Bigfoot Society - He Spent Decades in Oregon’s Bigfoot Highway But the Woods Started Talking Back

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

In this episode, we explore the long and deeply rooted experiences of Joe Beelart, a veteran Bigfoot researcher who has spent decades investigating some of the most active regions of the Pacific Northwest. From the forests south of Corvallis to the remote stretches of the Oregon Bigfoot Highway, Joe shares stories shaped by years of repeated visits to the same locations. His journey moves through the upper Clackamas Valley, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Skookum Meadows, and the rugged terrain surrounding Mount Hood, where patterns began to emerge over time. Through nights spent camping alone, encounters reported by others, and physical evidence found in meadows, creek beds, and old rock quarries, Joe paints a grounded and methodical picture of ongoing Bigfoot activity across Oregon and southern Washington. Join us as we follow his experiences across forests, mountains, and watersheds where something continues to leave its mark on the landscape.🗣️ Share Your StoryHad a Bigfoot encounter or strange experience?Send it to [e-mail] – your story might be featured on the show!🎥 Watch & Subscribe on YouTube🔴 Subscribe here → Bigfoot Society YouTube💬 Leave a comment & let us know your thoughts!📞 Leave a voicemail with your story → Speakpipe (Use multiple voicemails if needed)👥 Share this episode → Watch & Share🎧 More episodes → Podcast Playlist🌲 Recommended: New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters💥 Support the Show & Get Perks✅ Join the community on Supercast – Become a Member✅ Listen ad-free & early on YouTube – Join Here📱 Let’s ConnectInstagram: @bigfootsocietyTwitter: @bigfoot_societyTikTok: @bigfoot.society🧰 Tools & Partners I Use (Affiliate Links)These help support the show at no extra cost to you:Beam (Better Sleep): Try BeamWildgrain (Better Bread): Join HereSeed (Probiotics): Get SeedMedi-Share (Healthcare): Learn MoreLMNT (Electrolytes) Free Sample Pack with your first purchase! : Get LMNTOrganic and non-GMO groceries delivered for lesshttp://thrv.me/uarEhS🎙️ Podcasting Tools:Repurpose.io: Try ItDescript: Sign UpStreamyard: Start RecordingRiverside.fm: Try Riverside🎧 My Audio Interface: View on Amazon☕ Buy Me a Coffee – Support Here🛍️ Grab Some Merch – Shop on Etsy📬 Mailing Address:Bigfoot Society125 E 1st St. #233Earlham, IA 50072

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In this show, we go beyond the Campfire stories to bring you first-hand encounters from people who say they've seen something impossible from people. backwoods trails and remote mountain haulers to quiet farms and crowded highways. The stories come from everywhere and each one leaves us with more questions than answers. These are the voices of the people who've lived it. So settle in because today you'll hear another account that just might change the way you see the woods forever. So stay with us. All right, Bigfoot Society. We've got the privilege of talking to Mr. Joe Bealart today. Joe is one of the authors of the book, the Oregon Bigfoot Highway, Uh, co-author was Cliff Olson.

And, uh, it is one of the best, it's, it's one of my favorite Bigfoot books. And it's a pleasure to have you on the show today. Joe, how are you doing today, sir? I'm doing good. I, uh, got a little cold yesterday. So my voice is a little worse. And I'm, I'm, I think your audience will still be able to hear me all right. Oh, yeah. We will definitely have no, no problem there. But, you know, Joe, as I said, uh, this book is is so incredibly, the way it's written and the information in it, I mean, if a Bigfooter doesn't have it on their bookshelf, even if they don't live in Oregon, I mean, they need to have it on their bookshelf. It is really, really that good. There's so many amazing stories in it,

but, you know, someone who has, you go all over the place, you go to, well, of course, the Oregon Bigfoot Highway, which is Esticated down to Detroit on. on Oregon Scenic Byway number five, of course. And then you've got you do Mount Hood stuff, you do Giverp and Cho. So you are all over the place back through the years. But, you know, let's start with this, Joe. What was it that got you into this field to begin with? And how far back did that go?

