Dear UFO BC: Thought you might be interested in some interesting B.C.
Sasquatch stories and encounters I have gathered from the 1960's to 1995.
There's also some fabulous photographs of the rugged Pitt Lake region
taken from the air at the following link:
http://www.globalairphotos.com/pitt_lake/96posters/plh96013.html
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Pitt Lake area, British Columbia,
Canada |
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Pitt Lake is
25 to 30 miles up the Fraser River from Vancouver B.C.
Pitt Lake is very rare in that it is one of the largest "freshwater"
lakes in the world affected directly by Pacific Ocean tides. |
An incident in the early 1960s
that got me interested in the subject of Sasquatch went something like
this: A logging company owner by the name of Joe Manuck had a smaller show
at a place on Pitt Lake called Frenchman's Bay (now known as Christian
Cove on the maps). He went up the mountain about one mile or so to get at
some big timber in a very steep and rugged canyon. In the process of
setting up a temporary camp for his crew and cook, Manuck towed a wood
frame and plywood cook/bunk house on 3-ft-round skid logs up the valley
with a D-8 Cat. After Manuck logged the show and got most of the good wood
out, he left the old cook/bunk house up there for family and friends to
use as a hunting cabin. One weekend during the fall of about 1962, my
friends Fred Gerak, Ron Gerak and Vince Manuck Jr. headed up to the area
for some black tail hunting.
They reached the place late on a Friday afternoon and proceeded to give
the old cabin a quick sweep to get rid of the mouse droppings, chop enough
firewood to last a couple of days, cook some dinner and then hit the sack
early for some much needed rest. Sometime during the middle of the night
they were all rudely awakened by a massive crash of something hitting the
outside of the cabin hard enough to dislodge the stove pipes and fill the
entire cabin with black soot and choking smoke. At first light in the
morning they inspected the cabin fully expecting to find a giant boulder,
claw marks from a big bear or some other such sign on the outside walls
but found nothing. I went up the following weekend on a hunting trip and
had a good look around the cabin for myself. I found no broken branches on
any of the small alders that had sprung up beside the cabin or anything
else to indicate something with a rational explanation responsible for
crashing into the cabin. Over the years I often pondered the thought of
what could have possibly hit the cabin's walls "so high up" above the skid
logs (on the bunk side where everyone was sleeping and probably snoring a
bit) with the force required to knock the stove and its pipes completely
out of commission. Not a one of us could figure this out until a later
date when the stories of Sasquatch began to quietly circulate amongst the
area's loggers.
In the late 1960s, myself and a few other commercial fishermen and old
hand loggers went to visit Oscar Greenland (now deceased), a long-time
hand logger and permanent resident of Pitt Lake. Oscar seemed to enjoy our
visits as we always brought a bottle of his favorite gin and some type of
a treat for his faithful old dog. Sometime during the hours long BS
session, the subject of Sasquatch was injected into the noisy
conversation.
Oscar told us about a time some years back when he was heading up the lake
towards home at first light on a beautiful summer morning. He went on to
explain that the lake was a flat as glass and there wasn't a breath of
wind. As they were heading from point to point he happened to glance
towards the shoreline and noticed a rhythmic splashing about 300 yards
away.
Out of curiosity he decided to head his old Easthope powered
ex-gill-netter towards the beach in case someone was in trouble. As he got
closer he noticed a downed alder or cottonwood tree laying in the water
with what appeared to be a huge, dark colored man-ape jumping up and down
on it - looking for all the world like it was simply playing and totally
amused by the splashes it was making in the water. Oscar went on to
explain that once the ape-like creature spotted him getting closer, it
went up the tree faster than any man could have possibly gone and quickly
disappeared into the bush.
Old Oscar then asked us all if we thought there were any grizzly bears in
the Pitt Lake country. While none of us had ever seen or heard of a
grizzly bear down low in his general neck of the woods, we asked him why
he enquired. Oscar said that one day he was up behind his cabin cutting
shake blocks when his dog suddenly began to growl, bark and generally go
crazy.
Oscar said he stared in the direction the dog's gaze was fixed upon and
saw what he thought was about an 8-foot tall grizzly standing on its hind
legs partially hidden behind some alders. Oscar went on to say that he'd
heard plenty of bears grunt and cougars scream in his days in the bush,
but had never heard such a tremendously loud roar come out of any animal
he knew of.
Then in the late 1960s, two friends that had been hired by Joe Manuck to
clean some of the bigger rocks off a logging road (done to prevent the cat
skinner's kidneys from taking a terrible pounding) reported to me that
they had been followed by something big and black that stayed well hidden
just out of sight but not earshot. (Note: This particular logging road is
roughly two miles from Frenchman's Bay and three miles from what used to
be Oscar Greenland's homestead.) Equipped with large steel bars to pry the
rocks loose, they would then roll the boulders to the edge of the road and
into the bush. While taking breaks from their job, they would constantly
hear something breaking branches not too far in the bush. When they moved,
it moved. The more intent they became in listening (probably because they
were scared by now) the more they could hear footfalls. Once purposely
peeking into the bush, one of them caught a glimpse of what he thought was
an awfully tall black bear. Although nothing else eventful happened, they
did mention that whatever was out there in the bush making noise followed
them up to the top of the mountain and halfway back down again before
becoming disinterested with their rock rolling.
About 1973 or 1974, I was down by the Fraser River talking with some of my
old hand-logger commercial fishermen friends and the subject of Sasquatch
happen to come up in the conversation. That was the first time I had ever
heard that at times these beasts might make some form of nest or bed.
