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mstrocraft
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2
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 Posted: June 9th, 2009 11:54 AM |
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| The 2009 WA_Cascades expedition officially ran from 4 thru 7 June. Advanced party personnel began arriving on 1 June with Trail Party remaining thru 9 June. Information on the outcome of the expedition will be forthcoming. |
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TRUTH-SEEKER
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 572
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| Posted: June 10th, 2009 01:14 PM |
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Well, this trip was pretty uneventful for me personally as far as Squatch interaction.. I seen some possible eye shine.. And I did hear my first Squatch howl.. I think it was a Squatch anyway.. It was really far off, but it seemed like what ever made that yell had a pretty good lung capacity.. The reason I say uneventful for me is because all the action was happening at other camps.. Wish we would of stayed a bit longer at Rock Camp.. Their was a couple cast made.. Possible prints found... Squatch was seen with the thermal.. Squatch was seen with night vision.. Vocals & knocks were heard and eye shine was seen.. A couple ladies got zapped, if that's what you want to call it.. Sooo... I'd say this trip was another excellent outing all together.. The organizers did another great job.. I saw some old friends, and made some new ones, think I did anyway... Best part of these trips if you ask me.. (Well actually seeing a squatch would be best, but I think you all know what I mean.) Some good people go on these trips.. Well I'm sure you all will be hearing all about it soon... I know there will be some reports added about this trip.. I just gave ya all a lil taste of what went on.. I'll let those that had the experience's speak for themselves.. I'm sure they will share, it may take a few days.. I know Tyler is still probably on cloud 9 right now, aren't you buddy.. Anyway, I had a blast and can't wait for the Peninsula.. Thanks K. & K. you 2 always do a great job!!! See you in the Peninsula.. And thanks again to the BFRO for doing these Expeditions..
Darrell Hopson
"He who seeketh long enough and hard enough will find the truth, whatever that truth may be." Roger Patterson
“When you realize the value of a life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future.” Diane Fossey 
Expeditions Attended:
2008, 2009 Washington Cascades
2008, 2009 Wa. Olympic Peninsula
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robertsiler98223
Approved
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 12
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| Posted: June 13th, 2009 02:24 PM |
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B, T,N, and S
We camped at Rock camp with C and B
Order of events:
S arrived on Tuesday night in search of our agreed upon campsite. We had all decided that Rock camp was our preferred destination, S and B, having seen the campsite the previous year.
Wednesday June 3, 2009: B,N and T arrived Wednesday night 8:30pm.S was in Camp with C, . Just after getting camp set up about 10:07pm we heard loud and clear a wood knock to the SW of camp. About at the little creek crossing SW of Rock Camp. The same place many other activities were wittnessed thought the weekend. Shortly after around 10:30ish C passed Rock camp on a walk toward S2 camp to the south. She stated that she had seen eye shine around on the road at the little creek crossing SW of Rock camp. She returned to camp around 12:00am. We all chatted for a while then retired to bed.
Thursday June 4, 2009:B, S, N and myself decided to go with the group up to S2 camp. The large group split up into two smaller groups, one headed south and one headed north to the “Y”. Our 4some went with the north group. We heard some strange sounding wood knocks to the west of us, cannot remember the time. Some of us heard rapid knocks. I heard something more like a stick being drug down a ladder. I was able to duplicate the sound by dragging a stick down a dead tree with lots of dead branches. I think I saw green eye shine but it was far off behind us maybe 100 feet back. We walked to the “Y”, by that time it was raining and all of us were wet. B and I headed back with the group to the S2 camp where we had parked our vehicle. N and S walked back towards Rock Camp with a German speaking group and some others. N had been thinking to himself, “we’re thinking about them and he wondered If they were thinking about us too”. Meaning the experience he had last year. Somewhere around the bend in the road below Rock camp he suddenly felt the words “I’m thinking of you”. As if some one answered him. B and I returned to Rock camp after dropping off some others at MBC. C and B will tell there own stories.
Friday June 5, 2009: B,T, N and S took off out of camp to the north at about 1pm. Our plan was to hike around in the woods looking for sqautch sign and return about the time of the meeting at 4pm. We entered the cedar timber area behind frog pond that felt like a good spooky place to mill around for awhile. As we were trying to find a way around the endless water we were growled at by something we could not see or smell. It was a strange growl at first. B stops and shushes us to listen to what he described as “do you hear that chainsaw?” N and I looked at each other, eyes wide. We described it more like a horses lips doing a raspberry sound, then the sound changed to a low growl about 30 to 40 feet away. The growl moved away from us towards frog pond, west, until we could no longer hear it. We finally had to go through the water over log bridges and brush to make it back to the road. We arrived at MBC shortly after 4pm for the meeting. S, B, T, and N were beat from our day hike and decided to rest up for the night so we stayed in Rock Camp. We heard a lot of branch breaking around camp. We had a fire so shadows and eye shine were impossible to see. We heard a series of 8 howls or calls from the far southwest direction. Not sure if it was in response to any of our calls or not. We check on the radio with Boat camp and others, the calls were unannounced and heard by some people. N was feeling vibrations and tingling on the side of his body facing the direction of the branch breaking. At some point he began to cry and did not know why. He was not upset or scared. Not usual for N. After trying to stop the crying he developed a strong headache. Then the crying stopped and he was fine, without the headache. D, G, T and L came by to tell us they had a stinky stank make your eyes water buddy following them right through Rock Camp. They said it was a strong smell of urine odor. Retired around 2:30am. C and B had there own adventures that they will tell.
