes on to note that it was well known amongst the locals at that time that these creatures wintered in the caves, "makes winter quarters in some of the caves of the Marble Mountains". We also felt that since we would, in all likelihood, be the first people into the backcountry this early in the season it would increase our chances of encountering some sort of activity.An early scouting trip on 5/10 supported our suspicions.Late afternoon on Monday, May 10th, we left our hotel in Yreka and headed out into the mountains to familiarize ourselves with the trailhead we would be using early the next morning for our hike into the valley. The weather was quite raw, chilly with cold rain. At approximately 4 pm, as we were winding up the forest service road, we came to what may be described as an overlook or turnout. We decided to pull over and get our first real look at the mountains we would be hiking into the next day. We stopped the Jeep and my two brothers bounded out of the front and began taking pictures. I was just opening the rear door on the passenger�s side when I suddenly heard what I can only describe as a loud and prolonged, �AHHHHH!,� coming from my 11 o�clock from a low hill roughly 400 yards away. It was a very strange sound and completely unlike anything I had ever heard in the woods before. (I live deep in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks, so I am no stranger to backcountry sounds.) It sounded like a man sort of yelling but it had a deep, animal-like quality to it. I asked my brothers if they had heard the sound, but they said that they hadn�t. In fact, I believe that they thought I was joking. After a few more minutes of snapping pictures, glassing the slope and waiting around to see if whatever had made that sound was going to make it again (it didn�t) we piled back into the Jeep and continued up the mountain.We followed this road all the way to the trailhead (one of our two options for tomorrow�s hike) without incident.Coming back down the mountain, we now turned left onto another forest service road to reconnoiter the second trailhead. Conditions immediately went from raw to terrible. This forest service road is unpaved and the cold rain now changed to snow the higher we climbed. (Our elevation at this point was somewhere between 3,500-4,000 feet.) There had obviously been snow at some earlier point because the road had roughly an inch to an inch and a half of old snow scattered on it and piled up on the sides in patches. My brother suggested that we might want to get out of the Jeep and scan the side of the road in order to see if we could come upon any kind of tracks. We were not thinking �Bigfoot� at this point, we were just trying to get an idea of what kind of animals we might be encountering in the next few days. Almost immediately, we found some large and clear bear tracks. These were good-sized tracks and I would guesstimate that they were from some 300-500 lb. animal. (Again, I live in the Adirondacks and we are well stocked with bears.)I mention these tracks because as we were following them up the hill we came across a very different set of tracks.At approximately 4:45 pm we encountered a second set of tracks crossing the road. These tracks were moving perpendicular to the bear tracks we had been following and were clearly NOT bear tracks. The first track was approximately 17-18 inches long and 6 inches in width. It looked exactly like a naked human footprint, but there was little visible arch. In other words, it was rather filled in where you would expect the arch indentation to be. The print appeared to be from a right foot and a clearly defined big toe was visible. It also seemed as if the bear we had been following had stepped directly into this track but it in no way obscured what we were looking at. These two types of tracks were directly before us so that I can say, as far as comparisons between the two, this new set of tracks had come from some completely different animal.Following the track, a 2nd track was discernable roughly 4 to 4 � feet from the first track across the road. This track was much more degraded than the first track but appeared to be from a left foot of consistent dimensions with the first. The conditions wouldn�t allow for any casting and, besides, we had left nearly all of our equipment back at the hotel. This was supposed to have been an in-and-out scouting run and, consequently, we were poorly prepared to document any findings. The spotty snow and the lay of the land discoura

🔍 Circumstances

My two brothers were present for all of the activity but did not see the creature.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

The encounter occurred around 4pm on an early spring day. The weather was mild with the temperature in the low 70�s. We were between 4,500 and 5,000 feet in altitude on the side of an intermittently snow-spotted mountain.

ℹ️ Additional Details

The encounter occurred around 4pm on an early spring day. The weather was mild with the temperature in the low 70�s. We were between 4,500 and 5,000 feet in altitude on the side of an intermittently snow-spotted mountain.

🔗 Sources (1)

👥 Community Contributions

Help improve this case by adding notes, observations, theories, or tags. Your contributions help the community understand patterns and connections.