Forbidden Universe
Paranormal => The Paranormal & Ghost Society => Topic started by: AngelOfThyCosmos on July 03, 2019, 04:33:19 PM
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Our Pacific Valley Ebbetts Pass Bigfoot Adventure and Campout 6-22-19
I have learned over the years being a Bigfoot chaser that its been to be spontaneous but also open. Because you might hike somewhere you think is not a great area to search for Bigfoot or other monsters. Since Bigfoot is a bit nomadic you have to keep an open mind. You might explore this mountain never find a single track then a year later you come back and you find that awesome evidence your looking for. Allot of patience goes into what I do this is not TV it is hard work, blood, sweat and tears that go into the research that I do.
My son had gotten married it was summer weekend so I would have a full weekend of hiking, exploring, camping and in between it all his wedding also. My plans were to spend Friday with my son go to his wedding then lunch after. Then prep the truck with all our gear to camp up in Yosemite and it that did not work find a location to camp based on my previous travels.
Unfortunately Tioga Pass is closed I guess there is still three feet of snow on the road so I could not camp up at Tioga Lake near the National Parks entrance. Which sucked because I put together hikes, explorations and compiled research of this creature that has killed a few folks up in Yosemite. Not even killed but made them disappear a cryptid they called Penelope. She is often seen near Tioga Lake but my son and I came across a similar creature in the woods above Carson City so I do think that its some cryptid that is more common in this mountain range then folks think.
But the thought of camping up at Tioga Lake with sightings of such a creature near it excited me to set up cams around our camp and go all out. Unfortunately we learned last minute that the pass was closed and Yosemite was really a no go. I mean here it is summer and yet roads are completely out in many parts of the sierras which makes it hard to camp if you cant get back to a certain place. If you cant get to Yosemite you cant camp on any of its lake or hike let alone explore the area so it was a no go and boy was a disappointed when the road was blocked. I was looking forward to going up to 13 k over the weekend but will try for it again in a couple months by then the snow should be gone.
If you go pass the route to go up to Yosemite in Lee Vining there is another road its called the June Lake Scenic Loop. There are four really beautiful alpine lakes surrounded by cliffs, snowy peaks etc which is SE Yosemite but not in the park just outside of it. So I decided id take the scenic loop ehhh figured id find a place to camp I mean four lakes there had to be something. Boy was I wrong the area is full of condos, lodges, ritzy homes and retirement communities.
The first lake I went to was Grant Lake this is the only lake that seems to have less people at. I took this dirt road which goes around the south side of the lake to this nature area. But there really is nowhere to camp here although its a fairly large and pretty lake. Its the first lake you see along the loop right as you enter this area. It was very chilly for a summer morning were talking about temps in the 20's in the morning maybe 30s up here when I got out to take a photo of Grant Lake so brrrrr. I was in shorts and dressed for summer I figured it would warm up fast and it did.
The second lake to the south on the loop was Silver Lake I was going to camp here but they were full. All the camping areas were full one was heavily flooded other ones were not close to the lake. Its a nice lake but man the place is packed. I noticed also many folks were staying or living in RVs at campgrounds along the lakes. Unfortunately they are taking up good camp sites for people who actually want to camp. Because I don't consider taking your RV and parking it as camping. Its more like taking the lazy route and campgrounds should not allow it because people like me have nowhere to pitch a tent its not right.
The third lake which is to the east of Silver Lake along the loop road is Gull Lake the smallest of the lakes and jammed back with campers. Hell there is retirement communities and homes around the lake since June Lake is just over the hill nearby. When I walked up to the campground to look there was this peninsula with about 30 old guys fishing side by side laughing and talking. This is obviously a tight knit type of community most folks either live here or have an RV parked up here for the summer. Either way there was far to many folks and finding bigfoot would have been next to impossible with all noise.