Old Bob was a local shake splitter who had just returned that same day
from a deer-hunting trip up in the Hedley country. He somewhat shyly
explained to the group that he found a large animal bed located on a
perfect vantage point with six-inches of fresh evergreen tree boughs laid
carefully in the bottom. He went on to explain he had also found quite a
few piles of huge human-type droppings that no man or animal he knew of
could make. Apparently these droppings were located about 75-feet from the
bed and concentrated in one general area. Old Bob also went on to
seriously explain that the bed he'd found had plenty of darker colored
hair in the bottom of it and stunk like hell.
Now if I remember right, about six people burst out laughing. At that old
Bob became extremely angry and remarked he would take any one of us
assholes (excuse the language) back up to Hedley at that very minute and
show us the bloody Sasquatch bed he'd found. Seeing that old Bob was
seriously mad, the entire group said they were sorry and jokingly believed
him. Sadly, nobody took Bob up on his offer. I wish to this day that I
would have.
During the fall of 1975 a friend of mine John Sheriff decided to do some
deer hunting up in the Chehalis River country. Although John didn't see
any deer that day, he said he spotted something very strange. Some years
later he asked me how far and well I thought a black bear could walk on
its hind legs.
I told him that they look pretty clumsy up there on their hind feet and
take short, jerky strides with their paws held in front of them somewhat
curled in and pointing down.
While summing up my answer, John
looked puzzled and said while he sat and watched a likely looking area for
deer, he now believed what he saw was a dark-brown Sasquatch quietly and
smoothly slinking from tree to tree, as if it was using them for cover.
In 1995, I had a report from a good friend Dan Gerak owner of the Pitt
River Lodge (pittriverlodge@direcway.com) about a fresh set of 17"
Sasquatch tracks he found while hiking along a very remote creek in the
upper Pitt River country.
Dan said that he and a couple of friends had hiked up a small creek a few
miles in search of some good rainbow trout fishing. In a very remote and
rugged area they came across four or five 17" Sasquatch tracks impressed
into a dampened natural earth slide along the creek.
Dan explained the tracks were farther apart then he could fully stretch
his legs and so clear that he could see dermal imprints in the bottoms.
Interestingly, Dan also said that while flying in helicopters over the
years, he noticed that the valley he found those Sasquatch tracks in, - is
the only one that links up cleanly with the Harrison Lake country and has
no boxed canyons or obstructions. A possible Sasquatch migration route?
There have been a few reports from loggers and others over the years of
Sasquatch sightings concentrated in this general area. Larry Pynn wrote a
piece in The Vancouver Sun a few years back of a Sasquatch sighting by a
local logger that worked out of the main camp at Alvin, BC. Also a
documentary-type film titled Alden's Outdoors that went into detail on
Sasquatch and some form of giant salamander-type creature sightings in
this area. Interestingly, Dan Gerak also has two recent sighting reports
(from either guests of his lodge or people he knows) of these black
salamander-type reptiles seen crossing the road.
About 1995 I had the opportunity to make a deer hunting trip (with my
brother, a friend from work and his older brother) into the Yalakam River
country, not too far from Lillooet. Looking at the map now, I believe we
hunted off a logging road that ended at the headwaters of Leon Creek, in
the Camelsfoot Mountain Range. Although we didn't get any deer that
particular trip, I did bring home a multiple Sasquatch sighting report.
On the evening of our first day hunting we went in towards the end of this
logging road (called Upper Swamp Road on wooden markers along the way) and
stopped in a logged off draw about ¾ of a mile from the end of the road.
When we got out of the truck in this valley, my friend Sil mentioned that
his uncle had been coming up this same road the previous fall and spotted
what he thought was a black bear digging roots about 60 feet from the far
treeline. Looking at the spot he was pointing towards, I would say it was
no more than 100 yards or so into the clearing from our vantage point.
Seems his uncle stopped and readied his rifle to take the bear when it
presented a clear shot. Quite soon the somewhat surprised animal suddenly
realized it was being watched and quickly stood up.
Sil went on to explain that his uncle literally got the shock of his life
when a huge Sasquatch now loomed in front of him and with four or five
giant steps hit the treeline and disappeared from sight into the timber.
Apparently Sil's uncle was so shaken by what he had just seen that upon
his return home he vowed to close family and friends that he'd never to go
into this country again for as long as he lived.
Sil also told of meeting two very old hunters at this same location the
previous fall that mentioned in a tailgate conversation of seeing a
Sasquatch at this very spot the year before. In fact, they said they had
made this trip into the area with the hopes of seeing the creature again.
It might be interesting to note that when I went over to the general area
where the Sasquatch was sighted I got a strange, uneasy feeling. The bush
was so bloody thick and dark you couldn't see 30-feet into it. I also
remarked to Sil that this area gave me the creeps and it seemed it was a
dead zone. Besides the breeze blowing through the tree tops, there wasn't
a sign or a sound of another living creature to be seen or heard.
During the fall of 1998 I knew a party hunting the Jedney area off the
Alaska Highway that had a half a moose ripped down off a meat rack that
was a measured 14-feet from the ground. Upon a very close check, these
experienced hunters didn't see any grizzly or black bear sign around the
area. Nor could they find anything else to indicate they knew who or what
stole their moose. I checked out the meat rack myself (I was camped only
about ½ mile away and our lower hanging moose meat wasn't touched) and
came to the conclusion that unless someone came 40-miles into the bush
equipped with a big ladder, there was no way in hell they could have got
the moose down - besides, the rope the held the meat up was snapped and
not cut.
Good Sasquatch Hunting,
© Ken Kristian
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