Randal writes “It was summer of 1986. I was living outside of Seattle in a hotel for work, did not know anyone but being an adventurous guy from Missouri, I spent my weekends backpacking the Pacific NW. In my 20’s and in my physical prime, looked for challenges. Most of my backpack trips were throughout the Cascades and Olympic Mountains, by myself! Never feared much (until one nerve racking experience near Denali in Alaska but that’s another story).
I had driven up to Sunrise on the NE side of Mount Rainier to backpack to Frozen Lake at the base of Mount Fremont (7214‘ msl) on the flanks of Mt Rainier. I was standing next to my Ford Bronco II getting my pack ready and had a guy walk up to me and ask me if I was a caver. I told him yes. He ask me about my license plate that had the National Speleological Society (NSS) on it and bat stickers on my rear window. He said he was a caver originally from Indiana. I told him about the Cave I own in Arkansas (Ennis Cave, Stone County Arkansas), 7 miles long, 100’ waterfall, large chambers, underground rivers and lakes – very cool. We hit it off and he ask where I was going. His name was Randy as well and he was with his wife Laura and we were going to the same place and he ask me to join him. I said sure and the 3 of us headed out.
We were the only ones backpacking that area. We settled in above the lake (you must stay away from the lake to protect it). It was about midnight and my friend Randy told me him and Laura were going to sit at the lake and watch for wildlife. I tagged along. We sat leaning up against a large log at one end of the lake. There was a full moon and the reflection of Mt Rainier was beautifully displayed on the lake surface of the lake. We sat there quiet for about 30 minutes when a large, walking upright animal came out of the trees on the other end of the lake, walked down by the lake and stopped looking directly across the lake (~200 feet) at where we were sitting. No one said anything, we just stared and watch this thing standing quietly without moving for at least 10 minutes. No doubt in our mind we say a very large animal walking on 2 legs, lots of moonlight to display it. Could not tell details like if it was hairy or what color it was.
After it turned and walked back into the trees my friend Randy turned to me and said “do you know what that was”. Before I could say anything his wife Laura said “that was Sasquatch!” I felt the same way. We were still pretty speechless not knowing how to process what we just say. We decided to head to the tents and investigate in the morning. I did not sleep much that night, nor did Randy and Laura. Naturally we heard all kinds of noises and I was on edge. Woke up to the ground shaking around me thinking there was an earthquake in the mountain being it’s a dormant volcano – it was a heard of elk moving past us to the meadow to feed as the sun was coming up. What a beautiful sight.
After we ate breakfast, we went down to the lake to look around. We looked at the trees behind where it was standing to size it up – thinking it was 7-8 feet tall. Found no tracks and noticed the ground was such we weren’t leaving tracks either so no surprise. No evidence it had been there to me and I’m not an expert on such things.
In summary, I’m not sure what we saw. I do know it was NOT human, walked on 2 feet, around 7-9 feet tall, moves slow and methodically, and left no evidence except for 3 people seeing it from about 200’ away for 10 minutes so it wasn’t a flash by experience. No smells and not sure the direction of the wind or if any, no sound, just the full moon across a small lake showing the nonhuman creature in the moonlight. I know what I believe it was but have no other proof other than my experience.
I have several interesting stories at my cave in Arkansas. There have been dozens of witnesses seeing, hearing, other somehow connecting with unknowns. Orbs, red eyes in the woods, Sasquatch sites by the White River and behind a abandoned cabin by the cave. Rocks and sticks thrown at our cabin at night, loud guttural sounds outside but no sightings. Let me know if that story is of interest. It involves 40 years of me owning the cave in the remote woods of northern Arkansas.”