Well, I don't really like to talk about it. But one Christmas afternoon late in the day, my nephews and I were driving around looking for deer out in the forest of the foot, the south of Corvallis. And we came around the corner and there was a blowdown. and we're driving a full-sized bronco. And I said, boys, look at the bear. And dang, bear stood up and looked at us. And it was only about 25 feet away. And it took two steps out of the blowdown

and walked off into the forest on two legs. very disconcerting. I have a considerable amount of timing training when I was in the service and it lasted about 15 to 20 seconds. And then I just put it away because you don't really want to see a big, hairy, naked man in the rain out in the middle of the forest. and I just told the boys it was a big bear and I just sat on it for many years

and we had a branch up in North Portland and I was just walking down the street Lombard Street one day and waiting for I don't know what I was done doing whatever I was doing at the branch and I came upon this bookstom. stores. It was Ray Crowe's bookstore, used bookstore. And I went in and he had a bunch of Bigfoot stuff there. And so I bought some of it and left. And I came back in the next time I was up

about three weeks later and went back in his bookstore and bought some more stuff. And the third time I went in. He had a copy of John Green's book with a dust cover. A real nice copy. And he wanted $50 for it. And to him that was a huge amount

to Ray. And I plunked down 50 bucks and that finally made him mad enough. He goes, what are you doing? Why are you so interested in this stuff? And I said, well, I I really am just interested.

And he says, well, come to one of our meetings. And the first meeting I went to was in his basement. The fire marshal closed it down, finally, because of lack of exits. And then we went over to dads, and I got to known some of the people, and they were good people. They weren't Dr. Lloyd Sykes, for instance. retired veterinarian. I enjoyed him.

Bill, I can't remember his last name right now. Bill Harper, natural, he's a naturalist, very big on being outdoors and natural foods. And,

Finally, I met Mr. Peter Byrne, and he came to one of the meetings. And Peter and I hit it off fairly well, although Peter had a kind of a unique personality. And I had been around the horn enough that I kind of recognized it. But he and I, you know, I've been to, I've been to his house. house, I spent three nights with him just investigating one sighting. Anyway, I finally did a presentation and learned that I enjoyed to hear myself talk a little bit. And I have since done about 80, a little over 80 presentations. I did every year at Home Valley when they were having that festival.

there was eight or nine of those. I once spoke in front of a theater that somebody had read it. And we had a guy in a bigfoot costume running around behind me and that caused and we had some sheets up and colored sheets.

And that caused the audience to get really happy. I bet. The presentation part was very little of what I did. I finally decided to, I went out after I retired my high nights out in an unimproved campground was 23. This last year when I fell down the stairs and then had heart valve replaced due distress. I was only out three nights on improved campground.

This year, I'm projecting going back up into the 10 to 15 range, I hope. And I've worked the Oregon Bigfoot Highway. I wrote the book, Cliff Olson lived up there for 13 years. and worked up there for a total of about 15 or 16 years when he worked for Portland General Electric. And he lived in the heart of the forest at Ripplebrook when they have a permanent facility up there. And so he introduced me to Native Americans, to loggers. we had one lawyer that popped up who happened to be a Native American

incidentally and then I went over in the Gifford Pinchot believe it or not it's easier to drive it's faster to drive up to the Gifford Pinchot than it is to get up to the upper Clackamas Valley because you got Highway 84 or Freeway 84, and then you got a straight shot up to Longbute.

And so I've spent a bunch of nights out up in the Gifford Pinchill. One night, there was a BFRO expedition down in the Lewis River Canyon, and I didn't want to go down there. So Tom Powell was along and Steve Kylie. and they went down to join the expedition such as it was. They're tromping around the bushes. One thing around behind me, we were camped in an old rock quarry, an old log landing, and there was a little ridge above us.

And I had a fire going, and I was just sitting by the fire. Enjoy in the evening. And one came out of the bushes and walked up behind me. And I was listening to it. I spent a lot of time out when I was in the Marine Corps at night. And also, I grew up in Nebraska where we did not have TV, because there wasn't a TV transmitter that got to us. We didn't even have a telephone until I was 14 because a phone company wouldn't run a line out to a single ranch.

So I learned to walk at night and enjoy the nighttime. And so I became immediately attuned to this thing. And it kicked a little rock, and it rolled down right behind me. And I had my 357 there. and I just I just I just I just grist grass but I didn't I didn't particularly want to do anything with it shooting somebody is a terrible terrible thing and the thing walked around through the off to the off to the west went through the brush went down by the road walked back from west to east on the old gravel logging road and was gone.

