Squatching Expedition Led by Seven-Year-Old on Bluff Creek Road, Blue Lake, Onion Mountain

This last weekend, seven-year-old Denali Brown led a squatching expedition up off Bluff Creek Road, near Fish Lake. Her dad tagged along for the adventure. Many recent reports of Sasquatch activity in this area have been lodged here at Bigfoot Books (see our previous post).

Just a little ways past the Fish Lake turnoff on Forest Road 13 (13N01) one will see a small turnout with a wooden fence. This is BLUE LAKE, a pretty little body of water partially covered in lily pads, and surrounded by some very squatchy, dense forest. Here the pinacle tree species is the Port Orford Cedar, which has a fine redwood-like bark and fronds, and here towers above the visitor in an old-growth state.

Unfortunately, many of the trees here are blighted with a fungal disease that causes root rot and die-off. Many of these trees towering above are dead, others have fallen down into the hillsides and the lake itself. The understory is mostly tan oaks and smaller shrubs. It is a peaceful, dramatic spot that would provide ample interest, food and habitat for a Bigfoot.

There is a trail that leads around the lake to the west from the gate, under a mile all told, that reveals many different subtle aspects of this type of mountain lake environment. Watch out for the trail at the end of the loop, as it peters off into a cool boggy marsh full of reeds and rhododendrons. The trail sticks to the right a bit
to head around this, then back to the road. Denali demonstrated Bigfoot Hunting techniques along the way. See below....

To get to Blue Lake turn west from Highway 96 onto Bluff Creek/Fish Lake Road. Continue on just about seven miles up (go past the turnoff to Fish Lake) and it's on your left.

(Image, looking up the Bluff Creek valley with Onion Mountain to the leftward west, toward Louse Camp.)

If you continue on this road you will enter some classic Squatch territory, Onion Mountain and Blue Creek Mountain, where footprints were found back in the sixties, predating the Patterson-Gimlin film. Stopping along the way about six miles from the lake, just above Big Foot Creek, we caught a fine glimpse of the Bluff Creek drainage to the north. One can see out to Louse Camp area, and then the bend in the creek to the east where the film was shot.

SQUATCHING TECHNIQUES (Use at Your Own Risk):

Get out and EXPLORE the environs. Though many sightings are along roads, that is just because that is where people most often are. Where Sasquatch most often is is in the deep, thick woods.

RECONNOITER. Use technological enhancements, binoculars by day, night vision or thermal imagers by night. That brown thing beside a tree on the hill could be a Sasquatch trying to blend in. Come prepared! Bring a camera, too.
CALL BLASTING. Use your best Bigfoot howl or scream, or a recording such as the Sierra Sounds, to draw Bigfoot's attention and attract them. This is how the creatures communicate with each other over distances, that or...
...WOOD KNOCKING. This is another way to make sounds carry over large spaces. It is said that Bigfoot creatures let each other know they're there, or send warnings, by banging on wood. No other animal could hold a stick to do this, save for a human--you need hands. But don't let the woodpeckers fool you.
Check for FOOD SOURCES. If there are edible things (like these berries) around you can probably assume a Sasquatch will be there. This is one way to know if you are in the right spot or not to find them.

Check around for FOOT PRINTS. Any ordinary depression, like this one made in boggy mud, could have been made by Bigfoot. Look closely. Do you see any foot-like features? Or maybe it was made by a bear, or another cool animal. Bring plaster or other material to make a cast of the prints you may find.
THINK LIKE A SASQUATCH. Dwell in the environ-ment, try to see how a Bigfoot would live. Could it hide in here?
LISTEN AND LOOK, and WATCH OUT. Here, "Dada! What was that! I heard something over there! ... I'm scared. Let's go home!!!


When you're done head back down to the Bluff Creek Company and Resort, at the bottom of the hill, then head just a mile or so north to the bridge where Bluff Creek flows into the Klamath River. Here you'll find a fine place to take a dip. The place is simply crawling with little baby toads, though, so WATCH OUT!

If you're so inclined, you can explore the higher peaks to the west and north by simply continuing on up the dirt-and-gravel Bluff Creek Road. Eventually the road leads down to the creek at Louse Camp, where famously the Pacific Northwest Expedition set up their base. Watch out for rock slides, however. The road up to the P-G Film Site is blocked just up from Louse, so you'll have to take another way out. Sightings have recently been reported in the area of this camp, too.

Believe It Tour on the Road to Bluff Creek, We Almost Lost Woolheater, Squatching Brush Mountain; Bigfoot's bLog Is BIGFOOT SITE OF THE DAY!

We've had a rich week out here in Willow Creek, with the incursion of The Believe It Tour

(see their awesome photo collection on Flikr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/believeit/, with more set links below covering their visit to Bigfoot Books, some fine dining, and the venture out to Bluff Creek), along with Texan Craig Woolheater, Sharonlee Lormuno of Bigfoot Field Reporter (blog at: http://www.bigfootlives.blogspot.com/, show at: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/59501), Linda Martin of Happy Camp's Bigfoot Sightings (http://bigfootsightings.org//), and James Bobo Fay with his friend, Jimi "Slash" Frizzell.

