A Good Day By Myself

Last night, after a really tough night with the boys in my dorm, I really needed some time to myself.

So today, after my wife let me sleep until 10 AM, I ate some breakfast, got ready, then headed North about 3 miles on I-5 to the South Umpqua River at the Gazley Road Exit.

I was there about two weeks ago with my wife son, daughter, sister, neice, and nephew. We went there to let the two boys cast a fishing pole into the river a few times. While I was helping the boys with the poles, I heard a “Wooooo-Oooh!!” noise come from over the hill directly to the West of me. It started out very low and gutteral and then transitioned into a much higher- much more echoey sound.

A year or two ago, I wouldn’t have thought anything of the noise, but this year the noise sounded very much like the Sasquatch recordings I have heard time and again on Monsterquest and various Bigfoot websites.

So out of my curiosity I went to one of my favorite bigfoot websites: oregonbigfoot.com to see if there have been any reported Bigfoot sightings in the area. To my suprise, there had been- in almost the exact same spot 30 years  previously. You can read about the sighting here.

So I thought it would be good to go back and investigate a little more.

So today I walked downstream (to the North) about 1.5 miles down the bank. It was beautiful. I found some awesome fishing spots. I saw four big fish roll out of the water. I’m not sure if they were salmon or steelhead. I saw three deer, some really big squirrels, 4 lizards, and two frogs.

I also saw some interesting animal tracks and scat. Here are some tracks below.

I followed this set of tracks for about .5 mile upstream in the sand. It went in and out of the water. I lost the tracks when the sand transitioned into rock. They were very big and cat-like; not dog-like. I assumed they were cougar tracks, but when researching cougar tracks I discovered that cougar claws retract when they are walking and these tracks have very evident claws so I am not really sure what they are. Maybe they were a dogs?

Here are some more interesting tracks that I found:

The track on the Left is definitely an otter’s. Its tail left a track in the middle between its feet. I have no idea what the tracks on the Right are from. They appear to be small dog tracks (fox?) but they have a heel print as well 1-2 inches behind the ball and toe prints?? Maybe it’s some sort of elbow print because the animal was crouching to eat something?

I also found a very interesting “structure” along the river bank. It was a large enclosed area made by several trees, with brush and limbs interwoven with the trees’ limbs. It was about 20 feet long and about 15 feet wide. The center of the structure was about 8 feet tall. The “ceiling” and “walls” were very thick and were hard to see in and ourt of. It would provide very good cover for any creature or human, good protection from the wind, and a little protection from the rain.

I think that this “structure” was formed when the river level was much higher and limbs and debris were pushed against the trees- and stayed there as the water receded. However, I think someone- or something- placed the brush and limbs on the top and downstream sides of this structure to camouflage it and make it a better structure.

It looked like a lot of the “Bigfoot Nests” that I have seen on the internet, but I think this was man-made because of its close proximity to 1-5 and because of some carvings that were made in the trees. See below: 

“The structures well-concealed entrance”

“A view from inside the structure”

The highlight of my day came as I was hiking through a grassy field West of an abandoned ODOT rock quarry- where I believe the Bigfoot sighting occured in the 70′s. While walking towards the river, a cougar- yes a cougar- ran right in front of me from the tall grass into a patch of trees.

I caught about a 2 second glimpse of it before it got into the patch of trees. Once there I heard lots of rustling around in the brush and a very loud and distinctive scratching noise as if it were either climbing a tree or sharpening its claws. It was awesome, the first time that I have ever seen a cougar.

Most people go there whole lives in this state without ever seeing one- I’m glad that I had the opportunity. One other animal that I found odd that I had never seen was the fox. And my wife and I were just talking about that the other day. However, last Monday morning, I saw one on I-5 between Albany and Eugene.

Who know what I’ll see next?

One Responseto “A Good Day By Myself”

1. Nadine (Mom) says:

   October 21, 2008 at 1:18 pm

   Just think, Anthony, you’ll be at our house tomorrow! Can’t wait to see you again even though your ‘stuff’ isn’t here. Well, maybe some of it is appearing here now and again.

   Miss you every day and look forward to giving Zion and Kiley a big hug and kiss. You and Susan too.

   Love, Mom