Saturday June 6, 2009: We went on a walk headed south through the timber on the west side of the road. S2, T, L, S, B, N and my self spread out and looked for sign. S2 group went on a head, I think they saw the Heron that S, B, N, and T heard. B and N jumped up a baby elk. B is the only one to get a visual. On the way back to Rock Camp S and T stayed behind to do some tracking of the stinky stank Grinch who had come through Rock Camp with D group the night before. We pickup up his prints south of camp in the timber. What I noticed about the location of these two prints was that the creature would have had a full visual vantage point of D group walking down the road. It overlooked the little creek crossing and the bend in the road. We went to Base Camp after that and rounded up L and M to help us with the casting. Which by the way did not turn out very well because of the type of matter on the ground. After enjoying another gourmet meal at Base Camp, Rock Camp decided it would be a no fire night, so we might get a glimpse of the cause of the branch breaking. C adjusted the game cam to view the pheromone chip she hung up in the skid road behind camp. Pheromones where orangutan and female human, I think. B ,S and N stayed in camp for some bait and eyes. C and I were to walk with S2 group half way to S2 camp and then come back as female bait to Rock Camp. L and T were going to meet us along the way with the Thermal to see if we had any tag alongs. Plan worked! all hell broke loose. In about 10 mins C and I knew we were being followed. What wouldn’t follow two crazy ladies, wearing glow rings, in the middle of the night humming amazing grace? We saw some eye shine and felt a presence. Cannot remember if we were buzzed the first time before the smell or after the smell. It was a urine ammonia smell. Like going into a Billy goats barnyard stall with standing urine. C and I continued to get vibrations, nausea, tingling. I was getting my chest stood on. Like being trapped under someone standing on my chest. We met up with L and T told them we had a tag along. We began to see more eye shine as we walked. Then the smell came. L and T confirmed that was the smell that they had smelt the night before. But it was not as strong. Then all 4 of us began to get buzzed. Every one said at the same time” my chest someone is standing on it.” We ladies began to sing and hum along the road as we were catching eye shine. We stopped to look at what seemed to be two sets of whitish green shine holding still about 10 to 15 feet away we could make out some shadows for a second. L was scoping it with the thermal and said he could see one standing there and possibly one below it. So us girls started to sing twinkle twinkle little star together, we were behind L swaying back and forth together. L says “hay it’s moving back and forth to the song”. We girls giggled because T was wearing a light colored vest and did not stop swaying but C and I did. L says “It just moved left” T says “so did I”. We experimented with that a couple of more times before they decided to move out of view of the thermal. We continued north to towards the “Y”. Somewhere around there we got some more eye shine and T was able to see the thing through the thermal. I will let T tell about her experience. We continued to feel strange sensations all the way back. We all agreed it was like a high or being drunk. We were all giggly and our bodies felt strange like my arms were dragging the ground and my legs had grown to long and heavy to walk. I wanted to touch my face because it felt as it might melt off. Just about that corner and little creek crossing below Rock Camp the sensation got really strong, we all paused to gain our composure. As we moved on 3 of us felt better but C stopped almost on the creek and fell to her knees. After she regained her strength we radioed in to Rock Camp that we were bringing back company. There were quite a few people in camp as we drug ourselves in thinking WOW did you get the name of that stuff someone slipped in our water? After a while the feelings lifted and I was back to my tired feeling self. It was soon after every one walked back to their camps to settle down for the night. That left C, B, S, T, B, and N (sleeping) to reflect what just happened. As we were talking we saw more eye shine and heard branch breaks. We soon figured out every time we would get to chattering, the eye shine and branch breaks moved around closer. Using our laughter the red eyes on the ground crept up as close as 15 feet behind S. There was one with a red glow and a couple of different colors of white and greenish white. The red glow was 8 to 10 feet high sometimes. It could stand behind my expedition and look over the top. There were shuffles behind the trailer and the tarp over the tent was rustled once or twice. N was asleep in the tent next to the trailer. This all started about 12am. We observed for an hour or so that first they were only in the south and east tree line. Then they crept closer and closer finally crossing the driveway on the west and circling behind us on the north. That’s when we determined that these guys had finally totally surrounded us. We were thinking that they were trying there skills at scarring us out of our witts so we might leave and it was working. So we radioed out to see if any one was awake and wanted to come over to witness our events. On the out skirts of Rock Camp L got another thermal. Several people ended up coming over in the middle of the night. Some time around 3 am activity went away and we at Rock Camp stumbled off to our sleeping bags about 3:45am.
Sunday June 7, 2009: We spent the morning packing up. We popped the castings made the day before of stink stank the Grinch. Said good bye to as many of our new and old friends as possible. Arrived home around 3:00 pm.
(Edited by robertsiler98223)
(Edited by robertsiler98223) |
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davec46
Approved
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 226
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| Posted: June 13th, 2009 03:22 PM |
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Boy that was some Expediition seeing eye and see them with thermals. Were any recorded. Thermals i mean starting with the eyes shine.
I'm interested in Bigfoot |
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robertsiler98223
Approved
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 12
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| Posted: June 13th, 2009 03:40 PM |
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There was recording equipment, but I dont know if anything was caught. Sat night
when we radioed out Matt came in with 3rd gen recording but that was when everything started to die down. |
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Rachel L
Approved
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 660
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| Posted: June 13th, 2009 08:37 PM |
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Quote:
robertsiler98223 wrote:
N had been thinking to himself, “we’re thinking about them and he wondered If they were thinking about us too”. Meaning the experience he had last year. Somewhere around the bend in the road below Rock camp he suddenly felt the words “I’m thinking of you”. As if some one answered him.
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I'm curious....does this mean he thinks a Squatch was talking to him, but not out loud??
(Edited by Bossburg)
~R~
BFRO IL |
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robertsiler98223
Approved
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 12
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| Posted: June 13th, 2009 10:32 PM |
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| Yes that is what he described but not like a voice in his head more like the thought just came to him from nowhere. |
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goodmojo
Approved
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 37
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| Posted: June 16th, 2009 07:06 PM |
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I am still trying to make sense of what I and others saw and experienced on this expedition. I really wanted to come away with answers to my questions, but all I got was more questions, as usual I guess.
I arrived at the location on 2 June, and by 4 June I and others set up a camp at the Barricade. That evening we split into 2 groups for a nighttime roadwalk, one headed north and my group headed south. Due to the thunderstorms rolling in, we cut the walk short, having no activity. Back at camp, after everyone except Beth H and I had gone to bed, we saw a stationary light in the distance, through the trees, towards what I thought was the western horizon. It wasn't a star, as the skies were cloudy, and it wasn't a plane, as it was staying in one place. We didn't give it much thought at the time, just filed it away into the "that was odd" folder. When we awoke in the morning, we looked out to where the light was, and it wasn't the horizon at all, but a hillside 1/2 a mile or so away. Thinking it may have been someones flashlight, I looked up the area on the map, and saw that there were no trails there. We found it weird, but not outside the realm of possible human activity. During the afternoon, several of us did an afternoon scouting trip down the road, past the barricade towards the washout. I was riding my bike, behind the main group. This was when I incurred the nasty head wound by riding under a downed tree and by NOT wearing the helmet I had brought along for head protection. Go figure. Always use protection kids. After a while I caught up with BrockP, he was in an anxious state after hearing some rhythmic tapping or knocking in the woods. I dismounted and, I think to Brocks' surprise, entered the woods alone to investigate. After going in 200 yards or so, I heard movement behind me, between myself and the road. I radioed Brock to make sure he wasn't in the trees with me, and he told me that he was still on the road. I waited some time, but did not hear any further sounds. I returned to the road and continued on my way, leaving Brock with Ric H, who had come back to our location. After arriving at the washout, I crossed the creek on a log and caught up with some of the group on the other side, MattP, CindyD and ChrisG. Not much to see over there, so we recrossed the creek and headed back towards the Barricade camp. En route we heard some strange clapping noises from the same side of the road that Brock had heard his sounds. The entire group was together by this time, and we all heard, and interacted with whatever was making the noises. At the time, we all agreed that it wasn't a woodpecker, but it is possible that it was, after hearing similar noises all weekend that were made by a woodpecker, but those noises had a different tone than the future noises I heard later on. It was interesting, but could have been something else besides squatch. After returning to the Barricade camp, Beth, John A, Ric H and myself decided to set up a satellite camp 1/2 mile past the barricade. Thanks to John C for being an accomplice in that covert endeavor.