Bigfoot wasn't "proven," but Squatching always proves to be an adventure! See our previous post for information on the Believe Its,
represented on this California 2009 leg by Mike Esordi of Connecticut, Diana Smith of Grand-View-on-Hudson New York, and Brad Pennock (wait, where does he come from?). The Believe Its came on up from San Diego, seeking ghosts out in the desert, and finding Paul Bunyan on the Humboldt/Del Norte coast, and then came on inland to visit us. We looked for bigfoot both in the wild and in history while they were here, and they went on north along the BIGFOOT SCENIC BYWAY (see rare signed poster to left) on their way up to find Lemurians and possibly Extraterrestrials up on Mount Shasta. Read their blog on this part here: http://we-believe-it.blogspot.com/2009/08/bigfoot-country-is-off-grid.html.

But first, let us toot our own horn again and get it over with. Today Bigfoot's bLog was named THE BIGFOOT SITE OF THE DAY by Linda's Bigfoot Sightings website (http://bigfootsightings.org/2009/08/20/the-bigfoot-books-blog-bigfoot-site-of-the-day/)!!!

Well, we are surely humbled by statements such as this, but we do TRY: "I was deeply impressed by the quality of Steven’s writing.... With word skill like that I have the impression that this man will be writing a lot more in the months and years to come." OK, a book is in the mental pipes, but we're not exactly taking orders yet, and the more we look the stranger the possibilities become.

The first night involved dinner at CINNABAR SAM's. I have to say, Bigfooters are often an outdoorsy form of nerd. I have never been so photographed, videoed, documented, recorded and questioned in all my life, and moments later it is Tweeted, then blogged, Flikred, then immortalized on their web site. Documentarians at heart, Bigfoot people will prove each others' existence if they cannot get the Big Hairy One on film. They do love their tech gear! Everyone is instantly famous.

That night we went out Squatching on Friday Ridge Road and up to Brush Mountain Lookout where recent BF activity has been reported

(see our previous post HERE). We had a third-gen night scope and a very cool new thermal imager so refined that it presented clear as day images in a moonless pitch dark. No Squatches made themselves known, but we did encounter some raccoons, acorns falling from trees (and one bigger thing, potentially a tossed rock), and some amazing views of straggler Perseid meteors and the Milky Way (which is astonishing through night vision binoculars!).

The next day was a trip out, as is said, "On the Road to Bluff Creek." Think of "on the road to Loch Ness," a British expression, and translate: CRAZY! Nutso? Off the deep end? Well, maybe we are?

On the way the expedition stopped in at the BLUFF CREEK COMPANY. The store building was standing still. We were shortly visited by owner Phil Smith Sr., though, and found out that he plans to tear the store down by October. And this: the asking price is actually around $600K. But still, what a deal!

One can see how the building is deteriorating, but the owner assured us that it could be restored--it just isn't in his plans to do so. Apparently, the BC Company has no phone, and the property is not on the public market yet, so anyone wanting to save the place must act more or less NOW, and will have to go to the site to inquire.

After lunch at the Orleans Mining Company Diner, where we saw many hundreds of iron skittles (and painted saw blades) on the walls, and a two-headed calf, we headed out on the G-O Road (EyeSee on the sign) up to 12N12/Cedar Camp Road.

Below, the turnoff to the Film Site, and... the Believe It folks get their first baptism in the sacred waters of the film site area of Bluff Creek.

Round the "big bend of the creek" spoken of by Bob Gimlin is the FILM SITE, at the bottom of the now-signed 12N13H. More on this in our next post.

Here Diana and Mike investigate the film site itself, just upstream from the big bend and huge root balls of Douglas Firs.

NEAR DISASTER! GORY DEATH AVOIDED!

For those who might be thinking of going to the Film Site, TAKE HEED! BEWARE! A four-wheel drive vehicle is highly recommended! Not kidding: Craig Woolheater and Crew nearly ended up as Bigfoot and Salamander food, with their truck hanging precariously over the creek below. The rock slide at the bottom of the hill can be treacherous, and on top of that, there is nearly no way to turn around once heading down the road. So, be careful! Read the story HERE and HERE, and see the images HERE.

And at the start of the Bigfoot Byway, two more icons....

In Willow Creek everything is "Squatchy." Here we have famous bigfoot godfather Al Hodgson immortalized by a recently revamped municipal water system drawing water from Willow Creek aquifers just before the creek reaches the Trinity River. He's still living, and will always be a Legend.

Here are Denali and her Dad having some fun "messin' with Sasquatch."
OK, well, all for now. We will have to put the P-G FILM SITE UPDATE in a separate post. For now I will say: WE WALKED IN PATTY'S FOOTSTEPS!

Here are the relevant FLIKR PHOTO SETS taken by the Believe It Tour folks. Check them out, they're grrrreaaat! Links: WILLOW CREEK AND BIGFOOT BOOKS, BLUFF CREEK JOURNEY, and THE FILM SITE.

Oh, and I almost forgot. THE CHURCH OF BIGFOOT also visited this weekend. A fun night celebrating beer in Bigfoot's riverside domain was had by all.

