No Bites Except Mosquitoes

We set the bait a few days ago, and still no bites yet, although I was contacted by a very kind Lorenzo Rossi who may be sending me some photos to pull from my webserver based on dates and times that he saw some potential activity. Exciting!

Also there are some people camping down the river from me, so it is possible that the action here will be a bit dry until they leave. It's a little disappointing - I was hearing branches breaking and rocks moving in the night behind my tent on a regular basis, and I was pretty sure that progress was being made.

Upcoming activities:
- Broadcast Bigfoot calls in the night. Wait for response.
- Knock trees with sticks at night. Wait for response.
- Set bait further from camp.

I am also hiking about ten miles a day and documenting anything that looks like the potential habitat of unknown creatures. I shot video of what looked like a possible nest. I also took stills of some droppings. I will post those as soon as I download them from my camera.

Bait

Toby and I were not discouraged by the watermelon. As someone pointed out, maybe the Bigfoot are not accustomed to watermelon and therefore will not find it an interesting snack. This is debatable, but we've decided to move onto other fruit anyway.

Bigfoot are known to eat apples. Others have set apples as bait, such as the BFRO researchers that obtained the Skookum Cast on an expedition in 2000.

Yesterday, we left apples in a variety of locations around the campsite. We left one apple about 100 feet up the creek behind my tent, where I heard branches breaking and rocks moving in the night. Perhaps it is a bit close to the campsite, but we thought we'd give it a shot anyway. We can always set piles of fruit further out next time.

Apple Notes:
- One apple placed on rock up creek from campsite, about 100 feet.
- One apple hanging in tree with special hanging device, about 500 feet from campsite.
- One apple hanging in tree with special hanging device about 650 feet from campsite.

The aforementioned hanging device was constructed so that the Bigfoot could reach up and take a hanging apple while leaving the rope behind. It simulates the activity of picking an apple from a tree. We thought we'd try this, along with apple piles, to see which if any method worked best for attracting Bigfoot.

Battery Charge-Up

I am taking the system offline for about two hours today. The batteries need to recharge a bit without the system draining them. You'll notice on the live feed the last photo repeats itself when the system is down. As soon as I go back online, the photos will start to upload again.

Branches and Rocks in the Night

I fell asleep at about 10pm last night. I was a bit concerned about our watermelon attracting bears, but we went ahead and left it at the river as planned. I slept in the big "host" tent, and Toby stayed in the lovely guest quarters (lower left tent in frame).

Some time in the night I awoke to the sounds of branches breaking just behind my tent. I lay very still and listened. More branches broke and rocks were moved. There is a small creek about six feet from my tent. It sounded like some one or thing was walking in the creek, moving branches and causing rocks to shift.

I was torn between two instincts: 1) lying very still in case Bigfoot was poking around our site and 2) making some godawful noise to scare a bear away. I did nothing. I was too scared to move, I think. The sounds stopped after about ten minutes.

In the morning, our watermelon was untouched; however, so was the bag of lemons I left in the creek just ten feet from my tent. What critter would venture all the way down the creek from the hillside and not take the lemons?

babaLou has reported hearing these sounds occassionally. Tonight I will aim my miniDV cam at the creek and use my remote control to record if i hear sounds.

Bait

Toby and I have set a half watermelon on a rock near the river. It is within camera range. The camera is camouflaged and has also been in this location for a few weeks. We're hoping it smells and looks like the surrounding elements. Let me know if you see anything...

Little Brother

Friends, if you see an incredibly handsome man at my campsite, he is not Bigfoot. (Although, you never know.) Ladies, this is my brother Toby. He's 26, single, and rather dashing if I may say so myself... Anyway, I just went home to San Francisco this weekend to pick him up from the airport and prepare him for the trip. We're heading to the site in a few moments.

Many thanks to babaLou for holding down the fort.

I gave her one of the cool tshirts sent to me by Craig from Texas Bigfoot Research. You may have seen it on camera. My brother will be styling one of these as well.

We're bringing bait for Ms. Foot. Maybe we'll get lucky.

Clouds and Solar Woes

The clouds were much trouble today, causing my solar panels serious grief. Had to run generator, which sucks in terms of BF friend-making, but it's the only way to keep the cameras up and running through the night.

I got an interesting email from someone today who asked if s/he (rather cryptic and did not give a full name) could post my findings on his/her blog. I pointed out that I don't necessarily know my results, as I am not monitoring my cameras 24/7. I am on a satellite internet connection, so I don't even watch my own webcams in order to save bandwidth. I also don't watch the cameras directly from their video feed because using my laptop uses more of my battery power, which is precious and rarely plentiful. So I guess what I am saying is... if you see something on the cameras, let me know - you're likely to notice before I do...

Jilliana Jones

My friend Jennifer has been camping with me since the 18th. She is quite adventurous and we've done some rather impressive exploring in the BF zones. The river is freezing, but it has served us well after a few miles of hiking and scrambling up and down the river rocks. Looking for Bigfoot, I have come to find, is difficult work. I'm getting my ass kicked a little by the physical exertion but it feels good.

We hiked a few miles on a trail that runs on the ridge parallel to the river. We descended to the river and relaxed on the rocky beach for awhile, then became intrigued by a small creek opposite us, which dumped itself into our lovely yet icy waterway. We scrambled across rocks to get to the creek, and followed it (forging small rapids) until we reached a small clearing. It was stunning. Quiet, calm, green. Excellent BF vibes. Note to self: perfect spot to plant apples or other BF goods. We stayed for a bit and scrambled more rocks, and then returned to the site when our granola bars wore off and we were dying of hunger.

