Winter finally came to Colorado.  It has been mild and dry until 10 days ago.  The good thing about that I was able to go in and explore the steep and rugged areas while there wasn't snow.  There wasn't much action going on at the gifting rock until recently.  I was thinking maybe they have moved to another location.  But every time I left food for them it was taken.  I'm thinking they were getting ready for winter. 

This past 10 days when I went to the gifting rock I heard movements, knocks and even had one growl at me!  Before the snow came I found some impressions around the rock.  When I was getting ready to leave the other day there was a distinct knock my husband heard across and down past the creek.  That was the loudest one heard in over a month.

10 inches of snow is now on the ground in this area.  I have found some snow impressions but they were not distinct enough for me to make a clear determination of what made them.  Multiple types of overlapping impressions make it hard to figure out.  Two were possible BigFoot but I'm not real certain.  So I will say they were a maybe. 

I have been excited about the snow coming because I was hoping this will make tracking easier for me.  I did not take into account that they are human smart and will make this hard, almost impossible.  I expected to find their snow tracks around the gifting rock but that was not the case.  The food was taken but not where it went.  There were 2 impressions that looked like bare feet at the base of the gifting rock but nothing else.  I am surmising that they stood at the base and reached up carefully without touching anything but the food and then walked back on the tracks around the area and made no new tracks.  Where they go from this point I'm not sure.  It doesn't make sense but that is the way it is.  I have tracked a person's tracks that was not too far away wondering if they discovered the gifting rock area.  I had no problems following them and followed until the tracks left the area.  Never did go near the rock area to my relief.

What I'm trying to say is that I can track prints and movements but I have not been able to track the family of BigFoot coming in and out the gifting rock area.  The only thing I think is that they are climbing the trees.  Which makes sense if they don't want to be found.

For this winter I have decided that I will only go once a month to visit the gifting rock and not explore the surrounding area which includes the nesting area and where I had glimpses of them.  The reason I am doing this is that they know I know where they are and what areas they have marked off as theirs.  I will respect their privacy and need to hide.  I do not want to add stress to them during the long cold winter.  They have enough to do in order to survive and don't need me to add more to their plate.

So are you wondering what will I do now?  Remember I have found other spots within a few miles of this research area that may indicate more activities.  So I will go explore the other areas to see what I will discover.  One of my plans for this winter is to go back to the area where I found that clump of hair, rock stacks and the 17 inch print.  I also have another area I am interested in and may start looking into.  Our forest friends are all over Colorado.  I won't have a problem of not finding a place to explore.

I would like to thank you for allowing me to share my clueless journey.  I wish you and your family a safe and Happy New Year.  My wish is for peace and protection for the bipedal North American Primate known as my forest friends for the 2013 year and beyond.

SQUATCH ON!

My research area has been a great place to showcase the beauty and wonder of Colorado.  I have been continually amazed by what I find.   This has been a labor of love to explore the mysteries of an amazing bipedal primate that reside in our woods and forest.   The following story is in my top 3 of favorite finds that I have discovered in 2012:

I had decided to find another gifting rock that was more remote than the one I was using.  I have been able to get them to come when I whistled, whooped and knocked.  So one day in early summer my husband and I explored up and behind our gifting rock.  We wanted to climb up to the cliffs and work our way south to find a new gifting rock.

After exploring for a bit we went back down.  We slipped and slid our way down when from a distance I saw a boulder that was big and flat.  So we worked our way down to it.  In hindsight the surroundings and signs were telling us about what we would discover.  This discovery was a true surprise to us.

This rock was perfect for a gifting rock.  It was large but flat on top.  We put our gifts of food in a bowl for them and then we sat on the rock and ate.  I noticed from where I was sitting that there was a lot of brush against the other side of the rock.  I jumped down and explored it.  I was thinking that the hard rain we had a few days before caused the branches, twigs and brush to be washed down to the bottom of the rock.  I whooped and knocked a few times to tell them we had food for them.  I heard some movements and knocks on the other side of the ravine.  Then we walked around to the left of the gifting rock to follow the game trail.  My husband was in the lead when I noticed some branches and tree limbs leaning against logs on top of the end of the boulder.  I told him to stop and that maybe beside him is a tree structure.  He replied no way, that it was rain wash from the storm.  I then told him to look because the branches were purposely placed there.  He turned to it and was amazed.  Both of us were amazed.  This structure was huge and purposely made.  We then took pictures and video of this huge nest.   My heart pounded with wonder and excitement.  This was made by someone or something.  The materials used to make this structure were made by breaking or peeling tree trucks, branches and brush.   No signs of saw marks or cut marks.  This area is steep and remote.  No way there were machines used to make this.   I knew what made it.  Our forest friends made it.

