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?

So I have a new blogging tool. I used some money that I earned from selling some stuff on Craigslist to purchase a new underwater digital camera for Father’s Day. This sucker can withstand temperatures or -14 degrees F, a 5 foot drop onto concrete, and 10 feet underwater. It is also really small so I can take it anywhere to take pics on the go, especially for this site. It will be great just in case I see a UFO or Bigfoot while driving or on a walk- I’ll have my trusty cam with me to take the pic- LOL!

My wife thinks I’ll lose this camera within two months. We’ll see!

Anyways- here’s a sweet video of my friend Ryan Dougherty- underwater!

I had a decent weekend! Friday was a good day of counseling and getting some audio up on the website. On Friday night, my family celebrated my sister Lori’s 38th Birthday at the Yoder’s house. They threw her an exuisite BDay dinner party outside complete with table cloths, fancy china, candles, and a fire pit. Zion spent the weekend with his grandma so he wasn’t there.

Saturday was an interesting day. I took my nephews Grant and Eli “HIKING” 21 miles to the East of Mollala, OR high in the Cascades. We also did a little “FISHING”, but to be honest what we did was much cooler that fishing and WAY cooler than hiking. We went………BIGFOOTING. To nay-sayers and skeptics, we may call it hiking or fishing, but let me be honest- we went “Bigfooting”.

Now you may be asking yourself what Bigfooting is- and I expected that. Bigfooting is simply looking for evidence of a bipedal tall elusive ape-like creature that has been spotted in the Pacific Northwest for hundreds of years. You may be asking,”Why don’t they call it Bigfoot Hunting?” The reason is- that Bigfoot Hunting implies that we want to kill Bigfoot, and that’s something that we really do not want to do. We just look for evidence of the animal and if we do find some (evidence) then we would document it to prove the existance of the creature to protect it and its habitat.

You may think I am crazy for thinking that there is really a Bigfoot; and that’s fine. I simply find the evidence for Bigfoot to far outweigh the evidence against him. And if their is a large hairy unknown creature roaming the woods of my homestate- I want to see it for myself. And if there is no such thing? At least I had fun looking for it and spent some quality time with family, friends, and the great outdoors.

The world is a really big place and we would be arrogant to think that we know about everything or have everything figured out. New species are constantly being discovered on this big blue and green beautiful earth. Just recently a group of people in South America were discovered that had never had any contact with the outside world- and they were people- think about what else lies out there!

If you want to know any details of our Bigfooting day trip, you’ll have to contact me as I do not wish to bore or scare away my faithful-but-skeptical-and-closed-minded-blog-readers.

Saturday night I got a Figaro’s pizza for myself- because my wife, daughter, mother, and siters were out of town all day on a shopping trip-, sold a table saw on Craigslist, and watched a great movie: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It was REALLY good. One of the best documentaries I have ever seen! You have to see it. A great story about overcoming adversity to come out on top.

Sunday was alright: went to church, went to The Original Roadhouse Grill, tried to get my son to take a nap but instead I was the one who fell asleep, went to a potluck at church, and then went to visit my sister LeAnn, her husband Kevin, and their kids to talk about their church plant: Hope Point Church, and our future endeavors.

Despite feeling a cold coming on; I’d have to say it was a good little weekend!