Chapter One

Situated 10 miles from Mount Jefferson in the Oregon wilderness a forest researcher noticed an anomaly. Part of the Cascade Mountain range, a narrow canyon not mentioned on modern day maps though his GPS locator verified the longitude and latitude. Why was this aspect of the remote topography not listed in the geological survey data? He made his way down the slope to the floor of the isolated, rocky feature, stunned by the incredible silence and the temperature drop of this forgotten enclave.

Despite open official denial of Sasquatch or Bigfoot by officialdom, the native tribes had been interacting with the humanoid paradox for centuries. It was only civilized man that had chosen to consider the subject taboo, and not to be spoken about. He knew from park rangers and the disappearance reports that something very mysterious had been officially overlooked for decades by the authorities, and this had convinced him to make a personal project out of unfolding the riddle. 21 people had gone missing in the general area in little more than a decade, and there would inevitably be more. Now he was exploring the foreboding expanse of a forbidden canyon that had been wiped from the maps and officially no longer existed.

A creek ran through the rocky canyon floor where difficult footing made it hard to navigate the landscape. Then he saw it! A round configuration of river stones, well-polished by erosion forming a circle and inside that circle were bones! That made his blood chill! This seemed to be ritualistic, not random, or natural. The bones of animals arranged in fine geometric patterns, definitely placed by someone or something that was intelligent and perhaps responsible for the deaths of those animals they had extracted the bones from! He was aghast, yet fascinated.

Now he felt like he was being watched. The hair stood up on his arms and neck. There was a presence he was aware of, but whoever it was must have been watching from a distance and been well hidden. As he looked in the misty distance, he could see there were more of these stone circles filled with more bones! But before he could examine anymore a large figure emerged from behind some tree trunks. It stood still and watched him! The cold, wet air clung to him, and only added to the macabre atmosphere. He stumbled backward seeking to exit the way he had come! He hadn’t even had a chance to take a cell phone photo! Instead, he chose to make distance between and the bipedal oddity that simply stood and stared at him. He had no firearm for protection. He’d be completely at the mercy of a powerful and intelligent predator if it chose to pursue him! At his age, he was in no shape to run away, especially on this jagged terrain.

He finally got to the trail where he’d parked his car vaguely aware that he was being followed from a discrete distance! Luckily, he made it to the vehicle that might have been severely damaged had the creature decided to cut off his escape and transform him into another missing person’s report. When he got back to his cabin, he poured over a number of geological survey maps and park and recreation data. It appeared the last mention of the site of this missing canyon had been in the early1980’s from a Department of Interior description before officialdom had chosen to hide the canyon from the public! Why? What was so dangerous about the area that the government would blatantly obscure its location? However, he had the coordinates, he’d been physically there, and he’d seen exactly a form of life that the local native tribes knew existed long before European pioneers had ever set foot in the Pacific Northwest!

Calling a friend who was a professor in primatology from a local university, he informed him of the fantastic finding he’d made! His professor friend had also shared an interest in cryptozoology and Indian folklore of the Pacific Northwest. They made arrangements to make a discrete visitation to the hidden canyon again. This time they would be armed just in case. The numerous missing person reports attested to an existing threat that couldn’t be ignored. Let’s call this forest researcher, Gilbert. The excursion back into the zone of uncertainty would come off in two more days, so he used that time to do more fact finding on why the Parks Department, Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Interior were hiding something that must have been sinister.

“So, you come nosing around here. Asking a lot of questions, and thinking you’ve already arrived at a conclusion,” Park Ranger Fuller remarked as he met Gilbert’s gaze.

“You have all these disappearances over a short period of time in a very closely located area of incidents! Why all the secrecy? For the safety of a public who might not be informed of a possible danger they might unknowingly be exposed to? Seems irresponsible to me.” Gilbert sat with his arms folded in disgust.