And when Steve and Tom came back, they said I had every flashlight, every lantern that we had, it was all lit up. We were in this big bungalow tent, and they unzipped it, and I immediately roared to my feet. as you should do when you're startled at night. And anyway, they got kind of a half laugh out of it, but not too much of it. And in the next day, we found all the footprints. They were about 16 and a half inches.

We found a number of them. That area was so little used. I went up there and camped one more time, twice more times, by myself. Being alone is a good thing with these things, because they don't feel so threatened, I don't think. And I brought up some wood for campfire, and that wood was still laying there three years later. When I went up, the hunters hadn't even burned it. So that's one episode in the Gifford Pinchot. We also camped over by Skooka Meadows, the famous Skooka Meadows.

I've camped over there numerous times. Have you had anything happen in Skooka Meadows? Yes, we had two sightings there by other people. and Tom Powell was along on one. A college professor was along on one. And the college professor brought along a graduate student who was about ready to get his Ph.D. And this is an amusing story to me.

the graduate student wanted to get a taste of the wilderness. So he had gone down to some outfitting store and said, give me a sleeping bag and, you know, whatever else I needed and some pants and some hat and a tent. And it was a mesh tent. And he camped about a quarter air mile away. away from us about a little over a third of a mile by logging road. And the first night when we woke up, and we had breakfast, he came in and he just looked terrible, just awful.

And we didn't give it much thought, you know, his first night out in the forest, you know, there are owls and all that stuff. And the second night, he came out, and he just looked really terrible next morning for breakfast. I mean, he couldn't even hardly hold a cup. He was so tired. And we go, well, what's going on? Why are you not sleeping?

And he goes, well, he's a pretty tall guy. And he says, these guys sold me a sleeping business. bag and my feet stick out and there get cold. And he says, and besides, every night about two in the morning, this thing comes by and stands over my tent and blocks out the moon, and it breathes. It breathes heavily.

And then it walks off into the forest, into the meadows, scooka meadows. And all he said was, We, Tom and Steve and I, jumping our truck and roared off back there. And sure enough, coming out of what's called the crazy hills, there were 16 and a half inch tracks. And they walked up right along where this guy's tent was and stopped there and walked there and walked around and smashed the grass. But there was enough imprints that we could see them. And this was fairly close to where later the Skookum cast was taken.

Anyway, the third night, we got together some blankets and made sure he was comfortable. And he slept all night long. He thought the thing came by, and we checked the ground around it. and it did have fresh footprints. Again, this was only about a half a mile from where the famous Skookum cast was taken. This would have been about 2005 or six, I can't remember.

That particular PhD, he has camped out with me four, if not five times in various places. because he likes to get a break away from his academic world. At one time, I had eight PhDs on my call list. Most of them, one was a wildlife biologist in Florida who got interested in the swamp ape of all things. And he got a hold of me. And he basically said, like all of us,

them did. You know, let us know if you find something. Since then, three of them have passed. They did not want to have their name sullied by Bigfoot. There tended to be retirees and older. Older retirees. Anyway, Mike is always. He comes. comes out once a year and sometimes he goes out with a BFRO and sometimes he goes out with me and there's others. But going into the Oregon Bigfoot Highway, that was a pretty unique experience because we could research in depth. and repeatedly go into one area.

And we also had observers out, including in my book, there's four different Forest Service employees that gave us information, one of which I, unfortunately, insulted. He was first off reluctant to talk about Bigfoot, even though he kind of knew they were there.

And then he told me there was a big barn back when they were using horses to restock the the lookout towers, the old lookout towers that they had stationed all over the place. And they used horses and packs and all that.

And he said what we do was we put in elk feed, which was a combination of those molasses and viewed ryegrass, I think. And I'm very familiar with ryegrass because I worked my way through high school and college on combine crews. And I go, oh, he says, they come in and they open up the sacks and they eat the stuff. And I go, oh, man, that's one of the wildest stories I've ever heard. You can't expect me to believe that.

And made him mad really upset. And I go, boy, I got to calm this guy down. I mean, oh. And I got him calm down. I just, I mean, think about it. You know, Bigfoot opened in a door and tearing open a feed sack for elk with elk feed and eating it. And he goes, yeah, I guess it is kind of wild. Later, we camped in that area and we found, I took two guys out.