That evening, 5 June, after esablishing our camp, we set out on our roadwalk with a group led by MattP, headed southward past the barricade and our new camp. Approximately 1/2 a mile in, at the site of the future remote camp, we stopped and MattP did some knocks, which were soon answered from a westerly direction, coincidentally the same general direction of the strange light that Beth and I observed the night before. Hmmm. After waiting around for a bit for more sounds that never came, we headed further down the road. Beth and I had a nightvision device coupled to a camcorder, but the camera wasn't working with the NV attached, and curiously the NV was functional on it's own, so we disconnected it and used the NV by itself. Funny how things turn out... Beth and I fell behind the main body of the group, scanning the woods on either side of us with the NV, laughing and talking and definitely not in stealthy squatching mode. Just having a good time, enjoying the clear moonlit night and excited that the expedition was finally on a roll. After walking about a half a mile I observed a bright light, with the NV, through the trees to my right, in a southwesterly direction. My first thought was that it was a member of the group ahead of us, violating the no-light protocol, and somehow their light was coming through the woods, but as quickly as it appeared it blinked out. Another weird light that we thought was strange, but didn't really worry about. Until a bit further on, when we observed another light. And then another. And another. The woods seemed to be alive with strange lights, blinking on and then off, remaining stationary, but all over the place. Off in the trees, right in front of us, up high, down by our feet. I could only see them through the NV, but then BH began to see them with the naked eye. At no time did I see them without the NV- that night. I was becoming pretty anxious about what I was seeing, and we both questioned out loud "What the hell are those?" We observed the lights for the rest of our walk, and we caught up with the rest of the group at the site of the claps from earlier in the day. I asked MattP, quietly, if he had seen any lights at all, and said that he hadn't. OK, weird... The group hung out for a while, doing calls and knocks, but we didn't get any action there, so we decided to return to the camp, and just walk back, out of stealth mode and into the talking-laughing mode. Beth and I once again stayed a bit behind, trying to figure out these strange things we were seeing. We had walked only a few minutes, and had resumed seeing these lights, when we heard 3 loud, but dull, hollow-sounding "knocks" from our left now, but on the same side of the road as the earlier claps and taps. The sounds were very close to us, probably not more than 50 feet away. They sounded like something pounding on a rotten log. Beth suggested that maybe it was a chest-pounding noise. We remained still for a few minutes, listening for more noise or movement, but heard neither. After resuming our strolling gait for maybe 200 feet, we heard 3 crisp, clear, and very loud knocks from the same side of the road, once again to our left, and once again very close to our position. We froze in our tracks again, waiting for further sounds, and once again heard none. We were still seeing many, many lights flickering around us. After resuming walking, I observed, with my naked eye, 3 faint greenish glows through the woods, once again to our left, off and slightly below us, in the timber. We were in a spot where the woods kind of opened up with a downward slope, and we could see some ways into the trees, with our line of sight unimpeded by lots of brush and branches. I told Beth what I thought I was seeing, and she looked over with the NV and said something like, "Oh, there they are!" She was seeing 2 sets of eyes, sometimes 3, with slight side-to-side and up-and-down movement. While she was observing this, I heard some movement below me and slightly to my left. I mentioned this to her and she handed me the NV. I looked in the direction of the noise and saw a single, dull greenish glow, about 100 feet away from me. I said something like "Wow" or "whoa" or something similar, and after I made my noise, a head turned towards me. I could now see both of its eyes, it's face, and its conical-shaped head, and it's left shoulder. It was visible from its shoulders upwards, and it stood for a second or 2, looking at me looking at it. This was when I started yelling like a crazy man, out of surprise at what I was seeing. It then turned it's head, so I could see it in profile, and I watched it take a step, maybe 2, and then it disappeared from view, behind bushes and the root wads of several large, downed trees. To say I was excited would be an understatement. It was my first unquestionable sighting of a Sasquatch, and I was pretty much blown away by it. I get goosebumps still, just sitting here typing this. I handed the NV back to Beth as I walked in circles, trying to figure out how to reboot my brain and get a grasp on what I had just seen. She was laughing at me, as only someone who had already had a Class A sighting could. She resumed watching the eyes in the near distance, and after a few minutes of me pacing back in forth talking to myself and and whoever else would listen, I asked just what was she seeing. She handed me the NV again, and there they were, a set of eyes, watching it watch me watch it. There was another faint glow to the right of the eyes, and closer to the ground, but they weren't as clearly visible as the pair that I could see clear as day. All the while, there were these pesky lights flickering and flashing around us. It got to the point where we wouldn't even comment on the lights anymore, they were so numerous, and by this time, commonplace. During this time I got the camcorder out of my backpack so we could record what we were seeing, but the camera was nonfunctional when attached to the NV, but both devices worked fine on their own. So no video of either experience was to be had. We sat and observed the eyes for 45 minutes or so, to the point of boredom, funny as it is to say that. We decided to giddyup, and hoped that they would follow us back to our camp, where we could introduce them to John A and Ric H. Afer resuming our walk, the light activity began to dwindle, and eventually stopped altogether. There was another strange thing that happened on our way back to our camp, a loud, hollow metallic sound, a kind of thud or boom, but very very loud, and down the valley, from the same area as the evenings earlier knocks came from. I have no idea what that noise was, but it was strange, and a very odd last event of a very odd, yet exciting for me at least, evening. No further activity was experienced by either of us that night.
The next night, 6 June, another group, again led by MattP, met at our camp. MattP and I went over our video/NV setups, which were identical. In camp, the devices began to work fine. We walked out to the road and then my camcorder began to not work properly again. The greenscreen began to fade into a fuzzy gray screen. While MattP and I were dealing with this conundrum once again, somebody said "There is somebody in the road down there". We looked through our videocamera screens in the rapidly fading light, and on my screen at least, I could see 2 upright, human-like figures about 200 feet away, a taller one on the left side of the road, and a shorter one on the right, appearing motionless. I remember us just assuming that they were tardy members of the roadwalk group, and went back to our technical difficulties with the camera-nightvision setup. By this time the camcorder was nearly useless, and I flipped out the screen to see what I could see. The figures were still there, and I could see their eyes shining. This was when my camcorder stopped working completely, even though Matt's was just fine. Same setup, same settings, same spot, yet mine faded while his didn't. Beth then began approaching the figures, asking "Who's there?" as I continued trying to get the damn camcorder to snap out of whatever stupor it was in. I gave up on the camera and was disconnecting the NV when a few things happened all at once that I did not directly observe but is relevant to what had happened the night before and what would happen later that night. While kneeled down approximately 100 feet from the figures, talking gently to whatever was standing there in the roadway, Beth saw a bright light flash on to her right, at shoulder height, just 2-3 feet away from her. Mike S, a member of the roadwalk group, was behind MattP and I, and he observed it through his NV as well. He said it lit up his whole viewing screen. When the light blinked off, the figures in the road were gone. This event was possibly recorded by MattP. I took the non-functional camcorder back to camp, just 50 yards off the road to our right, and while in camp, I heard the sound of branches being broken in the back of our camp, less than 100 feet away. I quickly went back to this area with the NV, hoping to get close to whatever was back there, once again giving pursuit to an unknown something in deep dark woods at night. Seems to be a habit I have, but not necessarily a bad one! I went through the woods in a roundabout fashion, and made it back to the road to where John A and Beth were still standing, pondering what had just occured. We all kind of scratched our heads, gathered ourselves up, and after sitting quietly concealed on the side of the road for a bit, hoping for a reappearance, began our Saturday nightwalk. The lights, while still present, were much less numerous than the previous evening, although I did observe one instance of a whole hillside "lighting up" through the NV, as if someone had turned on a spotlight for 1 second and then turned it off. This night's walk was uneventful, and once again Beth and I lagged behind the group. Upon eturning to our camp area, I was informed by MattP that he had just seen a light, also seen by Chris G and Boyd O, directly across the road from them, towards our camp. It was then that I finally felt that Beth and I were actually seeing these things, and I was very relieved to know that it wasn't just me going looney tunes. After the group came into camp to warm up by our fire, a couple other lights were observed by group members in the trees close by. Nothing further was observed that night.
