K.S. Brooks / Silverado Express Newspaper
What do Sasquatch researchers talk about around the fire? Stories of finding footprints, hearing screams, and other mysterious encounters. I get a feeling that there is a little bit of competition in some cases, but for the most part, they all want the same thing: to know if Sasquatch is, in fact, real.
Of course there are the groups that already believe it is real and want to see it with their own eyes. There are others who are skeptical and want to prove — either way — whether it is real or not. Then there are the people who think there’s definitely something out there and want to know what it is.
Being invited on a Sasquatch expedition may sound strange to some, but to me, it was an honor because of the level of trust involved. I agreed to camp overnight at an undisclosed location. Eventually, I was told the address and asked not to reveal it in order to preserve the wildness of the place. Don’t bother asking me where. I won’t tell.
Will Ulmer of Bigfoot of Stevens County greeted me when I arrived. He had just returned to camp with visiting experts Stephen Major of Extreme Expeditions Northwest LLC, Larry “Bean” Baxter of Kenai Bigfoot Research Group, Amy Bue of Project ZooBook, and Josiah Martin of Martin Media. The group had brought thermal and infrared imaging that was really impressive. Their film crew — Josiah — had one of the most advanced drones available. If Sasquatch was out there, they felt pretty confident they’d be able to pick up on him or her.
Will wasn’t so certain. He is a skeptic and always looks for a logical or scientific explanation for everything. While he had no logical explanation for the loud primate-like roars and screams we heard, or the “wood knocks” — the hollow, echoing sound of striking a large branch against the trunk of a tree — he had one for pretty much everything else we encountered. I enjoyed watching him dictate notes into a recorder, measure footprints, and study disturbances in the soil.
The out-of-towners spent most of the first night prepping all their gear and getting their bearings. They’d traveled far to be there — two of them were from Alaska, one from Pennsylvania, and the other from Spokane. Stephen, “Bean,” and Amy were what some would consider Sasquatch experts…