There is a marina at Gull Lake and to the SW of the lake the ski resort. So its a bustling area and I do not do well when it comes to having no privacy outdoors in the wilderness. I drove to the east to the final lake known as June Lake which is gorgeous especially when you come down over a hill overlooking it. But there were folks walking dogs, watering there flowers, campgrounds were not so great plus full to the max and it was very touristy here. I am sure fifty years ago when these lodges, hotels, homes and streets did not exist this place was probably the shit if you were a bigfoot chaser like me. I mean you have 11 to 12 thousand foot peaks along the loop, a dense Inyo National Forest and plenty of scenic lakes along the way. But now people own million dollar homes on these lakes everywhere and its not ideal for bigfoot research.
Sadly I had to leave the Yosemite area and June Lake which upset me because I left 3am to get up here to make good time and now some of my day was wasted and we still had no camp site. If you go about 30 miles to the north of Tioga Pass you can go take the Sonora Pass which runs along the north side of Yosemite climbing to nearly 10 k its a no joke type of journey lots of curves, cliffs and dropoffs. But also at times you will follow the river and creeks up here so we thought maybe we could just park the truck set up camp.
Well the pass was brutally cold I had gotten out a couple times to take photos and it was down in the 30s up here sometimes late 20s. Here is a summer day and up in the pass it was still winter. Some trees still did not have buds or leaves, snow was everywhere and the wind was brutally chilling. I would be taking the pass nearly 80 miles over and through the sierras. To our defense we could not find a good spot to camp everywhere was to close to the road and although I found a few awesome camp sites along the river they were taken. Hell four or five primitive spots along the pass were taken and I am not rude to anyone so I wont just camp next to someone who already found a private camp.
But if you drive through the pass there are some dirt roads you can take out to some patches of woods along the creek where you can set up a cozy camp. But being the second day of summer and all there were so many campers everywhere and many folks like me go for the more primitive spots. They do this because its free to camp and you do not have to deal with people. You can drive your jeep up to the rivers edge or just about anywhere pitch camp and its great camping in the high sierras which is why I love it up here.
The pass was rough should have tried harder to find a camp site early on when I went up into it but once you get near the top that is it. The canyon narrows with black cliffs on both ends, drop offs etc. The one thing this pass lacks is lakes. Any other pass like the Carson Pass you can get access to hundreds of lakes because roads branch out from the pass but not in the Sonora Pass. Sure you have the creeks like Sardine and Rivers like the Walker but once you get to the top for many miles its very steep and there is very few places to even pull over at.
The decent goes for tens of miles once you get to the top of the pass its crazy. But also it was so steep as you constantly are going up and down then eventually down towards the foothills that my brakes begin to smoke. Actually I lost my brakes at about 9600k the top of the pass. They were smoking like crazy and I had to pull over because I lost my brakes they were slipping like butter they were so hot probably red and glowing. Its a scary thing to lose your brakes when your on cliffs, curves and this high up in a pass trust me. Lucky for me there was a pull off and I hit the brakes as hard as I could as I kept sliding coming to a stop right with a cliff in front of us and a curve off to the left.
The brakes did cool fast though I mean it was very chilly up at the top of the pass camping here would have been like the tundra to be honest with you. By the time I made it down the pass another thirty miles later I came up on these dirt roads which I marked this lake on my GPS and well go figure Donnell lake was closed or had limited access. I took this long dirt road to some campground on the other side which was not good at all as far as camping goes. Then again most of the camp sites in the pass were full because everyone going to Yosemite had to be turned away so you had folks in quite a few camping places.
I must had went to about ten campgrounds some sites had no trees a few were to close to other people. The lake I went to same thing it was jam packed there was someone having a party with 30 people at this site. I probably could have found a spot next to someone's RV but forget that. I have camped in the sierra foothills its not bad if you camp on a lake but the spots here were to tight and there is no privacy. How much will I sacrifice for privacy when camping? Apparently allot because our day was half over already and I been driving for ten hours just to find the perfect place to camp without having someones tent three feet away ugh.