One was a filmer. He's filmed a number of documentaries and feature films. And is well known into the secondary film business. and I took them out there and we explored around and we found a little green bottle and I took very good care of it and I sent it to Jimmy Shilkut who was a policeman

outside of Houston, Texas who was interested in the Bigfoot phenomena and he was getting towards retirement and he took off fingerprints off that bottles that were either made with pigskin gloves or an unknown primate source and he wouldn't say it was an unknown primate source except to offer that as an alternative and also in that area we put out offerings offerings are good

you don't want to you don't want to put out bananas they go bad pretty fast but scorch and that kind of stuff goes good and we put out on a big fallen log

about about a half a mile from the barn across a creek we put out cat food in those little cans and and one day we went over there to check the cat food and sure enough it had been eaten

and the cans were still sitting there along the log which indicates that they weren't eaten by a bear or a raccoon or something like that because they were cleaned out but they were they were still sitting there in a line. But down by the creek, there was a beautiful footprint, about 17 inches long.

Absolutely beautiful. And the guy was a film, the film, and his friend, Alex, his Blake Eckerd is who it was, the filmer and his friend Alex. They got so excited over this footprint. They slid into it. and we can only take a casting of the fork of the front part of the foot oh as i i disgusted oh man i mean it was absolutely beautiful footprint wow uh that kind of stuff happens yeah offerings are good uh i'm looking over at my uh

One thing they like out there is boiled corn, corn boiled in salt water. And they like that salt water taste. They do not like corn with butter on it. We think the butter turned rancid. And I've got several stories about corn leaf corn, You know, you peel back a little bit of corn and you want to find the ears with a little handle on them. And they like that little handle and they'll peel it back and eat. And I Warner Henner Fenner Brock.

He was a primatologist at the Oregon Primate Center. And he analyzed some of it. And he said, no, this is, this is, this is, this is primate eaten, but it's, it's not anything like we have. And it was nice and straight lines. And this is, this is one example. And the, the, the, the, the, that particular offering, the, the corn husk was left over by the fire pit, which was about a quarter of a mile from where it was left. up in the hill, up in the mountain, up mountains.

Yeah, Hedder was quite a guy. He was very, he used to come to the Ray Crowe meetings too. His wife and my wife both dislike big footing with a passion. But one night I was out with Sharon and we were sleeping out in the back of the truck open. And you want to sleep out in the back of the truck or on a cot or something that's open so they can see you and they'll walk around you and they'll look at you. And one morning we woke up and sure enough coming up out of the forest walking up the hill, we're about 17-inch long tracks. And it circled our truck, my full-sized tundra. and obviously looked at us while we were sleeping.

I can go on and on about various escapade. One night we were up at what we call the new rock quarry, and there were three ice chests in a row. I'd already been up there. it was one of my favorite places to go, especially alone. And one time I had a walking stick leaned up against the door hinge of the truck. And in the morning, it was a gravel area. And it was just absolutely picture-esque with a little,

little seasonal lake at rock walls, beautiful pine finy maples and my walking stick was gone and I didn't I wanted it

I needed I like a walking stick and I started looking around the quarry and I found a game trail where the deer had come down and the deer used it. And that walking stick was about 150 yards up that game trail. Something had picked it up off the side of my truck and taken it up there and walked off. We later found 16.5 inch and 15 inch tracks up there.

That is a good place. But the big fires, there were terrible big fires in, what was it, in 2020, and they've wiped out quite a bit of that habitat. There is, interestingly enough, there was a lake over the top of Thunder Mountain and down the, and this is at the base of Thunder Mountain, or part of the base of it. It's called Skookum Lake. Yes. Because Franzoni used to go there a lot, right? Oh, yeah, Franzoni.

Oh, yeah. Oh, my great friend, Henry Franzoni. Right, right. Anyway, he used to go up there. But there used to be a road in to the lake that's been since then. the Forest Service has deconstructed it, but that's a hard hike in over the top and then back up again. There's another crick in that area that's called Ogre, Cric.

Oh, wow. And it was a, it was a creek that was named by the surveyors that went up through there. You can only imagine what, and they were surveying for the timber companies, or the timber harvest, that this was when it was still virgin timber. And I interviewed a architect, a retired architect, and he told when he was a, he was a youth, and they walked into a place. called Round Lake, which was in the area. And about in the nighttime, before they went to bed, they saw a tree stump out in the water. Well, when they got up, the tree stump was gone. And one of the three of them was not feeling well.

