YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 07

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Pierce County

LOCATION DETAILS: Echo Lake northern area at the lake edge 200-300 feet to the left from the trail.

NEAREST TOWN: Greenwater WA

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 410 and Forest road 70

OBSERVED: I had hiked up to Echo Lake along the Greenwater Echo Lake trail near Greenwater Washington. I and my friend had setup camp for the night along the northern edge of the lake. I woke up around 2 am to hearing very large stomping going through my camp. It sounded like "stomp stomp stomp stomp" and I could hear branches being broken as it was walking. I have never heard anything walk so loudly and it seemed to be moving quickly It sounded like it was heavy and was on 2 legs.. What terrified me is that i had reacted to the sound of the stomping by moving to grab my knife. The stomping then stopped and it went quiet. I felt like I was being watched. I didnt have my rainfly on over the tent. I was to afraid to look out and was trying to stay as still as I could in my sleeping bag. After what seemed like hours of waiting, I finally fell back asleep. My friend thought he heard loud foot steps durring the night while I was asleep.

ALSO NOTICED: Before we had gone to bed, we kept hearing noises in the bushes away from our camp. I had a feeling we were being watched but shrugged it off.

OTHER WITNESSES: 1 wittness was sleeping when I had my experience but said while I was asleep he heard heavy footsteps but not sure what it was.

OTHER STORIES: I have heard of bigfoot sightings and rocks being thrown at people before in the Greenwater area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was night and there was a half full moon but it was still really to dark in our camp.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine Forest, lake with nearby stream.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Laura Roeder:

I spoke with the witness over the phone for about half an hour. He is a National Guardsman and an avid outdoorsman. He has hiked and backpacked in this region many times over the years, but has never had an experience that was so frightening.

The day had been sunny and warm, perfect for their hike into the location. He and his friend made camp, had dinner and the temperature began to drop rapidly after sunset. The two planned to share the same tent that evening. There were other campers in somewhat close proximity to their camp, about a quarter of a mile away and also about halfway around Echo Lake, including one camp where they could hear kids. He noted that there were multiple people in the area during the day, including some horseback riders.

Throughout the evening as they were talking in camp, they kept hearing something moving in the brush around them, but at a distance. There were no smells noted or anything seen at this time. The witness had a feeling of being watched, however. They put their food into a bear bag about 30 feet away from the tent, about 15 feet up in a tree.

They went to bed around 9pm. During the night, at approximately 2:00am, the witness awoke suddenly to what sounded like very loud stomping close by. He said he had never heard any stomping in his life that was even close to being this loud. Branches and leaves were crunched during the stomping, and he said it sounded like a distinctly bi-pedal gait. He is familiar with game sounds, and that deer and elk will sometimes stamp, but he said that this was huge-sounding compared to anything he has ever heard in the woods before.

Their tent had mostly nosee-um mesh walls and they did not have the rain fly on, but he was too frightened to move and look in the direction of the stomps, which were close to the suspended bear bag, about 30 feet away. His friend did not wake up or stir while this noise was occurring. He had a very strong sense of being watched. He said that he had faced bear and even a cougar in the wild before, but had never been so fearful, even though he couldn't see what was making the noise. He was so alarmed that he reached for his knife. The instant the witness made noise with his sleeping bag to get his knife, the stomping ceased. He stayed frozen in the same position for about an hour or more, and there was no further sound outside during this time. The fact that the stomping noise stopped so abruptly when he moved put him into a state of terror, because he had heard several people's accounts of strange occurrences in this area that may have been related to Bigfoot.

He drifted off to sleep eventually, never hearing any more sounds outside during the night. His friend told him in the morning that he had also woken up that night to sounds of loud walking in their camp, but not the same time as the witness. The friend said that the witness did not wake up during this time when he heard it. They both looked for tracks in camp in the morning, but could not find any, as the ground was so hard packed. The bear bag was in fine condition, untouched, as was everything else in their camp.

Based on the witness's outdoor experience with wildlife encounters and the fact that both campers heard stomping at different times, combined with the sighting history of this area (Reports #32536, #28898 & #16644 are within a few miles of this location), I believe that the witness and his friend likely had a sasquatch come through their camp during the night.

About BFRO Investigator Laura Roeder:

Laura Roeder is an IT analyst in the aerospace industry living near Seattle, Washington. She had a Class A sighting while cave hunting near Mt. Adams in 2004 and another on a private group expedition in 2012. She has also had multiple Class B encounters in southwest Washington and various locations around Washington state over a span of approximately 20 years. She attended the 2012 Western Washington BFRO expedition, co-hosted the 2013 WA Cascades Area #1 expedition, and assisted at the 2013 WA Area #2 and 2013 Olympic Peninsula expeditions. She continues to do research and attend expeditions as available.