Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

Jan 18

US Forest Service Worker: “I saw a dark, hairy figure walking upright”

The year was 1993. I was employed with the US Forest Service in Skykomish, WA on the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie NF. I was part of a wildland firefighting crew on the Skykomish Ranger dist.

I should point out that I grew up in mountainous regions and did lots of hunting and hiking all my life. My father was a hunting guide when I was a young boy and I’m very familiar with all species of Northwest wildlife, tracks, sounds, smells, etc.

On the night of the 22nd of July, the district encountered many lighting strikes. The following morning we (firefighters) met with officials to determine what areas were hit and to find out who would be going where.

We split-up in teams of two. After reaching the end of the Beckler River drainage I saw the smoke and the area of concern which was high on a steep, thick, north facing hillside. Me and my partner geared up and started climbing the mountain.

The terrain was VERY rugged, steep, rocky, and thick with Devil’s Club & Salmon Berry brush. After hiking approx 2 1/2 to 3 hours through this terrain, moving slow due to the steepness, we finally reached the fire. We worked on the fire for about 2 hours then started our decent back our truck. We took a slightly different route than the way we came up.

We were about 200 yards down from where we had been working when my partner (Joe) slipped and dropped his shovel, it slid down the steep hill about 100 feet or so. I offered to go down and get it for him. When I climbed down to the shovel, it had landed on a rocky outcropping and I had to carefully scale the terrain to get down to the ledge.

When I got the shovel, I noticed a small cave entrance that had brush surrounding it. As soon as I got closer to inspect, I could smell a foul odor coming from inside. I shined my light inside the cave and could tell it was larger inside. I wasn’t able to see how deep it went back with my light. The odor kept me from going any further in. I had heard of the foul odor associated with bigfoots and immediately became uncomfortable. It was an overall eerie feeling.

I yelled up to Joe that I had found a cave and it really stunk. He seemed to just want to keep heading back to the truck so he continued down the path we were on before I climbed down for the shovel.

I was looking down the mountain to see how I was going to get down off the ledge and connect with the trail we were on before. As I was standing there, I saw out of the corner of my eye, a bowling ball-sized boulder came flying from over my head. It crashed and rolled into a ravine about 10 or 15 yards downhill from me. I yelled back up the hill to Joe, “Did you throw that!!?”. When he said “No!!”, I realized that he had already walked away from where he had been and was now way to the left of my location.

It was at that moment I realized that rock COULD NOT have been thrown by him, nor did it roll down the hill because I would have heard it crashing down from above me. I then looked back uphill from where the rock had come from just in time to see ANOTHER rock coming from above me. The second rock hit the ground more to the left and below me. I was visually scanning the area where the rock had come from when I heard movement in the brush. I crouched down and watched the area. I then saw a dark, hairy figure walking upright along the side of the mountain, away from me. It was always partially obscured by brush and trees so I couldn’t really tell color or exact heighth, but I would guess about 7-9 ft. tall.

I watched it for a few seconds then yelled to Joe “I see it!”, I think I said “I think it’s a bigfoot!”. As soon as I yelled that, I looked back up and it was dead still and silent. I felt like it stopped and hid when I yelled because I didn’t see or hear anything else.

At this point I really wanted to get out of there so I side-hilled over to Joe and we quickly descended back to our vehicle. We were both very freaked out and talked about it all the way back to the ranger station where we reported the incident to our wildlife biologist and other officials at the ranger district.

I was later contacted by someone at the U of W who wanted to interview me and have me take him to the site. I moved from the area shortly afterwards and I never took him there. Which is why I’m submitting this report. I want people to know my story.

 

See full report

17 Responses to “US Forest Service Worker: “I saw a dark, hairy figure walking upright””

  1. Floyd L

    The person who may have contacted him. Was Dr. Grover Krantz from the Washington State University. He was their from 1968-1999.
    His book BIGFOOT SASQUATCH EVIDENCE the Anthropologist speaks out was good reading.
    enjoyed your report
    Floyd from Wash. State

  2. Melanie W

    Hmmmm…. The firefighter wrote: ” I had heard of the foul odor associated with bigfoots and immediatley became uncomfortable.”
    I wonder when it became common “knowledge” that there can be an associated smell with Sasquatch? This was 1993… Anyone know the history of this kind of knowledge? If not from films or bfro, then where would this person have heard about it?

  7. Karen D

    Sasquatch Chronicles….where people can SHARE their experiences without worrying about being doubted or judged☺ That was a great experience….thanks for sharing!

  9. Seamus J. C

    I agree that people who share should be supported, but this is a BFRO report, the guy will never see this thread, more than likely. And if we suspend our critical thinking about what we hear and read, then we are one step closer to being the kind of whackoes that many say we are. Cynthia and Melanie, keep keepin’ on! People do make stuff up for attention, as a joke, or to make those who believe them look bad–or because they’re delusional. Your thoughts sparked some interesting responses, I did not have any idea, myself, of how much “comon knowledge” has been around about sasquatch. Now I do. I, personally, have SC, circa 2015, to thank for any knowledge of the stinkiness of sasquatch.

  10. Seamus J. C

    That being said, this encounter has elements one would expect to see in a SQ encounter–remote location, a disruptive event that might have exposed the SQ (the fire) and put it to flight, a cave, an attempt to hide its entrance, the smell, rock throwing and walking “away” rather than charging. All seem typical, which is why it’s plausible and also why it certainly could have been made up…There’s nothing in particular that stands out as difficult to fabricate. What did seem odd is that the guy who himself had dropped his shovel didn’t stick around to help, or at least be close nearby, as his co-worker got it for him from a dangerous ledge. But he could have just been a…that kind of person.

    ..It occurs to me that they are not walking “away,” but rather circling around to your probable path of exit to continue to monitor you. And perhaps they have found that a brief and tantalizing sighting works to their advantage, in the same way that hiking a skirt up a bit can be more arousing than an immediate full monty–the glimpse of them and the rocks are enough to make most people leave the area, so why “expose themselves” any more than that? Puny humans carry boom stick!

  11. Melanie W

    I never said I didn’t believe this fellows account. There is nothing to make me believe or disbelieve it. I just had a question about it, and put that question out there in the hope that others might know the answer (thanks to CF and Mark O for their input). I try not to jump to decisions on whether a report is real or not… Which I know can be hard to do from both sides… But I try. I also do my best not to criticize anyone’s story… But if something doesn’t jive, or I feel something needs clarification, I’m going to ask. Asking isn’t, IMO, judgement, so please don’t assume I am. Ask me! 😉

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