I hope you enjoyed my photo of the nest and my retelling of this amazing discovery.   I wanted to show and give you more details about it.  Merry Christmas.

Robin Roberts

*Please do not use my photo without my permission.  I posted it for your enjoyment to look at.  Not to use it or copy it.

 

George Knapp: I’m dreaming of a Bigfoot Christmas

(no description)

1

IN THE DARKENED elegance of La Scala restaurant, one of the most exhilarating — and chilling — conversations of my entire life spilled across the table. It happened more than two and a half years ago but is burned into my brain as if it transpired yesterday.
To my left sat a distinguished microbiologist, a scientist whose name is known all over the world but who keeps a low profile in his adopted town of Las Vegas. Two seats to my left was a former cop turned author and Bigfoot researcher named David Paulides. And to my right was Dr. Melba Ketchum, a DNA researcher who found herself in the middle of an unexpected but career-threatening controversy. It involves the hairy gent with Size 18, triple-wide feet, who is known by many names all over the world, but answers most often to his iconic nickname: Bigfoot.
Before I was allowed to see any of the key research material, I had to sign a nondisclosure agreement. I was thrilled to be among the first to see the information, but it has driven me crazy ever since. The only public utterance I’ve made is a prediction two years ago during a taping of the KLVX public affairs program Nevada Week in Review. Because of what I learned that fateful night, I made what seemed at the time to be a wacky, off-the-wall prediction during the program — that dramatic news would surface sometime in 2011 about the enigmatic beast known as Bigfoot.
Since then, I have been needled relentlessly by my journalism colleagues, including veteran TV host Mitch Fox and fellow panelists Steve Sebelius and Jon Ralston. Oh, the humanity. So where’s the Bigfoot news, they repeatedly asked. I have been unable to answer, and it has been tough.
The well-meaning Dr. Ketchum naively assumed that the world of science would welcome her data with open arms and open minds. Her initial draft of a scientific paper unwisely referred to the existence of a Bigfoot-like creature, and she was certain the information from her study would receive a fair hearing from the scientific world. My friend the microbiologist gave her the sad-but-true news that no mainstream science journal in the world would ever publish a paper, or allow for an honest peer review, of any paper that mentioned Bigfoot or Sasquatch by name. Unlike my TV prediction, that one proved prescient in the extreme.
In the ensuing years, there have been numerous attempts to sabotage and backstab Ketchum’s project. Leaks appeared in scientific forums online in an apparent attempt to torpedo her credibility even before the study’s findings were made public. The Bigfoot community has been even more vicious, mostly because so many of the true believers have staked out their own turf and do not want to see a scientific interloper like Ketchum upstage their often ridiculous assertions or to undercut public interest in the 800 or so cable TV shows about the search for Bigfoot.
The only reason I am able to say anything about the study is that Dr. Ketchum unwisely responded a few weeks ago to a spurious report from a Russian scientist about the findings. Ketchum confirmed that she has overseen the analysis of dozens of hair samples collected at the sites of alleged Bigfoot sightings. Those people who do not want the study to be true and don’t want to wait for results to be verified have teed off on Ketchum, have carved up her study, and have made it almost impossible for anyone to take the results seriously, even though not one of the critics have seen the actual data. Dr. Ketchum insists that a major science journal is concluding a rigorous review of her work and will publish the paper once the process is completed. I am not holding my breath.
Here is what I can say legally, now that Ketchum has lifted the cone of silence: Scores of hair samples were sent to a dozen well-respected DNA labs across the country. The people at the labs weren’t told anything about the samples. They performed DNA analysis in the blind, then sent the remarkable findings back to Ketchum. I’ll put it this way — this is spooky stuff. The results are unequivocal: The hairs are not only from an unknown species, but they show a common link to humans. In other words, whatever these creatures are, they share a common ancestry with humans dating back about 15,000 years. Half of the DNA in the samples is simply unknown. The blind tests conducted by various labs weeded out known species such as bears or wolves. And in the end, they were left with the completely uncomfortable conclusion that the hairs came from a primate species previously unknown to science.
Since Dr. Ketchum made her premature defense of the study, responding to unfortunate leaks, an army of armchair critics have already dismissed the results without waiting to see the actual data. That’s not the way science is supposed to work, but it is exactly how modern science operates. It’s as much a religion as Catholicism or Mormonism, and anything that falls outside the accepted scriptures must be ridiculed.
All I can say is, why not wait until the raw information and DNA test results are made public before making pronouncements or reaching conclusions? I have been dying to say something about the study, especially because of the cruel taunting of Fox, Sebelius and Ralston, and because — you know — the world might end on December 21. (Nevada has had a smattering of Bigfoot sightings over the years, including a dramatic episode in January 1980 at the Nevada Test Site, of all places.) I am well aware of how goofy this must sound, but there is some compelling physical evidence to consider. Maybe it will receive a fair and open peer review, and maybe it won’t. Until we know, why not keep our minds open? It is exciting stuff to consider. If confirmed, it changes everything.
It should surprise no one that our little town played its own role in this weird, unfolding drama.
GEORGE KNAPP is a Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter for KLAS Channel 8. Reach him at gknapp@klastv.com