Most attendees left Sunday morning, and Beth and I stayed in the location until Wednesday afternoon, with no further activity being witnessed by either of us.
It was a very productive trip for me, one that I can honestly say was "life changing", as I know it was for several other attendees who had their own, very odd experiences in other camps and on other nighttime walks. I have no idea what these anomalous light phenomenon were, and won't even try to give them a rational explanation at this time, although I am working out a theory or 2 in my scrambled brain. Thanks to all of the attendees for coming, and superthanks to the repeat offenders who I have been so lucky to meet, learn from, and interact with in the past and I truly and sincerely can't wait to get out with you all again in the future, anytime, anywhere.
(Edited by goodmojo)
(Edited by goodmojo)
(Edited by goodmojo)
Tyler Wm. Bounds
BFRO Investigator
Washington
"All interesting issues in natural history are questions of relative frequency, not single examples. Everything happens once amidst the richness of nature. But when an unanticipated phenomenon occurs again and again—finally turning into an expectation—then theories are overturned."- Stephen Jay Gould |
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davec46
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 226
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| Posted: June 16th, 2009 07:13 PM |
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I'd read a book a few years ago about a famous Spychic talking to a Bigfoot . Thru Telephory
I'm interested in Bigfoot |
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TRUTH-SEEKER
Approved
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 572
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| Posted: June 16th, 2009 07:59 PM |
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Excellent reports Robert and Tyler.. I've been waiting for these... Still waiting to hear from everyone else that had experiences.. Oh, and Tyler, I also seen the strange white lights in the bush. And I actually thought it was someone with their head lamp on. But there was nobody in the area.. And we don't use our headlamps unless it's a must... And then we only use the red light... So I still wonder about them lights too... I wonder if it could of been ball lightning... We did get that one thunder storm...
Darrell
"He who seeketh long enough and hard enough will find the truth, whatever that truth may be." Roger Patterson
“When you realize the value of a life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future.” Diane Fossey
Expeditions Attended:
2008, 2009 Washington Cascades
2008, 2009 Wa. Olympic Peninsula
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goodmojo
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 37
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| Posted: June 16th, 2009 09:05 PM |
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Yo Truth-Seeker! Wished I would have got to hang with you more this last time, I'll try to make it up to you on the OlyExped.
Ball lightning could be a possibility. Except I only saw the lights after the thunderstorm, with the exception of the single light seen at a distance while BH and I were rustling up some JiffyPop at 2 in the morning. All of the others were seen on the clear, moonlit nights. And the lights were all small, like flashlight size, or smaller. At one point on Friday, I was looking at maybe 20 lights all at once, in the same field of vision. Some on the ground looked like those chaser lights you see at christmas time, all flickering on and off in sequence. And the lights I saw did not move, they were all stationary, no matter if they were up high or down low, close or at a distance. I don't think they were ball lightning. I know they weren't fireflies. And if it was either of those things, why wouldn't I be able to see them with my naked eye, as I did only on Saturday night? On Friday I could only see them with the nightvision, even though other people could see them with the naked eye. It's all just weird, trippy stuff, bro. Glad you got to see some of the mystery lights too. Makes me feel a little more sane. Although, I already know YOU are crazy! Another weird thing...12:45 am is when I had my sighting, and after talking to some other people, it seems like 12:45 was the magic time for more than a few of us. Cue "Twilight Zone" theme music...
Tyler Wm. Bounds
BFRO Investigator
Washington
"All interesting issues in natural history are questions of relative frequency, not single examples. Everything happens once amidst the richness of nature. But when an unanticipated phenomenon occurs again and again—finally turning into an expectation—then theories are overturned."- Stephen Jay Gould |
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geoffr
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 6
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| Posted: June 17th, 2009 01:27 AM |
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Here is my account of the events of Friday and Saturday night 6-5 and 6-6:
Friday June 5, 2009: I arrived at main base camp at about 7:30 PM on Friday, June 5. I met with Kevin J and Matt P, discussed the previous evening activities, and proceeded to set up camp about 75 yards from the MBC mess/conference tent. After pitching camp at about 9PM, I donned my night gear and met with Dave E., Lonny K, and Tracy H and was invited to depart for a night walk up the main road to the “wye” for some investigatory operations. Dave E was carrying a Edirol DAR and parabolic microphone. Tracy H was equipped with gen III night vision head-mounted binocs, and Lonny carried a BFRO-issued thermal imaging device less a DVR. I carried a Zoom H2 DAR and was radio person for the team utilizing a PTT headset on a Garmin RINO 110.
After walking for about ¾ mile up the road towards the wye, Dave E with bare eyes spotted a shadow-like object moving just out of the road, illuminated by moonlight about 50 yards ahead on the road straightaway. The rest of the group looked, including myself. We all admitted it was very brief with no discernable form, but that it was low to the ground. We began to discuss the possibility of cougar or coyote. As we got to the location where we saw the form, Dave mentioned that he noticed an unusually strong, musty odor similar to urine. We all agreed that there was a urine smell and that it was not cat, elk, bear, or coyote. Lonny, with 35 years of tracking and hunting about every critter in the Pacific Northwest stated that it most definitely was not elk. He said that he has "worn" elk scent during hunting and that he knew "absolutely" what elk smelled like and the scent that we were experiencing was "not elk." We continued our walk and the further we got away from the previous stopping point the less the odor was apparent. But as we began to descend towards the point where the road intersects with the creek, we noticed the odor, only stronger. Again, we continued on and experienced the scent with varying intensity as we made our way the mile or so towards the wye. Tracy gave a call. Other camp teams did wood knocks and calls. We heard a few branch snaps at a distance in the woods along the way.
As we came to the creek-bottom, we were all hit with yet the strongest iteration of the same odor up until that point. It was so strong, I reflexively began to look around in the moonlit wooded area for the source of the scent. I was facing the westerly side of the road and the others in the group were facing the east. I turned towards the east side of the road and Lonny K was at my right peering up the wooded slope using the thermal imaging camera. At that point (around 11:30PM) Lonny said something to the effect “no way.” He said that he had a visual on an arm and a torso. It appeared to be from behind a large cedar located about 30 paces from our observing spot on the road. The height of the hand, according to Lonny, was approximately 4 foot from the ground. Tracy tried unsuccessfully with the NV to make out patterns that would corroborate the thermal signature that Lonny had witnessed. We began to hear branch breaks on the west side of the road, so I stepped closer to the tree line and noticed two pair of yellowish glowing orbs, separated about 20 yards from each other. The orbs in each pair were roughly 8 inches apart based on my estimation of the distance to each pair. Both pair seemed to be about 3 feet off the ground, both moving rapidly northward towards the creek. Dave and Tracy both approached the west side of the road and kneeled down at the tree line to get a better vantage point. Lonny continued to use the thermal attempting unsuccessfully to see what appeared to be numerous objects in motion all around us in that location of the road adjacent to the creek bottom. At this point we heard another, larger camp team approaching us from south of our location on the road. The odor began to diminish and visual and auditory activity subsided.