So he stayed in camp. and one came around and started throwing rocks and raising hell and the other two were out in an inflatable raft and they came back in and he was all upset so they it was a long walk in and a long hike out and when they hiked out the Forest Service was there because the Forest Service lookout towers had spotted a fire, and they were pretty upset that these kids were building a fire up there.

So anyway, that's just another story. I don't want to bore your audience with too many stories, but when I started to get into this thing, I decided to make an acquaintance, and I was a regular correspondent with Mr. John Green. I met René DeHendon and Larry Lund's basement for two and a half hours, and he let us look through his projector, Steve and I

at the Bluff Creek film, his version of it. And neither one of us managed to get through, it was so vivid compared to what you see on TV that neither one of us managed to get through in two and a half hours all the way through the film, the frames. Renee was very interested in what we were doing. And he was very polite and very nice. I think his reputation was gained because if you insult anybody,

they're going to be unhappy with you. And I think to us, he couldn't have been more cordial and informative. And he wanted us to keep him advised. And to also come, he invited us up to his house in his trailer in in British Columbia John Green I have a nice thick file on John Green

and he wanted to know what we were doing and why there's a number of other people that that you can ask me about and I possibly know them. There's one person actually I do want to ask you specifically about. He's come up already

he was alluded to. So in your book you have a whole section of people in the back, the Clackamas Sasquatchians, which are the individuals that would, you guys would all hang out together or you would be doing research and you'd spend a certain amount of time out in the woods each year, correct? Yes. And to become a capture, a clachimus, that's squatchion, and it still holds true. You've got to spend 200 hours feet on the ground, not driving around. And all those people met that criteria. And Henry Franzoni was, he was a great friend of mine.

He was taken from us way too soon. I agree. That's actually who I was going to bring up. Do you have any stories or memories, you can share of maybe times you guys were out and you had something happen or anything like that? Oh, Henry and I were out numerous times, several times. And one thing that he told me about, and it happened to him and his girlfriend was he was up in the Mimulus, which means place of evil, according, and it was a,

I can't remember the dialect that translates into his place of evil. And the, he, he, he, he, he saw a, and I think he's documented this someplace.

He saw a syndical spaceship emerged from the rock. And I've been to this place. and it's a big rock wall. And it hovered over the forest for a little bit, and then departed to the southwest at a great rate of speed. And it had it, it was shaped somewhat like an ice cream cone,

and it had an orange flame, for lack of a better word, towards its rear end. Well, Henry, that caused Henry a great deal of interest. So he went back up there a couple more times. And he brought his wife along. And he came upon, one day he parked and he got out of his van. And he walked down the road. and he came upon a white vehicle, which was an unusual make, he said, and there were three people

around it. And two of them were men, slender men, dressed like men in black. And the third one was a slender woman in a red dress with bright red lipstick. but her face was pale. They indicated to him he did not hear them talk but they talked to him in his mind and they told him to get out of here now.

Now that is not the first time we've heard those words get out of here now. And he and his wife decided it was time to beat feet. So they went up to their van, and it was late in the day. And so they didn't want to drive out. So they spent the night there, and it was an unavitful night. But he told me that story at least three times, and it never waivers.

Absolutely. I think he's actually, I had him. on the show a few times, and I believe he shared almost the same exact thing, like the details are very, very, pretty much dead on. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I never have liked the Memelous, and I've gone through it, and I've walked the area in the daytime, but I've never camped there. I just, I just don't like the place.

one time Steve Kylie and I before he unfortunately passed I have a I have a real bad tendency

to associate with people that passed too early he and I went up to to the to the clackamas the up there

the metal the colo-worse drainage and he he and I separated and we were going up Pete Crick and Rush Crick I think it was I can't remember the other name. Pete Crick is one on

and we were separated from each other it was May and we were out of shouting distance but we were going up to an upper logging road and then making a circle back to the truck on a logging road. We were gone about 15 or 20 minutes

and I came out of the forest and I had my 357 on and a water bottle and I took off my web belt and tossed it in the back

of the truck and here comes Steve off of off of his, it was like a big V. And we were down at the basin of V. And he comes out of the forest and tosses his, he was carrying a 4570, a Marlin, I think it was.

