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I was hiking southbound on the Appalachian Trail from Snickers Gap toward Ashby Gap in

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late October.

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That's shoulder season.

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We fall cold creek water and nights that start earlier than you'd like.

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I'd aimed for rod hollow shelter because it sits just far enough off the white blazes

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to feel quiet, and because the roller coasters ups sure do give your legs a hard workout.

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I just needed a roof and the three-sided windbreak for the night, and rod hollow shelter fit

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the bill.

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I reached the spur trail near dusk.

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The last of the sunlight was fading, and the woods around me had already gone of steel

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blue color.

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Rod hollow appeared only when I was almost on top of it.

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The shelter is made of thick planks making three sides to it with a stone firing in the

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front.

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Not another soul was there when I arrived.

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I did exactly what I always do.

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I get my water first.

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There was a nearby stream, and I went down and filtered up two liters of water.

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Then I gathered up a couple small arm loads of dead and down limbs, making sure to get

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the non-smokey pieces.

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Dinner that night was a boil in the bag, freeze-dried meal, and a couple cups of instant coffee.

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I ate, sitting with my feet out towards the coals.

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The wind was light that evening.

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When the light was almost gone outside, I packed all the smellable things, the food, the

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trash, even my toothpaste.

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All of it got packed into a dry bag.

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I tied my clean cord, and walked the spur a little further past the shelter up to the

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bare pole that was tucked behind a screen of saplings.

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It was out of sight for my shelter.

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Exactly as most are at the older sites, I could barely make out the pole in the last

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of the ambient light as I finished tying it up.

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The bag went up cleanly.

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I checked the knot twice, and I walked back in the dark, my headlamp on low so I could see.

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I banked the fire to a saucer of good coals, rolled out my pad and bag in the shelter,

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and put out my necessities.

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That would be my bear spray where my hand would naturally fall, even in the darkness.

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Made sure I had my whistle on a lanyard around my neck, and a small headlamp that I tucked

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into a shirt pocket so I didn't fumble for it at night.

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I left my hatchet over in the corner.

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To me, that was a tool, not a backup plan.

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I got in my bag, zipped up, and got ready for sleep.

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The trickle of the creek far in the distance gave off a kind of white noise that helped

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me drift off fast.

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But then I was awakened.

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It took a second because I didn't know what had woke me up.

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But I knew less than a second later when I heard the metal rattlesound in the darkness.

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It was faint, but I knew what it was.

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It was the chain tapping against the metal pole somewhere behind the saplings.

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That would be my bag on the bear pole.

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My eyes opened to blackness.

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The fire had gone down to ash and coals.

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I pomed the headlamp on, but I kept it on low.

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In woods like these late at night, high lumens, they don't buy you much in the way of real

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sight.

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It just becomes a white wall, tin paces out from you.

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The metal clinking came again.

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This time it was a little bit of a different pitch and a little faster, like the tension

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on the chain had been changed.

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Then there was a pause, and I heard nothing.

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So I'm telling myself, probably a raccoon that somehow managed to climb the pole and was

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trying to get to my bag.

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Then I thought, maybe it's a bear, but that didn't feel right either.

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Not that I could see it.

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The pole was way out of sight around a slight bend in the saplings, and I wasn't going

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to go investigate.

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I was content to let it go.

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I lay there quiet in the dark and listened.

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The chain stopped clinking, and after a few minutes I almost drifted off again.

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Then suddenly I heard the metal rattling again, clinking and banging furiously, close together

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and sound, like something was getting frustrated.

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Then I heard a few light clanks as if something had just let go of the chain, and it was beginning

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to settle back into place.

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Well, I thought, I hope they're done with it and move on.

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I closed my eyes again, waiting to fall back to sleep, only to pop them open to pure darkness

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just a few seconds later.

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It was unmistakable.

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Footsteps coming directly towards the shelter area.

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I picked up the two-footed rhythm in the steps, and that made me sit upright.