Saturday June 6, 2009:
After a day of rest, including a 3 hour nap, I proceeded to assist in the preparation of salmon for the group meal. After the feast, we began to group up for the evening's night walks. I teamed up with Scott T, who was outfitted with a thermal and front harness-mounted DVR. I rode with Scott in his vehicle to his camp at the barricade and we began to gather firewood. We noticed a tremendous amount of elk sign, including an elk wallow, and some deer sign as well at the camp. As we gathered wood, I proceeded down a trail that led to the creek. About 10 yards down the way towards the creek I was "hit" with the identical musty, urine smell that I had experienced with the other group the previous night. It was a brief moment, but the scent was strong. I thought I saw shadow movement in the trees about 50 yards up the slope. I began to get the "jitters" again, as I had experienced in the excitement the night before. As I dragged a deadfall limb back to the camp I met back up with Scott and told him of what I had just experienced. I took him to the exact spot where I had smelled the scent and there was no sign of anything unusual, including the smell of musty urine.
John C, Kathleen, and a number of other people began to gather at the camp and we grouped up for a walk back to the "wye." John and I let the rest of the group proceed forward, while we straggled back about 300 yards. I began to smell the same sent again, albeit much weaker than before, but it seemed to come and go much as it had the previous night. I told John C that it was almost like something was "shadowing" us. About that moment (around 9:45PM) we heard what sounded like a hound bark. Not a coyote yelp or howl, but very similar to a hound. As a young person, I grew up in the back woods of GA and raccoon hunted with my father, brother, and uncles and quite experienced listening and interpreting the sound of hounds and their bark. This particular bark sounded like a larger dog like a bloodhound or redbone coon hound. We radioed to the groups asking if they has heard this "bark" with no response.
John and I eventually caught up with the rest of the group at the "wye" and began walking back towards the barricade camp. Cindy D, Tracy H and a couple of other women headed back towards rock camp. Kathleen, who was in our group saw a mule deer with a gen III NV scope. Otherwise, the walk back was uneventful. We all made it back to camp and proceeded to make s'mores and chit-chat around the fire. There was no scent that was noticeable and some toys that John and I had placed remained undisturbed. I caught a ride back to MBC thanks to the generosity of Dave.
At the fire circle there I met back up with Lonny and he asked me if I had been listening to the activity coming from rock camp. I said, well sort of, but what was really going on? Lonny said that they had been complaining of getting "zapped" and also they felt like they were "surrounded" due to eye shine, numerous limb breaks, wood knocks, etc. It was about 2:30AM. I said, let's get down there! So we radioed that we were on the way and they replied to bring a thermal and "hurry." Lonny, Darrel, and myself departed with Will following in his vehicle. We parked my vehicle about 600 yards from the driveway into rock camp and began to walk in. I was using the thermal less DVR, and had completely blew my own night-vision scanning the tree line, when at about 250 yards from the driveway I spotted to the left of the straightaway, about 50 yards in my direction from the driveway to rock camp, what I thought was a tree trunk. I fixed my thermal scope on it and it appeared to have movement. From my estimation , it was about 10 feet tall, and had what seemed to be very wide shoulders and a "pin" head. I was unable to discern arms or legs, but from what I could see in the scope, there was shoulders and a head. They we really big shoulders, almost too big for the "head" that sat on them. I held the scope on the position, slowly pulled away from the eyepiece, asked Lonny if he could see it, and handed the thermal to him. He remarked that he didn't see anything, I looked again through the eyepiece and the figure was gone.
Once we made it to rock camp, there were some scared campers sitting around a cold fire pit. Matt P came along with a gen III NV and the activity had apparently subsided. We returned back to camp, and I collapsed in my tent.
This expedition was very eventful. Saturday's thermal sighting was slightly anti-climactic for me, it's almost as if there is a disconnect with the technology. However, I can appreciate the value of thermal sensors and digital video recorders for the documentary value. Lonny was truly dumfounded by the bravado exhibited by the individual he spotted on Friday night. After following up for tracks on Saturday, we determined that this specimen was less than 25 feet away from us, hence the eye-watering stench. For me, that will be the most remarkable aspect of the trip. The skill of tracking by scent is old but underused, and I think that there is a lot of value in relying on all of one's senses in the pursuit of this species.
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950) |
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IntriguedLimey
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 260
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| Posted: June 17th, 2009 04:47 AM |
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Just a thought, is it possible that some of the stationary lights seen were fungi? I am not sure if the glowing type of mushroom would produce luminescence in June but maybe it could explain some of the unusual observations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalotus_olearius
(Edited by IntriguedLimey) |
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RalphTDog
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 235
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| Posted: June 17th, 2009 08:52 AM |
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someone mentioned ball lighting before, ball lighting is really rare. iirc it will last ablout 30 seconds and seems to follow either a power line or some sort of magnetic field. if is was near the ground there should have been a burn mark.Ball lighting is basicly plasma.
Rick
Tech Manager
S.P.R.I. Paranormal
Certified Cat Trainer <M.E.O.W.> |
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TRUTH-SEEKER
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 572
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| Posted: June 17th, 2009 11:48 AM |
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It is wierd, them lights... When I saw them it was when Me and John A. and I already forgot the other guys name.. Anyway, it was on our way back towards your camp from the direction of the wash out... When we ended up in the snowy area... On the way back I let, gosh darn it, I can't remember his name.. Well he had on my parabolic and was listening pointing to the bush on left side of the road... When all the sudden he stopped and said he seen some eye shine... I asked him what color it was and he said it went from a whitish to greenish to red... When I looked in the direction he said it was in I didn't see anything... So I looked a little more up from where he said, and thats when I saw the white light in the bush... Anyway, glad you got to finally see something... Bet your still on cloud 9... Them lights are really wierd... I wonder what the heck it was.... I can't wait for the Peninsula... I'm stoked... Hopefully I'll have me a camper van by then.... Anyway, See ya soon...
"He who seeketh long enough and hard enough will find the truth, whatever that truth may be." Roger Patterson
“When you realize the value of a life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future.” Diane Fossey
Expeditions Attended:
2008, 2009 Washington Cascades
2008, 2009 Wa. Olympic Peninsula
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goodmojo
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 37
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| Posted: June 17th, 2009 03:59 PM |
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Quote:
IntriguedLimey wrote:
Just a thought, is it possible that some of the stationary lights seen were fungi? I am not sure if the glowing type of mushroom would produce luminescence in June but maybe it could explain some of the unusual observations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalotus_olearius
(Edited by IntriguedLimey)
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I have seen bioluminescent fungi before, and that is a dull glow. These lights were bright, like a flashlight or strobe. They would flash on, then off, and be gone. Not like a fungus. Also, they were more often hanging in mid-air than sitting at ground level. Also unlike a fungus. Ball lightning, to the best of my knowledge, can travel. These were stationary, and, at least the ones I personally experienced, fairly small, mostly penlight or squeezelight small. Some were larger, but for the most part, on a smaller scale.
Tyler Wm. Bounds
BFRO Investigator
Washington
"All interesting issues in natural history are questions of relative frequency, not single examples. Everything happens once amidst the richness of nature. But when an unanticipated phenomenon occurs again and again—finally turning into an expectation—then theories are overturned."- Stephen Jay Gould |
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TRUTH-SEEKER
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 572
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| Posted: June 17th, 2009 05:29 PM |
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Quote:
goodmojo wrote:
I have seen bioluminescent fungi before, and that is a dull glow. These lights were bright, like a flashlight or strobe. They would flash on, then off, and be gone. Not like a fungus. Also, they were more often hanging in mid-air than sitting at ground level. Also unlike a fungus. Ball lightning, to the best of my knowledge, can travel. These were stationary, and, at least the ones I personally experienced, fairly small, mostly penlight or squeezelight small. Some were larger, but for the most part, on a smaller scale.