The Park Ranger tiredly rubbed his face and gave Gilbert a worried glance,” Just what is it you think that you know?”

“I know that there is a natural land feature that has been purposely wiped off the maps in a cluster zone of disappearances that you have documented already, and that you should have files that could probably shed light on what is actually going on!” Gilbert muttered.

“What have you seen that qualifies as evidence to back up your claims,” Fuller replied with a knowing expression on his face.

“Oh, nothing really, just having the shit scared out of me by a Sasquatch that followed me all the way to my car after I found a bunch of circular stones formations, with intelligently arranged animal bones from within that I suspect that are ritualistic in nature, and you people don’t know anything about this?” Gilbert sighed in contempt.

“What if I told you that anytime that I or any other park rangers file reports of occurrences like this they are forwarded to a federal agent and we never hear a damn thing about it again? You’re right, we do know something’s afoot, but we’re not allowed to talk about it or acknowledge it!”

“For God sakes man, how many more people have to disappear while the government covers up artifacts by a true society of beings that you people deny the existence of?”

“Look, I had an experienced former police investigator come to this office a few months back. Last name of Paulides. He’s written a number of books about the mysterious nature of missing persons and speculations about Sasquatch. I had some old files that I allowed him to copy and my damn supervisor came down on me like a ton of bricks over it! I don’t want to lose my job over this!” Fuller explained.

“So, I take it that I’m not going to get any assistance from you then,” Gilbert huffed.

“Look!” Park Ranger Fuller replied. “This is for your own good so listen up! We know about you. They’re keeping tabs on you too. You’re dabbling in something that you may regret, and I mean that!”

“Is that a threat?” Gilbert shot back.

“No, it’s a friendly warning that there’s little I can do to help, and that your movements are not going unnoticed, Fuller responded.

“By whom?”

“Federal agents, I presume. They’re compartmentalizing this. They don’t have much need for a park ranger’s approval. I do sympathize with you, but my hands are tied. Check your vehicle for a tracking device located under the chassis. That’s all I can say.” Fuller had just made a telling admission.

“So, that’s it?” Gilbert murmured.

“Afraid so. The powers that be may be hiding something about the area. Perhaps it’s about the economic impact with tourist revenue. They don’t want to scare off potential business. Me and most of my park ranger brethren know pretty much about this, and the threats we get are real!”

CHAPTER II

Kent Strickland, Professor of Primatology sat next to Gilbert as he drove through narrow unpaved trails toward the forbidden canyon site. “Last time I entered from the south end but old maps point to a north entrance, so I’m taking that path today.” He explained. His Ford Explorer was packed with gear, rations, and a couple of firearms in the event that things got dicey! Kent’s excitement of a possible historic find exceeded his cautionary instincts. The type of curiosity known to kill cats!

“So, the park rangers had no interest in providing any helpful information?” Kent asked.

“Oh, they did alright! “Gilbert let out a burst of frustration. “I was informed of a tracking device that was secretly attached to my vehicle, and I found it and took the damn thing off. It was attached to the rear axle!”

“How much hot water are we going to get ourselves into?” Kent tried to hide the growing anxiety in his voice.

“Obviously, we’ll need to go public with our findings so as to keep from being conveniently silenced. The people have a right to know, and so do perhaps the families of the missing!” Gilbert replied as he glanced to the professor.

“I agree, Old Boy, perhaps this will be my final legacy, but I’m willing,” Kent Strickland sighed resolutely.

Once they arrived at the north trail to the forbidden canyon both men unpacked and strapped on their backpacks. They were prepared to camp overnight if possible. Gilbert holstered his 357. Magnum and handed a Remington hunting rifle to Kent. “You know how to use this model?” Gilbert asked.

“Yeah, I used to hunt deer when I was a kid with this model. I don’t want to have to use it though.”

“You will if we get into trouble! I hate to expose you to the threat but I couldn’t do this alone and I explained everything to you already. You’re great to have around, Kent.”