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I thought, maybe this was some trail tramp, as I called them, there are homeless people

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that live out there along the trail.

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And they pretty much survived by stealing from camping hikers.

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I didn't have more time to really process what was happening, or I would have had a list

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of things that made that, not the likely choice.

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But I was groggy, tired, exhausted, it was dark, and I was just going with what I heard,

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which was a two-footed footstep.

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I followed the sound of the steps in the darkness.

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They stayed out far enough that I couldn't see them, that I heard them circling off to the

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side of the shelter.

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Then they came to the corner of the front, where the shelter opening opened wide.

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I rotated the safety quietly on the bear spray, then turned the can to face the opening.

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If anyone or anything tried to come in, I wanted that blisteringly spicy deterrent between

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me and them.

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Just beyond the shelter opening, the fire had been burned down to low coals that threw

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very little light, just a few feet from it, and it was low to the ground and hard to see.

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I kept my eyes fixed at the corner where I heard the footstep stop.

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If anything stepped around the corner of the shelter, I should be able to see it from

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the low coal light.

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I pombed the headlamp on again, and I held it off to my left and down so I could see

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out the front of the shelter, but it was ready if I needed to light someone up.

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I was expecting a person.

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The shape of a person.

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But what edged around the corner was a wall of darkness bigger than I expected.

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For a half second I guessed a large bear was standing there on its hind legs.

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But why would it do that?

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Well, truth is, I hadn't thought that far.

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I raised the headlamp and I shined it at the shelter entrance on that side.

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Holy smokes!

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I caught a glimpse of dark peltzer fur, the darkened outline of an arm, and a shoulder

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and just the flash of eyes.

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I can't say I really saw the face as a whole.

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It was all too fast for that.

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But I know the flash of eyes I saw were front and forward set on the face.

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Now set on the sides, like most animals in the woods.

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As soon as the light hit it, it pulled back around the side of the shelter.

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I had to blink twice to make sure I was awake, and I was...

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What I saw was something that wasn't supposed to be there.

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It wasn't supposed to be anywhere as far as I was concerned.

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There was a flash of wondering if someone was pranking me.

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But instantly I knew they weren't.

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What I had seen was far too real and far too solid for anyone to be playing with me.

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I held my breath for a few seconds, waiting to see what was going to happen.

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If anything, it stood there quietly, and I could just grab a hint of what I think was a

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leg and a foot that stuck out beyond the corner of the shelter, and it was low lit from the

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coals and the low light of my headlamp pointed downward.

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I wasn't imagining it, and I wasn't dreaming.

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Something very large was standing just outside the entrance to the shelter.

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As if to confirm it, I heard it breathe.

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And there was a strange thank-click with the breathing.

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I don't know if it was teeth or tongue.

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It made that noise several times in a row quickly, maybe six or seven times, more than just

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three or four I know.

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Was it trying to communicate with me?

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But I know more than thought that than I had the chilling thought that maybe it wasn't

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me, it was communicating with, maybe there was more than one of them out there.

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Easy, I said to it quietly.

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For some reason I was treating this similar to a bear.

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I truly didn't know what else to do.

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I knew darn well I was probably looking at a Sasquatch out there, and all I had was bear

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spray, and I wasn't too sure that it wouldn't just piss it off if I sprayed it, so I did

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not want to use it.

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I lifted the headlamp up slowly.

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I could just see an edge of the hair at the corner at the opening.

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Yep, still there.

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"Hey, you," I said loudly.

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I waited a second.

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No response, no movement.

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Then I yelled, "Get out of here."

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I was going with the bear route and trying to make noise to make it go away.

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I already had the safety off the spray, and I had it held out, ready.

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But it didn't do anything that a bear might do.

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It was waiting, and so was I.

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When the edge of hair pulled back, and the sounds of retreating footsteps made me breathe,

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a sigh of relief, I heard the footsteps retreat past the clearing.