Image here, from The Believe it Tour.

AN INFORMAL INTERVIEW WITH JIM MCCLARIN, Early PGF Investigator and Bigfooting Icon; FRANCES HODGSON, R.I.P.

BIGFOOT'S BLOG, EARLY NOVEMBER, 2010 EDITION

Jim McClarin and Patty Bigfoot together for comparison.
Image generated by Bigfootproject.org from Green and Patterson's films.

AN INFORMAL INTERVIEW WITH JIM MCCLARIN, Early Bigfooter and Witness to the Patterson-Gimlin Film Site.

In the process of investigating the Patterson-Gimlin Film (PGF) and Bluff Creek history during our recent BLUFF CREEK FILM PROJECT (see future blog entries), we asked questions of many of the researchers in Bigfooting who had been there back in the early days. Some of these are our neighbors, like Al Hodgson and Jay Rowland. Others have been John Green, Peter Byrne, Daniel Perez, Larry Lund, Bill Miller, etc.. We also talked with current researchers such as Sean Fries, Cliff Barackman, James "Bobo" Fay, Tom Yamarone and many more. Some of these conversations will be presented in future blogs. Another whom we found contact with, via Facebook of all places, was Jim McClarin. We never expected to be able to get any word from him, as we'd heard he had permanently retired and distanced himself from Bigfooting since the 1970s. Luckily, this wasn't true, altogether; though the end-result interview is a little fragmentary due to his distance from the subject and those days long ago. We'll present the whole thing here as it is, hoping that any stray fragment of information just may come in handy for someone, as much of this did for us in our project. Many of our questions are strictly for Bigfoot nerds; but we're hoping you are as much of one as we are!

Statue guarding the Willow Creek Visitor
Center, carved by Jim McClarin in the late 60s.
Photo by Steven Streufert, 2008.

Who is Jim McClarin, you ask? Jim was a student here locally at Humboldt State University, back then in the mid-late 1960s. During that time he developed an interest in Bigfoot as he heard the stories from around here. He was among the few first viewers of the PGF in Yakima, WA, on October 22nd, 1967, having traveled up there with Rene Dahinden from Willow Creek. Soon after he was back down here and became one of the first, after such as Bob Titmus and Lyle Laverty, to visit the PGF site itself. He returned in summer, 1968, and was filmed by John Green in replication of the creature's walk. Jim published a newsletter for a while, now exceedingly rare, called MANIMALS, from 1972-1973 (see Daniel Perez' offering of them through the link above, with images HERE). He has since retired from Bigfooting, but was gracious enough to try to recall things from the foggy ruins of time and pick his memory for us in the discussion that follows. Some questions were somewhat inconclusively answered, but others brought forth details we had never heard before. Some of these details were greatly helpful to us as we tried to trace the remnants of the old dirt road that followed the creekside of Bluff Creek, and in earlier days allowed access not only for logging, but also for Roger and Bob when they were in Bluff Creek investigating before the captured "Patty" on film. Some questions, the reader will notice, were not answered. Jim had typed up a lengthy answer, but then dozed off at his laptop, and woke to find that movement while sleeping had deleted his reply--like so much in the history of Bigfooting, this information is apparently lost (like the second reel shot by Patterson on October 20th, 1967), at least for now. So far as we know he was last in the Willow Creek area in 2003, while attending as an honored guest as part of the "Pioneer Panel" at the Willow Creek International Bigfoot Symposium.

Jim McClarin depicted in John Green's replication of the PGF, on the
actual, known film site, 1968.

From SQUATCHOPEDIA:

"Jim McClarin began his bigfoot investigations in 1963 and served as a member of early expeditions from northern California to Alaska. McClarin is famous for carving the first bigfoot statue (located at the corner of Hwy's 96 & 299 at Willow Creek). He corresponded with Ivan T. Sanderson, Roger Patterson, John Green, and Rene Dahinden. He recounted some of his memories in 2003 as part of a panel discussion during the International Bigfoot Symposium held in Willow Creek, CA. For McClarin, the "fluidity of movement of the muscles, as well as the light reflecting off the hair" convinced him of the authenticity of the P/G footage. He and two others went to Bluff Creek to view the film site shortly after the film was shot and he was able to see tracks (in poor condition). A comparison movie of McClarin was shot walking along the trackway of "Patty."

2003 Willow Creek International Bigfoot Symposium. Jim McClarin is at
center, with reddish hair, next to Jeff Meldrum and John Bindernagel.
Photo by Steven Streufert. Also present: Henner Fahrenbach Kathy
Moskowitz, Rick Noll, Ed Patrick, John Green, Bob Gimlin, Alton Higgins,
Tom Steenburg, Al Hodgson and Dimitri Bayanov. 

Here is a good account of the WCK-BF-Symp., written by Paul Vella with help from Jerry Riedel
(even though they get some of the details about the PGF site location grievously wrongly):
BIGFOOT INFORMATION PROJECT: International Bigfoot Symposium
************************************************
INTERVIEW

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Steven Streufert September 12 at 4:53pm
(...whose icon is a chupacabras from hereon, as what follows is copied from our Facebook pages, and we just happened to be using that at the time--that is, however, not what we really look like.)

