The Eerie Shortcut

I always prided myself on being careful, not doing anything impulsive that would put me in a bind, and thinking things through in order to keep from suffering the consequences, but in this incident, maybe I took a chance I shouldn’t have. I was coming into Seattle, my home town, on the Interstate which tended to stack up into grid lock toward late afternoons leaving some drivers so frustrated they would stop off at some of the roadside restaurants and bars. There was an older old US Highway that roughly paralleled the interstate and I reasoned that if I could find a decent old logging road or farm road I could get to that older highway and not be stuck bumper to bumper for maybe hours.

Checking my geo satellite map on my cell I saw what the map legend claimed was a partially paved and partly gravel road that made a straight shortcut to the old highway. Less used since the interstate had been built, I could get into town a lot sooner and checking the map, I could see the turn off was just up ahead. There it was, an old logging road as I turned onto it still some ice in spots and from time to time it want from black top to gravel. Either it had been washed out some time ago or the highway department had just stopped resurfacing it, which is no surprise here in Washington State.

So, I’m diving along when all the sudden someone or something goes walking across the road right in front of me and I have to slam on my brakes! Problem was I was right over a patch of ice and my car spun around in a 360 turn about 3 times before I came to a stop! I must have hit my head on the door or the steering wheel because I was totally stunned when my car finally came to rest. I sat there dazed for a minute or two when suddenly I noticed a tall dark figure standing maybe 20 yards from my car just staring at me. It damn sure wasn’t a bear! Here I was dazed and confused and suddenly realizing that a tall, covered in hair, figure, is staring at me as I sit in my car trying to regain my senses.

It was at least as tall as a basketball player in the NBA, covered in dark hair, and at first I thought it was a primate, a gorilla, until I could see that its face did not appear to be like a monkey or ape. It was almost human! The head came to a cone shape, parts of the face around the eyes, cheeks, mouth and chin were exposed as a lighter grayish skin. The way it looked at me was not like that of an animal, but of an intelligent being, though I cannot figure out how I came to that conclusion at the moment. At first, I was scared, but as I sat there I was not overcome with fright just wonderment. After what must have been maybe two or three minutes it just disappeared into the brush alongside the road. I then shifted my car into 2^nd gear trying not to spin the tires and got free of the ice patch. Luckily I hadn’t gotten stuck on the shoulder.

I drove home in shocked amazement, then remembering that Patterson and Gimlin film I saw the resemblance. I never took any of that seriously. I thought it was all nonsense. So, I drove home in a surprisingly short time, dropped my luggage right at the front door, and went straight to the little bar I had in the living room and poured a drink. I then sat down on the couch to process all of what had happened. Why wouldn’t that thing just have kept on going after it crossed the road in front of me when I went into a spin? Instead, it was almost in the same place it had been just before I saw it cross the road in front of me. It didn’t make sense! I gulped down my drink and thought about it further. Did I simply remember everything wrong, did I have a concussion, or had that Bigfoot creature actually have been concerned enough just to see if I was alright before it headed into the surrounding countryside?

Too Far off the Beaten Path

My best friend and I had been hunting and hiking in the woods since we had been kids. We pretty well thought we owned the outdoors and knew how to handle just about every situation. Whenever we went hiking, which was usually what we ended up doing anyway, we came armed just for personal protection just in case some cougar or bear got the wrong idea, and viewed us as fast food. We were so confident in ourselves, as a matter of fact, we often went deep into the wilderness seeing it as more of a challenge, and demonstrating our abilities to ourselves, but on this occasion everything went wrong!

We were about an hour and more than a mile off this old trail that looked like it had been abandoned or simply wasn’t being maintained anymore. After parking at the trailhead we followed it until either we had gotten off of it by accident or it had just ended. We had carried gear on our backs in case we decided to camp for the night and maybe even cook, but that all changed very quickly. As we walked along suddenly as though the entire forest was sucked into a vacuum of sound, things got silent, no birds chirping, no insects buzzing, no squirrels scampering, just absolute quiet! It seemed odd at first, but as we slowly made our way it got weirder! “Why don’t we head back to the trail,” I said. “Then we can take a break and have some lunch.” We had gotten there around 7 o’clock in the early morning light with dew all over the grasses, and by now, it was probably around ten or later.

Suddenly, my Buddy, unslung his rifle, checked his ammo in the breach, and began swiveling his head in all directions. “I think we’re being watched!? He whispered.

I couldn’t ignore the strangeness that had overcome us both. I was packing a 45 caliber pistol holstered in my belt, but hadn’t considered using it until now, but aside from the unnatural quiet, I hadn’t felt that hair raising sensation that something bad was going to happen until my friend had begun throwing caution to the wind. “Let’s get the hell out’ve here,” I muttered. “We can eat lunch in the truck.”  He nodded still watching our surroundings and we made our way non-stop back the way we came.

