Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

A listener writes “This event happened early on the morning of August 17th, 2014. I was attempting to climb Pikes Peak via the Crags Trail, on the west side of the mountain. I was solo with my St. Bernard, Marlie.

My plan was to hit the trail head by 5am and get to my camp around 2 PM, rest and summit the next day. I hiked all morning and around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, I set up camp. The map looked like I had a decent place to sleep, but when I got there, it was not very accommodating. The ground was clear of rocks and starting to approach tree line. About an inch of snow was on the ground, but the wind had blown most areas clear. Trees were getting smaller and more spread out. The grade was less than habitable but I made do with the situation. Set up my tent and started melting snow for my dehydrated dinner. The temperature was clear, cold, and windy and no real weather was expected. No fire due to the wind and fire restrictions.

Went to bed at sundown, that time of year around 8-8:30. Around 11 pm, I had slid down into the corner of my tent because of how steep the terrain was. I got up and moved my sleeping bag and pad outside where it was not as steep and left my dog in the tent, zipped up so she wouldn’t run away. I was maybe 6 to 10 feet away from my tent. Fell back asleep. Around 2:30 or 2:45, my dog woke me up barking like crazy. I figured it was some animal walking around, like a skunk or raccoon. I turned my headlamp on, scanned the close area for any animals. Didn’t see any so I unzipped the tent to check on her and she had peed in the tent and was still barking, slipping in her urine as she recoiled, shaking in fear in the corner. I heard some crunching behind me, now thinking it was a bear and grabbed my handgun from the top flap of my backpack. I half zipped the tent up and when I turned around, I saw a shadow standing.

It was huge, at least 8 feet tall, standing maybe 80 feet away. The shoulders were very wide, and its arms were longer than that of a man. The shoulders are what I noticed first, just how wide this thing was. The head looked like a mound on top of shoulders rather than a separate neck and head. I don’t remember seeing its eye flash, which now seems weird. It ducked its head and swiped its right leg on the ground, across his body. It heaved from its right, low hip something, flying down from a slightly higher elevation, from the north. I could see something moving across the night sky, clear that it was something but didn’t know what. A dried log was thrown at me, and it exploded 4 feet away from me and the tent. When I looked back up to the north, it was gone. From the time I saw the animal to the time the log exploded was between 5 seconds and 10 seconds. My dog was still barking. I dodged the log and tried to see where the animal went. Unfortunately, I didn’t see it. After trying to wrap my head around what just happened, I tied Marlie to a tree and started packing up my small camp and was on the trail heading back to my car. The smell was so horrible. Musty and insulting in my nose. It stuck in my nose for the 15 or 20 minutes it took to pack. I was shaking the whole time.”