And he puts it behind the seat. And we get in the truck and we drive off and we drive all the way past, Ripplebrook, all the way past Ripplebrook, about 12 miles. And then he says, did you hear anything up there? And I go, yeah, something told me to leave here now. And he said, that's what it told me. leave here now. And we didn't say another word. We didn't, we were to ask a Kada and stopped and got a bottle of pop or something.

Before we even said another word, it was, it was, it was, it was stunning. It was startling. And we went back up there. Sorry, go ahead. We went back up. What, go ahead. Oh, I just wanted to clarify real quick. So did you hear that verbally out loud or was that telepathically inside your head?

No, it was in, it was in my mind. Wow. And it was in his mind, too. He did not hear it verbally out loud. And then we went back up there and we found some 16-inch tracks. And they were accompanied by about 12-inch tracks. So we think that was a possible birthing area. I told my acquaintance at the Forest Service about it,

and he says, I don't want to hear the word Bigfoot, but he says, what we'll do is if, I said, he asked me, is that a calving area for elk? And I go, yes, it is. And about two weeks later, they dug one of those big trenches to keep people out of the road that they put in. And anyway, down below that, we in our Kylie and and Oli and I, we decided we would get a skin sample. And what we did was we got some, put a, stapled some hardware wire inside, cut it, and bed it, and stapled it inside of a five-gallon bucket and put in all kinds of goodies in a five-gallon bucket, like spam and whatever. and drilled holes in the bottom of it

so that the lettuce and that kind of stuff would drain out. And we ran it up the tree. We hung it up. I used some PVC piping and made a... We used it several times. A way to put bags up. a tree hanging up. And then we got to thinking about it, you know, these are our friends.

And I talked to Cliff and he goes, you know, I really feel, I mean, if you scratch somebody that much, you might get them infected. And we didn't want that. So after about a week, I went back up there about five or six days and retrieved the bucket. and sure enough around the bottom of the bucket and with some of the stuff taken out of it was about 16 and a half inch tracks and then there was a game trail

that went up a ridge up to the upper coral wash and those tracks went up that ridge and that's where and that ridge led to where Steve and

I heard the words inside our head leave here now. So I'm glad we took that down. I'm also glad we took it down because the Forest Service law enforcement officer, they thought we were planting marijuana up there. And they'd taken to, when we came through Estaceta, my truck, they had an informant group and once in a while they would follow us up there or me up there or whatever

and they had found the bucket and found the tracks the law enforcement officer told me about it in fact he gave me a report what he did was he was talking to me at the filling station there in Estu- data. And I had my map out, and he was getting ready to retire. And he says, if I were you,

this is where I would look for him. And he circled it so hard. He made it circle so hard that he made it circle so hard that it indented in the paint of my Toyota. And it was about the upper memelose. And that's where Henry Franzoni saw the flying saucer or the flying cigar and had the boat run in with the men in black. Oh, absolutely bizarre. And then he said, he says, watch the bind shafts. And he said, I go up and eat my lunch and watch the mine shafts with my monoculars. and I said, well, where is that mine shaft? He said, well, you should know roughly where it is.

And he said, the ground around it is all smoothed out and pat it down. And the grass and ferns are patted down. He says, I think they live inside that entrance to the mine. And sure enough on Dickie, peaks, which you can easily find them on the map. There is a number of mines. Do not go up there. Those shafts are still open.

And the Forest Service tried to blast a bunch of them shut, but they're still open, and you fall down one of those shafts, you are dead. I mean, that's as simple as that. So you can go up there and look for the, the mine shafts, but you better do it by binocular. Absolutely. I want to jump in for a minute because I think this would be a good time to say it is the Oregon Bigfoot Highway, and you write about this in the beginning of your book, it is a thing

where you don't really take it lightly at all. You need to make sure you have replaced spare tire, plenty of extra gas in a can. Like, you have to be ready for the worst possible thing to happen if you go out in the into this territory? Yes, I'll give you an exact example of that. I used to go out quite a bit by myself and spend the night out because I think they liked it. They like a single human being.

And I was up on, oh, what the heck was that mountain? way it was it was it's about an hour and a half outside Estaceto and I went up there and and I was fully prepared and the wind started blowing this is just one example and the wind became a howling fit and I had a Brutton wind indicator which which means you held it up in the wind. And it was about 66 to 70 miles an hour. Oh, boy. And it was a terrible storm.