I was running out of woods, hills and mountains we were down to the edge of the sierras on the Cali side as I coasted into the gentle sloping foothills. I had no lucky at campgrounds even good sites were flooded, snowy or places were just overbooked or unavailable. I finally smoked out of my pipe took a breather because driving all day place to place looking to camp is tedious and tiring. I was starting to get really cranky to be honest with you. I stopped at Strawberry at some small general store the owner was following me around like I was some thief no hello, how are you or thanks for stopping in. Most of his shit on the shelves food wise was expired I think we found some snack cakes that were two years old there yeah.
Strawberry is really packed these are all old mining towns today more or less tourist traps or rest stops for folks traveling to the foothills. There is three lakes after seeing Donnell I was like screw this shit I am out of this pass and done with it. It took me forever to get over Sonora Peak because of how steep it is then I roll into the lower sierras to experience full campgrounds etc. So I decided to take this road it was a back road hardly paved very narrow some drop offs in the forest and cut through a pass to the north. The pass to the north is awesome because the Stanislaus River Flows through it and a few other raging creeks. The pass has at least dirt roads that branch off of it so I figured our best shot would be to go up into Ebbetts Pass.
Unfortunately you cant really cut from Sonora Pass to Ebbetts there is no way over the high sierras you have to go down into California then NW for awhile then you can go up and around to the north heading back east into this pass. I was up in a place called Twain Harte. I have been near here but never there before its this town in the forest very historic, white picket fences, little antique shops etc. Its one of the many historic magical towns in the foothills of the lower sierra. Its Mark Twain Country here he spent sometime here during his travels. The town was bustling I just pass through then took this rural route above the valley.
This was a rough road it had pot holes, rocks, steep drop offs and dangerous curves. I had to take this road for almost 20 miles never once did I see a car hell you could see weeds growing in the road not sure anyone uses it but it would shave time off my trip and mileage because it cut NW and took me right into the pass of course I had to drive another forty to fifty miles climbing high up in the sierras to get to some better areas to camp. Lets face it if your going to camp in the mountains then camp in the mountains at 8k or 10k or on a remote lake down some dirt road or whatever. I like seclusion that gives me a chance to conduct proper bigfoot research. I do not do the whole campground thing unless I have no choice or based on where we are at but most of the time I work hard to get back to the places I camp at and there are no people period!
I starting to climb the pass I mean I drove on the June Lake Loop, Completely the Sonora Pass and now I was heading up Ebbetts Pass. These passes are a 100 miles and there is no services once you get in to deep but I was determined to find a good camp. Eventually we passed the redwood forest where I had a bigfoot close encounter but then I remembered a couple other areas higher up in the pass we did bigfoot research at. We started to follow the river stopped up by Alpine Lake then visited Kinney Lake which still has ice on half of it and snow on all the black volcanic cliffs its really pretty up here.
Ebbetts Pass just opened the same day I was on it so not much traffic. I know this pass was closed recently because I could not take it to get to the lower sierras to visit some of the historic ghost towns and cemeteries below. My thought was since it just opened that there would not be many folks up here, campers and since the last of the snow just cleared off the road bigfoot activity would probably be higher then usual till folks starting pouring on in.
This is the least traveled pass in the Sierra Nevada range as a matter in fact the road is less then two lanes wide there is not even a dividing line along cliffs and hairpin turns. If you do not like heights then do not ride with me here because I been driving this pass for years and it makes people cringe. People were on motorcycles flying past me and some vehicles nearly ran me off the road down a cliff. Not everyone should take this road there is room for two vehicles but its tight and when the other person does not get over enough your tires are on the edge of the cliffs here so it takes a level head to drive this route. I smoked my bud, listened to my music and was yelling at bad drivers because bad drivers puts me at risk because they do not want to share the road out of personal fear of having to drive it.
You cant even really use first gear while driving this past but there are areas that it levels out and you can pull over take some gorgeous scenic photos. I spent my first year or two doing bigfoot research in this pass finding tracks, rock climbing, exploring etc. As a matter in fact when you get to Silver Peak area there is a ghost town called Kongsburg with a cemetery, chimney, old jail and stone ruins up here. There are pretty meadows with flowers and if you get a chance its a two day climb to the top of Silver Peak which is still covered somewhat in snow. You can see this peak from Carson City fifty miles away all year around but to drive around it through the pass up close gives you a deeper respect for this massive mountain with cliffs built into it over a thousand feet in height.