Everything remained dead calm as we returned back down the old forgotten trail. It was almost like needing to pop your ears when on a flight. It was really becoming unnerving. When we got back to the truck and climbed in with a false sense of security, we dug into our packs for lunch and unwrapped a couple of sandwiches and drinks. We were just going to cut our outing short after lunch and talk about it later when all the sudden my friend started screaming, “Hit the gas! Start driving! Go! Go! Go! Jesus, drive man! Drive!” He’d spit out his lunch as I threw the car into drive, gunned the engine, and pulled the wheel hard left as the tires spun out leaving a trail of dust and gravel behind us! Tree branches scraped the cab as I sped away not having the luxury of being able to back up and making a hard turn so the truck didn’t end up stuck in the brush! I drove as fast as I could asking him what the hell had happened as I drove at the best speed that road would allow.

Finally, I pulled over to stop and my buddy jumped out the door retching on the side of the road before he returned. He was still pale as a ghost and practically hyperventilating. Damn, I thought he was having a heart attack or something! He leaned over the dashboard with his head on his arms catching his breath. “I’ll be okay,” he gasped, “Let’s keep driving,” he said.

“What the hell happened, James?”

“You’re not going to believe what I saw,” he sighed finally. “I looked at the side view mirror and saw something coming right for the cab of the truck! It looked like a huge ape or something when I yelled it was damn near at the door on my side! It was like a gorilla or something only its face was almost human! Hell man, there isn’t some yahoo out here running around in an ape suit is there?”

“He’d have to be pretty damn stupid if he was, man,” I replied. “Especially with both of us being armed. He might have gotten his ass shot off.”

“No, it wasn’t a man in a suit. I’m sure! That thing was some kind of creature!”

I told him we needed to stop off at the park ranger’s office, but he’d have no part of it saying that they would just think we were drunk or on drugs or something, but the next day I drove back down there to the park ranger’s office to make a report. That thing, whatever it was, had scared my buddy into almost having a heart attack, and people needed to be warned that there was a threat out there lurking in the forest. When I got to the office I explained to two park officers what had happened the previous day and that I wanted to file a report.

At first, they tried to explain it off as a bear attack and my friend had just been too surprised to make a clear identification, but I wouldn’t have it. I told them that we were both experienced in the woods and had hunted for years. That wasn’t going to cut it! Finally, Park Ranger, Cooper, I think his name was, handed me two sheets of paper with some pre-formatted questions and then a place where I could describe the whole incident. He regarded me with a look that said more than, “You’re crazy and I don’t believe you.” His expression was almost of guilt as if he were holding back something he should have told me.

“I’ll make sure that this report is properly filed for the record.”

“What? And that’s it?” I shot back! “Why wouldn’t you guys be out there making sure somebody doesn’t get killed by that thing?”

Ranger Cooper looked at me solemnly, made a gesture for me to sit down in a chair in front of his desk, and folded his hands as he appeared to be thinking about what he was going to say. It was late morning by then and I must admit I was a bit miffed at the reaction so I said, “is this how you guys handle these incidents, and I’m sure there have been others, by just stonewalling people?”

“Look,” Cooper said, “there are thousands of acres out there and not many of us rangers to keep an eye out for any and everything that goes on here, but we do try,” he paused but had more to say. “Normally, this would go under some kind of wildlife management issue, but that’s not the way it will be handled.”

“So, how will this be handled?” I demanded. “Oh, and by the way. That trail we were on was really poorly maintained! Do you guys just let the park go to hell in places?”

Cooper looked a bit irritated now and his face flushed, “we’ve known about some weird things going on in that part of the park, okay? We’ve been trying to discourage people from using that area, so yes, we did let it go so that hopefully most people wouldn’t want to use it.”

“Well, great maybe if somebody disappears or gets killed somebody might get off their ass, huh?” I growled.

“Just between you, me, and that wall,” he carefully replied. “I have my orders, and yes, we do get these reports from time to time, and they go up the ladder to the federal investigators. Then it’s out of my hands, but I will send a couple of our men out there, armed, and we’ll search the area, but chances are, we won’t find anything.”

“How long has all this been going on,” I asked.

“Longer than you’d like to know,” he responded. “We don’t want to create a panic and lose park attendance, and especially don’t want a bunch of hunters out here trying to bag a trophy either! So, do you see our predicament?”

“Yeah,” I replied disgusted. “Thanks for your help!” And, I walked out of his office to my car. So, this was how the government was going to handle it.

Since that day, James and I don’t go out in the woods anymore. He never wants to discuss it either. It’s like some unmentionable event that forever changed our lives happened and there’s nothing more we can do about it. Anyway, we both have girlfriends now that we both spend time with so that’s a chapter of my life that will always remain unsolved and regrettable.

In Part II we will explore the third Sasquatch incident. These accounts are not fictional and have been shared with the author by various acquaintances through the years.