And I backed up, clear up underneath the trees, and the limbs were flying off. And I was, I didn't want not want a limb to, I backed in so that if a limb came in, it would come in through the rear of the truck, hopefully and avoid me. And the next morning I got up and there was so many blowdowns that it was a wonderful experience. But I mean, the wind was just, I have been in a hurricane, two hurricanes, when I was in the Marine Corps and Navy.

And the wind was like that. And there were trees down every place. And I ended up coming out down by Detroit because of the fallen trees. Wow. And it took me most of the day to get home. That's just one example, but that was a, that was a, amazing windstorm. Joe, that's absolutely incredible. It's a great example of how you really don't mess around when you go and there are any of the wooded areas of Oregon, for that matter.

I want to take a little detour in the last part of our interview together. I've been talking to a gentleman on the show a few times now, and you've come up. His name is Gary Allen and I'm sure. Yeah, right. And so I was going to see if we would get here. I'm just going to launch right into it. So he's got some really interesting stories. And we'll say it's around the Mount Hood area.

And he just told me one. This is actually yesterday. And he told me, man, you've had some really interesting things happen in this area that you guys are researching around Malhood. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. His wife has horses. Right. And this is a third time I've run into this.

Actually, Banyanov's book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Banyanoff in the footsteps of the Russian snowman, there's a farmer in Russia, whose horses were getting, their mains were being braided. And he stayed up in his hayloft one night. And one of these things came in in Al Mastie and braided, and the horses stood still and they braided their hair. Wow.

I was walking one night. I went for a long walk. I recommend this if you're knowing how to do it. walking at night, carry a flashlight, but don't turn it on unless you absolutely have to. There's a technique for walking at night.

And I use it. And I walked, believe it or not, one mile away from our camp, it takes about an hour and a half one way. I was gone about three hours. And the other guys, I told them, who was along with me?

Oh, David and one other fellow. Anyway, I told him about this tree struck, and then one followed me back and followed me back all the way to camp. And then in the morning, it had stomped around, man had slept in a tent with a vent, on the top, like the guy up in Skooka Meadows. And the other fellow, he believed in the little people, but I've been told by at least three different Native Americans

that what we're looking for is the wrong thing, that the little people are much more numerous, but you've got to be where they're at. And this fellow that was with us, he managed to stay awake all night long. He said the little people came out about three things, 30 in the morning. Anyway, we went back up to the place where I described it in the moonlight.

And sure enough, it was about a mile away. And then we went on further, and we stopped at a horse camp. And they were getting ready to leave. And I was curious because it was a middle of the week. And I was curious about it. And they said, and one of the women said, I just want to get out of here. And she says, and something's coming into our camp at night, and it's braiding the hair of our horses. And I took pictures of it.

And sure enough, here's this, and it wasn't wind braids, it was braiding. Gary Allen, his wife has horses, and she brings. them and she rides them and they've had horse braids at least two times when we're up there at least okay and Gary Gary rides an electric bike and he has seen them at least three times in that area I have camped up there by myself and I've heard him smashing around and crossing their Crick, but I haven't personally seen one myself. There's a humorous story about Peter Byrne. Peter Byrne managed to get a lot of money from several, from a couple of sponsors.

And they set up a real high tech at the time, a transmitting station and got permission in Bull Run to set up cameras. Whoa. And they didn't get, and oh, this is, this is well documented. And they didn't get anything. Well, on the way out, they had an Indian, a Native American that worked up there and with him. And he worked at the Bull Run Reservation too for the watershed. And he says, they put their, they put their,

stuff in the wrong in the wrong canyon the the creatures you want live in the next canyon over but nobody asked me nobody asked me I mean if you

if you've got a Native American around and you don't ask them questions and if they will answer you you you're very very foolish. Oh, absolutely. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's just a, that's a Peter Byrd story. Right. Exactly. No, Gary, to ask you specifically about something, Gary had told me about how you were in a tent and you ended up becoming paralyzed or you couldn't move because of something that happened right outside your tent.

Yeah, that was, um, um, um, um, That happened, and I don't know what happened. Okay. But I could not move. I woke up and I was awake and I could see moonlight through the tent because it was, I didn't put up a rainfly because we didn't need one. And I just couldn't move. and that's not the first time that that's happened.

I've had several other people report it to me. In the same area or just across the board? In the same area and across the board. Okay, gotcha. Yep. Yeah. Wow. Gary, Gary, boy, what he does, though, I've started up that trail and I don't want anything to do with, I'm 78.