Hello Jim, John Green recommended I contact you. I run a used book shop in Willow Creek, and have been studying the history of Bluff Creek and Bigfoot.

I'm wondering if you could help us out with any indications as the the exact and proper location of the PGF site. Here's the questions I asked John Green and Peter Byrne. Perhaps you could fill in some of the blanks? I've been asking Todd Neiss about this, too, as he was there in the earlier 2000s with Byrne. I'm not sure when you were last on the site. I have topo maps I could send if you'd like.
*******
A few associates and I (BFRO guys, mostly) are going back yet again this coming weekend to Bluff Creek, our goal being to record and document a trip from Louse Camp to where we all think the PG film was filmed.

PGF Site topo map.

Could you tell me:
* when you were last there did you feel certain that you were on the right spot?
* if so, what signs did you see that would confirm it?
* was it upstream from the flat at the bat boxes? Or downstream, as MK Davis thinks it is?
* how far up? At the big gulch with the logjam and rootballs, or perhaps a bit farther? If down, how far?
* did you find the "big tree"?
* how far from the current creek position is it, and how much is left of it in a level state as seen in the old days?
* If I send you a close-up topo map could you put your X on it?

I've already asked this question of Perez, Barackman, and a traveling companion of MK, as well as many of the California BFRO guys. Al Hodgson feels that the site visited in 2003 is incorrect.

I feel that your perspective on these matters would be invaluable, especially as a new generation is moving in, and there are some wildly divergent opinions.
********
Your reply before Friday would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Best regards, Steve
Bigfoot Books, Willow Creek

  Jim McClarin September 19 at 9:49am

Hi Steve,  My apologies. I thought I had responded but apparently I hadn't. You can send whatever you like although I'm not sure a topo map will enable me to pinpoint the film site. I certainly recall it being in a broad area of the creek bed, allegedly produced by a mudslide some years earlier, hence the dead trees.   Jim

  Steven Streufert September 19 at 3:03pm

Hello Jim, We're just back from the film site area. We are pretty darn sure that we have found the big trees in the back, and the site. However, it is really difficult to compare it in its overgrown state today to the way it was after the 1964 flood, as seen in the PGF from 1967.

I found Peter Byrne's location of the site to be utterly wrong. John Green couldn't really recall how to get to the site, and couldn't see the big tree from where they went in 2003. However, going by Rene Dahinden's mark on the map as seen in BIGFOOT AT BLUFF CREEK, we know (if that is reliable) the real location of the site. That spot is where we found the nice big trees in the back. However, there is still much disagreement on where the site is located. There is, to my observation being there many times, no way to make an exact match with the old photos. Too much has changed.

Here is one of my maps, as posted on Facebook:
PGF SITE MAP, TOPOGRAPHICAL
If you click "previous" or "next" on that screen you should see the next map, too. If you recall, it would be helpful to have your opinion as to the location. I am trying to contact all who were there at the earlier dates to see what they can say.

Thanks! I hope all is well with you.
http://bigfootbooksblog.blogspot.com/
Have you read my blog?

Best, Steve. Bigfoot Books

Wall Photos

A close-up view of the PGF Site on Bluff Creek. Can YOU place it? Where?

Share

By:Bigfoot's bLog, from Bigfoot Books, Willow Creek

  Jim McClarin September 19 at 3:59pm

Veni, vidi, sed non vici. I can't even tell you which flat it was in although I suspect the long one. I don't think I ever bothered to try to pinpoint it on a map before. If I had, I could probably do so again.

   Jim McClarin September 19 at 4:02pm

And no, I haven't read your blog. I rarely visit BF sites, maybe one per year or so. I don't mind being available for questions about my experience but I have not tried to follow the subject.

  Steven Streufert September 19 at 5:37pm

You did not conquer? Ah well. Mainly we are interested in any landmarks folks who were there might still recall, and the way they got to the film site. Did you walk up the creek, or access it from a road? Stuff like that. Also, just about ANY recollections of the time and your visits to the site or involvement with the film could help to fill in some gap in the history... and there are a LOT of such gaps. 

McClarin's statue, posing
with Rene Dahinden

Thanks for being around. Involved or not currently, you're a big part of Bigfoot history; and, living in Willow Creek, I really enjoy having your statue around. After all these years it is holding up really well, though there is some dry rot in the feet. Folks are always climbing around on it, and the birds, unfortunately, tend to do their business on it. It is an icon, for sure. Best, Steve

   Jim McClarin September 19 at 6:06pm

As I recall we were able to drive down to Roger and Bob's camp downstream from the site. When I went there in '67 after returning from BC and the showing of the film to the science gathering, we saw hay leavings where the horses had been kept as well as plenty of droppings and hoofprints along the way up to the film site. I think the film site may have been between 1/4 and 1/2 mile upstream from the camp. Coulda been further. I'm not certain but, since we went in a jeep, we may have 4-wheeled it in to the site. Tere was no mistaking the site since the prints were still quite visible, it matched the scenery from the film, and plaster bits remained from Bob Titmus casting a series of the tracks.