I was heading east we drove just below Pacific Peak which btw there was snow everywhere and lots of it still up here. I begin to descend about a half mile into a place known as Pacific Valley. The valley is very woodsy and narrow! As a matter in fact there are cliffs on both sides of the valley with the Stanislaus River and Pacific Creek flowing through here. They sort of intertwine with one another in this valley. The valley is probably only a half of mile across like I said very narrow full of cliffs and overshadowed by the snowcapped Pacific Peak. The peak was draped in so much snow it looked like a white ice cream cone.
When the road leveled out a little I found a dirt road pulled off figured we could have a gander maybe get lucky find an area to pitch camp. Problem was then I went over this snow drift to park my truck in the woods and then decided nahhh once I realized I could not get close to where I wanted to camp. Well my tires kept spinning as I kept trying to climb the drift I had a shovel I would not have wanted to shovel this huge snow drift but I did not give up. My entire truck slid back and to the left nearly off the dirt road on this hill. Then all of sudden by miracle I gunned it turned the wheels and made a 15 inch deep groove in the snow getting back up above it.
My son and I noticed a cattle guard well actually he was roaming the woods told me he found the river. I did not realize the river and creek were close. But after a couple hundred feet of hiking there was an opening in the forest right along the river bank. The river was flowing well could hear rapids a couple hundred feet away and it was deep five feet in some areas but no less clear. There was a little bank along the river you could put a tent or two, trees all around us that were dense that offered privacy, protection and shielded any wind if it did get windy. But there was also snow everywhere around this site and I figured even better. It was a very primitive little location we found and so we went back to the truck grabbed all the gear loaded it on our backs hiked in set everything up nicely including my new night vision tree cams, grill, tents, chairs, fishing rods, horse shoes etc etc very very nice camp we built.
You could stand on the bank of the river look to your west and in the middle of it was a snowcapped Pacific Summit so scenic. Then across the river was dense forest and above the trees just a few hundred feet across the river this three hundred foot granite cliff. We were nestled in the woods along the river in an area that appeared to be a good area for animals to get a drink here maybe even bigfoot who knows. I found a large mountain lion track here maybe it was coyote but it was a track in some soft earth.
The snow is still melting here so any fresh tracks would be hard to find since this place was buried and when snow melts so do any chance of us finding tracks in that snow. Even if I find them the sun melts the ice and the tracks become to difficult to tell what made it. But this track just so happened to be a few feet from the waters edge and it was in the center of both our tents so I wanted to place inferred cams from two trees facing towards the bank of the river between both the tents since if animals come here to water down maybe bigfoot does too? But one thing was sure we were about to spend a night in a valley where we were really the only human being in miles surrounded by granite cliffs, snowcapped peaks and a pass that was inaccessible for months I was stoked!
I mean I have been to quite a few places within the pass almost all of them have had some very crazy bigfoot encounters so I did not expect a disappointment I went to the only place I knew would provide me with what it was I desperately needed which was privacy, serenity and the possibility that Bigfoot roams this remote forgotten valley! What would we see? experience? What was out there hiding in the dense forest along the mighty Stanislaus? We certainly would have a full experience here Ebbetts Pass does not disappoint!
Pacific Valley
(Ebbetts Pass)
Ill tell you what once camp was set up I felt so much better. I spent the entire morning from 3am driving till 4pm so you tell me! There was a car up the road from us but nobody around so if anything there was only one other human in this valley. Like I said earlier in my report I had to sacrifice most of the day in order to find remoteness and privacy. Was it worthwhile? You bet! If I am going to camp I want to camp in the wilderness not at a campground. Little did I know that the next day on the way home I would find a few more primitive places to camp along the river and in the forest but its all good I live an hour away so I can camp any time.
Camp was looking nice we were relaxed sitting in our chairs enjoying the river flowing by us hearing the rapids. The cliffs had snow out in front of us on them with the peak overshadowing us. Their was a nice mix of bird life at this location we seen this yellow and orange bird really pretty. They are seen in the high sierras but are semi rare so I tried to take a few bird pictures all while relaxing.