‘BIGFOOT’ DNA SEQUENCED IN UPCOMING GENETICS STUDY

Five-Year Genome Study Yields Evidence of Homo sapiens/Unknown Hominin Hybrid Species in North America

Contact: Robin Lynne, media@dnadiagnostics.com, 231.622.5362

DALLAS, Nov. 24--A team of scientists can verify that their 5-year long DNA study, currently under peer-review, confirms the existence of a novel hominin hybrid species, commonly called “Bigfoot” or “Sasquatch,” living in North America. Researchers’ extensive DNA sequencing suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species.

The study was conducted by a team of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging and pathology, led by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, TX. In response to recent interest in the study, Dr. Ketchum can confirm that her team has sequenced 3 complete Sasquatch nuclear genomes and determined the species is a human hybrid:

“Our study has sequenced 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and utilized next generation sequencing to obtain 3 whole nuclear genomes from purported Sasquatch samples. The genome sequencing shows that Sasquatch mtDNA is identical to modern Homo sapiens, but Sasquatch nuDNA is a novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens.

Hominins are members of the taxonomic grouping Hominini, which includes all members of the genus Homo. Genetic testing has already ruled out Homo neanderthalis and the Denisova hominin as contributors to Sasquatch mtDNA or nuDNA. “The male progenitor that contributed the unknown sequence to this hybrid is unique as its DNA is more distantly removed from humans than other recently discovered hominins like the Denisovan individual,” explains Ketchum.

“Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin, and non-ape sequences. We describe it as a mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA.”

Ketchum is a veterinarian whose professional experience includes 27 years of research in genetics, including forensics. Early in her career she also practiced veterinary medicine, and she has previously been published as a participant in mapping the equine genome. She began testing the DNA of purported Sasquatch hair samples 5 years ago.

Ketchum calls on public officials and law enforcement to immediately recognize the Sasquatch as an indigenous people:

“Genetically, the Sasquatch are a human hybrid with unambiguously modern human maternal ancestry. Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a ‘license’ to hunt, trap, or kill them.”

Full details of the study will be presented in the near future when the study manuscript publishes.

I had a week off from work and decided to explore Colorado.  Why live in a state and not know anything about it?  Everyone knows about Pike's Peak, Mt. Evans and Rocky Mountain National Park.  I wanted to explore the state parks and some of the scenic by-ways.  I am glad I did.  The well known spots here in Colorado are beautiful but some of the lesser known areas are as pretty or even more beautiful. 

You may be wondering why is she talking about this when the blog is about BigFoot?

Well, even in my exploration of this wonderful state I found evidence of the presence of BigFoot.  I wasn't purposely looking for BigFoot while out but I will look around to see if there are signs.  Remember in my earlier blogs about certain signs to look for when out searching for BigFoot?  You may need to go back and read them if you want to know what the signs are. 

Well, back to my story:
On one of the scenic by-ways which follows a stream (!) I came across some rock stacks.  Usually when I encounter rock stacks I will take pictures and nothing else.  The further I went down this by-way more rock stacks were found.  I stopped to take pictures at each spot and looked around.  I found some tree breaks, some arches and deer droppings.  Again the first 2 rock stacks I found I was still thinking man made.

At one spot when I past it, I glanced over and noticed some rocks on a pushed down tree.  ???  I backed up and went back to look.  There were 2 rocks stacks on the truck of the tree that was pushed over.  To the left of the rocks stacks was a small nest!  It was made out of the branches that were broken off.  I'm thinking WHAT???  This was made by something.  The branches were woven into each other and at the top to the pushed over tree.  This was recently made.  