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The one time I saw the light, I thought it was around the size of a hard ball... I only saw it once, and it wasn't moving. I thought it was too bright to be eye shine. And I only saw one ball not 2, like a set of eyes would be. And I only saw it for a second ot two. It was like someone turned on the head lamp. But nobody was over there. And the light I saw, I would say it was over ten ft. off the ground.
"He who seeketh long enough and hard enough will find the truth, whatever that truth may be." Roger Patterson
“When you realize the value of a life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future.” Diane Fossey
Expeditions Attended:
2008, 2009 Washington Cascades
2008, 2009 Wa. Olympic Peninsula
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cape6000jkg
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 49
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| Posted: June 17th, 2009 08:09 PM |
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Goodmojo, I believe your lights you were seeing were wolf spiders. They have extremely reflective eyes specialized for hunting. Their eyes ere very efficient at gathering and reflecting the least amount of light such as starlight. You could not see them with your unaided eyes because there wasn't enough ambient light to see them without nightvision, but if you light them up with a white light you will see how brilliant they shine. They will seen to blink on and off as they move their bodies ever so slightly, changing the angle of reflection. These littlle critters don't spin webs and instead rely on eyesight for stalking and ambush to catch their prey. They are harmless and docile and make interesting pets as well.
Explosive thunderstorm development, quickly becoming severe. Supercells expected. |
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IntriguedLimey
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 260
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| Posted: June 18th, 2009 11:40 AM |
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| goodmojo, thanks for explanation about the fungi. Those lights are puzzling, I hope sometime somebody can get some photos or video for analysis. |
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goodmojo
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 37
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| Posted: June 18th, 2009 03:44 PM |
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Spider eyeshine- seen it. That's how I learned to find the gigantic wolf spiders
I would run across in Belize and Guatemala. And how my girlfriend at the time
learned to avoid them. I have a fascination with spiders, and enjoy their
company. Death to mosquitoes!
This wasn't spider eyeshine. Flashing on and then off in a second or less. Up high, down low, over here, over there, all in the same field of view. And they weren't confined to trees or the ground. Many many times they were just hanging in midair. At one point in time I watched in amazement as a whole series of lights went on and off in a series- they looked like those chaser lights you see at Xmas time. But these were on the ground, starting inside the treeline and coming to within a few feet of my position. All I could do was stare and try to comprehend what I was seeing. It would take a whole lot of spiders to do what I saw, and from what I have learned in my few years on this planet, spiders can't blink. I have no idea what was causing the lights, but I can confidently discount spider eyes.
Tyler Wm. Bounds
BFRO Investigator
Washington
"All interesting issues in natural history are questions of relative frequency, not single examples. Everything happens once amidst the richness of nature. But when an unanticipated phenomenon occurs again and again—finally turning into an expectation—then theories are overturned."- Stephen Jay Gould |
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mstrocraft
Moderator
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2
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| Posted: June 19th, 2009 01:44 AM |
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Posted for Kristi S.
I want to say HI to all the incredibly cool people I met, this trip was by far
the best camping trip I have ever done, and my daughter and I camp about every
single week all year long, car camping, rv camping, backpacking. I wont use
peoples names, but thank you everyone, especialy the guy we walked with a lot,
he was so cool.
I went with no expectations whatsoever, or preconcieved notions, we went simply
to learn, and experience.........WOWOWOWWW it was awesome!! The scenary was
simply breathtaking.
We arrived at about 10:30 am on Thursday.We had left Portland at 4 am to avoid
the traffic and get to the spot free of traffic, while the kids slept. We were
so tired, we were like zombies when we set stuff up.
We were placed on a ridge,in front of a marshy field area by the coordinator and
in a forest. It was very aesthetic, like out of movie, only natural and smelled
so good. The coordinator said they had great response there the year before, and
was trying to recreate the successful actions, we were pretty excited and
honored by that. The kids immediately began to call out for squatchie to come
out, and everything they saw was squatch food, or where squatch scratchd the
tree down!! That was soooooooooo cute!!
Right away, we were shown footprints in the middle of camp staked off that we
went and saw. Wow, it was super cool to see these as they looked like the ones I
had seen a year before in the snow. It really made it real to me, to see these.
It was awesome. I felt validated, as I am not a professional tracker, but it was
very obvious they were the same as the ones I had seen before!! This was a great
way to start the day!!
Then we got grooved in on the instructions, and rules of the camp.
Then we went to sleep so we could stay up all night after we set up our gear!!
We did a bit of hiking in the daylight to really get a mental image picture of
the area in daylight, so that at night, we knew what was what, and what was
where.
10pm.....
I must preface this by saying taht I was not fully familiar with my new
nightvision scope, and had unrealistic expectations of the image, I did not
realize how very unrealistic my ideas were until later.
When we went out at 9-10 pm, right away, my nightvision scope started picking up
these white dots, that really confused me. I began complaining to myself and
being irritated of what I thought was "pixelation" on the image....others
mentioned it was eyeshine, so I began to get a feel that the white dots were
eyeshine, .it later was proven to be eye shine, but I used the first couple
hours to really familiarize myself with the scope functions. It was pretty
bright and clear, but hot, and I could feel alow pressure ridge coming in, as my
ears began to pop like when you take off in an airplane.
As the white dots popped up, I could not understand why on earth their were
white dots everywhere! I had thought that when I saw "eyeshine" it would be with
a full detail retina, cornea, and green, so I did not at first recognize it as
such!! Then I saw an owl take off, and focused on it fast, and I realized the
white dots were eyeshine!! I still had my doubts, but kept practicing on people.
(Much later, when I returned home, I checked the manufacturer webpage promo
shots, and got total certainty that they were eyeshine!)
We had walked about 2 miles, and we stopped to rest the kids at a fork in the
road, and I saw some white dots (eyeshine) in the bush to the left, I knew
something was in there, so I looked at the dots which promptly vanished, and I
could make out and watch a moving "rock"; now I knew rocks dont move, so I
determined then it must be an elk butt, and as I continued to watch, I also
could not figure out why it had no head and no neck, and appeared to drop down
and stretch out and creep around the trees, and elongate between 2 trees. I kept
walking toward it, and it got longer and stopped moving.
I got the impression that I was watching a super putty elk butt that was not
running away, it was creeping in the trees. NO eye shine there, so I was certain
it musta been an elk butt, because why would a squatch have such weird form?. I
also mistakenly thought they strode confidently on 2 feet around the forest at
all times!!
I watched the supposed elk butt for like 10 minutes, or at least it felt like
that. Then I turned to my daughter, who was mad cuz I had forgotten the water,
and she said she felt like she was being watched, and was thirsty. I spoke to
her a bit, looked around some more in different areas, and saw no white dots and
no moving rocks and determined that my night vision was functioning, and was
just generally becoming familiar with my gear. When I felt ok about the
focusing, I refocused on the 'rock/elk butt', which now, was stabilized and
looked like a black box. And it was no longer elongated, and it was stationary.