“Don’t mention it, Old Boy, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have this opportunity,” Kent sighed, contemplating what might happen, but the prize was too enticing.

Neither Gilbert nor Kent noticed a drone hovering several hundred feet overhead. Equipped with multi-sensor payloads combining high-definition Electro-Optical (EO) cameras with optical zoom, thermal infrared (IR) cameras, and sometimes laser rangefinders, it was a state of the art 4/K broadcast quality imagery resolution model. The federal agent had the two unsuspecting explorers in sight. He glanced over at the black clad tactical unformed sniper armed with his 110 Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle System strapped on his shoulder, and nodded.

The two inquisitive explorers gradually made their way down slope, heavily packed and straining with their loads. Before they even got to the floor of the canyon, Gilbert could see the distant indications of the circular stone formations. They would have to have been centuries old to have been constructed along the length of the canyon floor! He was excited. Their camera gear was in their backpacks once they unloaded when they worked their way to the flat rock pathway of the creek bed.

The anomalous river stone circles lay hundreds of yards beyond them but a drop in temperature and a mist began to form just as it had before when Gilbert had arrived the first time. At least now he had company. He’d almost forgotten about the possibility of a run in with another Sasquatch! Gilbert glanced carefully about him and pulled the revolver from his holster to make sure that the bullets were chambered and set the handgun back in his holster. Kent eyed his partner, noting the precaution and somberly assessed that their objective was not without its risks. He too checked the magazine to make sure it was properly locked and loaded. With a bit of suspense, the two men assembled the camera equipment.

“Amazing intricacy of the bones in such geometric patterns!” Kent noted.

“Yes, I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years trekking through the Cascades and Sierras! Magnificent.” Gilbert agreed.

“Spotter! Get up here and give me some readings,” the sniper shouted as he positioned his rifle on a tripod mounted on a rock as he overlooked the two targets below in the creek level of the canyon.

The federal agent, using his binoculars, spoke, “Subjects are moving behind some trees. You’ll need to adjust your position.”

“Temperature 38 degrees, wind at 10 miles from north to south and steady!” The spotter called out. “No clear shot, yet!”

Kent knelt down and picked up some of the neatly cleaned and arranged bone fragments, “These have been methodically extracted from a carcass and cleaned with precision!”

“This is the product of a society, not animals, and reports I’ve reviewed indicate these creatures are 98% close to identical human genome,” Gilbert replied as he watched Kent unaware of the looming deadly force about to take place.

The sniper carried his rifle to another vantage point and remounted on the flat surface of another rock, followed by his spotter and the federal agent. “Adjusting my scope.”

The spotter, rearranging his instruments and called out, “Targets 600 yards out, wind speed continuous, you’re clear!”

Suddenly from their right flank came a screeching growl and a huge tree limb struck the sniper knocking him to the ground! The spotter turned as the federal agent twisted around pulling his 9-millimeter pistol, but it was too late! He was struck by a powerful pair of hands, turning him upside down and slamming his head into the turf! The spotter with his pistol drawn tried to fire but lighting quick reflexes of the enraged creature deflected his arm, knocking the officer’s sidearm from his hand! The officer was hoisted into the air and flung over the canyon cliff! The sniper had regained himself and was about to bring his rifle to bear when the Sasquatch picked up a rock in a blur of motion and threw it at the rifleman striking him in the head! All three men were dead within half a minute’s time!

Gilbert and Kent heard the scream of the soldier as he plunged to his death on the rocky shore of the creek! They raced over as fast as they could over the loose rock and viewed the devastated body of the spotter with a splatter of fresh blood spreading from beneath the body onto the floor of the canyon. Knowing these was nothing they could do for the dead man, they both gazed up toward the upper rim of the canyon wondering what had just happened. “What the hell was that?” Gilbert gasped.

“I hope we’re not next!” Kent grimaced.

