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Date of Incident: July 18th, 2020
Location of Incident/Encounter: Gifford Pinchot National Forest - Trout Lake, Washington
Description:
On July 18, 19 of 2020 I took my Sons and their Cousin camping along with my friend Mike and his girlfriend, Olivia. The boys ages were 7 and 11. We car camped in a semi remote area near Forlorn Lakes, Washington. The camp spot had a dry creek bed next to it that had pools of water still in the bedrock. The first day was uneventful and I went to bed with the boys around 10 pm. Mike and Olivia stayed up and polished off a bottle of Pendleton whiskey.
I was awakened abruptly hours later by a guttural call coming from up the dry creek bed about 75-100 feet away. It called 3
times very loud unlike anything I have ever heard. After the third call I heard and felt something walking near the end of our tent. The calls happened again two or three time, but about 100 more feet down the creek bed and closer to our camp. The foot steps had seemed to stop during the calls and started again when they stopped. I called to Mike as loud as I could in the tent over. I yelled " Mike wake up...Something is in our camp." I stumbled over the boys as I grabbed my shotgun and got out of my tent. Nothing was there. The lantern was still barely glowing by Mikes tent and I tried to explain what happened. I said something big just came through and it was on two legs, and that something in the creek bed was communicating with it. They hadn't heard anything, thanks to the whiskey. I was incredibly alarmed. The boys and everyone had some how slept through it. I eventually went back to bed, but didn't really sleep.
The next morning I explained in detail what happened until they got tired of hearing about it. I decided to let it go and not ruin the trip. I almost packed up that morning though.
We spent the day fishing and relaxing at Goose Lake and returned to camp in the late afternoon. That evening we all turned in at about 9 p.m.
I was awakened by the same calls again coming from roughly the same area as the night before. I immediately called to Mike. He yelled back that he heard it. He was chambering a round in his 45 as he spoke. I launched out of my tent with my shotgun. Mike was laying half way out of his tent aimed up towards our vehicles. He said that it was that way. He was very shook up. I asked Olivia what time it was. She said 3:06 a.m. I was not as scared this time, and started asking Mike questions right away. I asked him if it was on two legs or four. He said two without hesitation. I asked how big. His response was "Really big". We cleared the camp twice with Mike yelling into the woods. The boys were awake by now and I quickly decided we would be sleeping in the truck and I had them load up. Mike and Olivia slept in their car.
The next morning we tried to recreate the steps it took and the weight needed. We were unable to. It was too heavy. Mike said it had walked right up to his tent, and he heard another one of the things calling from the woods. He best explained the call as a guttural washboard sound. Olivia clearly heard it all too.
I have spent most of my life in the outdoors. I was raised on a ranch in Montana, and spent years working and living in Yellowstone. I have had encounters with multiple bears, bobcats, and everything the outdoors has to offer. I have hunted nearly all my life. Mike is an avid outdoorsman from Montana also. We have been friends for nearly 18 years and met when we were in the Army Infantry together.
I have never been a believer in Bigfoot, or anything like that. I still don't know what it was, and will not say that I had a Bigfoot encounter. I will say that it was big, fast, two legged, and was in communication with the other one that I heard in the creek bed. ( Which I believe they were using to travel on during the night.) I have never slept in my truck. Not even when I had a grizzly come through my camp in Montana. This was a truly terrifying and exhilarating experience. It changed my way of thinking. I still struggle with understanding it.
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