Three friends were fulfilling the first item on their bucket list: catch and release California's state fish, the endangered Golden Trout. They enjoyed a full day of fishing in the spectacular Cottonwood Lakes Basin at South Fork Lakes in the Golden Trout Wilderness. This high Sierra wonderland of granite basins, small lakes, ancient & rare Foxtail Pines and Golden Trout was everything had anticipated. They retired to their tents after a backpacker's meal of ramen noodles and slept well after their high elevation hike and day of fishing. No campfires above 10,500 feet in the Golden Trout Wilderness - this location was approx. 11,400 feet above sea level.
One of the three got out of his tent at 11:30 p.m. and surveyed the moonlit basin around the lake. It was a bright, full moon night on September 19th beneath the Harvest Moon. He found a nearby tree to relieve himself and that's when the encounter of a lifetime began. Unknown to Russ, our eyewitness, he was about to check off a 2nd item on his bucket list - one they had not originally written into the script. He was about to witness an 8 foot tall, bipedal, hair covered creature striding right by his camp on its way to the lake. Here is his report.
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Cirque Lake near South Fork Lakes
- a good example of the setting in this area
Photo copyright Seth Smigelski |
Late
night sighting at remote Sierra Nevada lake in Golden Trout Wilderness
Date: September 19, 2013
Reported: September 20, 2013 to Inyo National Forest district office in Lone Pine, CA. (Forwarded to a friend in the
BLM who sent me the report.)
County: Inyo
Nearest Town: Lone Pine, California
Nearest Road: Whitney Portal Rd. to Horseshoe Meadows Road
Directions: We
backpacked to South Fork Lakes from Cottonwood Lakes Basin trailhead camp. It is a
rigorous hike that took us nearly 5 hours.
Narrative:
I
was camping at South Fork Lake on a golden trout fishing trip. On Thursday
September 19th at 11:30 p.m., I went out of my tent to relieve myself
and saw “a very tall being” 7-8 feet tall, forehead sloped back, appeared to
have no clothing, walked with long strides, walked stooped over, bent legs,
long arms; walked easily over rough terrain. It was not very hairy like
sasquatches are usually described, but rather appeared smooth-skinned, with a
build resembling that of a basketball player i.e. tall, well-muscled, slender.
The creature did not see me; it came down from crest of hill and walked down to
lake; then I lost sight of it. Somewhat backlit by moonlight;
silhouetted. I checked with other campers in area and none were as tall as
what I observed. I looked for tracks; didn’t find any. I estimated the
height using a 5-foot boulder that it walked behind and it was much taller than
the boulder. I was convinced it wasn’t a human because of the sloping forehead
and long arms, but mostly by the fact that it moved so smoothly and easily
through a boulder field.
Other witnesses:
No
Other stories: No
Conditions: Full
moon (Harvest moon) in sparse conifer forest around lake edge in granite bowl. Clear, cool night.
Investigator comments:
I spoke with the witness by phone on September 25,
2013. He recounted his sighting and I
have the following details to add.
As he stated above, he had exited his tent to relieve
himself and was standing quietly near a tree when the creature appeared over
the crest of the hill near his camp. It did not appear to notice him and strode
purposefully toward the lake. He was
approximately 30 yards from the subject as it walked past.
The witness told me he was not scared but did not want to
startle the creature. He was in awe of what he was seeing. As he stated in the
narrative, he did not think the subject was human due to its height, arm length
and the ease with which it walked through difficult terrain. He observed it as
it walked nearly 100 yards towards the lake. It did not make any sound and no
odor was detected.
Regarding its color and hair, the witness stated it was
not covered in long hair and the lighting of the moon may have masked a coat of
short hair. He stated it was light colored in the moonlight – possibly grey –
but it may have been black. The head sloped back similar to an ape. And, as
stated above, the arms were extremely long, hanging down almost to the knees.
An experienced outdoorsman, the witness had an impulse to
make contact with the creature but worried about how it might react if it was
startled. He returned to his tent and
sat in the doorway with the tent flap open listening for any sounds. He was
concerned about another camper who was situated down the lakeshore from them in
the direction that the creature headed. No sounds or disturbances were heard
and he returned to his sleeping bag after sitting and listening for 30 minutes.
No one else camping with him
(2 friends) nor the other people at the lake (2 other backpackers) reported
seeing anything.
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South Fork Lakes
- view across from where they camped.
It gives you a good idea of the sparse confers and boulders
along the lake edge.
Photo by B. Rowley |
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The tree the witness stood next to during
his sighting.
A beautiful, ancient Foxtail Pine.
Photo by B. Rowley |
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Eyewitness Russ and a mule deer on the hike to
South Fork Lakes.
Photo by B. Rowley |
This came to my attention by way of a friend who is a career fire manager with the BLM. His acquaintances in the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service forwarded the report to him after the eyewitness called the Lone Pine, California office of the Inyo National Forest. I contacted the witness who lives in the SF Bay Area and wet talked on the phone twice before meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss his sighting. Russ is a retired law enforcement officer, former career Marine and an avid outdoorsman. What impressed me about Russ is how good of an observer he is - the detail and recollection of what he saw that night was exact and not bent on embellishment. He realized what an exciting and rare encounter he had experienced and was compelled to alert others to the existence of this elusive species we call bigfoot and sasquatch.