I was starting, I was 75 when I started going over there with him. Yeah. Maybe 74. And I don't want to, I've been partly up to that trail and it gets, it gets darn nasty. And she rides it up and training her horse, but they do, they do long distance rides. Do you have any advice for people that are solo camping in an area and wanting to have Bigfoot interaction? Well, you've got to go to the same place repeatedly.

That's the most important thing. And you got to, in my opinion, you have to sleep during the day and stay up at night. And you also have to have a fire. Now, if you don't have a fire, I've got one of those propane fire boxes. That's legal. to use up there. But they like to see a fire. I can go on and I can go on about that.

But those are the things. What happened to me was I used to go up by myself. Sharon was traveling. She was a CPA and she would travel. And I would tell Tom Powell or somebody, Gary or whoever it might be, that we're going up. up the mountain today and i'd tell them roughly where i was going so that somebody had know and obviously i wanted to go by myself but one day tom called and charred answered the phone and she says

she says i thought i thought you were camping with joe this tonight or a couple nights and um tom goes oops Yeah, right. And then Sharon, Sharon got really excited and I was going up by myself. So I think one year I made it to 13 nights by myself. My goodness, dude. That's incredible. And that wind night that I described, I was by myself. Wow.

It's really neat because, I like to go to where the night hawks fly. And what they do is people often confuse them with screaming big foots. But it's really the nighthawks fly and get these big insects that they eat. And it's their wings going subsonic flapping in the dive. and it's a very wonderful thing. Cornell University, Mulcahy Library of Animal Sounds.

I cannot encourage your guests more to learn, to listen to those sounds. You need to know what's going on at night. And the way to do that is to listen to animal sounds, and most of those animal sounds were taking, by master's degree students, biologists, and so they're verifiable. And you can listen to the Nighthawk thunder. Anyway, I like to go up, and I like to see the sunrise on Mount Hood or wherever it might be.

It's very, very calming. Absolutely. That's great advice about being familiar with the animal and bird sounds in your area. Let me repeat that one more time. Okay. Cornell University, Mokehe Library of Animal Sounds, if you want to be a big footer, you've got to study those sounds. 100%. In my opinion.

100%. But one last question for you, Joe, and thank you so much for spending your time today. when you are out there by yourself doing a solo Bigfoot-focused expedition trip, are you more a person that is just quiet the whole time out there? Or there's some individuals where they're like, you want to make a lot of noise, you want to be laughing, you want to be listening to music, and that's what brings them in. The people that make real loud noises,

I disagree with that because it breaks up the piece in the night. A little bit of music is fine. I've got some recordings from Tibet, bunks chatting. I had a loud speaker, battery powered, and I would play that, but not too excessive amounts. laughter is good. Trust me, if you hear a bunch of kids laughing and you're out in the forest, you better pay attention because those kids are not kids. They're not a medium school group. Okay.

And I, I know one fellow that goes out and yells and screams. and shoots his rifle and blah, blah, blah. And he claims to have called him in every once in a while. And they show up at their rim of the, he goes to a certain rock quarry. Rock quarries are your friends because they can stand, they can look down upon you. And I got about 100 rock quarry stories. and I think there's a couple in my book too. Yeah, there are, definitely.

That's a good call out, though, for sure. Joe, what a fascinating conversation. I want to also remind listeners, if they don't already know, you are planned to be, as of right now, one of the speakers at Sasquatch Summerfest, correct? Yes. I enjoy that Don Monroe

and M.K. Davis are going to show up and I rate them as good friends. They're really cool guys. I think Tom Powell's going to go. I don't know for sure. That's awesome. That's really cool. That would be fun to meet him.

I will also be there. I'll be one of the speakers this year as well. Oh, good, good. So that will be a fun time. Hey, you never know who you'll you'll meet at these things, right? But Joe, what a fun conversation. Guys, if you don't, listeners, if you don't have Joe's book yet,

the Oregon Bigfoot Highway, please, please, please get a copy of it. Best way to do that is on Amazon, Joe, or what do you think? Best way to do it's Amazon. It's been a pleasure, really. I really enjoyed this today, so thank you very much. Yes, sir. Thank you for sharing your. knowledge you gained over the years and we will be in touch and uh and thank you so much for being on

the show again okay talk to you later you got it joe