YEAR: 1999-2000

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: September

DATE: 2

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Snohomish County

LOCATION DETAILS: Heather Lake Trailhead... also, Boulder River incident in 2003 on a backpacking trip. Something crossed the river and walked past my tent. That trail is also off the Mountain Loop Highway.

NEAREST TOWN: Granite Falls

NEAREST ROAD: Mountain Loop Highway

OBSERVED: About 2001, I was up on Mt. Loop Hwy with my best friend. We decided to go for a late afternoon hike that we were familiar with, Heather Lake Trail. In fact, that was our routine exercise spot because we knew it was safe. Before I explain that incident, there is something else I need to share...we went up there on another occasion and noticed a really LARGE kind of hut off the trail. It was somewhat difficult to get to due to the steep terrain. I can't even recall how we even noticed it because it was so well-disguised. It was enormous, though. We made it down there and explored it: heavy amount of broken branches covered over a hollowed out tree stump, roof made of fresh branches, tons of more branches on the floor that appeared to be matted as if it was slept on, entrance was covered by more branches. I'm 5-03" and it was high enough to be a 2-story home for a kid's playhouse... about 7ft high. It was amazing, but very eerie because it was obvious that it was recently built and used. Also, there was a stinky odor (wet dog). Within a few minutes, Cyndi and I felt like we were being watched and left the hut right away to continue our hike. We thought nothing of it after that- didn't suspect a bigfoot at all because that didn't cross our mind.

The original story I wanted to share was one where Cyndi and I went up as the very last hikers on the trail that late afternoon. A couple coming down warned us about it getting dark and being the last ones. It takes about 45-50min to hike up and when we got up there, we turned around to head back down. Before that, we both had to pee. Cyndi went first and went behind some trees to squat. She came out with a smurk on her face asking why I had been throwing rocks at her. I denied doing so, but she didn't believe me even when I said I couldn't see her because I was doing last second site-seeing about 20 ft away. Then I had to go pee and we switched places and just as I squatted a rock was thrown about my head and hit the tree I leaned against. There was no way it was Cyndi because I knew she was behind me, not in front. I freaked out and told Cyndi it must've been some creepy guy watching. So, we started hollering out "a**hole." It was so silent up there and we can feel like we were being watched yet we knew we were the only ones up there. I told Cyndi let's go now and we started walking really fast and then we started running. Parallel to us running on the trail, we could hear/feel the ground stomping and branches breaking. We freaked out and I grabbed Cyndi and we hid behind a tree off the trail. The sounds of someone following us stopped. Then, BAM! Another rock gets thrown at us while in our hiding spot. We started screaming and ran down that mountain I swear in 15 minutes. Bloody scraped legs and wet clothes from sliding down the small water-filled rock beds, we got to our car and cried. We didn't know who or what that was. No joke, about 2 years later, I watch on TV a couple describing their face-to-face encounter with a big foot on Heather Lake Trail! I called Cyndi and now I'm convinced that's what it was. The smell, the strange hut, rock throwing, ground stomping, branches breaking... we were being followed by a big foot.

ALSO NOTICED: Yes, read the story I left. There is a strange hut up there.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just my best friend and me. We were hiking. No drugs, no booze.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, a couple was interviewed on the Discovery Channel I think. Two years after my incident, this couple described their story of an actual eye witness encounter on this exact same trail.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: About 4-5pm, daylight, warm, no clouds, sunny day, about 70 degrees out.

ENVIRONMENT: Hiking trail in the land of evergreen trees. Lake at the top of the trail. Waterfalls/springs on the way up. Heather Lake trailhead.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator John Ray:

I spoke with the witness by phone and she related all the details of her encounter without being prompted. I found her to be very credible as she related what happened to her and her friend on the trail back in 2001. The two women felt very afraid as they ran down the trail during the rest of the encounter.

Her description of events strongly indicate to me that she and her best friend were being watched and then followed back down the trail by a sasquatch.

Photo taken at Heather Lake:



The trail head to Heather Lake is located on the road to Mount Pilchuck, which is along the Mountain Loop Highway East of the town of Granite Falls, Washington. The Mountain Loop Highway has a long history of Bigfoot activity, including the following reports:

Report # 37101.
Report # 26353.
Report # 25882.
Report # 23170.
Report # 23017.
Report # 16276.
Report # 1880.
Report # 1722.
Report # 1672.

I couldn't find a video of the couple's encounter that she remembered and referred to, so I'm not sure if all the details are correct. If anyone can provide a link it would be appreciated. Snow on the mountain is getting in the way of further investigation of the "hut".

The Mountain Loop Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Washington. It traverses the western section of the Cascade Range within Snohomish County. The name suggests it forms a full loop, but it only is a small portion of a loop, which is completed using State Routes 92, 9, and 530. Part of the highway is also a designated and signed Forest Highway, and is known as Forest Route 20.

The highway connects the towns of Granite Falls and Darrington. It is paved for 34 miles (55 km) from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass (2349') where the highway becomes unpaved for 13 miles (21 km), and then paved again for the remaining 9 miles (14 km) to Darrington. The unpaved section is U.S. Forest Service Road #20 and passes several USFS campgrounds. Portions of the unpaved section are often closed for periods of several years due to flood damage.

About BFRO Investigator John Ray:

John conducts BFRO report investigations in the Snohomish County area of Washington State. He has attended the 2006, 2008, and 2009 Washington Cascades expeditions, the 2009 and 2011 Washington Olympics-2nd expedition, the 2012 Western Washington expedition, the 2013, 2014, & 2015 Washington Cascades Area 1 Expeditions, and several other personal and private expeditions.