YEAR: 1996

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 15

STATE: Oregon

COUNTY: Hood River County

LOCATION DETAILS: Feel free to contact me about directions, it is an area I have spent a great amount of time in.

This is a high mountain area just about 2-3 ridges east of Mount Hood itself. It is fairly verticle in nature and there are plenty of wild berries in the fall and lot's of natural spings and lakes in the are. My father has since the seen some form of tracks that he say's must be bigfoot no more thatn 5 miles (ATCF) from where my incident occured.

NEAREST TOWN: Near Mt. Hood Meadows

NEAREST ROAD: Near the old Barlow rd, where it crosses the White River Basin

OBSERVED: I was archery hunting with my father. I have spent a couple of weeks a year in the area sinc the time I was born. I personally have heard the sounds of Bear, cougar, coyotes, elk, dear, bear hunting hounds and basically all other wildlife in the area. It was nearing dusk and my father and I decided to each head a different direction on the High Cascades hiking trail near Boulder Lake and just a little South of the Badger wilderness area. We had decided to go for about 20 minutes and then return back figuring to return to the car around dark. I headed north following the trail into the fringe of the Wilderness area. About 10 minutes or so in I heard a yelping kind of sound. It wasn't anything I have heard before. The closest animal sound that I have ever heard would be like a chimpanzee, but much deeper. It was not human sounding by any means, but more human than say a cougar or bear. This sound intrigued and scared me. I followed the trail a little further, I then began to hear a sound that I can only describe as being the sound of wood being torn open, not a rotten log mind you, but the sound of wood splintering on a massive scale. This was a bit troublesome, but I pushed on a little further, my curiosity pushing me on. The trail made a slight bend to the right emerging from a small thicket of Fir trees and angling down the hill fairly steeply. I could see that there was a bit of a drop about 150 yds ahead of me and a log laying across the top lip of the drop. That's when saw something. It was a head and shoulders, with the back turned towards me, just beyond the log. There was no visable neck at all, but the head was clearly defined above the shoulder. I stopped and watched, I started to think it was just a stump and my eyes and instincts playing with me. I took another step forward and then it moved. It's movement was like when you hear something and you cock your head to try to align your ears to catch the sound better, but the whole torso swiveled, just a couple of inches. That was all I needed to see, I backed up the trail until I couldn't see it anymore, then turned and walked as rapidly as I could till I got back to the car. My mom and wife were waitng in the car, and both said, "what happened to you?" My dad came back about a couple of minutes later and he commented that I was white as a sheet. Honestly I was terrified, something there was not right, at least it was different then I had ever expearienced

OTHER WITNESSES: No one else saw or heard what I heard, but the did see the fear on my face.

OTHER STORIES: I saw a report, on this websight, that happened less than 3 miles away and about 1 month later. It was a hunter that sighted bigfoot in the White River Basin. Also the tracks found by my father a couple of years later. I belive the proximity to Hood Rivers apple Orchard and the time of year in regards to the harvest as well as a Wilderness area and N-S running ridges make this area a very habitable area for a creature such as bigfoot.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The incident occured around dusk, so I would imagine somewhere between 7-7:30PM. It was cool outside, maybe mid 50's to low 60's. Weather wise it was clear and very little wind.

ENVIRONMENT: This is a pine forest area high in the sourounding hills of mount hood.

Follow-up investigation report:

Paul S. verified all aspects of the report. He is a very experienced hunter.