YEAR: 94 or 95

SEASON: Summer

STATE: Oregon

COUNTY: Deschutes County

LOCATION DETAILS: Just north of lava butte there are a few forest
roads that turn west off Hy.97, The area is
crisscrossed with logging roads, however this
is not a large piece of forest, as it is bourderd
by the Hy. on the east, the lava flow on the
south and west and Deschutes River woods on the
north. This was on the west side of green Butte.
This is A small hill easy to find on the maps.

NEAREST TOWN: south of Bend

NEAREST ROAD: Hy. 97 south

OBSERVED: My cousin Jay and I were out driving my
BMW in the forest near Lava Butte. We just
wanted to get out of town for a while and
away from people,have a few beers etc. I had
not seen him for some time as he lived in
another town.
We drove to What the locals call "the
foundation", a concrete fire pit on the south
side of Green Butte,then decided to drive
around to the other side of the butte to
watch the sunset out across the lava flow.
This road is narrow, sandy, and winds out
through the 10' tall manzanita brush. We
wen't as far as we could in the "Bummer",and
finally could go no further as the road turned
into nothing more than A trail. I found A
place to turn around, and backed the car as
far down in as it would go and parked.
We decided to walk down the trail a bit
to get a better view of the mountains and
lava flow and were only about 5 min. into
the hike when I started hearing things. (At
this point I would like to state that I was
raised in central Oregon, and have spent a
lot of time in the woods alone, hiking, hunting
logging for five years, much of which was walking
units looking for boundry markers etc.
I AM NOT PARANOID OR A FRAIDY CAT IN ANY WAY).

ALSO NOTICED: We didn't SEE anything, other than the bushes
moving, but this was no prank or a bum trying
to scare us off. It stalked us for at least 1/4
mile and I heard it grunting several times. I
have never heard ANYTHING that made this sound.

A few weeks ago I met a man who lives on the
property next to this area. He claims to have
photos of tracks in the snow, and ?

There were tracks in hot lava reported near
Todd lake as well. I have the newspaper clipping.

OTHER WITNESSES: My cousin Jay was with me. I asked him if he
heard that grunting sound? He said no, then he
heard it and I didn't. When we got back to the
car and were just standing there all hell broke
loose. This THING was not 50' from us, screaming
and shaking the bushes like crazy. We both laughed
and screamed "DID YOU HEAR THAT?" and jumped in
the car so fast, I was trying to get traction in
the sand while Jay rolled up the sunroof in a
frenzie! We were scared ****less but laughing
like hell for some reason. I saw Jay a few weeks
ago and he remembers it the same.

OTHER STORIES: Just the reports you have listed near Sunriver,
Lava Butte, the old guy's pictures and the Todd
lake footprint in the molten lava.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Sunset, clear skies, warm, the
june bugs were out.

ENVIRONMENT: This area is a second growth pine forest that
was logged in the old days. There are lots of
pine trees 50-100 ft. tall and the manzanita
is 4' to 10' tall and VERY thick. It was between
Green Butte and the lava flow, with a killer view
of the Cascade range. The closest water would
be the Deschutes river only a mile or so, but
on the other side of the lava.

A lava flow on the west with a killer view of
the Cascade range.

Follow-up investigation report:

The witness was able to tell me a bit more about the incident and the area in which it took place. The area is remote, set between a railroad, the lava flows, and a highway. There are no recreational areas in the immediate vicinity. He informed me that he hasn't been back to the same spot since, but that the brush there is quite thick and, like many areas with past volcanic activity, it boasts caves.

He doubts the animal was a cougar or bear, based on its behavior and scream. The witness has entertained the possibility it may have been a bum trying to scare them off. He remarked that there was no smell, something commonly, though not always, associated with sasquatch encounters.

Being followed by one is by not very unusual, nor is being screamed at. If the animal involved was a sasquatch, it is possible this behavior was territorial, based on the apparent display that drove them off. It is also possible that it was testing them, trying to gauge their reactions.