I did a little urban squatching on Sunday with a young man who is very interested in Sasquatch.  I took him to 2 local parks in the Denver Metro area.  We found some evidence and I was able to show him how to look.  It was a fun day.

As I have said before in previous posts that I am never sure what to expect and that happened on this outing.  My expectations were to find some breaks and if we are lucky a print.  I did not expect to find something that I had found a year ago in another location about 35 miles away. 

At a campground last July, another investigator and I had a very unnerving experience with a 9 inch rock thrown at us while sitting at the picnic table and then they stalked us for 1 1/2 hours when we went to bed.  The next morning I had found charcoal scattered in our fire pit and pieces of charcoal outside the fire ring on the ground going towards the fence.  It looked like pieces were dropped.  I was able to follow the pieces to the fence.  I had surmised that our forest friends after trying to intimidate us for 1 1/2 hours which they did, grabbed some charcoal to take with them and had accidently dropped some.  There are medicinal benefits to charcoal.

On Sunday while at a urban park I found some bits and pieces of charcoal on the ground where I wasn't expecting it.  I was on a pathway walking by a densely foliated ravine.  It was what I would call a very squatchy spot.  I looked at the charcoal carefully.  There were several small pieces going into the squatchy spot.  It looked like the charcoal was dropped.  FYI-This is a day use only park so there is no camping.  I noticed across the meadow that a large tree was burnt.  It looked like it was hit by lightning.  There was no evidence of fire spreading past the tree. 

What are the odds for me to find something like this again?

It is stuff like this that makes the evidence more compelling.  I love it.

SQUATCH ON!

 

At my research spot I was walking across to the ravine to go check on the gifting rock.  This was early in the morning.  Great weather-sunny and warm but not hot or windy.  The perfect weather to go explore this rugged terrain.  I glanced up towards the cliffs and noticed sticks leaning against a log.  There has been a lot of trees knocked down by the wind over the years.  What made me interested enough to climb up there were how the 2 sticks looked and how they were laying against the log.  Didn't look natural.  The above picture is what I saw when I came within 5 feet.  As you can see the sticks looked like they were laid there.  In the past in this spot I have found many such scenarios very similar to this.  I was thinking sticks used as tools to get ants or termites out.  Much like what chimps have been documented doing.  As I got closer the more excited I became.

 

I noticed it looked recent.  I am talking about sometime that morning.  I looked quickly around but had seen no movements.  I saw some ants in the crevice of the log following each other but some were zipping back and forth looking frantic.  Much like what you would see if you disturbed an anthill.  You can tell where the sticks were used to move the bark and also poked into the crevices of the log.  These sticks were 2-2 1/2 feet long.

If a bear had done this there would be claw marks and the log would be shredded.  This had the look of what I would expect to see if a primate was trying to get ants out of a log. 

Pretty cool isn't it?  Too bad I wasn't able to get a picture of one of our forest friends working at that log.  They are so elusive and smart!  Lets see what else I can document about this family of bipedal primates at my research spot.

SQUATCH ON! 

Life has gone a full circle for me in regards to Big Footing.  Some family friends came out for a visit and wanted me to take them out to do some squatching.  They live in Michigan and want to start doing this in their beautiful state.  It was kinda weird to have someone ask me on how to go out and look.  I still feel like I'm clueless in this endeavor but the learning curb is getting bigger.  Anytime someone wants to go out and wants to include me, I'm game. 

We took them to a spot that SIR has been investigating for many years.  I was hoping that we would find some new tree breaks and maybe a fence posting.  If we were lucky we would hear some knocks and a whoop.  Well, the group of forest people in this location did much more than this.  Kala and Kurtis got an avalanche of learning from only 2 days of squatching.  What we saw/happen/found there in those 2 days would take most people years to experienced.

We were exploring an area that is called the lair.  As we went down away from the lair we were in a narrow pathway ringed by tall giant boulders on both sides.  Kala found, yes, she found 3 hairs while on the pathway!  Two brown hairs were clinging to the left on the boulders about 5 feet high.  She also found a nice black one 10 feet away on a bush on the right side of the pathway.  It was about 4 feet high.  It was not ours and it was too high for animals.  I could not believe it! 

That evening we had eye shine over by the area where we leave food for them.  It was exciting and a bit unnerving for them.  How do you explain this?  This is one of those things that you need to experience first hand to fully understand it.  Seeing twinkling lights that blink on and off and also move that is not in the sky is hard to comprehend.  The best way to describe them is LED lights that can change colors from red to white or get very bright or larger suddenly and then back to twinkling.

There was a print found and I cast it.  I am waiting for it to cure.  We ventured into an area that hasn't been explored before.  We found many interesting things.  I felt like I was taking pictures the whole time.  My husband at one point heard bipedal foot steps leave quickly.  When there was only me in that spot I heard a tree break behind me up on the rocks.  For a few minutes I heard knocks and rock clacks behind and to the right of me.  I answered back with knocks and whoops.  I knew they were watching me.  When there was no more knocks or clacks I left.

As we were exploring there at this location I was seeing many stick signs and structures that are similar to what I have seen/experienced at my research spot.  I was excited because this is a form of communication and it seemed like those areas have significance to them.  I took many pictures and now speaking with a friend who has more knowledge on this.  The preliminary feedback has validated that my instincts were correct.

I am anxious to go back.  I feel at this location that they are reaching out to SIR.  It is my hope that we will answer back the right way and in respect.  Our forest friends need friends in our human world that has their best interests as a priority.  They are not a meal ticket for us to profit from or for fame.  What they need is protection to live the way they have been without interference from our society.

SQUATCH ON!   

I popped into my research area one morning this week hoping to see if I would get more of the static and clicking that I had experienced the last 2 times I was there.  To my disappointment I did not have any.  I am pretty sure that the circumstances have changed enough that the need to do this is not needed. 

• There is now leaves on the trees and foliage.  It is easier to move around almost undetected.  Even though they did not have problems doing this before but now it is impossible for me to see very far.  
• I have not been in this area very much until now because I wanted to give them space while it was cold and wintery.
• I now use another entry spot to go into the area.  This leaves less signs of me for other people to spot.  Plus I now go into the area that is closer to the nest and not as close to the gifting rock.  I probably had put them on high alert by doing this but now that I have consistently done this they are familiar with this new routine.
• I always announce my presence into the spot with my voice and whistling. 

The last time I was in there I had climbed onto this big boulder and used it to rest and as an advantage looking spot.  I am pretty sure they use it too.  There are stick structures and stick signs all around it.  In fact the photo above is a new one that was on the pathway I used to get to the boulder.  There were several new stick signs left for me.  This area reminds me of the gifting rock spot.  I have decided to use this boulder as my staging spot when I venture in.  My plan is to leave them answers to their sign/structures like I have done previously at the gifting rock.  It should be interesting and exciting.  My plan is to have them get comfortable with me.  I will not divulged my details because there are many out there who would use this information which may not be in the best interests of my forest friends.  Suffice to say that I plan on using classic primate behavior to accomplish this.

So my friends the journey continues.

SQUATCH ON!