Happy Halloween - Bigfoot Jack-O-Lantern 2011

Here's the latest original creation... Goes back a few years as a Halloween tradition in this household.

Hope you enjoy it!


Have a FUN, safe and exciting Halloween!!



the white light version...

Finding Bigfoot - Behind the Scenes with Bob Gimlin

(End of the day group photo in Bluff Creek with the "Finding Bigfoot" team.)


"Finding Bigfoot: Birth of a Legend" aired last night and I'm finally able to share some of the photos I took while there for two days of shooting. It was an entertaining romp with the four cast members as they explored the forests around that area. The eyewitness accounts were good..The scenery was great to see if you have been to that area. Bob Gimlin, Al Hodgson and the 2 sons of Jerry Crew were all part of the show - as well as a quick glimpse of Paul and I playing songs at a campfire.


Here are a few of the behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot that took place last August. The town hall meeting was held Wednesday, August 10, 2011. The Onion Lake campfire scene was taped on Friday, August 12, 2011 and Bob Gimlin returned to Bluff Creek on Wednesday, August 17, 2011. I was contracted by the production company to travel to Yakima, Washington and back to Bluff Creek with Bob. That was great! Paul Graves was involved in the production of the show so that allowed us to be taped playing our music, too. Bobo pushed to have the music involved and I want to thank him for that. A classic version of "Jerry Crew (He Knew What To Do) was not used, but that's how it goes with TV production... The song you saw us playing at the campfire was Paul's ballad, "Jim Henry."


BEHIND THE SCENES WITH "FINDING BIGFOOT"



(Bobo holds up the Crew Family's epic memento - their father's bigfoot cast and front page article in the box frame.)




(Here I am with Jerry Crew's sons, Wade and John, holding the frame with the historic footprint cast and newspaper article.)



(The most exciting item of the night - a note on a brown paper bag from Bob Titmus to Jerry Crew - left on his bulldozer with a bag of plaster - instructing Jerry to make a cast of the best footprints. Heretofore unknown to the bigfoot research community - this historic item with a hand-drawn map by Jerry Crew for Bob Titmus to find his road construction site where the footprints were.)



(posing with our guitars after the campfire performance - Paul and me.)




(Behind the scenes photo of the cast and crew of "Finding Bigfoot" interviewing Bob Gimlin on the road above Bluff Creek.)




(The Lone Ranger rides again - Bobo on horseback strikes a pose.)




(Bob Gimlin on horseback riding down the spur road to Bluff Creek. Paul walking down to right.)




(My "lucky shot" of Bobo's PG Film re-enactment... Frame 352 all over again!




(The scene of taping with Bob Gimlin in Bluff Creek, August 17, 2011.)




(Paul at the Patterson-Gimlin Film site on Bluff Creek. Click on the photo to see the larger version and the action going on in the background.)




(The helicopter arrives late in the day. The aerial footage of Bluff Creek, the Trinity River gorge between Hoopa and Weitchpec and roads in the Six Rivers National Forest was exciting to see.)



(Erika with the clapper board - end of the day down in Bluff Creek with Bob Gimlin.)

Bluff Creek 2011 - 5 Day Journey into Bigfoot Country

("I can see for miles and miles..." overlooking Bluff Creek on a beautiful summer morning.)


The annual summer trip to Bluff Creek was planned for August 10 through the 14th. Terry Smith and I had been talking over an outing since our trip in May to the central Sierras. We decided to move on Bluff Creek as much of that area is only open from early Summer until late Fall. Then Mother Nature closes things off for next 7 months.


(Posing with a Willow Creek, CA landmark - Jim McClarin's Ohmah statue).



We were looking forward to camping with Terry's daughter, Amanda and her friend. That would make a nice mix and add our friend Brian to that on Friday and Saturday and we were looking good for 5 days near the backcountry of Bluff Creek.



(The 25 foot tall redwood carving welcomes you to the Willow Creek-China Flat Musuem and its unrivaled bigfoot footprint cast exhibit.)



After a long first day of travel, we stayed in Willow Creek, California at the Bigfoot Motel. This would allow us to tour the Willow Creek-China Flat Museum the next morning and meet up with Al Hodgson for lunch. Glad we did as we would not have seen him when we came out tired and beat on Sunday.




(We enjoyed spending time with Willow Creek's bigfoot ambassador Al Hodgson.)