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I was shaken a bit, I'm not going to lie about being all big and brave.

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You run up against the Sasquatch at night, alone, when you're not out there prepared and

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looking for one?

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Well, I don't think anyone is really as big and brave as they will try to make themselves

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sound.

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I waited a few minutes, then I went out to the fire just a few feet from the opening of

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the shelter.

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Of course, after I checked outside the shelter opening carefully.

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I hadn't collected a lot in the way of limbs for the fire, just what I had anticipated needing

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for the night.

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But there were a few handfuls of older pieces that people had left there from before.

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I grabbed those and tossed them on the fire.

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It didn't bring up the light a lot, but it was better than not doing it.

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I waited inside the shelter, knowing there was no way I was going back to sleep that night,

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and I made a promise that I would always gather more wood than I needed for my fires at

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night from then on.

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I would have given my entire savings account at that moment for a stack of wood by the fire.

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It may have been a half an hour when a rock suddenly landed in the leaf litter, maybe

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15 feet right of the shelter opening.

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This wasn't some hard throw.

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It landed with some arc to it, kind of more of a plop against the ground.

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A minute later, another plop down from the left on the left.

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Stones from the creek by the rounded look and feel of them when I picked them up in the

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morning light.

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So I got one rock from the left and one from the right.

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Did that mean there was more than one of them out there?

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Or was it able to cover that distance in the moment between the rocks being thrown?

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Was it giving me some kind of message?

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Before the rocks I had been sitting there, my mind going a hundred miles a minute.

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What did I know about Sasquatch?

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Well, the answer was, practically nothing.

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Just what I'd seen through the years on different television programs, all of which I dismissed.

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When the rocks were thrown, I really didn't know if that was a danger sign or something else.

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I was a little panicked, so I lifted the whistle on my neck, and you're to my lips.

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Three blasts can bring help if there's anyone around to hear it.

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So I gave the whistle just one quick blast.

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My goal was to scare it off.

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I wasn't calling for help exactly.

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You just use a whistle like that near any wildlife out there, and they usually scatter.

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I've seen a black bear be startled by a whistle and run away.

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No one's tested it yet, and no one's mentioned it scientifically in some documentary.

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I'm here to let you know, a whistle does not make a Sasquatch run off.

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I hit the whistle, and then my ears rang for a second or two afterward.

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Then I heard it, a low rolling growl from beyond the trees.

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Now without speaking, fluent Sasquatch, I was pretty sure that it was telling me, it didn't

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like that.

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Don't do it again, buddy.

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I was certain it could see me there in the shelter, even in the semi-darkness.

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The hair on my scalp was moving and dancing.

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I kept my hands visible and still.

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I had the bear spray forward, safety rotated.

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I did not wave my headlamp looking around.

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I didn't want to do anything that it might perceive as a challenge.

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I'd already messed up with the whistle.

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And who knows what it might think was really a challenge?

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But whatever it might be, that thing out there already believed it had the home-field advantage.

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And quite frankly, it did.

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I heard far off steps again in the chain clanking softly at the bear pole.

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This was more of a tap, like it just walked by and gave it a tug.

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Then absolute silence.

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Maybe another hour went by and the adrenaline had now faded, and I was just about to fall

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asleep sitting up.

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And that's when I heard the footsteps coming close again.

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They were coming from behind the shelter now and up along the side wall.

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So I knew those things understand line of sight.

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It didn't want me seeing it, that was clear.

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I felt like it was curious or it wanted something, but I had no food with me, and it knew where

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the food was.

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So why was it coming back to me?

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Maybe I was supposed to be its food source.

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It sure was clumsy about gathering things that it called food.

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It could have pulled me out of that shelter at any time with no problem and very little

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fight on my behalf.

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So what was it waiting for?

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And it was waiting.

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Just on the other side of the wall as a matter of fact.

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And weirdly, I suddenly began to smell hot and fresh feces.

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It reaked and filled up the whole shelter.