Still, no head, no elk horn, no ears, just, a lump or box. Then the thunder and
lightning began, and I could not see from the flash in my nightvision, and I
thought, great, now the big guys are gonna go find a hole to stay dry, and I
determined at this point that my nightvision really sucked, since elks don’t
look like that, the white dots were strange, the rock had moved, and I did not
want to be the “girl who cried wolf”, I decided I was ready for bed. So I
spoke to my daughter, again, and apoligized for forgetting the water, I focused
one last time again when the lightning subsided,............and the rock was
gone. GONE POOF, gone. I thought, hmm, elk gone. Musta been an elk. Rocks dont
move. boxes dont grow in trees. We decided to head back, it was like, oh 11:30pm
or close to it.
As we walked back, I felt my attention units snapping around the dark areas of
the forest, and it began to rain, so my night vision did not work to see
anything. I did not feel fear, nor unease, just that hey, somebody is over there
feeling.
We headed back, and I noticed the walk smelled so fresh and beautiful, at the
curve where the water trickled, by rock camp. It was thundering and lightning a
lot, and the rain began. When we got back, I quickly tarped the tent, and the
rain stopped, so I started changing my clothes right there by my tent.
We had no fire, no lamps, no flashlights, it was cool, and I was hot, so I
figured no big deal. Then I realized their were guys with nightvision running
around, and maybe I should not be changing out in the open. . I looked around
and heard that the groups had not come back yet, so then my daughter and I
started talking, waiting for our friend who was in another group very far away.
I realized I had to go to the bathroom, and the latrine was pretty far from our
tent in the dark. So I looked up on the ridge suddenly, as I thought, oh yeah,
I am camping, and then I felt watched. I was like, great, now somebody with
night vision is gonna see me go to the bathroom., and we had no flashlights
allowed, so I began to look around with MY nightvision to see if their was
somebody perched up there watching us, cuz I would make the long hike to the
latrine if someone was there. That would be so emabarrasing!!
Now, this may sound weird, but I own dogs, and they mark spots and stuff, so
earlier that day, on a whim, I had peed on a couple rocks and a tree above the
tent to "mark" the area, to identify that our camp had women and children in it.
I didnt want them to pass us by!! LOL, I remember Sarmiento the primatologist on
History channel ahd talked about smells and chips and pheromes, so I figured it
would not hurt.
ANYWAY, I was looking around,as I was gonna go up there to go to the bathroom if
their was noboby around and my nightvision picks up this black mass standing
between 2 trees I peed on, and by the rock I peed on, and its swaying, and
leaves are moving in front of it.
At this point, I tell my daughter keep talking to me while I stare at this
thing, and she says, Mommy i am going to bed, tell me if it comes down here, i
am too tired. So I sit and stare at this black blob in the trees, then I hear my
friend and his kids come back, and he was camped besides us, and i tell him to
come over here cuz I "broke your frying pan" thats the code I used so as not to
excite his kids. Then i refocus and the shadow is gone but now there was white
dot eyeshine at groundlevel in front and to the left of the rock.
He comes over and starts looking too, and I was like, check this out, I swear
there is something there, so we sit and talk and act all normal and stare like
crazy through the nightvision at it, and finally I say, HEY BUZZ BASE CAMP, GET
THAT THERMAL THING OVER HERE, HURRY ITS THERE I KNOW IT
So a really cool guy, with thermal comes over and...............there was a
huge heat signature in front of the rock, but it had no shape because the rock
was hot too. The guy totally focuses it and says take a look, So i am looking at
it, and I had to shift so I would not fall on the nice guy, and suddenly the
image is gone, when I try to focus again,so I ask him to reset it, and he says,
ITS NOT THERE, and now only the rock heat is there, and the cool trees in front
of that WERENT there were now there!!! So there was a big heat signature in
front of the rock, blocking the trees that had eyeshine that left, and then
allowed the trees to be seen!.
All this was behind our tent. I wanted to leave the window open and keep
watching, but it was rainy off and on, and so I could not. I heard rustling a
bit later, but the zipper was so damn noisy, I gave up trying to discreetly
open. I did not want to get rained on though, as I did not know if it was going
to rain again!.
this was all on the first night !!
On day 2, my daughter informed me that rain or not, we were staying out all
night as long as I brought the water. !!
This second night was a clear gorgeous bright full mooon night. After working
out the kinks, determining that the white spots were eyeshine, and that no,
unfortunately my nightvision does not render a perfect image, I was satisfied
that I could trust my nightvision.
We this time had many kids skipping down the center of the road, singing and
laughing for about 2+ hours. It was a fun trip ~!!
We walked the same route we did the night before, and I noticed as we passed the
darker areas of the road, where the river ran, that there was a stinky smell,
that was not there before. I remembered how beautiful it smelled the night
before, and how great the wilderness is. Whatever, I figured it was skunk
cabbage, or a skunk. It puzzled me that the floral and tree smell was gone from
the night before in the same place. The place was called Rock Camp I beleive.
Then ahead, on the left at the bend about a block away, I saw one red eyeshine
with my eyes, and then rapidly through my night vision, it was at about the 15
foot mark in the dark, and it was one red eye that moved smoothly backward. (The
next day we returned to that site, we saw it was a cliff thing, and the eyeshine
would have been in a crouched type position up the cliff we scrambled up, and we
saw what looked like toe prints dug in that stepped backwards, we have a video
of this with size 12 shoes next to them!!!!! And that day when we returned, we
smelled the most fragrant floral and woods smell.....not the mild skunk, or
skunk cabbage we had the night before~the beautiful smells had returned!!!)
All night as the kids sang away, and I remember remarking on this smell
repeatedly to others, and not making any connection with it. Well....at about
the 3. mile mark, the kids decided it was time to go back, so as we turned
around, it got interesting. VEry interesting. The smell was now still there, but
it was in differernt places. The smell had moved! I thought maybe wind?
Their was a guy who was doing rock knocks/wood knocks, and somebody did some
Whoof type calls, and ........the calling recieved response calls!!! I knew they
were real, as I had memorized and played incessantly the Sierra Sounds cd. I
played it heavily too, for my daughter, as I was not going to want to deal with
frightened or scared child at midnight in a deep forest, so I would play it all
the time. I also did not want to pee on myself or faint like some people mention
in their reports, no way was I gonna go into shock either. Those sounds were
awesome, very faint but their were 4 replies that I heard.
Anyway, so there was the smell, still as we were returning, and it seemed to
move again, like trailing around. I had my daughter leading me while I walked
with the nightvision on, and saw tons of eye shine. I am new to this, so I was
so engrossed in what I saw, I dont even think I told anybody anything besides at
one point jumping in excitement and croaking at one point 'eyes eyes 11 oclock,
I see eyes!!!' Then felt silly, because we were suppposed to remain cool about
it and not jump up and down and point, which is what I did!!!
So the smell.................ok, so we come around a bend and somene says, ;they
are following us’, and I smell the skunk cabbage again, and I stop and turn to
my left to look in a dark spot in the woods, and I spot eye shine, at bout 6
foot mark, and then I see a second eyeshine ABOVE THE FIRST poke out and I am
like WOWO, and their was this cool other girl with the million dollar PVS7 gear
says, 'OMG their is one right their', and I say, Yeah, I see it. Suddenly I
smell this intense piss/poo/crotch/nasty ass/pepper/mace/jalapeno burning dirty
smell. I got confused by the smell it was so foul.