“We need to climb out of this canyon and find out just what the hell went on! Keep your rifle with you!”

The two men climbed upslope the way they came in. It was a grueling climb at a 50-degree angle but they made it. From there, it would be 600 yards back to their left along the edge of the canyon. They approached cautiously to a scene of more bloodshed! The federal agent’s mangled body with a crushed skull revealed super human power that had been unleashed. The sniper lay on his back with a fractured forehead and blood covering his face. His rifle had been broken by beating it against a rock! It was obvious to both men that that this was not the work of other humans, super human strength was definitely evident!

“It looks as though a terrible justice has been served,” Kent gasped.

“This was a hit squad! And this team was probably aiming at us!” Gilbert uttered in shock.

“Then who?” Kent’s question was cut short as movement came from behind.

The fur covered hominid who had performed the execution stood not 30 feet away in full view. Kent did not raise his rifle, he merely stared in awe, speechless. Gilbert did not reach for his 357-magnum but allowed his hands to hang by his sides. “Don’t even think about it,” he said to the professor. Gilbert made held his hands up trying to make a peaceful gesture. They could hear the heavy breathing of two large lungs and a soft grunting noise as if the anger of the beast had been momentarily vented. Gilbert spoke, “We mean no harm.”

The Sasquatch stood over 7 feet tall, typically as described by many witnesses, broad shouldered, no neck, covered in thick matted fur, but that face, so human-like it was uncanny, yet not quite like a modern Sapiens. Its eyes were piercing and right now it was thinking, obviously evaluating the two men, perhaps deciding if they were a threat or not. Then it raised one of its huge hands as if to signal non-aggression, slowly backed away, turned, and disappeared into a cluster of pines and evergreens. That left both men in a moment of relief and stunned silence.

Finally, Gilbert spoke, “Whew, I think we just dodged certain death,” unlike the hit squad that had targeted them.

Kent was trembling, “I think I want to faint.”

“It must have known that we were about to get wiped clean by the feds, and it intervened,” Gilbert spoke grimly.

“It must have understood that we meant no harm, but that our very own species was about to kill us. Very intelligent,” Kent concluded.

“No wonder they don’t want to have anything to do with mankind,” Gilbert muttered.

“What about the equipment and cameras we left down on the canyon floor?” Kent asked.

“I don’t want to push our luck! We were given a reprieve. I suggest we make our way out of here before they change their minds,” Gilbert reasoned. “I’d rather live to see another day.”

“Well, now I know the truth, and that’s enough for me, at least at this point in time,” Kent nodded. “Perhaps, another time.”

Gilbert sighed, “Maybe, but for now…”

Chapter III

Gilbert and the professor made their way back, but they both noticed something. Old, rotted, wooden, remains of danger signs that had been posted long ago along the edge of the cliff had been allowed to go unkept. Instead, there had been some orange surveyor markers recently placed but there were no words of warning. Gilbert saw that the landscape ended abruptly before pouring over the edge of the cliff. It would have been very easy for some hiker to wander to the edge and too late realize that nothing but thin air and a canyon floor lie some 200 feet below! Maybe this was the very cause of the missing persons who had unwittingly fallen to their deaths when old warning signs had been allowed to deteriorate, and the park and recreation along with the Department of Interior wanted no part of the liability for their responsibility for the untimely deaths of tourists?

Gilbert glanced knowingly at Kent, “You thinking what I am?”

Kent nodded, “No telling now many people could have unwittingly fallen right over the edge.”

Aside from this grim realization, both partners as witnesses of the unknown hiked out of the remote region of the park and the forbidden canyon, having left the evidence that had risked their lives for while knowing that escaping death had a price that could not be measured. Now Gilbert mulled over in his mind whether or not he and the professor should go public with their eye witness accounts of what had happened, but the damning part was the photographs and camera gear still sitting on the floor of the canyon. Would another attempt be made on their lives? What to do.

THE END