232
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I was actually gagging and pulled my shirt up over my mouth and nose.

233
00:15:15,940 --> 00:15:19,060
I knew it wasn't me that had done that.

234
00:15:19,060 --> 00:15:20,500
What was that?

235
00:15:20,500 --> 00:15:24,220
Was that some kind of weird power flex?

236
00:15:24,220 --> 00:15:27,580
Then I heard footsteps walking away again.

237
00:15:27,580 --> 00:15:33,540
By now the fire outside was all ash, no coal and no light was being given.

238
00:15:33,540 --> 00:15:36,620
It was about two hours from blue light dawn.

239
00:15:36,620 --> 00:15:40,340
And dawn couldn't come soon enough for me.

240
00:15:40,340 --> 00:15:43,740
Over the next hour I saw it several times.

241
00:15:43,740 --> 00:15:48,660
Just glimpses in the darkness or what the edge of my head and the light held low and shining

242
00:15:48,660 --> 00:15:51,500
out from the shelter could light up.

243
00:15:51,500 --> 00:15:54,340
I never got a perfect view at that time.

244
00:15:54,340 --> 00:15:55,860
I never saw the face.

245
00:15:55,860 --> 00:15:57,940
Well, not till later.

246
00:15:57,940 --> 00:15:59,900
At that time all I got was shadows.

247
00:15:59,900 --> 00:16:03,820
A curve of a hip here is it walked just out of the reach of the light.

248
00:16:03,820 --> 00:16:08,420
See the shadow of a hand swinging against the thigh as it walked.

249
00:16:08,420 --> 00:16:15,340
And it was a hand, not a paw that I saw, a hand with fingers blunt and wide.

250
00:16:15,340 --> 00:16:20,020
Twice I got eye reflection just at the edge of the opening that blinked out and moved

251
00:16:20,020 --> 00:16:23,740
away quickly when my lamp light grazed it.

252
00:16:23,740 --> 00:16:28,740
It would pace, stop, huff, and then circle my perimeter.

253
00:16:28,740 --> 00:16:30,660
It was getting impatient.

254
00:16:30,660 --> 00:16:36,460
But it knew dawn was close and that meant it would lose its home field advantage, though

255
00:16:36,460 --> 00:16:40,060
I'm not sure that I would agree with that.

256
00:16:40,060 --> 00:16:44,180
Every so often it would test the entrance of the shelter again, like it was waiting for

257
00:16:44,180 --> 00:16:48,460
me to let my guard down or to fall asleep.

258
00:16:48,460 --> 00:16:53,660
Something in the persistence of its actions leads me to think it was there for something

259
00:16:53,660 --> 00:16:56,860
more than just mere curiosity.

260
00:16:56,860 --> 00:17:02,660
I realized that as I sat there in the shelter and my blood ran cold.

261
00:17:02,660 --> 00:17:08,140
The best view that I had of it was when it came to stand on the side of the fire area

262
00:17:08,140 --> 00:17:11,220
very near the shelter opening.

263
00:17:11,220 --> 00:17:14,220
It was no more light from the calls by then.

264
00:17:14,220 --> 00:17:20,620
I held my head lamp out and raised it just enough to get some light glow up on the chest.

265
00:17:20,620 --> 00:17:26,820
I saw the hair, the thick chest, big arms and huge muscles.

266
00:17:26,820 --> 00:17:32,300
I raised my light slowly a little more until I reached the face.

267
00:17:32,300 --> 00:17:36,860
I had maybe a half second to see it before it turned away with a loud huff.

268
00:17:36,860 --> 00:17:42,900
Then it began to walk in a wide arc away from the shelter before turning and coming straight

269
00:17:42,900 --> 00:17:44,420
back.

270
00:17:44,420 --> 00:17:48,580
It looked like it was making an angry bee-line straight for me.

271
00:17:48,580 --> 00:17:51,300
Yes, I did. I panicked again.

