YEAR: 2009

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 12

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Cowlitz County

LOCATION DETAILS: [Edited] Off interstate 5 take exit 49, head east out of Castle Rock 6 or 7 miles to the town of Toutle. Keep going east past Toutle 2 to 3 more miles and the dirt road is to your left. right before a shell gas station that would be on your right.

NEAREST TOWN: Toutle

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 504

OBSERVED: All I have to say is I have never been more scared in my life. I have been a hunter for fifteen years now, knowing, and enjoying the woods more than anywhere else on this planet.
This incident happened saturday night, Sept. 12 down a gated logging road above a fish hatchery. It was elk season for bow hunting, and my buddy wanted to go try for an elk. I knew my other buddy was already down hunting elk near castle rock, so I said lets go down there. Since I only hunt modern firearm, I was not hunting elk, but I brought my rifle because bear season was open. We got down there saturday morning about four a.m. . We did a morning hunt, then took a break back at camp during the middle of the day. For our evening hunt we decided to head east past the town of Toutle about two to three miles. Right before a shell station on your right, we took a left. We drove for a little while until we came across a fish hatchery. We decided to turn around and park at a gate right up the road from the fish hatchery. We all walked in together (4 of us total). When we came to a Y in the road we decided to split up. We continued walking, and thats when I kept hearing something walking in the woods to my right. I mentioned to my buddy that something was pacing us in the woods, so we left that road and headed down an old grassy side road that hadnt been used in a while. When we got to the end of the road I stepped off the road to look down an embankment (trying to see the river)and thats when I heard a deep rumble of a growl, and it seemed to be right next to me. I signaled my buddy to come quick, and I kept looking in the brush, but couldnt see anything. We sat there for a minute, then we heard this thing move around, but it never came out of the brush. We decided to leave that spot and head back to a little clearing we had seen on the way in. I also noticed that all the animal sign in the area was old. There was no fresh tracks or feces of any kind that I saw in the area, which discouraged us since we were looking for elk. We went back to the clearing and sat there until it was dark. Since our other buddies went further up the road than us, we went back to the Y in the road and waited for them. When it became pitch black and they hadnt returned, we decided that we better head toward the truck. As we were walking, I heard the brush move a couple of times, again to my right. I said to my buddy, it sounds like something is in there. He said he had heard that, so we continued walking and listening. Then it seemed to get louder, like someone was just walking through the brush without trying to be quiet. For about a half mile, this thing, whatever it was, paced us and would not leave, no matter how loud we got. We walked the rest of that half mile back to back. I had a flashlight thats built into my hat, and I had that aimed into the woods with my gun pointed right in that direction. When we got back to the truck, our other two buddies were already in his truck with it running. They said they had popped out onto the main road and walked back to the truck from another direction.
I want to note, whatever it was that was pacing us sounded way bigger than a cougar. I would also say that it wouldnt be a bear, since bear tend to be skiddish, and will usually run away from you. The growl that I heard was very deep, but not loud. It was a low rumble that seemed to shake me. Like I said before, I love the woods, and spent my whole life getting out camping, fishing, and hunting. I have never had something like this happen to me before. The only animal I saw the whole time was a bat, and that was when it was almost dark. I didnt even notice a bird the whole time we were down this road.

ALSO NOTICED: Just that there was no animals around.

OTHER WITNESSES: Myself and my buddy. My other two buddies were not with us when the incidents occurred. We were just walking down a gravel road.

OTHER STORIES: I have never even been there before so no.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: First incident took place around 6-6:30 p.m. and the lighting was very good. Second incident Im guessing took place close to 9 p.m. and the lighting was terrible, completely dark. The weather was very hot during the day, and did its normal cooling off as soon as the sun went down.

ENVIRONMENT: Fir forest, lots of low underbrush. deep valley to the side of us that was very brushy that went down to the river.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Scott Taylor:

I interviewed the witness for about an hour. I have been near this location before, and driven the same road off the highway, although not to exactly this place. I am familiar with the area. From the description of how they got to the location, and by talking to the witness I was able to resolve the exact location.

The significant events are that they were followed after walking in about a half mile. They were followed for another quarter mile to the place where they stopped. Then, the witness stepped off the road to try to look down the embankment to the river below, and this is when the creature growled powerfully at him. He could feel the growl as well as hear it. Later, after waiting until dark for the other hunters, they decided to walk out. The creature again followed them and made no effort to be stealthy. It sounded like a person walking along in the woods next to them about 20 yards away. It followed them the full distance back to their truck, only leaving them as they came within sight of the vehicle.

Considering the context of the situation, and that it is extremely unlikely that a deer, elk, or bear would follow them at all, let alone for such an extended distance, I feel that this was an encounter with a sasquatch. The behavior is consistent with what I and other investigators have experienced first-hand on expeditions where we have also observed the sasquatch through night vision, or thermal imagers.

About BFRO Investigator Scott Taylor:

Scott Taylor is a retired aerospace manager. He lives in Mason County, Washington. He had his first bigfoot encounter in October 2005 where he was stalked and later heard vocalizations.

Scott has attended official BFRO Expeditions in the Washington Cascades in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. He also attended 2007 Central Oregon Cascades and 2007 Utah. He now organizes BFRO expeditions in Washington and has participated in bigfoot conferences over the past 17 years.

Scott will be leading a Washington BFRO expedition in 2025 (July 17-20) which is open to non-members. For more details and registration information for that trip click here.