I decided that we would do two hikes before dark or explorations. Its so important to know your camp and what is around you. This would allow me to look for any monster tracks or even animals. But it would allow me to know the lay of the land. The Stanislaus Forest here is very dense and thriving unlike other parts of the sierras. At our camp there was a very green evergreen tree stood about 8' tall and there was this limb ripped right from its trunk fresh laying on the ground. Not sure what could have caused it or why but the tree was so green that I could bend the tree limbs even try to break them off and it was not happening.
Whatever did this used a ton of force to peel this tree limb right from the trunk of the tree like a banana. Not far from it was a huge mountain lion track perhaps a coyote but it seemed to be something with a much more heavier stance. We would grab our packs set off for a hike along the river so we could do some more exploring.
First we went east along the river it was a rough go trees are close together and brush. In between them are snow drifts some four feet high that you have to climb over or skirt around. We came up to a bend in the river and to much brush so we turned around. Not a single track in the snow animals are not very abundant in this valley but birds are of course.
We decided to head west along the river from our camp we followed it a half mile. This is a nice hike with nice views of Pacific Peak and better views of the cliffs that surrounded the valley. There is some open meadows in the forest too along the river and other areas where the river and creek split then rejoined. It was fun trying to cross parts of the creek and hop over snow. This was a pretty hike big open areas and a much more in depth view of the valley.
My son earlier found a cow camp or seasonal little ranch since the road is snowed in pretty good it will be a few more weeks till the cattle and sheep pour on in. I noticed the cattle guard when I pulled in with my truck this was actually a dirt road that goes out to it. I had parked past the cattle guard but then realized it was not a good idea to park under some trees because the forestry is a bit picky so I drove back over it and parked above this snow drift that was in front of the guard.
We did not spot much on the hike but a mountain lion track and some scat with fur in it. So something was lurking near our camp and maybe the ranch. I like this ranch its a federal one there are a few corrals and cattle ranches in Ebbetts Pass I mean the entire pass is not hilly or mountainous. There are many areas the pass levels out and you have open meadows for grazing. Since the large meadow is just a hundred feet through the woods along the river this is the perfect place to graze livestock. So people do utilize this time to time.
The cow camp had a couple corrals, cabin, barn and a few really old wood outbuildings. I did not enter the camp but rather took photos of some of the buildings I could see near the dirt road. But I did see quite a few other structures hiding back in the forest. I figured id come have a better look the next day nightfall was not far off.
When I was back in the meadow I heard two things one was a snarl or growl sound it spooked me it was loud. I told Tammy what the hell is that a mountain lion she had no clue either did I. I grabbed my gun kept it inside my leather jacket just in case it was a rabid animal although I carry blades and bear spray on me to so I have tools to use. I prefer not to kill but rather defend afterall I camp to search for bigfoot my family camps to support me.
My son was not with me but exploring and he said to me he kept hearing these odd whistling sounds going back and forth. More then one squatch? I think its possible but based on all the bird life I seen up in this small valley its kind of a lost world up here full of nature. As the snow melts more nature will come around too. Right now still allot of snow up here and yes it was cold especially once the sun starting to go down. So it was time to get back to camp prep dinner. Climbing the snow as a pain its very icy back here because it thaws a little then at night gets cold and freezes again.
I came back to camp made sure the deer cams were working and set up. I bought two recently they are top of the line one takes video one takes pictures. I think they do both still learning settings but the range is great at night on them. I could face one cam towards the water between the tents and another one directly on the river bank. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to get across the river but when its fi five feet deep, icy cold and ten feet across at times it tends to be a bit hard to get over to the other side of it in this valley. If we camped another month or two down the road it would be maybe a foot if that in depth.