What was weird was that my dog would not go near that nest.  He kept looking over across the stream and to the left of us.  He kept knocking into my knees.  Let me tell you that he usually tries to pee on everything but not there.  He did not try to at all.  He was quite happy when we left.

At 2 other spots on this by-way I found more rock stacks.  The tree break picture was very close to the rock stacks with the nest.  I was very excited about my find.  This was a pleasure trip to see the mountains and I wasn't there specifically to look for BigFoot.

I am not sure what the significance of the rock stacks and the nest.  All I know is that they helped me pinpoint the presence of BigFoot.  The why and what for is that piece of the puzzle that hopefully will be explained with further research.  For now they help me at least to find BigFoot areas.

I would like to put a footnote here that I feel very strongly about.  I do not take my dog out researching.  There have been cases of dogs killed by BigFoot.  I do not want to put my beloved dog Manny in a situation that could harm him or that I would have to make a tough choice.  In this case I was out sightseeing and stumbled onto this.  He was reacting at 2 of the spots where he was very worried and did want to be there.  I suspected that there was 1 or 2 there at the spots and was watching us.  When I go back he will not go with me.

I have enjoyed my min-vacations while off of work.  A little sightseeing and some squatching.  What could be better?

 
It had snowed the day before and I was hoping to finds some tracks.  My husband usually comes with me but not on this day.  This was a solo trip.

I enjoyed the opportunity to take some pictures of snow and took some great ones of the stream and rocks.  Also I took some pictures of snow prints of a 13 striped chipmunk.  Of course I was looking and hoping for much bigger than the chipmunk.  You know the ones that a 8 foot tall bipedal would make. 

True to form, I walked more sideways than forward looking for clues.  I would walk on the trail until I would come to spots by the creek where there may be possibilities of prints and go down to look.   One time when I came back up from looking at the creek  as I stood facing the creek, suddenly some pebbles were thrown at my left shoulder and back.  As I brushed them off I looked around but saw nothing.  It surprised and unnerved me somewhat.  This picture is where it happened.  I have never had this happen before. 

I continued down the trail.  I went down in one spot where there was a huge boulder across from the stream.  I looked around and at the edge of the stream in front of the huge boulder a 19 inched foot print!  It was 9 inches wide.  The toes were sprayed wide apart like it was getting ready to jump onto the boulder across the stream.  I looked around and spotted a faint print behind about 4 feet in a clothesline pattern. 

After taking measurements and pictures I continued down the trail.  I stopped and was looking into some trees where there was some tree breaks.  I heard a knock.  I quickly scanned that area with my binoculars.  When I was doing this another knock was heard behind me to the left.  I turned to look but nothing.  I suspected that the second knock was to divert my attention.  It worked.

I continued down the trail and a couple of hour later I decided to return to the spot where I found the 19 inch print to eat lunch.  While eating I felt like something was watching me.  I felt it strongly.  The hair on the back of my neck stood up.  I finished my lunch and decided to leave.

What a day!  Exploring by myself was great.  It is days like this that keeps me coming back for more. 

SQUATCH ON!

I decided to expand my area of research.  I have been searching in the same spot more or less for the last 4 months.  I was becoming too entrenched and had tunnel-vision. 

WHAT IF I STAYED IN THE ONE SPOT AND MISSED THE CHANCE TO LEARN ALL I CAN OF THIS FASCINATING BIPEDAL PRIMATE?

As a person who loves to solve puzzles I wouldn't be much of a researcher if I stayed and not look to see if there was more.  So with this in mind, I decided to expand the area of research.  Originally I thought this was the only place I needed to investigate.

Wrong!  I was corrected on the first foray into the expanded area.

This picture I have posted is not the best.  I took this in driving rain mixed with sleet.  I had to wipe my camera lens twice before I was able to get a picture.  It was very frustrating to see something you know you need to look at but the weather conditions were deteriorating and I needed to leave before it became too dangerous.

The original area of investigation has taught me a lot.  There are signs in the forest that point to the possibility of BigFoot activity.  With those lessons learned I am more confident in my searching.  In the driving rain I have found 3 areas that I need to explore more in depth.  This photo is one of the clues of one spot.  You can see the terrain and how tree branches and boulders are placed that make me interested.  I have seen this before.

In my next blog I will tell you about my next foray into this expanded area.  I went back in there the next week.  I had a new experience happen to me in this new spot that never happened at the other.  It took me by surprise and unnerved me somewhat.