  Steven Streufert September 19 at 7:44pm

That's puzzling. There is a camp site right down from the film site, about a quarter of a mile, but Roger and Bob are supposed to have camped 2 or 2.5 miles downstream, according to various accounts. Barbara Wasson said the camp was a little ways north of the bridge over Bluff Creek, down near Louse Camp. Just yesterday we went there and found the only spot around where someone could camp, so we thought perhaps we'd found it. The problem is, all the books say so many different things. We're pretty sure of the site of the film, but it seems the controversy will never go away.

Wasn't there a dirt "road" all the way up the creek? It seems to me much of it would have to have gone right through the creek, or ford across it constantly as it winds back and forth against it's banks.
I'm sitting right next to your statue as I eat at the Mexican restaurant. Someone 1s taking pictures of it right now.

Steve

  Jim McClarin September 20 at 6:29am

OK, it's possible that they were not camped where I thought they had been camped. But where we saw hay leavings and piles of horse dung at the point where a dirt road led down to the creek bed was nowhere near 2 - 2.5 miles downstream of the film site. As I recall we drove right to the apparent camp site without any false leads so I must have had explicit directions from Roger or perhaps from Al Hodgson who Roger had talked to following their exit from Bluff Creek. I'm not sure if this was before or after their drive to the McKinleyville airport to ship the film back to Washington.

  Jim McClarin September 20 at 6:36am

I'm confused at this point as to whether they said they shipped the film to Roger's brother-in-law Al DeAtley or directly to wherever it was processed. 

BTW, I had been to Louse Camp, talking to some bear hunters there on my first visit to Bluff Creek in the summer of 1966. It was down much closer to the mouth of Bluff Creek as I recall and not in the actual creek bed. The "camp" I saw was down in the creek bed and would have been flooded if there were torrential rains, perhaps one reason Roger and Bob were in a hurry to leave. Their stated reason as I recall was that they were worried about the road surface becoming impassible.

  Jim McClarin September 20 at 6:39am

To avoid possible confusion, I meant I'm not sure whether they told Hodgson before or after their trip to the airport.

  Jim McClarin September 20 at 6:55am

Re a dirt road up the creek, yes there was a gravel road (natural creek bed gravel) that crossed the creek at or close to the apparent camp site, then extended all the way up to and past the film site along the eastern side of the creek. I recall a road angled up the east slope off this creek bed road but I don't recall whether it was drivable or just a cat trail. I think it met a roadway higher up on the east side that could be seen in spots from the creek bed but I didn't go up there. I think Roger and Bob said they rode their horses up there to try to intersect "Patty's" trail after she departed the creek bed uphill in that direction but were unable to spot anything.

  Steven Streufert September 20 at 7:19am

Jim, this is fascinating stuff. I'm wondering, would you mind if we continue this discussion and call it an interview for publication on my blog? No one's memory of things that long ago is perfect, and that is why every perspective counts so much. Only so much was ever documented at the time, especially as everyone was seemingly mostly concerned with the creature itself, and not so much with all the other bits of the history of the Bluff Creek events and the locality in general, as well as the timeline of events. Now, so long after, all of these other issues rise to prominence, and many debunkers seek to use apparent contradictions in efforts to discredit the film or impugn the characters of Roger and Bob. I'd love to set the record straight to the greatest degree possible.  Let me know, Steve

  Steven Streufert September 20 at 7:47am

So, regarding the camp site: it was right near by the film site? There are other accounts of a horse camp in that spot, which by your description is right where the current road leads down from the ridge road above to an area with a fire ring and a parking area. From there one proceeds upstream just a short ways up the creek or through the woods to the sandbar where the film was shot. We are talking football field distances from there, not miles. In all his various accountings, Gimlin talks of them riding out from their camp and heading upstream about 2.5 miles to where they saw and filmed the creature. There are accounts in distinction to this, speaking of the horse camp, and even of a primitive corral structure, just down from the film site. Louse Camp is approximately 3 miles down, and is as you describe it, up from the creek bank. The possible Patterson-Gimlin campsite we found was just past the bridge over Bluff, at an area where there appeared to be an old creek ford, as described to us by Al Hodgson in a lengthy interview we did with him earlier this year (you should read it--links are on the upper right side of my blog).

Al seems to think the film site is farther downstream from where most believe it is today. He was there, and got there by hiking up the creek. I am wondering, when you went there, where did you put in with the jeep to head upstream, and how far did you then drive? Also, this is the trip right soon after the film was shot, right? I mean, you went there again the following summer with John Green, and that later trip was when you were filmed walking in the trackway, right? I wonder, with whom did you go up there on that first trip?

Steve

  Steven Streufert September 20 at 8:05am

Re mailing the film: most now believe they took it to Murray Field, outside of Eureka. It was then received by DeAtley and apparently taken to a private processor they knew, as no official Kodak shops were open on Saturdays. Do you know more about any of this? These timeline issues are commonly raised by debunkers who assume it must mean that the story and therefore the film could not be true.