272
00:17:51,300 --> 00:17:55,020
I blew the whistle, three hard, sharp blasts.

273
00:17:55,020 --> 00:17:57,900
I wanted to stop it from coming closer.

274
00:17:57,900 --> 00:18:02,100
I was still relying on this whistle to turn it away.

275
00:18:02,100 --> 00:18:06,340
While it didn't go away, it did stop abruptly.

276
00:18:06,340 --> 00:18:11,780
It suddenly went down into a deep squat and it sat there watching me.

277
00:18:11,780 --> 00:18:14,900
The eyes reflected red in the light.

278
00:18:14,900 --> 00:18:17,020
It growled and huffed.

279
00:18:17,020 --> 00:18:19,980
Even after a few moments it stood up quickly.

280
00:18:19,980 --> 00:18:22,260
I thought it was really coming for me then.

281
00:18:22,260 --> 00:18:24,220
I held up the bear spray.

282
00:18:24,220 --> 00:18:27,540
I was almost ready to hit the blast of spray.

283
00:18:27,540 --> 00:18:32,700
Then it suddenly jerked off to the right and turned its back on me and walked deep into

284
00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:36,780
the trees, leaves crunching all the way.

285
00:18:36,780 --> 00:18:42,220
Its steps were spaced wider now as it walked away faster as if it had decided that it was

286
00:18:42,220 --> 00:18:45,180
done talking to me.

287
00:18:45,180 --> 00:18:47,980
Now what was left of the night went slow.

288
00:18:47,980 --> 00:18:51,300
I stayed in the middle of the shelter.

289
00:18:51,300 --> 00:18:57,060
Instinct wanted me to go to one of the far back corners, but I needed to see.

290
00:18:57,060 --> 00:19:02,420
In the middle, not far from the opening, that's where I got the best field division, not

291
00:19:02,420 --> 00:19:04,780
that I could see much in the dark.

292
00:19:04,780 --> 00:19:09,740
I kept the spray in my lap and my lamp off except for small checks around the shelter when

293
00:19:09,740 --> 00:19:12,500
I thought I heard something.

294
00:19:12,500 --> 00:19:19,700
The first hint that Dawn was there was not the light but a change in bird behavior.

295
00:19:19,700 --> 00:19:24,700
One sparrow, then two, then several more.

296
00:19:24,700 --> 00:19:29,500
Then the light lifted by just a shade, then another, and another.

297
00:19:29,500 --> 00:19:35,380
And soon enough the tree tops were visible against a dark blue Dawn sky.

298
00:19:35,380 --> 00:19:39,940
As it got light enough, I could see farther and farther around the shelter.

299
00:19:39,940 --> 00:19:44,340
I stepped to the lip of the platform and I took in the scene.

300
00:19:44,340 --> 00:19:48,820
What I couldn't see at night was clear at Dawn.

301
00:19:48,820 --> 00:19:54,540
The ground in front of and all around the shelter had been seriously worked over.

302
00:19:54,540 --> 00:19:58,220
Many more scuffs in the dirt than when I got there.

303
00:19:58,220 --> 00:20:02,620
Prince though, none of them were clear in the hard dirt, but the shape of the heel here

304
00:20:02,620 --> 00:20:06,620
and some toes somewhere else, while there was no doubt.

305
00:20:06,620 --> 00:20:09,860
There were quite a few prince that I took to behold.

306
00:20:09,860 --> 00:20:11,540
They weren't clear though.

307
00:20:11,540 --> 00:20:13,660
I didn't carry a measuring tape.

308
00:20:13,660 --> 00:20:15,540
Why would I need one?

309
00:20:15,540 --> 00:20:21,740
But I did use my boot, which is a men's twelve size, and I used my hand.

310
00:20:21,740 --> 00:20:26,180
The longer prince were half again the length of my boot and brought her through the four-foot

311
00:20:26,180 --> 00:20:28,540
than my palm by a width.

