YEAR: 2020

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 16

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Pend Oreille County

LOCATION DETAILS: From the parking lot at Pass Creek Pass, cross the road and begin hiking on the trail towards Helmer Mt. Campsite. Where the incident took place is about 4.5 mi down the trail at the site of an old forest service cabin.

[Investigator Note (MM): The location is basically in the saddle between Mankato Mountain and nearby Helmer Mountain. There is supposedly only one water source in this area. FYI. Here is the Google Maps aerial shot of the saddle area: Click here.

NEAREST TOWN: Metaline Falls, WA

NEAREST ROAD: NF-302

OBSERVED: Normally I wouldn’t report something like this but I have been trying to rack my brain for an explanation of what animal could have created the noise we heard on Saturday, August 15th, 2020. I can’t come up with a definitive answer. My husband, brother, and I decided to do a short backpacking trip in the Salmo-Priest Wilderness area between Sullivan and Priest Lakes. We hiked in about 4 miles to our campsite, the site of an old forest service cabin. The cabin site is surrounded by firs, bear grass, and huckleberry bushes. It was a warm, sunny weekend. There was not much animal sign around. The huckleberries were not quite ripe at our elevation yet, so we did not see any fresh bear sign. Our campsite is also the only place with water for quite a ways around...I’m not sure exactly how big of a radius.

We arrived at camp mid-afternoon. After a nap we decided to hike further down the trail (about a mile or two) to bag another peak. We saw a hunter camping just off the trail just below the peak. After briefly talking with the hunter we headed back to camp to make dinner. We stayed up until about 10 pm talking with one another and then went to our tents and fell asleep. Around midnight we heard three loud bounces.

My brother yelled from his tent, asking if we “heard that.” My husband and I both answered “yes.” Before getting out of the tents we discussed what it might be...We either thought a bear got into our bear bag hanging in a tree outside of camp or our bear canister broke through our plastic garbage bag serving as a bear bag and bounced down the hill. We unzipped the doors on our tents and shined the flashlight on our bear bag. The bag wasn’t even swinging. My brother and husband got out of the tents to scare away whatever was just outside our campsite. As they got out of the tents, they heard something run on the downhill side of our camp. They started throwing rocks in its direction and could clearly hear it running further down the hill. I couldn’t hear it from where I was at, but they said it sounded heavy. They couldn’t see anything with the flashlight. Once it reached the bottom of the hill, it stopped. I got out of the tent at this point. We thought for sure whatever it was, that it would be back.

We were up the entire rest of the night, but did not hear anything. The hunter hiked out early the next morning but did not stop to talk. At daylight we attempted to recreate what we heard from the tents. My brother picked up about a 4 foot long log near camp, held it above his head, and threw it about 4 four feet away from himself. It bounced a few times. We all looked at each other and knew...that was the exact same sound we heard in our tents. I thought for sure we were dealing with a bear the night before, but I’ve never heard of a bear throwing a log such a distance and at such a height. I don’t know for sure what it was that we heard, but it may very well have been a sasquatch. We did not spend a second night at that site like we were originally planning. We decided to hike out. I’m not sure I would camp there again.

I’ve had a similar encounter, probably 10-12 years ago as a kid in Z Canyon, except it was a rock that was thrown from shore and I was on a boat.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing more than what I described above.

OTHER WITNESSES: 3 witnesses total. We were all sleeping in our tents.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, in Z Canyon. Had a rock thrown at our boat and heard a crashing sound in the woods, but did not see anything.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Midnight. Very warm day, cooler at night, not a breeze.

ENVIRONMENT: Alpine environment with a water source

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Kevin Llewellyn:

I talked to the witness and her husband by phone.

The hunter they talked to at first said he only saw bear in the area the previous year.

They described the "bounces" as if something was thrown, not a log rolling or a branch falling from a tree.

The husband described the running as "heavy footsteps" from something large, not like a deer or elk. When first heard, it was close at the edge of their camp. He threw a rock and it ran further but seemed to stop in the brush, followed by total silence, even after they threw more rocks. Because it seemed so large to him, the husband said, "I'm glad I didn't see it."

They are confident it was not a bear. They camp a lot and have had many bear encounters.

They did not smell any foul odor. There is a long history of Bigfoot activity and sightings in this area.

About BFRO Investigator Kevin Llewellyn:

Kevin has camped, fished and hunted in Eastern Washington all his life. His interest in Sasquatch began when he was 10 years old and saw Roger Patterson present "the" film. He lives in Eastern Washington.

Recently retired, he was a veterinarian since 1984, after graduating from Washington State University.

He attended Washington BFRO expeditions in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. Oregon in 2015 and 2018, Montana in 2017 and 2018. He was co-leader of N.E. Washington 2019, Washington 2020, 2021 #1 & #2, and Montana 2020, 2021expeditions.