YEAR: 2005

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 26

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Mason County

LOCATION DETAILS: On the road to Jarrel Cove state park. It was on a left hand bend in the road, I'm not sure as to the exact place.

NEAREST TOWN: Shelton, Hartstene Island Specifically

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 3

OBSERVED: Myself and my cousin were driving to Jarrel Cove on Hartstene Island for a 2 day fishing trip.

We had left my apartment in Renton about 7:30pm and headed south to Highway 3 and Hartstene.

We encountered 2 deer by the road side. We crossed the bridge to Hartstene and made the left hand turn to the campsite.

I took a wrong turn and had to head back to the camp turn off when I saw a large, black, hairy biped just at the range of my truck's highbeams. It never turned to face us. I have seen many bears in the wild and this wasn't any bear. It had a somewhat pointed head, immense shoulders, longish arms. I would say that it's gate was relaxed but very powerful. The color in the headlights was a darkish brown, pepper. I can remember seeing some of the musculature of the upper body. It's amazing to me that I was able to analyze this all in a few seconds. It moved up the hillside from the road. I would say the creature was at least 2.5 meters tall.

My cousin really didnt see it and thought I was joking. We went to the camp and set up even in the darkness. I was still trying to put it all together when I heard the calls. My cousin was asleep.

I didn't feel threatened, I have never heard a call like that in the wild. I grew up in Idaho and have heard screaming cougars, owls, elk and other creatures, but this was distinctive. I am certain that no human could make this call. I will consider myself very fortunate to see another one of these creatures.

ALSO NOTICED: After we settled in for the night at the campsite, I heard many distinctive calls very similar to the calls you have here on the website.

I have very good hearing and sense of smell, didn't smell a pungent odor but I could tell a creature was close, about 1/8 mile from our camp S by SW. There were 4 or 5 distinct whoophowls and then nothing for the rest of the night.

OTHER WITNESSES: My cousin was with me but he really didn't see it.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Breif sighting: Around 9 to 10pm
Calls heard: Between 1:30 to 2am

ENVIRONMENT: Clear, cool. Pine forest and narrow two lane road. A hillside was on the right hand side of the road and had about a 15% grade to it.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator  :

I spoke with the witness on the phone for nearly two hours, on Monday, March 6, 2006. The witness seemed very credible and was able to recall great detail.

The witness had taken a wrong turn, and was going back toward the Jarrel Cove camping area. "The road splits and I had went the wrong way, towards a housing development. I turned around and had gotten on the right road," he described.

His highbeams caught a large bipedal animal on the right side of the road. Its side was turned towards him. He saw it take one step with its right leg, to climb up the hill.

The witness is most amazed at the muscle mass of the creature. "Its hair wasn't shaggy. I would guess about two inches long. Similar to a buffalo hide," he stated. "I couldn't see skin, but you could still see muscle tone." The witness could see hamstring and gluteus muscles through the fur. He was also impressed with the muscle form and width in the shoulders. "It had no neck; just complete trapezius from head to shoulder" the witness said.

The arms were also noticably long. He stated "Tips of fingers on humans come down to mid-thigh, but these came down to right above the knee."

When asked about its body position, he said it was standing straight up and down; "The same posture as you and me if we were about to climb a hill. It climbed up the hill like it was nothing." The witness estimates the height to be seven to eight feet. He figures that, based on size and muscle, it must have been a male.

The witness was driving a full size diesel truck, going about 20 to 25 mph, and figures the creature was about 100 feet away from vehicle - "Just caught in my high beams."

When describing the animal, he says "It was a cross between a gorilla and human. Too massive to be human." The sighting only lasted five seconds, he estimates.
...
Their destination; Jarrel Cove State Park, was about ten minutes away. They found a camping spot, parked and walked a short ways to pay for their spot. That is when the witness and his cousin first heard what he believes was a sasquatch howl. "It was a long, drawn-out 'Whoooooooooooo!," he describes. His cousin does not believe at all in bigfoot, and dismissed it as a wolf.

They camped in the back canopy of his truck. While his cousin was sleeping, at around 1:30 to 2am the witness heard more calls. These were long, drawn-out calls, fifteen to twenty seconds long, with no pitch changes. "Very constant, perfect pitch," he described. He compared these calls to the Mt. Baker recordings (the ones recorded from inside the tent) on the BFRO site, and guesstimates that the creature(s) were 100 to 200 yards away from their camp site. He didn't feel threatened at all and thinks they were communicating back and forth.
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The witness has a theory that the bio-diesel fuel of his truck, which can smell like fried food, could have possibly attracted the animal(s).
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There was one other group of campers in the park, in a large bus-like coach RV. He assumes they didn't hear anything.
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In an afterthought, the witness stated that he should have gone back to the spot the next day "because there probably would have been footprints," but he didn’t.

About BFRO Investigator  :

Craig 'Gork' Barrette is the CCO for USA BMX (www.ababmx.com)- based out of Gilbert, AZ, and grew up in Sacramento, CA, where he first became interested in the Bigfoot mystery. While living in Seattle, he attended three BFRO Expeditions; in the Olympic Peninsula and Washington Cascades.