312
00:20:28,540 --> 00:20:32,060
Five tow marks registered on a few of those prints.

313
00:20:32,060 --> 00:20:35,980
There were no claws, just thick rounded tips.

314
00:20:35,980 --> 00:20:42,300
And an arch from the heel toward mid-foot that looked nothing like a bear's double register.

315
00:20:42,300 --> 00:20:49,300
The stride between alternating impressions stretched beyond any easy lunge I could make.

316
00:20:49,300 --> 00:20:53,300
And the pile of messy running poo that was at the side of the shelter?

317
00:20:53,300 --> 00:20:55,340
Well, yes, it was there.

318
00:20:55,340 --> 00:20:58,260
I guess I had smelled it so long all night.

319
00:20:58,260 --> 00:21:01,580
It wasn't smelling to me much anymore.

320
00:21:01,580 --> 00:21:05,420
At the bear pole my bag hung untouched.

321
00:21:05,420 --> 00:21:07,060
The chain held.

322
00:21:07,060 --> 00:21:08,580
The knot held.

323
00:21:08,580 --> 00:21:10,580
The bag had held.

324
00:21:10,580 --> 00:21:11,580
But the pole?

325
00:21:11,580 --> 00:21:14,500
Well, it looked a little off-can't.

326
00:21:14,500 --> 00:21:20,780
Maybe it was my imagination, but it looked like something had been pulling on it pretty heavily.

327
00:21:20,780 --> 00:21:25,300
I did a quick look for more prince and maybe some hair or some other evidence.

328
00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:28,940
Though what I would have done with any of it, I didn't know.

329
00:21:28,940 --> 00:21:30,820
I couldn't make a cast.

330
00:21:30,820 --> 00:21:34,100
None of the photos that I took were showing the prince.

331
00:21:34,100 --> 00:21:38,180
Everything just looks like plain old dirt, even when I got home and enhanced them and blew

332
00:21:38,180 --> 00:21:39,660
them up.

333
00:21:39,660 --> 00:21:45,540
Now I didn't look around too long because I wasn't sure the Sasquatch was really gone, and

334
00:21:45,540 --> 00:21:49,100
I really didn't want any trophies from the night.

335
00:21:49,100 --> 00:21:53,540
Back at the shelter, I erased my presence as I always did.

336
00:21:53,540 --> 00:21:59,820
Cold ashes scattered, platform well brushed, and all the trash sealed up tight.

337
00:21:59,820 --> 00:22:03,860
In the guest register I only wrote "Quiet night.

338
00:22:03,860 --> 00:22:05,340
Chain rattled.

339
00:22:05,340 --> 00:22:06,980
Hang your food smart.

340
00:22:06,980 --> 00:22:08,780
Something wants it."

341
00:22:08,780 --> 00:22:14,300
I thought that would help any future hikers bar more than some spooky camp-fired tale about

342
00:22:14,300 --> 00:22:17,700
a Sasquatch harassing me all night.

343
00:22:17,700 --> 00:22:21,220
I hiked out quickly under a bright blue sky.

344
00:22:21,220 --> 00:22:26,140
I did not feel at ease until I was more than a mile down the trail.

345
00:22:26,140 --> 00:22:30,580
About mid-morning I met two northbounders filling their bottles.

346
00:22:30,580 --> 00:22:34,780
The older one in Katov's sleeves asked where I'd overnighted.

347
00:22:34,780 --> 00:22:38,260
I hesitatingly said Rod Hollow.

348
00:22:38,260 --> 00:22:42,220
He gave me a long, cool look than he nodded.

349
00:22:42,220 --> 00:22:45,140
I understood what he meant and I didn't press.

350
00:22:45,140 --> 00:22:48,780
All he said was, "I don't sleep at that shelter.

351
00:22:48,780 --> 00:22:52,020
I set my tin up way past there."

352
00:22:52,020 --> 00:22:57,460
He looked at me and then he said, "There's a lot of animal activity there, at least a few

353
00:22:57,460 --> 00:22:58,980
times I stayed.

