YEAR: 2013

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 21

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Jefferson County

LOCATION DETAILS: Lena Lake, Buckhorn wilderness.

NEAREST TOWN: Brinnon

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 101

OBSERVED: Last month I went on a backpacking trip in the Buckhorn Wilderness, to a small alpine lake about two hours into the wilderness; called Lena Lake. I went with my mother and we accompanied a group of people on this two day backpacking trip. When we got to the lake everyone set camp and it was time to start preparing dinner. I went down to the shore of the lake to explore while everyone was at camp.
When I got there I was surprised to see tons of barefoot tracks everywhere. But what caught my attention was how these tracks were so unusual, they did not look like some random people were walking around barefoot in the mud. It wasn't exactly the size of them that caught my attention but how deep they were in the mud. Whatever it was must of been at least around 200-300 pounds or more because I'm around 130 pounds and jumped as hard as I possibly could in the mud, and I barely made an indent. Whereas the prints I was looking at were around 4 to 5 inches deep.
Also what struck my attention was the raised area of the foot. I looked up Bigfoot footprints online and they described it as the mid-tarsal break. All of the footprints I was looking at by the lake had a mid-tarsal break. I looked up photos of Bigfoot tracks and one of mine looked very similar to the track photographed in the Hoh Rainforest in 2005.
All the tracks seemed to come from a family, for some were very small and others were larger. The tracks lead into the water and out from another shore of a shallow part of the lake and I followed them up into the gravel as they disappeared into some boulders and large rocks by the lake. I couldn't understand how people would walk around barefoot in the rock and gravel especially when it was a very cold time of the year. The tracks looked about a few days old because I could tell they weren't fresh, but they were so unusual and looked so like the ones online that my instincts told me that these were not human footprints.

ALSO NOTICED: The mid-tarsal break in the footprints makes me believe that they were not human footprints.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me.

OTHER STORIES: I found another report that took place in the Buckhorn Wilderness as well in an alpine lake. It may be the very same lake, but they didn't specify if it was Lena Lake.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: In the evening, the weather was drizzly with part sunshine.

ENVIRONMENT: Very remote area of Olympic mountains. Lots of rugged forest. We were at an Alpine lake, with mountains and lush mossy forest around it.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Ghee Bouche':

I spoke with Olivia and she seemed very inquisitive and truthful about what she witnessed and took pictures of. The prints are very uncommon as they depict a very heavy body making prints with no visible “arch”, which is a commonality in Sasquatch prints. Report #12098 contains the photo she compared these prints to.

Also as noted, there is a picture showing a clear mid-tarsal break, with the mud being pinched by the prints' compression of the mud substrate, see photos:





Also noted the was the lack of campers coming out or going in and only one small camping group who was present on the other side of the lake when they arrived. Some of the prints are 4” or less and very wide for a normal child's foot print. Pictured is the witness’ footprint which is 7”:



The prints were found in the fall and lead from the lake to a gravely portion of the surrounding hillside and then up a steep incline into the wilderness where no trails were present. See photos:





Upon finding the prints, she attempted to stomp on the hard mud surface and was unable to impact the mud to the depth that the prints were left. The witness took this photo with her foot pictured against a wide and flat 4" print:



This is a noted area where possible Sasquatch activity has occurred.

About BFRO Investigator Ghee Bouche':

An avid back country hiker and outdoors man, Ghee Bouche' has experienced Sasquatch behavior and worked with expeditions in the northwest to collect data on this species for their future protection and increased cultural awareness. He is the author of "The Night Tribe" and co-lead in the 2013 BFRO expedition of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.