Gimlin says they went directly to Willow Creek and saw Al, then down to the coast to send the film. However, Al still claims that they had gone over the Bald Hills Road to Eureka, mailed it at the main post office, and then come back to Willow Creek to tell Al. The problem is that Al's account could not have been accomplished in the given time, and the post offices would have been closed besides. Any perspectives on all of this? Also, when and how did you meet Rene Dahinden, before heading up to Yakima to view the film, and how did you guys get there?

   Jim McClarin September 20 at 7:56pm

If I had taken the film, I don't think I would have sent it off on an airplane unless I was deep in a wilderness someplace. Even then, I'd probably have insisted on flying out with the film. Why it was deemed so important to get it to DeAtley I can't quite fathom. What would an extra day or two hurt? At any rate, all I know is that I remember they had reportedly sent it by plane. I didn't get the story from Roger but from someone else.

I met Dahinden at Hodgson's variety store. I think he was there by the time I made it over there. Hodgson had come over earlier that morning to the Bigfoot Motel where I had spent the night and informed me of Roger's story. I got dressed and headed over to the store. That may have been my first meeting with Dahinden although I was quite aware of his work in the field. We decided to get up to Yakima as fast as possible so we could see the film. We caught a plane from McKinleyville to Portland, then from Portland to Yakima where we were among the first seven people to view the film.

  Jim McClarin September 20 at 8:28pm

Yes, you may use anything I have written here.

The apparent camp with hay leavings, etc. that I saw was less than a mile downstream from the film site, possibly as little as 100 yards as you suggest. As I recall the road down to the creek at that spot crossed the stream at or very near that little camp and continued up along the right side (east side) of the stream to and past the film site.

It was possibly only a week after the reported filming date that I first went to the site with two other guys in a jeep belonging to one of them. Daniel Perez has the name of the Jeep owner. I can't recall it just now. We forded the very shallow stream at an obvious fording place following the dirt/gravel road. It was not a far drive at all, a few hundred yards, maybe as little as 100 yards.

Multi-frame PGF overlay, as caught in a screen capture from MonsterQuest.

I had a super-8 movie with me and used it to film the footprints, then had one of the other guys film me as I walked along the trail of tracks. I had him film from where I thought Patterson must have been. I sent that film to John Green although he doesn't recall receiving or viewing it. I think he did see it, however, and determined it wasn't useful for size comparison since I was way off on the camera location. I think that's what gave him the idea to try for another film using slides from the PG film to determine where Patterson had to be holding his camera.

I may never have gotten the film I made returned from Green, but if I did, it appears to have been lost, either by me or by Loren Coleman, to whom I gave most all my BF stuff when I got out of the business. Loren has checked without luck and figures if I ever gave it to him, it was lost in one of his many moves around the country.

The Green film with me as subject was indeed shot the following summer.

  Steven Streufert September 25 at 12:45pm

Sorry for the delayed reply. This has been a crazy week. Read the cover story article about me that came out at northcoastjournal.com to see part of what has been going on for me.

Historic image of the Jim McClarin
Oh-Mah Bigfoot, still with its original
base, the tree from which it was carved.

The "road" up Bluff, then, was more of a winding 4WD trail, or old logging route, right?

So, it sounds very clear from your description that you were in the same area we were, what is now called the "bat boxes" landing. Were you there in 2003, after the Willow Creek Symposium? If so, what were your impressions of the site then, the changes to it, and the reactions of all of the people there? Could you even tell where the site was?

When you were there in '67 and '68 did you see tracks beyond the main ten that Titmus cast? Where did they head in either direction?

To disprove this so-called "Bluff Creek Massacre" theory, can you say if you saw any sign of bloody pools or prints, Bigfoot remains, signs of a tractor on site, or any other unusual thing like bullet shells? MK Davis says that Green, Gimlin and the others killed a family of BF and filmed it. Crazy, eh?

When you first saw the film, did you view the entirety of both reels? What was on them, as much, and sequentially, as you can recall....?

If we are doing a little interview here I should ask, how did you get involved in Bigfooting, and what were your first impressions and interactions with people like Green and Dahinden, pioneers in the field?

Thanks! Steve

  Steven Streufert September 25 at 1:15pm

DANIEL PEREZ' EMAIL:
"I would ask Jim, when he met Rene in Willow Creek, did it ever dawn on them or him that maybe they should visit the filmsite first, then go see the film?

Jim McClarin's Oh-Mah statue as it is
today. Photo courtesy of Bob Doran.

The name of the guy who first took Jim to the filmsite was Richard Henry. Think that was around November 5th. As for the base camp, I don't think anyone now can say with any certainty. If that is what Barbara states, that may be so, as she had access to Bob Gimlin.
I think that about does it.

I would just review with Jim some of the things he was feeling at the time. I think at one time he stated it would not be long before they would get one, but that was in 1967?
Did he ever felt he was being watched while at the filmsite?
What was his impression of George Haas?
What was him impression of the 2003 Willow Creek gathering?
What was his impression of seeing his statute there in Willow Creek?"

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Some good questions, and info on the Jeep fellow.