354
00:22:58,980 --> 00:23:01,060
So I don't stay there anymore."

355
00:23:01,060 --> 00:23:03,900
They know there's food around there.

356
00:23:03,900 --> 00:23:09,060
He gave me the same cold dead pan stare just waiting to see what I would say.

357
00:23:09,060 --> 00:23:14,860
I knew he had been careful with his tone and his words, but I knew what he meant.

358
00:23:14,860 --> 00:23:17,460
And he knew I did.

359
00:23:17,460 --> 00:23:22,740
I looked at him with the same dead pan stare and I said, "Yeah."

360
00:23:22,740 --> 00:23:26,180
Then I paused deciding what to say if anything.

361
00:23:26,180 --> 00:23:28,460
"Yeah," I said.

362
00:23:28,460 --> 00:23:32,860
"Yeah, there was something hanging around last night, all right."

363
00:23:32,860 --> 00:23:34,180
That's all I said.

364
00:23:34,180 --> 00:23:36,380
And we let it go.

365
00:23:36,380 --> 00:23:40,740
I am always asked if I really do believe that was a Sasquatch.

366
00:23:40,740 --> 00:23:42,220
Yes, I do.

367
00:23:42,220 --> 00:23:46,500
I trust in the behavior and the actions of my visitor that night.

368
00:23:46,500 --> 00:23:52,100
It was large, hairy, bipedal, and extremely persistent.

369
00:23:52,100 --> 00:23:54,180
That is not human behavior.

370
00:23:54,180 --> 00:23:57,060
A human pranking you once a result.

371
00:23:57,060 --> 00:23:58,380
They want you to react.

372
00:23:58,380 --> 00:24:01,180
They want you to laugh or they start laughing.

373
00:24:01,180 --> 00:24:03,940
They don't keep it up all night for hours.

374
00:24:03,940 --> 00:24:04,940
And a bear?

375
00:24:04,940 --> 00:24:07,780
Well a bear wouldn't have circled all night the way it did.

376
00:24:07,780 --> 00:24:13,420
A bear will just take what it wants, fight you for it, or move on.

377
00:24:13,420 --> 00:24:16,420
So yes, I do believe it was a Sasquatch.

378
00:24:16,420 --> 00:24:19,300
You tell me what else it could have been.

379
00:24:19,300 --> 00:24:23,740
And it doesn't matter even if you do try to tell me what you think it might have been.

380
00:24:23,740 --> 00:24:25,340
I was the one there.

381
00:24:25,340 --> 00:24:26,340
You weren't.

382
00:24:26,340 --> 00:24:28,940
I know what came creeping around that night.

383
00:24:28,940 --> 00:24:31,180
You didn't see it.

384
00:24:31,180 --> 00:24:34,820
I don't sleep in shelters along the trail anymore.

385
00:24:34,820 --> 00:24:39,900
I will sleep in the vicinity of a shelter, but not too close to the shelter.

386
00:24:39,900 --> 00:24:42,500
And I have never been bothered since.

387
00:24:42,500 --> 00:24:46,660
Even when I stayed near Rod Hollow again.

388
00:24:46,660 --> 00:24:48,540
I still carry bear spray.

389
00:24:48,540 --> 00:24:51,820
I still hang my food away and high.

390
00:24:51,820 --> 00:24:56,580
But I never sleep as deeply out on the trail as I once used to.

391
00:24:56,580 --> 00:25:02,620
I know that when I'm out there on the trail, I'm on the trail with Sasquatch.

392
00:25:02,620 --> 00:25:06,340
So I mind my pees and queues as my mama always said.

393
00:25:06,340 --> 00:25:12,380
I advise you to do the same, because I do promise you whether you know it or not.

394
00:25:12,380 --> 00:25:14,500
You're on the trail with Sasquatch too.

395
00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:16,380
<break time="700ms"/>