(The Jerry Crew story is explained in this display. The bulldozer operator who brought out the first footprint cast in 1958 and coined the word "bigfoot."
As we say in our tribute song title, "Jerry Crew - He Knew What To Do"!)




After a restful evening and an exciting tour of the museum, we heading into the Bluff Creek area by following Highway 96 north through the towns of Hoopa and Weitchpec, and into Orleans, California. There we took the REAL bigfoot scenic byway - the G-O Road! - and started the 30 mile odyssey up and down and up the irregular pavement into the heart of bigfoot country.



(You know you've arrived at the end of the G-O Road when you see this sight. Rock formations stand watch over upper Blue Creek.)



We camped for 3 nights at the headwaters of Blue Creek on the edge of the Siskiyou Wilderness. During our stay, we took day long excursions to Bluff Creek, Onion Lake and hiked up to Flatiron Lake along Elk Hole Trail.


Our day at Bluff Creek was a new adventure since they decommissioned the lower mile of the old access road. We hiked down to the old parking area near the bat box and explored around the creek in both directions. We didn't get very far as a new landslide across the stream blocked our way and getting around through the dense foliage along the creek was difficult. We hiked out and were glad to have seen the canyon bottom this summer.




(The rock slide completely blocks the road this year. You skirt past it and on down into Bluff Creek.)



(Bluff Creek - the canyon is more overgrown than ever.)





(It's a beautiful vista over the upper Bluff Creek drainage from the G-O Road.)





(We had a great campsite at the north end of Elk Valley.)




(We drove over to Onion Lake by way of Lonesome Ridge Road. Got there at dusk and ran into the tv production crew working on a popular bigfoot show.)




(Paul Graves was there and we had the chance to play through a bunch of our bigfoot songs. That was great!)


The next day we hiked up to Flatiron Lake - our grand adventure for the trip - as we had never been that far out of the valley on the trail into the wilderness. It was HOT and we enjoyed taking a quick swim in the lake. We met some great folks who were camping there and shared their little rocky beachfront with us.





(Flatiron Lake in the Siskyou Wilderness, Six Rivers National Forest.)




(The view as we headed back to camp was spectacular. Glad we made the effort to come see this area this year.)



(A great side view of Turtle Rock from the trail back to camp.)



(Campmates Brian and Terry - cooking up another gourmet camp meal. We sometimes feel bad that we're eating better in the field than we do at home!)




On the last night, Brian and I were in camp for a few hours along as night fell. We had some unusual sounds around camp after dark. A distant call-back from the edge of the wilderness and a couple of loud rock clacks, too. In the middle of the night, we awoke to strange knocking sounds - turned out to be the weird noise of a deer coughing! The next day we ended our trip into the Bluff Creek country - four days in country and full of great experiences.



(One more chance to play guitars and sing our songs together. Wenatchee, Washington meets Pleasanton, California - Paul & myself playing one more set of songs...until we meet again!)




(The Klamath River looking upstream near Somes Bar, California from Hwy 96. Some beautiful country to be found along the Bigfoot Scenic Biway.)



There was more to come for me as I headed out on the secret mission of the summer.


More about that on October 31st.

From California to the New York Island

Hello friends, family and those who stop by Bigfootsongs.com from time to time!
It's been a while since I've posted any news, photos or accounts of my summer activities... Now that we're a month into Fall and almost done with the camping season, I'll post some photos from my summer travels.

Things got interesting in August but I was not allowed to publicly comment on the
content of that trip - because it involved the production of a television episode due to air very soon. As soon as it does air, I can post behind-the-scenes photos and discuss our involvement. That just's an excuse, really. Overall it's been a very good summer. Hope you all are doing well and I look forward to posting a bit more frequently in the coming weeks. see you! - Tom




(Times Square, New York City...hot time, summer in the city.)



(our after-dinner walk with 5,000 other people...)



(Jim & Linda's cute Calico "Annie" - keeping watch out the window.)



(Family & friends gather to remember our good friend, Ed "Shasta" Bates in New Milford, Connecticut.)



(a tribute in song - "may you build a ladder to the stars, and climb on every rung, And may you stay... Forever Young!")




(stopping by my dad's childhood home in Tuckahoe - Chuck "planking" at Grandma and Grandpa's house.)




(Atlantic Ocean sunrise - heading home at dawn from JFK Int'l Airport.)




(A few weeks later and we're tooling up old Highway 96 into Orleans, California... riding on the Bigfoot Highway!)