I cooked Montreal Steak also had this rice and veggy dish it was really good. We had some snacks also to go with dinner or treats it was really nice. In fact its so dark and quiet here at night you can hear everything see every star. The river does drown out some noise but you can see all the stars once it gets dark in this valley. It did not take long for the temps to drop we could see our own breath as the sun went behind Pacific Peak. But I took a killer photo of the river and the peak off in the distance I could make a poster print and hang it on my wall lol.
I had to wear layers of clothes it was not a warm night as a matter in fact it was in the 20's maybe even lower then that. While it might be summer across the US go up in the high sierras and you will find that even in July you still have winter weather depending on what valley or where you adventure at. So we wore layers ground was not great it had erosion from snow melt and the river flooding so I had some earthy pile of soil poking me in the back. Lucky for me I bought a new camp mat which you can put air into for cushioning.
The next morning was gorgeous in fact I woke up about 9am did not get up earlier because I had no plans to backpack all day so I did not need to leave on an early hike. Rather I could wake up sit in my chair on the river smoke a bowl eat some breakfast and read some of my gaming magazines. It was a warm sunny morning I think by the time I left camp it was about 77 degrees. So it was a much warmer day then the last but man it was chilly over night two extremes. You can get down to freezing temps up here in a blink then go from that to shorts weather.
At camp we begin to break things down, take down the tree cams and explore our camp to see if there were tracks. My son told me all night long he kept hearing something breaking branches and walking in the forest behind his tent. It could have been an animal but I did not find any tracks whatsoever but like I said our camp had this limb freshly torn from its trunk just ripped and peeled like a banana. The bark being peeled downward with sap exposed all fresh. Something he told me was breaking branches perhaps something was not happy we were camping and was getting restless. I know the cams did not catch it but will examine them further down the road.
We did play some horse shoes that morning I killed it and I won seems that this is my game when I camp. I am next to impossible to beat lucky for me I did not throw any horse shoes into the river nearby. Although let me just say the river was much lower that morning we woke up then the previous day. Id say it had gone down about six maybe eight inches. It still was to deep to cross I wanted to check the other bank on the other side for tracks in the woods but did not feel like swimming. Good thing because my son tried to go swimming and the moment his toe hit the water he said forget it to cold lol. You can get hypothermia in some of the lakes and rivers in the mountains. The water up here is cold its fresh snow melt its very very cold especially with snow from Pacific Peak draining into it.
There was so many butterflies flying around wildflowers were not really out yet I also seen a lizard. All good signs summer up here is on its way. My son and I went back to the cow camp or seasonal forest retreat to look around. I found a home with a well pump, outhouse, stables, barn and a few other buildings. Behind these outbuildings we also found a beautiful seasonal falls and creeks which poured right out into the river just through the woods. It is very nice back here but the snow was much higher then on the road going in. As of now though nobody has a means to get back here but I can imagine in the future cattle will be grazing in a few weeks so if you camp your gonna camp with the cows.
But being that parts of the pass are still not accessible you do not have campers up here, hikers, cattle grazing etc so we had this entire valley to ourselves. I spent my Sunday morning chasing butterflies and exploring cant ask for more! I think the cow camp was eerie about seven to eight buildings in the middle of the forest shutters on everything some even boarded on up. I never seen anyone on this exploration or camping trip. Lucky for me I camped here and not at some campground we found the day previously. Not sure I could have handled dealing with that as my first camp out of the year.
We left cleaned up our site really good. I did not build a fire pit so we did not even have to worry about making sure the fire was out. If you do not use fire rings in any of the national forest in the high sierras you can get in trouble. I remember when I first moved here back in 2011 and you never had any fire danger. So it was okay to build a rocky ring and boast a campfire but not anymore. It has gotten really strict so by the time we left camp you could not even tell camp existed. We would take a scenic ride east and begin to head back into Nevada.
