Camper hears something walking around her tent

Oregonbigfoot.com file# 03807

REPORT OVERVIEW

Date: May 29, 2007
Shasta county, CA
Nearest town:
Platina
Nearest road:
Highway 36
Conditions:
Clear, cool nights
Time:
night
Location:

REPORT DETAIL

Description of event: During the period of time from Tuesday, May 29th through Thursday, May 31st 2007, I think I might have had several encounters with one or more Bigfoot, but I can’t be sure because I never saw them. I was too terrified to even consider the thought of looking outside of my tent.
It all began when I made an appointment with a real estate agent in Hayfork for May 30th to look at some property in that region. I was born and raised in the San Francisco bay area, and I was quite unfamiliar with some of the more wild inhabitants of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest region. All I knew was that the region is beautiful and breathtaking.
Because of the long 4½ hour drive up to Hayfork, I decided to drive up on May 29th, and spend 2 nights there. I had initially attempted to make a reservation in the local motel, but found that all the rooms were booked because a horse show was to take place that week in Hayfork. So, having few other options, I decided to camp for the two nights at a campground (Shiell Gulch Campground) located 12 miles southeast of Hayfork. According to my camping book, this was a very small and isolated campground. I had no fears about camping there alone, however, because I figured others would be camping there as well because of the horse show.
As luck would have it, on Tuesday, it got to be about 95 – 100 degrees, and my car overheated just before I reached the Shasta County line on Highway 36. Fortunately, I had a gallon of coolant in my trunk. After a couple of hours, I replaced my coolant, and drove on. Only a little more than 10 miles later, my car again overheated. I again waited a few more hours and replaced the coolant.
At this point, I was starting to get desperate. I was out in the middle of nowhere with a car that just didn’t want to work, and I was still a good 30 miles away from my destination! It was getting late, and I needed a place to camp for the night. I had no choice but to find the nearest campground, and stay there for the night. I would be able to head for Hayfork in the morning, with a fresh cool engine.
According to my camping book, the nearest campground was XXXX XXXX, The thought of camping there alone was scary, but at that point, I did not feel that I had much choice. I was hungry, tired, and just wanted to find any place to sleep.
When I got there, I found a campground that was dark and full of trees. There was a stream that flowed through it, which was nice. I also found that I was completely alone! I did not see another single camper in that entire area. I was entirely alone, and surrounded by wilderness.
I chose space #X, which was right by the stream, because it had a wide open flat area, was tucked in the corner, was near the toilet, and had a small path to the stream. The space had a fire pit and a picnic table. It was completely surrounded by pine trees. The sun could barely peek through the trees. On the other side of the stream was a steep hill, also covered with trees and heavy foliage. I set up my tent on a flat area near the stream.
After I ate, I put all my food back into the trunk of my car, for fear of bears. However, because the car was still very hot, I left my fruit outside in a metal bowl on the picnic table (apple, pear, grapes, nectarine and a couple of bananas). I worked quickly because it was already getting dark. I managed to go to bed by 9:30 pm.
Then, in the middle of the night , I was woken up by a most horrible noise. Something was messing with my picnic table, which was not far from me. It sounded like it was being picked up and dropped down repeatedly. Then, it sounded like it was banging my bowl of fruit against the table. “Great,” I thought to myself, “Some bear or raccoon is helping itself to my fruit!” Then, it let out a very loud sound that sounded actually very human, like a wailing woman (not screaming).
Over the next couple of minutes, which felt like an eternity to me, it proceeded to walk around my campsite, and all around my tent. It occasionally made little noises, which sounded like sighs. To my surprise, it did not sound like an animal walking on four legs. No, it was most definitely bipedal, and sounded exactly like a very heavy person walking. Up until that point, I had believed that it was some animal, but that was no bear! Whatever it was, it sounded extremely heavy, making loud and slow steps. Given the sound I heard, I concluded that perhaps it was some crazy obese woman walking around my campsite in the middle of the night. That thought itself sounded crazy to me. The other, perhaps more plausible option was, that it was, in fact, a Bigfoot.
I was paralyzed with fear. I had never been so terrified in my life, and, at the same time, I had never felt such intrigue. I wanted to see what time it was. I wanted to peek out to get a good look at the creature. But, fear won, and I could not move, not even for five minutes after the thing had left. I was afraid that if I moved, I would give away my presence, and that thing would come back after me. Finally, I checked my clock. It was 11:17 pm. I estimated that the whole incident must have begun at around 11:10 pm. I peeked outside of my tent. It was too dark to see anything anyway. I could hear some branches breaking on the other side of the stream. Apparently, the animal had made its way to the other side, and was climbing up the hill. I would wait until morning to inspect the damage to my campsite. I expected that I would have no fruit left to eat for breakfast.
The next morning, I was expecting my picnic table to be a complete mess – things thrown about, partially eaten fruit on the ground, etc. Instead, I found that the things on the table were arranged pretty much the way they had been the night before. The bowl of fruit, however, was moved, but it was still intact. I was surprised to find every single piece of fruit present and accounted for. The picnic table, however, had seen better days. I remember that the table had been rather shabby the previous evening, but I do not recall seeing such extensive damage.
What could have been strong enough to lift the table and do such damage? Certainly not a man. Perhaps a bear? But, why wouldn’t the bear want to sample at least one piece of the delectable fruit? Last night I had assumed that the animal had come around after my food, but now it seems that it just wanted to express how it felt about my being there.
