Siskiyou County, California 2002
Footprints found near backpacks

This is to report a curious event from September of 2002.

My wife and I wanted to combine a visit to our son attending Sonoma State University, with a trip further north to take in the big trees. We did, in fact, fetch Orick, (home of THE world's tallest tree) and made our way through a beautiful area, passing through such places as Weitchpec, Orleans, Somes Bar, Forks of Salmon, and finally, Cecilville. My wife and I are members of the Audubon Society, and find Indian Summer to be an excellent time to see birds, although our son is not as enamored as we, with our fine feathered friends. We hiked S/E to a lovely spot somewhere between Packer's Peak to the north, and Mt. Hilton to the south.

We stopped by a creek, possibly the South Fork of the Salmon River, to take lunch. Afterwards, we left our back packs to explore this lovely meadow area. After a while, we decided to return to our gear, and set off for the 2 hours back to the car.

Upon returning to our back packs, our son found some huge, human-like footprints in the wettish soil by the creek. We were certain that weren't there whilst we ate. What sort of prankster, or worse, giant, would leave such prints? I measured them using the strap from my binoculars, and later determined them to be about 15 inches in length, and near 6 inches in breadth. They were hard by our back packs, and the surrounding area, and numbered 10 to 12 tracks altogether.

.We had heard nothing unusual, and determined that the maker of these tracks came from the far side of the creek, regarded our things, then returned whence it came, as there were no tracks leading away from the area. The far side of the creek was quite strewn with gravel and stones, and there appeared top be an area where something had exited the water, leaving some wetness upon the stones

Needless to report, we made grand time in returning to our car! We asked each other if perhaps it might have been a bear, but apart from birds, we are not expert in any such determination. I gave it no further thought, until reading that a gent (whose name sadly escapes me here) involved in similar tracks had recently passed on.

I researched the web, and came upon your site, and herein is my report. I found that "bigfoot" is wont to make certain noises, and often emit a foul stench, but we noticed neither. I hope this mystery is of some use in your research.

Please refer to us as Mr., Mrs. R.N. , and L. (son) N.
Logged: Friday, January 10, 2003 9:22 AM