11-5-21

 Location: Gifford National Forest (Lowlands)

 Current Conditions: Light snow with a steady wind

I’ve decided to move my camp down into the forested valleys below as winter weather takes hold over these mountains, priorities have shifted from the furthering of human knowledge to the more pressing needs of shelter, fire and food. I plan to continue research efforts from this new location once these necessities have been met. I will also fashion some snowshoes once camp has been established to make travel less taxing. Perhaps some ski’s as well if I can find the right material. As I transport my equipment down the mountain, the flurries of snow greatly reduced visibility but I made decent time following my own trackway back and forth. Still, the claustrophobic environment created by these conditions certainly accentuates my feelings of loneliness which is the lot of the solitary fieldworker. As necessary as this might be towards successful Sasquatch research it’s still a burden. Food is growing scarce and I’m down to my last handful of Pringles despite my adherence to strict wilderness discipline which dictates severe rationing of vital supplies. This means yet another sojourn into town before winter makes the journey too difficult.

11-8-21

Location: Lower Forest of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Current Conditions: Below freezing and cloudy but no precipitation.

 The past few days I have focused on shelter building which has left me exhausted due to the extreme cold and constant physical activity. It’s frustrating having to manage body temperature to avoid the dangers inherent in sweating. I waste precious minutes of construction on donning or removing layers of clothing. These conditions also require a slow but steady work rate which further restricts progress. Thankfully I can get all the drinking water I need by melting snow which saves the time spent walking to the nearest creek. However, one must exercise precision in the placement of one’s camp latrine area so as to not accidentally “recycle” the body’s waste. Some might laud the health benefits of urine intake, but I can’t vouch for scientific accuracy of such claims (or the flavor for that matter). 

11-10-21

The dampening effect that snow has on sound renders my nights eerily quiet. So quiet that sleep often escapes me. When I do sleep my dreams are often starkly vibrant and feel akin to what some refer to as an out-of-body experience rather than the mind attempting to interpret primitive raw human emotion by placing it into a context we might understand. Last night I dreamed of Sasquatch. In my dream, I was slogging through the heavy snow wrapped in a bear pelt and wearing a beaver hat. I could see a set of large humanoid tracks ahead of me but the blizzard-like conditions constantly threatened to render them invisible. Having passed through a thick section of forest I stumbled out into a clearing and not 15 yards ahead stood a magnificent specimen of an adult Gigantopithecus Blacki. He turned beckoning me as I attempted to sprint forward through the high snow drifts having sighted the quarry, I have pursued for so many years. His massive stride made it difficult to keep up, but I was able to just keep him in sight. After what felt like hours of climbing higher and higher up the mountainside, I found him waiting for me at the entrance to a large cave. I stumbled in my dream exhausted but he held out his hand and pulled me up, helping me over the threshold. The interior was pitch black, but the Sasquatch moved through the darkness unerringly which is to be expected of a primarily nocturnal species. After some time, I could see a light which could only mean we’d passed through and were about to emerge from some deep and unknown cavern. I was at first blinded by the light but once my eyes had adjusted, they were treated to an amazing spectacle. Bright sunlight fell upon a lush valley, a mixture of fruit trees, elms, maples, and massive Redwoods, a beautifully clear slow-moving river bisected the valley which was ringed in on all sides by majestic snow-covered mountain peaks. Hundreds of Sasquatch littered the flower-strewn banks of the river. Hirsute families, foraged, gambled, and played with wild abandon throughout the scene.

Tears sprang from my eyes, and I looked up towards my hairy companion towering over me and spoke “Thank you, brother! My heart is full to bursting, all these long years of academic rejection and solitude are now but the shadow of dark dreaming”. Overcome with emotion I swooned. I awoke in my bivy sack alone in the darkness, a shrill and biting wind moving through the trees outside my shelter. The tears of my dreams then turned real as I sobbed loudly into my pillow.

As I trudged my way into lucidity, praying for the sunrise to bring welcome rays of sunshine, it occurred to me that my dream was so profound that it could only mean one thing: it was planted in my mind by Sasquatch himself. It is well-documented that Sasquatch is adept at telepathy. It is the mind of a Sasquatch that I am most personally afraid of. Their physical stature can be overcome but their mind tricks are of a particularly nefarious nature.

In the opening moments of the new day, I found that my jet boil had frozen solid and the creek had frozen over so much that it was impossible to penetrate the ice to obtain fresh water. Subsequently, I was forced to drink my own urine, a procedure I adamantly hoped to avoid. Not to be deterred, I was oddly optimistic. Sasquatch mind manipulation is a phenomenon of proximity. His brain is like a wifi router and as with any wifi signal, one must be close to receive his thoughts, no matter how unwelcome they are.

After hydrating with a tumbler of urine which was flavored with Vienna sausages and Pringles, I went to search for traces of my quarry. It is good to focus one’s mind on a task, any task when faced with challenges from the environment. In my case, it was my life’s work: finding Bigfoot. Within 30 minutes, EUREKA! A TRACK. The enormous tracks, pictured below were approximately 20 yards from my campsite.