Best, Steve

  Steven Streufert September 28 at 11:10am

Hi Jim... Did you get my last two messages?
We are heading up to Bluff Creek again on Oct. 8th for yet more documentation. It would be great to have as much information from your experience as possible to take with us up there. So far your statements about the jeep trip up there have been VERY helpful. We are going to try to document the remnant signs of the old creekbed "road."

Thanks! Steve

 Jim McClarin September 28 at 5:09pm Report

Ha. I got your messages, got most of one answered, fell asleep at the computer (I have a laptop table I use in bed), and somehow erased it. At any rate it wasn't there when I woke up :-) I will respond in time.

  Steven Streufert September 28 at 5:37pm

  Thanks!

  Steven Streufert October 11 at 1:08pm

Jim, Just back from Bluff Creek! Your recollections proved to be very helpful. We traced the old Jeep road up the creek, finding remaining signs of it there even today. We also think we have located the P-G base camp site and the proper film site/trackway location.

Well, we ruled out the MK Davis, Peter Byrne and Christopher Murphy film site locations, and clarified where it really is, I truly believe, all based on one "aerial" photo Rene D fortunately thought to take in 1972, that the case is now in the bag. I think Cliff Barackman's location is just slightly off. We climbed down the hill from above and I think very clearly found from that angle the properly rounded front of the sandbar, conforming perfectly to Dahinden's photo. Tall trees in back led us further. Moving back we found a cluster of big trees and an old stump buried by a big fern that match the film and known measurements pretty darn well exactly. The images will have to be manipulated in Photoshop to get the right comparative perspective (impossible now due to vegetation growth) to the old film site photos. The "big tree" seems still to be there. One large fir in that area seems to have fallen onto the sandbar. It has an alder growing out of its top, so now we need a tree ring sample to know its age. I feel no lingering doubt that we now know the exact location. Now all we need to do is measure the trackway in there for exactitude.

A full report and YouTube videos will follow on my blog.

Best regards,
Steve, Bigfoot Books

  Jim McClarin October 12 at 5:50am Report

Glad to hear it, Steve. I've been getting a little exposure to BF in reading Lloyd Pye's "Everything You Know is Wrong." Interesting insights but I don't follow some of his logic sequence.

  Steven Streufert October 12 at 11:41am

Pye's book stuck me as odd and fascinating, though I have not read it---it's hard to find a copy!

We're still trying to put all the Bluff Creek puzzle pieces together, so any further recollections from you would be truly helpful and interesting.

Don't feel obliged to answer all of those questions from Daniel Perez--I only sent those for your interest.

Do you know how far past the film site the old jeep/logging road went?

Did you see any tracks farther down from the film trackway?

Things like that have still not been resolved.

Best, Steve

  Jim McClarin October 12 at 5:39pm Report

I don't know how far upstream the jeep road went and I saw no tracks beyond the stretch shown in the PG film. They disappeared once they left the sand and got onto the gravel.

I'm partial to Pye's thesis that Homo sapiens diverges in so many ways from "early man" and appeared so suddenly that we are the likely result of somebody's genetic tampering experiment. I just finished Sitchin's "The Twelfth Planet" (the Sumerian version of Genesis), which I think Pye will get into in his "Everything..." book. I'm reading it straight through without skipping around so I could be wrong. The Sumerians, according to Sitchin, claim that their "gods" created the Adamu in their own likeness as a servant species, although there were plenty of failed attempts leading up to that point. Sitchin figures they combined their own genes with Earth's hominids

If you want a copy, here's Lloyd's advice:
Be sure to get it at www.iuniverse.com. Best prices there, and new copies. Amazon will screw you over with used ones.

iUniverse - Self Publishing Company | Book Publishers

www.iuniverse.com

iUniverse enables writers to become published authors. With leadership that brings expertise in publishing, sales, marketing and technology, iUniverse offers industry-leading self-publishing products and services. By offering a variety of affordable self-publishing, editorial and marketing services,...

Share

  Steven Streufert October 27 at 5:05pm

  Hi again, Jim.

Thanks for the tip on the Pye book... I will have to read that one soone. By the way, did you hear Sitchin just passed away a while back?

I was wondering, did you ever get around to answering some of those questions I'd asked previously? I mean the ones you had answered, but then lost on your computer by accidental deletion? (See above on the Facebook page, probably in "earlier messages," if you don't have them stored away in your email.) I'm going to post the relevant stuff from our preceding conversation in a blog entry about the PGF site soon. I was hoping to reach a point of completion with that. Anything you can do, or have time and inclination for, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Steve, Bigfoot Books

  Jim McClarin November 5 at 5:00pm

Hi Steven, Here's something I wrote in response to someone else that might contain mtl. of interest to you:

I don't recall the date of my trip with John to the film site but it seems likely John would have indicated that in his following book. The hour would have been late morning to early afternoon due to the fact we were in a canyon and would have been shaded otherwise. I don't know if John was trying to approximate the hour the PG film was taken in his film of me but the lighting dynamics meant we would not have been more than a few hours off. I haven't compared shadows in the two films and made no record of time or date that I recall.