...And I think, DAMN I NEED TO SHOWER THATS FOUL, and I think, no, If I move the
smell moves, and I look at the guy to my right, and think OOOOOOOOO its him, and
it wafts around again, and now, I look to my left, and think it must be the girl
with the million dollars PVS7, which is impossible as she has not been out here
more than a couple hours, and then I think, "NO, it has to be me, I am so foul"
so I hold my breath, completely embarrassed, shake my head alot to clear the
air, and keep on watching the 2 sets of eyes. which are still there, I then
determine to move away from people so they don’t smell me, and I get engrossed
in the eyes.
Someone grabs my nightvision and says "You are looking in the wrong place" and
moves my night vision down, but I see nothing, since I have the sub-million
dollar craigslist special nightvision, and when I refocus back on the original
eyeshine, I see nothing now. So I think there was 3 and 2 skedaddled when I
looked away. And then I notice I don’t smell,.it was not me, (whew, thank god)
We went back the next day to click off miles, and re view the whole area AND
THEIR WAS NO SMELL, NO SKUNK, NO SKUNK CABBAGE, and I was like OMG THAT SMELL
WAS NOT SKUNK CABBAGE!!! It was them!!!! Then I remember the smells reported in
the stuff I had read adn heard. Its funny how slow on the uptake I was
connecting the theory of what I had read to the reality of being there. Nasty
ewwww they seriously need to bathe, I kept thinking of Harry and the Hendersons
when Harry destroys the neighbors pool by bathing!!!
On the third night, my friends kids crash and wont wake up, and my daughter
wanted to sit by a real fire, she was way over and done with the whole "no
flashlights, no fire, no lantern" rule. So, we sit there with others who are
sitting there, and I was scanning around the ridge with my nightvision, and as
people start going to bed, or out, or whatever they did, It was just me and a
couple others, about 11:30 I see a dark form "hiding" behind a tree directly
behind the fire ring. The soft light from the fire really made the clarity on my
nightvision rock like the moonlight the night before did too. When the fire got
stoked, i saw a half a head, a half a shoulder, arm and elbow poking out behind
a tree, and then the head moved more behind the tree, and as i stared, then the
shoulder slipped behind the tree, then only arm was left.
As i am watching this, my friend pulls out his audio recorder and points it in
that direction and turns it on, and we got rustling in the woods at the same
time that the shadow was moving trying to melt into the trees. It was too big
to fit behind the tree.
Then the coordinator walks up and says, their is one behind the latrine, and it
growled and then cooed like a bird, dont be alarmed. So, I hand the nightvision
over to my friend who suddenly has to go to the bathroom! So he went to look,
but he said their was not enough ambient light to see anything.
When we went to bed, there was nothing around our site. I even broke the rules
and used my IR light to make sure there was nothing, cuz my daughter had to go
to the bathroom. At about 4 am, I awoke and instantly heard KNOCK KNOCK behind
my tent, and then I heard footsteps moving quickly through the camp, below my
tent heading right to left. I smiled and thought cool, that is such a way cool
way to end the night, and was out again.
When I left, I was very happy, and remarked that the smells, the sounds and
footprints had a greater impact for me, and that the images were not very real
to me. I have, after reading the manufacturers website, realized that the images
were just as weighty as the other things, as my nightvision was NOT
malfunctioning, and objects that are dark colored, show a blob outline, unless
the IR is used. I have new respect for my equipment! And I want to buy a
thermal, as they are pretty neat too!!
That was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo amazing. I dont know
what else to say, because it was so cool, and the people were very cool,
professional, uptone, and to the point.
I totally 100% am convinced that having kids laughing and singing John Jacobs
jingle himer schmidt and other songs is very attractive to these guys. At least
they dont throw poop at you, like the monkeys in the bahamas do!! I wanted to
run AWAY from the monkeys, but with the squatchies I wanted to find and go
TOWARDS these guys! (except that nasty ass smell) I dont know if peeing on the
rock did anything, but it seemed worth the shot!!
We met Bob Gimlin too, and my daughter acted like she had met a rock star, it
was really cute.
Well, I think that’s all, I was so excited, I hope I did not type this in broken
sentences and was pretty clear on this!!
Kristi and Ali
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BethinFL
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 820
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| Posted: June 19th, 2009 12:24 PM |
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| If you guys were around marshy areas, could the strange lights have been swamp gas? I don't know, I've never seen it, but I was just wondering? |
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TRUTH-SEEKER
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 572
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| Posted: June 19th, 2009 01:31 PM |
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The area I saw the light in was not a marshy area... It was actually about 25-30 ft. off the main road.. I guess their could of been marshy areas close by.. I was able to hear the river/creek.. But not really marshy in the spot I was at. I have never seen swamp gas either, but I would think it would look more like a fog than lil round lights...? Or like the Arora Borealis.. Something like that.. I don't know, now I have to search Images for swamp gas...
"He who seeketh long enough and hard enough will find the truth, whatever that truth may be." Roger Patterson
“When you realize the value of a life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future.” Diane Fossey
Expeditions Attended:
2008, 2009 Washington Cascades
2008, 2009 Wa. Olympic Peninsula
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davec46
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 226
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| Posted: June 19th, 2009 03:01 PM |
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It could have been a fog bank.
I'm interested in Bigfoot |
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TRUTH-SEEKER
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 572
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| Posted: June 19th, 2009 04:08 PM |
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Quote:
davec46 wrote:
It could have been a fog bank.
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What could of been a fog bank..? The light's...? I don't think it was fog, because it wasn't foggy anywhere... Nothing rolling in off the ridges or anything like that.. I didn't see any fog anyway...
"He who seeketh long enough and hard enough will find the truth, whatever that truth may be." Roger Patterson
“When you realize the value of a life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future.” Diane Fossey
Expeditions Attended:
2008, 2009 Washington Cascades
2008, 2009 Wa. Olympic Peninsula
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djy100
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 80
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| Posted: June 19th, 2009 06:07 PM |
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| Not knowing the area, the location or the layout , could these lights have been 4 wheelers, ATV's, cars on a road or other hikers in the area? Did you rule out these types of possibilities? |
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robertsiler98223
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 12
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| Posted: June 19th, 2009 08:33 PM |
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| There is one main road that travels through the area, one way in and one way out. Off road vehicles are not allowed. There were a few cars that went by , but for the most part the BFRO were the only campers in that general area.We also had no fog just some rain one night. As far as swamp gas I have never seen any so I dont know what it looks like. |
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snaggr
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 6
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| Posted: June 20th, 2009 12:56 AM |
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| What about the possibility of the lights being fireflies/lightning bugs? I have seen them apear like a string of chasing lights when the conditions are right. |
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CharlesL
Administrator
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 346
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| Posted: June 20th, 2009 12:03 PM |
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Snaggr:
That's a good suggestion, except that there are no fireflies/lightning bugs in the western states. You have to go east of the Rockies to see those. |
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cape6000jkg
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 49
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| Posted: June 20th, 2009 12:21 PM |
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I would think in general that any unusual lights seen would simply have ordinary mundane sources seen under unfamiliar or unusual circumstances.
Explosive thunderstorm development, quickly becoming severe. Supercells expected. |
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