I would stop at various points of interest along the river etc as a matter in fact halfway through the pass you cross into the Toiyabe National Forest from the Stanislaus National forest. I find that both forest exhibit different birds and fauna its very intriguing to say the least. I parked up near the bridge to Pacific Creek just a few hundred feet down the road from where we camped. Man if you fell off that bridge you would be swept away dead as there were falls, rapids and the water was funneling down this ravine below. Once I left Pacific Valley which btw is very short because once you get past the creek you go around some curves and next you know your in Hermit Valley which is known for its wild flowers, meadows and its Pacific Valleys twin. I found two or three places I could set up a nice camp up in Hermit Valley along the river. This one area had this grove of trees, grassy river bank, views of these snow capped peaks across the river, wildflowers and soft earth with a fire pit. Its really nice so I may have to camp up here quite a few spread out primitive camp spots up here.
The ride through the higher portion of the pass is very scenic we would pass Silver Creek, Ghost town of Silver City aka Kongsberg, an old mansion, smelter and even a cemetery. When I first moved up here we found tracks up on this plateau above the ghost town then down the road at Big Trees Grove we were pelted with rocks. I have had quite a few close encounters and found great bigfoot evidence in the pass. Its so uninhabited I mean there are no towns even lodges for over forty miles just forest, mountains and wilderness. But at least I found a few camp sites to camp at in the future so we can work with other areas in the region. Some places are hard to get to when I see these massive cliffs, peaks or dense forest I look at it that anything can be living back up in here. I had really great camping trips at some of the lakes found along this pass also some are still fresh in mind just a beautiful area and its an area with quite a few strange bigfoot cryptid reports to so its worth camping anywhere along or within the pass.
The area has gone largely unexplored some peaks have not seen humans in a century if not more. A 100 mile road with forest, rivers, cliffs along side it and massive mountains! Its vast and with the pass being just opened large amounts of water flowing bigfoot season is in. There is quite a bit of water up here snow is still melting so the ground is soft which is probably why we found mountain lion tracks. Strangely no bear tracks you have to wonder if it was still to chilly up here for bear. I never once seen a deer up here either perhaps the mountain lion hunting the area out. But where you find water you also find life and so I can see a bigfoot like creature strolling along the river in Pacific Valley and our camp being in his way so it was a strategic as to how we set up our camp and where we set it up on this trip.
I made a few stops before heading on home there is plenty of areas you can pull off and see the cliffs of silver peak. One part of the pass has these hairpin turns you can park up near this trail and it overlooks the canyon below and you can see off into Nevada to its so awesome. Many of the peaks I photographed still have snow there are no trails to even get to them you would have to park along the road then hike it in primitive no compass, trails or anything just pure exploration which is why I love this area. Which is why we have had great success doing bigfoot research but I got so much to explore here and were going to have to do another camp out soon just somewhere else east or west of Pacific Valley.
There is plenty of areas you can pull off backpack in pitch camp were talking miles of rugged wilderness in a region I know that bigfoot roams. So I think were going to spend most of this summer season working with this area at least one or two more times since our Pacific Valley trip went well. I wont be doing the whole June Lake or Sonora Pass stuff anytime soon not after spending a whole day driving two twenty full campgrounds. I am such a primitive camper always have been since I moved up here and well this overnight camping trip was just that. You could hear a pin drop up here it was so quiet and although we did not find any bigfoot tracks I have to say there was some unusual things we did come across which is how we do our research. We take the clues then we put them all together and being I have worked with other remote sites just down the road from where we camped I can say for sure this area is golden when it comes to adventure.
I took an awesome scenic route along the foothills of the sierras through Nevada after we left the pass. Hell I stopped along the Carson River a few times man its raging. We had one of the worst winters on record so some places will have snow all year and rivers are just pouring over because they cant handle all the snow melt. Waterfalls are flowing and where there is lots of water there is bigfoot take it from me been doing this work most of my life and I am a devoted researcher when it comes to unmasking these creature in this mountain range. It was a nice scenic ride home we even stopped to get dinner up at Panda Express one of our favorite things we do when we come home from trips because the food is healthy, good and fast we just go in pick a few sides and its in an out. I came home ate Panda and we watched Fear The Walking Dead which was well deserved because this was a long weekend believe me.