John wanted to use me as the model in his film for two reasons: I'm fairly tall, plus I had visited the site in the week or so following Patterson's filming and knew where the tracks had been. I visited after Bob Titmus had gone to the site and made his series of plaster casts of the best prints. By next summer there were still some nondescript, weathered depressions with small bits of plaster as I recall remaining from the track sequence. Obviously no flooding had occurred over the winter. I walked along these depressions and continued where I recalled the track heading. The impressions had stopped where the sand gave way to gravel/rock, meaning that the trackway was not very long.

Lyle Laverty's PGF site track photo.

In retrospect it would have been good to make detailed notes of how many footprints were visible (I'm thinking 12 to 18), take measurements of each stride and measurements to various surface features (logs, etc.) but it just never occurred to me at the time. What did occur to me was to film the tracks with a super-8 movie camera, then have one of the guys I was with film me walking along next to the footprints. Unfortunately that film was taken from nowhere near the same angle or with the same lens so it was useless for comparison. I seem to recall Green pronouncing it worthless so, while my memory of it is very indistinct, it seems I must have sent the film to him. I think that's what gave him the idea of doing another shoot with a camera like Roger used and using frames from Patterson's film to determine through triangulation just where his camera was during the original filming. Green does not recall my film at all and if I indeed sent it to him he might have returned it to me and I lost it. When I got out of the BF "business" I gave almost all my files, casts, and other research materials to Loren Coleman but he doesn't recall my original filmstrip either and says if he ever had it, it was probably lost in any one of a dozen moves since then.

When I first viewed the site in '67 I estimated my own prints sank 1/4 inch while the adjacent BF prints sank an inch but the comparison was not especially valid since the sand was probably wetter on my visit, which no doubt affected the compaction.

  Steven Streufert November 7 at 4:21pm

OK, Jim, thanks so much! If you have any further things to say or memories in regard to the PGF do please send them along. This has been more helpful than you know, especially in thinking about the old creek road leading up to the film site. I'll send you links to our research, in blog format and via YouTube videos, when they are ready and posted.      Best Regards! Steve, Bigfoot Books, Willow Creek

The carved wooden information sign accompanying Jim McClarin's Bigfoot
statue in Willow Creek. Photo by Steven Streufert, 2008. CLICK TO ENLARGE

END OF INTERVIEW

Be sure to read LOREN COLEMAN'S COMMENT for an update, by this link, or click below.

****************************************************

Al and Frances Hodgson, Willow Creek, CA, 2007. The PGF 40th
Anniversary Celebration. Photo by Steven Streufert.

SAD NEWS: We offer our condolences to our friend, and grand friend of Bigfoot, AL HODGSON, in regard to the passing of his beloved wife, FRANCES HODGSON (1929-2010). Al had spent the last few years largely caring for her. She had Alzheimer's. Al was gracious enough to give us at Bigfoot's bLog a full three hours of his time back in February for an interview. Frances was present the whole time, in the living room. She was a great lady, whom we met at the 2007 Patterson-Gimlin Film 40th Anniversary Celebration, here in Willow Creek. During Al's many visits to our shop, Frances would normally sit out in the truck outside, but would always wave kindly upon departure. Any respects and condolence messages any of you would like to have passed on to Al by us will be forwarded to him. Send to bigfootbooks@gmail.com

PGF 40th Celebration--Al and Frances can be seen, partially obscured,
in the far right corner, back row. Daniel Perez is front near right;
organizer Tom Yamarone in front, off center left; yours truly at far left.
Really, too many luminaries to count--it was a GREAT time!

As Daniel Perez eulogized her this month in his BIGFOOT TIMES newsletter:

"Passings: Frances Hodgson, the wife of Al Hodgson for 61 years, died on September 25, 2010. Her place in high profile Bigfoot lore is secure, as she was the person who took a call from the late Roger Patterson, when he phoned their home on October 20, 1967, to let them know a 16-mm film of Bigfoot was made in Bluff Creek earlier that day. Frances was involved in the church all her life and was a member of the Willow Creek Bible Church. She was born in Illinois on February 16, 1929."

Al Hodgson with Tom Yamarone at the event, a meeting of generations
in Bigfooting. Photo by Steven Streufert, 2007.

****************************************************
ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS!

Serious hu-man toxic. Me want study salamanders! Too many hoax, way, way too much BS all humanogenic (me learn new word!). Bigfoot one day prove humanity is a hoax. Don't question Bigfoot. Question humanity. Me try be friend with you hu-man. Now me just do not know. Maybe me go back to being scary "cannibal," no more Mr. Nice Bigfoot. Yeah, me do that.

****************************************************
This blog is copyright and all that jazz, save for occasional small elements borrowed for "research" and information or satirical purposes only, 2010, Bigfoot Books and Steven Streufert. Borrowings will be tolerated for non-commercial research purposes without the revenge of Angry Bigfoot, if notification, credit, citation and a kindly web-link are given, preferably after contacting us and saying, Hello, like a normal person would before taking a cup of salt. No serious rip-offs of our material for vulgar commercial gain will be tolerated without major BF stomping action coming down on you, hu-man.