Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

A listener writes “I’ve been listening to your podcast for a long time now, and I consider myself a believer in Bigfoot. I grew up in Texas working on cattle ranches and farms, and my family has long traditions of hunting and camping. I’m no stranger to the outdoors.

In 2021, my father passed away from cancer, and it happened quickly. About two months after he died, I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail and I completed it. Since then, I’ve completed five thru hikes. For anyone unfamiliar, a thru-hike means hiking a long National Scenic Trail from start to finish in one continuous journey.

I’ve hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Vermont Long Trail, the Arizona Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Oregon Coast Trail all thru-hikes. Long before any of that, I spent my childhood and early adulthood hunting, camping, and running through woods and swamps. The outdoors has always been part of my life.

This experience happened in 2023 while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. My girlfriend was hiking with me, and she was present during the encounter. I also have GPS coordinates for where this occurred, saved in the FarOut app that hikers use.

We were hiking through the Dixie Fire burn zone in Northern California. One evening, we set up camp about 30 feet off the trail, next to what looked like an old forestry road. The road wrapped around a small mountain, and our campsite was near the top maybe 100 to 150 feet below the summit. The road was so overgrown in places that it clearly hadn’t been used by vehicles in a long time.

The area was extremely secluded. The last road access behind us was about 20 miles back, and the next road ahead our destination for the following day was also roughly 20 miles away. There were no visible house lights, no towns, nothing in any direction.

We ate dinner without a campfire and sat in our two-person tent for a while because we couldn’t sleep. Around 11:30 p.m., while we were sitting up talking about our day and plans for the next, we heard a wood knock two knocks, spaced out and deliberate. We froze instantly. A second or two later, we heard two more knocks, then a few seconds after that, a single knock that sounded much farther away.

In the back of my mind, I knew something wasn’t right, but it still didn’t feel real. As soon as the knocking stopped, my girlfriend became visibly scared. She put her headphones on and said, “Nope.” I stayed quiet, trying to process what we’d just heard.

Carefully, I got out of the tent without turning on my headlamp and slowly moved to a nearby tree about as wide as my shoulders. I’m 5’11” and weigh about 175 pounds. I leaned against that tree and stood there silently for about 30 minutes. I wanted to make sure what we’d heard wasn’t people hunters or someone wandering around. I didn’t see any flashlights or electronic lights at all.

Eventually, I decided to go back to the tent and get ready for bed. I turned on my headlamp and walked away from camp to relieve myself. As I crossed toward the other side of the dirt road, I heard a growl directly in front of me. I couldn’t see anything, but the sound felt like it was only about 10 feet away. My hair stood up instantly. This growl felt different deep, powerful, and unmistakable.

I slowly backed up, thinking it might be a bear or some other predator warning me off. When I reached the tent vestibule, I heard a single whoop from another direction. I was startled and began to unzip the tent to get back inside when everything erupted.

Loud whoops started coming from all around us multiple directions, similar tones, different locations. I unzipped the tent to tell my girlfriend something was happening, but she already knew. She could hear and feel the sounds through her headphones. I told her to start packing immediately we needed to leave.

I knew we were in danger. It felt like a group or a family was moving through the area.

As my girlfriend packed the inside of the tent, I heard a loud crash about 30 feet away, coming from the trail. I turned my headlamp toward the sound, and what I saw felt unreal like something out of a movie.

At first, all I could see was from the knees down. Even that was enough to make my blood run cold. The size alone was overwhelming. Then I slowly looked up and I mean I had to bend my neck and deliberately force myself to look higher.

Standing there, completely still, was a Bigfoot.

It looked incredibly old almost ancient. Its feet were enormous, almost comically large at first glance, like oversized clown shoes. But as I scanned upward, my mind started to fracture. It was too big. Too human, but not human. It had to be over 10 feet tall.

Its hair appeared light gray or white. The skin I could see was leathery and dark, almost charcoal in color. Its eyes reflected my headlamp, flashing brightly. Its mouth stayed closed the entire time, shaped like a gorilla’s. The brow ridge extended far over its eyes, and its nose was extremely wide almost mismatched to its face. It had a thin, scraggly beard and no visible ears.

The only movement it made was a subtle shifting of its upper body its shoulders slowly moving side to side, as if scanning the area. Its chest and much of its stomach were hairless. The rest of its hair looked wild and unkempt, sticking out in all directions, like it had just woken up. There were dried leaves stuck to its left arm, which made me think that was its dominant arm.

I knew it was male from its anatomy and the sheer size of it was staggering. It looked massively muscular, like something unnaturally powerful. Its hands and fingers were huge, hairless, and thick like oversized bananas.

I leaned into the tent and told my girlfriend, “I don’t care how you pack hurry. We need to get out of here now.”

She started crying as she packed. She knew by my voice and demeanor that something was seriously wrong. When I looked back up, the creature was gone. No sound. No movement. Just gone.

We packed as fast as we could, shaking and terrified. Once we were ready, we moved toward the trail where I had seen it. We hiked about five miles through the night. The entire time, we heard whoops and knocks but eventually, they stopped.

We kept hiking until we reached the road and made it to town.

To this day, my girlfriend won’t talk about what happened. Anytime I bring it up, she turns pale, even though she never saw the creature herself.

The experience hasn’t stopped me from hiking or camping, but I’m far more cautious now. I won’t hike or camp alone anymore. Other than my girlfriend, I haven’t told anyone this story. I’ve casually mentioned wood knocking to people just to gauge reactions, but the pushback made me stop.

I’m emailing you because I want this experience documented and out there, but I’m not sure I’m ready to come on and talk about it. I’m a shy person, and honestly, I’m still scared to vocalize this story. I’m sure there are more details I could share, but until now, no one has ever asked because I’ve never told it.”