I cant wait to see more and I am glad we got Rocky on out he is 13 years old and he misses my dog Rascal who passed. So I purposely went out camping so he could get some fresh air, hike around and explore. He enjoyed himself was rolling in grass and running through the woods it was really awesome to see. My dogs are a big part of my life and for me its important to get them out backpacking and exploring this time of year in the mountains. I have taken my dogs to 11k foot peaks and they love it its ashamed Rascal passed and would not be able to come on this trip he would have loved running through the meadow or jumping in the stream sighs.
It was a nice relaxing mild bigfoot expedition no getting cut up or climbing cliffs but I did quite a few small hikes primitive the only regret I have is the river was far to difficult to cross so who knows what is on the other side the side very few people ever get to see. If I could get across it when the river is down I will that way I can follow the river and muddy bank in search of viable tracks! So we will NOT forget this place it was one of the best spontaneous camp outs we ever did never even heard of this valley did not even do any research just got off the road hiked in the forest to the river and pitched a camp.
Its an awesome pass ill have to work with it more there are so many peaks that you see in this canyon to the left or right that we could climb or summit and probably find some really amazing places or even pieces of bigfoot evidence so the show must go on and we have plenty more to see. I know bigfoot utilized the Stanislaus River we have had more then one experience to the east and west of where we camped. This was our first camp out of 2019 and we have many more coming cannot wait love this time of year up in the sierras wish I could take all of you on my journeys you would never want to leave my friends trust me on that!
I do not know much history about the pass other then a Jedediah Smith in 1827 used the trail before it was a wagon route who made one of the first crossings of the sierra by any white man. They said though he did not take the trail but rather he just cut through this pass and canyon blazing his own trail. Then later down the road it was thought the Bartleson-Bidwell Party used it while emigrating to California. John Ebbets a fur trader during the gold rush claimed to have led a pack of mules east over the Sierras through this pass in 1851. He thought that the pass one day could be used or suitable for the transcontinental railroad but it just never transpired and instead Donner Pass was used to the north. I guess this is because he died in an explosion so his research never came to light. The route was used on occasion by merchants and miners traveling between historic Markleeville and Murphy's both mining towns.
As a matter in fact some lived and traveled between Kongsburg which resides below the mighty Silver Peak which I spent some time photographing on this camping trip. In 1862 the pass was used as a toll road so there is history in relation to the pass whether or not these early miners had any bigfoot encounters its hard to say to the north some miners wrote in there journals about a bigfoot like creature and the natives did mention staying away from this area back in the 1800's due to some hairy wild man so perhaps these creatures are still there or never left however within this pass are places where no man has been and where something could remain elusive for centuries without ever being discovered!
This is what makes it such an exciting place and to camp up around here was simply stellar cannot wait to see more beautiful region of the high sierras. In the future I have a few other places we did Bigfoot research off some dirt roads along the pass in a place known as Bear Valley, Highland Lakes, Salt Springs Lake, Spicer and Utica Lake area we did over a year ago camp outs at where I have had some of my most crazy Bigfoot encounters all seeming to revolve around this pass more so then other passes I have done research at in the high sierras. So were not a stranger to this region but we have so much more to check out and there is just so much to see.
I want to do more research and camping trips along this river its never been a disappointment when it comes to chasing Bigfoot. I remember there was a canyon I hiked at not far from this pass that something followed me at midnight seven miles in the dark after I measured a 20 inch track in some mud near a seasonal creek on the side of a mountain so my friends they are out there and although I did not find any Bigfoot on this trip in Pacific Valley I never doubted for a minute that we were alone up there on a chilly freezing summers night in a pass that just opened and had so very human activity for many months so our timing was right on and turned out to be primitive, private and desolate which we so desperately sought! Was it worthwhile? You bet! If you want to find creatures like Bigfoot you have to become the Bigfoot! Will be back up here soon my friends! Hopefully I can get camping in Yosemite again near Tioga Lake also so we can chase Penelope seems that the high sierras hold many creatures, monsters and secrets all waiting to be unmasked by your favorite paranormal adventure team The Paranormal & Ghost Society! Does not matter where you go or what you explore the high sierras is my playground!
Peace,
Lord Rick aka AngelOfThyNight