Massive Bigfoot Stalks Boy Scouts in Mount Hood National Forest

'DOGMAN IN OUR YARD!' - AN OHIO FAMILY'S 12-YEAR SAGA WITH CRYPTID CANINES - Lon Strickler (Host)

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A Boy Scout troop, camping in Mount Hood National Forest, is on alert after an encounter with a massive hairy hominid while hiking

"I was active in the Boy Scouts (BSA) for a few years, up until about age 15. Our troop was fairly small and poorly organized with a Scout Master who was a uninspired old man known to drink a lot. He often drove us out into some remote locations of the PNW and in/around the Mount Hood National Forest. We usually ended up being the only troop at campsites that were long neglected and poorly maintained at best (We never attended any of the Scout Jamborees). The one criteria that seemed to matter to him was the presence of some kind of single occupancy shelter. Like an old mini cabin or some standing structure he could hole up by himself with his little propane heater, folding cot and Canadian Mist. We usually saw him twice a day, for breakfast and dinner. The rest of the time, we fended for ourselves and the dynamics of our troop sometimes devolved into something along the lines of 'Lord of The Flies.'

During my time in that troop, on two occasions, my friend and I came across some very distinct, five-toed, very human, very huge prints. One grouping was located on the far side of a lake, accessible only by canoe (which at one point we had to drag over a beaver dam). There was a muddy cove where a creek drained into the lake. We were marveling at all of fresh the various animal tracks imprinted in the mud. Bear, deer, cougar and/or bobcat, when we noticed the improbable bare, humanoid prints that were ridiculously huge. We looked at them very closely and I'll never forget observing the fine detail within the prints that were pressed in quite deep. My friend said at the time, the creases inside the prints looked similar to what you'd see on your palms or the bottoms of your own feet.

Both my friend and I were aware of the 'Bigfoot legends,' but we never took it seriously. Shortly after inspecting those footprints, we both felt a little spooked and decided to hit the canoe and paddle back to our campsite. If someone had put in the elaborate effort to prank some Boy Scouts or campers with 'fake footprints,' they chose a location almost guaranteed to never be noticed. That incident along with another (much freakier) one in a different location, greatly changed my mindset as to the likelihood of these things/creatures being all-too real.

The other 'freaky experience' also didn't involve a sighting (on my part) but it was one of those 'you would have had to have been there' situations.

This very well could have taken place during the camping excursion and location as where my friend I found the prints on the far side of the lake. If not then and there, it was around that same time period. It was after dinner and the sun was down but the moon was pretty bright. Two other guys my age went for a night hike, basically just goofing around. One of those two guys (Bruce) I also considered a friend. He was in my grade and we attended the same school. Bruce was tall, husky guy for his age. He had a mellow disposition and got good grades in school. He was also deaf; or significantly so since he had one of those old hearing aids that connected to a control box, about the size of a pack of cigarettes. I never saw him use sign language, but he was effective at communicating with rough words and gestures. Anyway, Bruce and the other guy went for their hike, apparently intending to go just down down to the lake and back. They didn't bring anything with them, not even a flashlight.

I don't think they were gone for more than 45 mins tops, when they both came bursting back into the campsite area in a total state of panic, bordering on hysteria. The other guy (can't recall his name) was sobbing and shaking; kept frantically looking back in the direction they'd come come from. What really alarmed me was seeing Bruce in tears also. He had accrued a lot deep woods camping experiencing and was no wuss. Both of them were babbling over the top of each other, making quite a commotion. It was enough to rouse our old troop leader from his hidey-hole to see what was going on.

We finally got some detail out of the guys which was unsettling to everybody. Supposedly, they hadn't quite made it to the lake when Bruce felt someone/something was pacing them, parallel to their path. They said whatever it was, was walking between the trees. At first the other kid didn't pick on up it and was bemused when Bruce kept trying to share what he was noticing. They kept walking for a bit until the other kid became aware of what Bruce had been trying to explain. Whatever was pacing them was laying down footfalls, massive enough to reverberate through the ground. I think what really scared them at first was noticing how the heavy steps were keeping pace with their own, as if it was stalking them. Whenever they stopped, it stopped.

At some point, they reached a spot where there was wider spacing between the trees. In the moonlight they both saw the silhouette of a huge, tall bipedal shape, 20-30 feet away, darting between the tree trunks. Bruce described it as "taller than an NBA player, but way thicker than Andre The Giant.'

Where their stories diverged was, after they both fled in panic, Bruce insisted that it didn't give chase but his friend swore that he could hear it crashing through the foliage behind them, most of the way back to camp. I should note that our rag-tag Scout troop included a couple of guys, a bit older than the average age in our troop, who were full-on bullies and considered themselves bad-asses. Both of those douchebags, who would normally mock anyone for being a 'pansy,' were visibly spooked by the drama, nervously shining their flashlights around the dark perimeter of our campsite. But of course neither of them volunteered to venture out and investigate. Our old Scoutmaster looked a bit rattled too since this was not the typical drama he usually had to contend with. I think seeing Bruce in such a state of fear had an impact on him. I'm fairly certain he believed at least those two Scouts saw something out of the ordinary, something that scared the piss out of them, thereby interrupting his evening date with some booze.

After things finally simmered down, before retreating back to his personal space, he told us to make sure the fire was out and hit the racks. At that older campground, our accommodations were crude structures like a cross between tiny log cabins and a yurt. There were no bunks or anything, just a floor of wood planks. The 'roofs' were large squares of old canvas stretched/fastened across the top. Those yurt/cabin structures were drafty and cold. Very uncomfortable.

It was at least a couple of hours before dawn when me and a couple of the guys awoke to the sound/feeling of something walking around the campsite, at times getting really close to the yurts. I don't recall it feeling as being something massive or heavy, but two dogs were absolutely freaking out, howling and whimpering like their lives were in danger. Here's where my memory has some gaps. Our troop didn't travel with/include dogs. My best recollection is that particular campground had some guy acting as a seasonal caretaker with a key to the gate, living in a shack or an old trailer a ways off from our camp and he might have owned dogs. I just don't remember seeing this person at any point. Sure, the sounds we heard that morning could have easily been from any number of catalogued critters, but the way those dogs sounded was really something.

I still recall how scared my friend Bruce was, as he frantically tried to explain/describe what he'd seen. That normally mellow guy looked like he'd just witnessed something very frightening. The guy was literally in tears, extremely convinced of what he'd seen.

For whatever reason, Bruce didn't stick around our troop long after that. Maybe just one more camp out at most. Over the following years I saw him a few times in the school hallways, but never had a chance to ask him to elaborate on that bad scare." NP

UNEXPLAINED ENCOUNTER OR SIGHTING?