As I usually do, I have XXXX out the location details, as I want to keep the masses from trying to locate the area which is just behind his house. Please appreciate that I do this for J's family's privacy, as well as the squatch's.
Hi Chuck.
Attached are the photos in sequence. You have my permission to use them on your "Sierra Tahoe Bigfoot" site. I did add a copyright to each photo, but I tried to position it so that it would not interfere with the visual. If you intend to use these anywhere else, please ask me first.
Here are some more details...
The day that I came across the tracks was September 22nd, 2013. It had rained the night before, so the ground was pliable. I recently had moved into Genoa and had never before been on this trail. My jog started by going up the XXXX XXXX until I found the XXXX Trail. That took me toward Genoa XXXX. There are two streams in that area. Shortly after where the trail crossed the second stream, the trail split. It saw a high and low trail that would come back together a few hundred yards away. I took the high road.
The first track I saw was "Step Two," and I immediately was shocked. I am a certified tracker, former President of a Search and Rescue Organization in a CA county, and avid hunter. I knew that no recorded animal could make that track. I double checked to see if a bear track had doubled to make the mark on the ground. That was not the case. What I did see startled me even more. I could actually make out the impression left by the individual toes. I have taken several bear in my life, and they do not leave track like that!
The print was sunk so far into the decomposed granite soil that it would be hard to even fake such a thing. It really would take something over 600 pounds to compress the ground like that. As you could see, my 210 pounds did nothing to the ground! I knew these tracks were also very fresh because the soil was cracked showing moist points underneath since it had rained the day before. Whatever left those tracks was very near by.
Now this was my first time on this trail, and I had no idea exactly where it would pop out in town. I also wasn't sure how long it would take me to get the heck out of the woods before dark. I hoped that the trail wouldn't zig zag down the mountain because I would likely run into the maker of the tracks. But before running away, I took the time to look at the rest of the track way.
I looked at tracks(steps)2-6 (see below) and realized that the creature had stutter stepped behind the pine tress in the picture and then turned down hill. This made me want to see where the tracks came from, and it appears that it had come from further up the mountain, slid of the embankment to the trail (See photo 1,) stutter stepped to catch it's balance behind the trees (See photos 2-13 below,) and then turned to continue down the mountain (to the right of the trees in photo 13.)
Further down the mountain I cut the tracks again. (See photo 14) I took a picture of the slide print on the trail as well as the approach from above the trail. (See photo 15) It looks to me like the critter uses his heel a lot when trail blazing down a mountain. I hoped that this would be the last crossing I would make as it was after 7:00PM and really getting dark in the woods. I would not be so lucky.
I was really running hard to get out before dark. By the time I got to the bottom where the trail had merged with the Genoa XXXX, it was very hard to see anything beyond the trail. Right before the trail crossed the creek, I smelt it. It smelt like I just stepped in dog crap. Most other reports indicate that Sasquatch smells like a rotten skunk, but this smelled like freshly laid dog feces, and I couldn't help but think of the ladies that saw bigfoot up Sierra Canyon a couple decades ago. They saw it and said that it stunk like that. Since I was unarmed, I did not try to stop and investigate. In fact, I ran a little harder!
The Monday after seeing the tracks, I mentioned something to the guys at work. They suggested that I go up and take pictures. I would have, but I was very busy with work and had to fly out on a business meeting with a new client in the middle of the week. When I came back, the guys still prodded me to go back and get the photos. So on Sunday September 29th (Candy Dance weekend,) I went back and took the photos you see here. Even a week old, it is amazing how clear the tracks were. I doubt anyone had even been there that week since the trail gets very little use. A rock had fallen into one track that was obvious foreign, so I took the photo with and without the rock in place.
One other thing to note... There were plenty of fresh deer tracks in XXXX, but there was absolutely none in Genoa Canyon. While bigfoot likely follows the deer herd, the deer are probably smart enough to keep their distance. Perhaps this is why so many deer hang out in the town of Genoa instead of the hills.
I have run this route several times since this experience. On one occasion I did see a track in the snow that could have been from a squatch, but it could have likely been from something else. Since there were so many other tracks over the track way and I only had one interesting track, I decided to skip recording it.
Again, I'd like to thank J. for his time and effort in sharing his report with us.
Send reports or questions to stbigfoot@gmail.com