We saw two small water snakes, which brings our count up to four snakes in two days.

Bad Campers

Why, oh why, do people have to act like total morons out in the forest?

Occasionally, hikers pass through a trail near my campsite. I can hear them talking. Most are respectful and actually very friendly when I've made contact. I feel better seeing one of them with a "Jesus Saves" shirt on because it is unlikely that they'll leave garbage on the trail or forget to bury their turds.

This weekend some people are staying down the river from the campsite. They were shooting guns and riding an ATV in the night. I assume that they were drinking too - I found a few bottles of nasty looking Smirnoff cocktails down near their site when I investigated after they left. Surely this will not attract BF. Note to self: in futute, get their license plate numbers. I'd like to give the ranger station that presides over this area a full report of these shenanigans.

The Wait Continues

Desiree and I hiked around an area where there was a fairly recent Bigfoot encounter. We found four piles of droppings that were not human, dog or horse. I am not accustomed to handling bear feces, so I can't rule that out. I have looked at some photos of bear droppings online, none of them look like the piles we found. (Bear droppings do differ in appearance based on the bear's diet.) I took some video and photos. I will return to collect a sample.

Forest Sounds

I slept alone in my tent last night for the first time (not counting Cleo). Eric had gone back to San Francisco in the morning (one of us has to have a real job) and my dear friend Desiree joined me at the campsite in the late afternoon. I woke in the middle of the night to some strange sounds high up on the ridge above my tent. It sounded like the same tones as the human vocal range. The sounds were brief, not like complete sentences. Desiree did not hear it even though she was in the tent next to me. Cleo stirred a bit in her sleep but didn't growl. There aren't any other campers in the near vicinity.

I should clarify two things here. One, I have very sensitive ears and I am an extremely light sleeper. I also have an abnormally keen sense of smell. I chalk this up to my terrible vision, which has been pretty bad since I was about 7 years old. My contact lens prescription is -7.75. So, while I wouldn't let my life depend on my vision, I can sniff or hear my way out of just about any situation.

Second point of clarification: this forest is noisy. Like shopping mall on a Saturday afternoon noisy. I am next to a lovely river with some smallish rapids, which seem to magnify at night. Likewise the crickets and other noisy insects sing their symphonies as soon as the sun sets. So it is difficult to distinguish specific sounds from eachother.

Maybe I heard some campers down the river somewhere yelling in the middle of the night. Maybe I heard some animals communicating. I don't know.

Very Quiet Here

I've recovered from the morning internet fiasco. I won't go into the technical aspects of it - I am online posting this so things are clearly in a better state.

Eric left early this morning. Cleo and I are on our own until my friend Desiree arrives. Desiree has been reading and studying Jane Goodall and primates. I can't wait to see her and talk Bigfoot.

I'll check in later.

R.I.P Generator

Yes, the trusty Coleman 1750, which we have had to use periodically to get us through the night, appears to need serious medical attention. Our allen wrench is MIA (bigfoot?). Eric is going to take it home with him when he leaves tomorrow to try to fix it. We may have about 2 hours of down time in the AM from time to time until we resolve this.

On a brighter note, this place is teeming with life. Last night we saw a tiny baby scorpion in the small tent, which admittedly scared the crap out of me, but it was actually very cute. This morning, while floating in the river, i saw a long but very thin river snake with black and white stripes. I captured some video of small beetles swarming a tree - mating and eating. It was very interesting - you could actually see the, er, penetration. Who knew the sex lives of bugs could be so fascinating?

The mating/eating beetles have moved to the big tree that shades our camp chairs. There are hundreds of them, maybe thousands. I hope they stay for a short visit.

In response to my last post, Loren Coleman mentioned that Cleo might scare Bigfoot off. I have this concern as well. I am hoping her advanced age and rather mellow demeanor will make her a likely candidate for a Bigfoot encounter. Wishful thinking? Well, I am open to leaving her at home if it comes to that. We still have several weeks to go here so I'll leave her if I get the feeling that she's standing between me and the apes.

Waiting for Bigfoot

Okay, I've decided to post online from time to time so that I can communicate with the outside world beyond my webcams. It has been said that pictures say a thousand words, but at 72 dpi, I'm lucky if I get a complete sentence.

Our campsite has been live since July 2, and we've diligently waited for Bigfoot to make an appearance. Beyond branches cracking in the night (which is a decent start) we haven't heard much. Babalou, one of the campground monitors at the Bigfoot Basecamp, reported seeing two red eyes one mysterious dusk (July 9), but she had been reading Loren Coleman's Mothman, and admitted that she was under the powers of suggestion...

If you're watching the webcams, you'll notice a few different people hanging around the site. Aside from me, you'll see Babalou and Seth (campground monitors), Eric (husband) and a variety of friends who will visit the site. Ah, yes, last but not least is Cleo, my 9-year-old boxer-ridgeback mix, who is highly proficient in sunbathing and the occasional ear-scratching.

We've spent the last week working on campsite logistics - understanding the limits of our solar panels (and trying to stretch them), testing the cameras, etc. Things will be changing over time as we become more experienced dealing with they joys of solar energy.

One major change we made this morning was that we set the cameras to capture every 30 seconds. We were experiencing technical difficulties when we first set up camp, so we decided to send one picture every minute. Now, you should see a new photo every 30 seconds. I'd love to get it down to every 20 seconds, but that will have to wait...