I had to leave quickly for my appointment in Hayfork, but I made a quick inspection of the ground for tracks. I did not expect to see anything since the dirt was as hard as cement. Looking closely, I was surprised to find four slight impressions in the ground. I was able to discern two tracks – one full one and one partial one. I became ill as I inspected the full track, as it looked like a human foot print, only bigger and without an arch. It also had a noticeable deformity. It appeared to have 6 toes and the leftmost “toe” was turned inward against the second toe. I also noticed two areas of unclear impressions of displaced dirt. Whatever made these tracks must have been extremely heavy, to be able to make any kind of impression in such a hard surface.
I had a 6 inch ruler in my backpack and I began measuring and drawing these tracks. The partial one, which just showed an outline of the “toes” was about 5 ½ inches wide. I could not discern the rest of the foot. Four feet away from this track and towards my tent was the full track. It measured 12 inches long and 6 inches wide. The third and fourth tracks were unclear areas of displaced earth. The third track was another 4 feet away from the second track, and the fourth track was 2 feet away from the third. This last track was just two feet away from the entrance of my tent. I felt rather unsettled to realize how close the creature had been to me!
I tried to take a four foot stride, but found I could only do it if I ran. As I recalled the previous night, the creature definitely was not running, but was walking about at a most leisurely pace.
I took pictures of these tracks (available upon request), and surrounded them with pine cones so that I would not accidentally step on them and mess them up. I also took pictures of the damaged picnic table.
I left for my appointment in Hayfork, and returned that evening to find, to my relief, my campsite untouched. As I was preparing dinner, I had more time to look around. I found a fifth footprint that I had not noticed earlier. This one was by the path to the creek, and it was clearly the same deformed foot of the full track. This print was deeper as the ground was softer there, but showed only the leftmost aspect of the foot as well as the “toes.” The ground was slightly inclined and apparently the creature had placed greater pressure on the right edge of this foot when it stepped down. The dimensions were the same as the full track.
After the incident of the previous night, I decided to try to get to bed earlier tonight, in order to avoid a possible face-to-face encounter. I was in my tent by 8:30 pm, and in bed by 9 pm, and it was not fully dark out yet. However, this did not matter. As if the creature had been watching me all along, and knew that I was now out of sight, just a couple minutes after 9 pm, even though there was still a little bit of daylight, I once again heard those heavy footsteps, this time coming from the wilderness upstream.
At first I thought it might be a person, because it sounded just like a person walking. But then I remembered that I was completely alone there. “Oh boy,” I thought to myself, “what kind of show will this guy put on for me now?”
As it came near, I tried to make myself invisible and stopped breathing, hoping that it would not be aware of my presence. But, I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, and thought that even that sound was too loud. Then I thought about how stupid that thought was. Obviously the creature was already aware of my presence. Why else would it come in daylight, unless it was aware that I was already tucked away in my tent?
It was so close, I could hear the sound of its harsh breathing. Then, to my surprise, it did not stop, but just kept moving, down the path to the next campsite. Apparently, it had no interest in me. It was just passing through! Or, maybe not – moments later, it bellowed about 10 grunts “Oook! Oook! Oook!” These grunts were very low pitched, and appeared to be produced from deep within the throat (rather than up in the resonators, the way we do). They were extremely loud, loud enough to feel, and were produced at a rate of about 1 per second. At that point, I knew it wasn’t human. I don’t know if people would be able to make such a low-pitched sound. Why would a person come by my tent and grunt like that, anyway?
The creature kept on its way along the path, and after a while, it stopped grunting. I believe that it had gone. I was frozen in fear for about 20 minutes after that incident. Then, I fell asleep.
At 11:24 pm, I was woken up by the most bizarre cries. It sounded like a man yelling out “Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” in a very low pitch. It seemed to come from far away, perhaps miles, and yet it was powerfully loud. Each cry lasted about 6 to 9 seconds, with a 4-5 second break in between. Simultaneously, I heard a series of “Oook!” grunts off and on in a random fashion. I was surprised that I could hear the grunts from such a distance. I assumed this came from a second creature, unless the creature had some kind of bizarre anatomy that allowed it to make two different sounds simultaneously. The entire concert lasted about 2 minutes.
I was really freaked out after that, and was unable to fall back asleep. Then, at 12:41 am, I heard some more “Aaaahs,” this time much closer. It seemed to be coming right from the hill on the other side of the creek. The “Aaahs” were not yelled out, but actually softly spoken. It sounded like the same individual who was yelling earlier. There were only a few of these, and then I heard nothing more for the rest of the night.
I don’t know when I managed to fall back asleep, but I did. The next morning, I woke up and looked outside. When it is light out, I do not fear seeing the creature. I inspected the hill on the other side of the river, but saw nothing. Then, something weird happened just as I was packed up to go. During my entire stay at this campground, deer had been casually walking about, grazing, often in groups of two or three. They did not even seem afraid of me. Then, in one instant, something from the hill on the other side of the creek freaked them out, and all these deer, maybe 8 or 9 of them, suddenly bolted up in terror, out of the campground, up a hill, as if their lives depended on it. I didn’t even realize there were so many deer in the campground at the time.
I looked up at the hill on the other side of the creek to see if I could find what the deer saw, but I saw nothing. I had a suspicion about what it might have been. I said goodbye to my friends in the forest, and, at last, took my leave of the campground.

Source: oregonbigfoot.com
record updated:0000-00-00 00:00:00