Our Bloodsucker Lake Expedition In The Crystal Mountains On 8/18/19

I can never get enough of the Crystal Basin their is something about this ancient place that just keeps on alluring me. After exploring the Beauty, Wrights and Dark Lake area I thought id come back two weeks later to explore this region further. In this case Bloodsucker Lake is to the SE of Wrights Lake in a truly primitive part of the Crystal Basin in the foothills of the Crystal Mountains.

This exploration would be a rugged one that required plenty of climbing, sloped rocky slabs, dense forest, fallen trees and primitive hiking with no trails. Every time I hike out in the Crystal Basin it reminds me of some prehistoric jungle or world where Dinosaurs still roam at least that is how it feels to me. Its vastly overgrown, home to nearly 100 lakes or bodies of water including the Desolation Wilderness which is just on the other side of this sub range.

But the entire region as a whole is pristine untouched wilderness the type of area you have to work hard at hiking to explore and that is when it comes to visiting the dozens of primitive lakes found up here. The area intrigues me because it has an unusual high amount of Bigfoot sightings, vocalizations and tracks found up here. More then almost anywhere in the country and I have had my own experiences so it keeps me coming back for more of course being a cryptozoologist.

I love exploring this area because you can make any adventure you want to out of it whether you want to stroll miles of trails or go primitive through the ElDorado Forest. Personally I like to mix my expeditions where ill hike a few trails in then leave the trail and go out to a location that I want to check for bigfoot evidence at. I find leaving the trails things get real out here. When I say real I mean a chance encounter with the king of the forest, big bears, cougars, caves, hidden pools and many things very few humans ever get to see unless you dare to venture a bit more remote which is what we try to do.

Tammy and I enjoyed a nice sunrise ride up to this region. Its just twenty miles past South Lake Tahoe. Really its considered to be part of the SW quadrant of Tahoe because this area included the Desolation Wilderness separated by the Crystal Mountains which on the other side includes the Crystal Basin where we were at. This is an ongoing project which will take me a few more years to visit most of the lakes up here and trust me that is no easy feat. That means lots of climbing, hiking, camping etc all of which I enjoy especially with a nice bowl of ewey gooey green bud lol.

So while were driving along Tahoe we stopped for coffee and breakfast. Then we made it about a half hour later down Wrights Lake Road parking up at Wright's Lake. Their is actually a small parking lot because its also the campground but their are small signs to the south which point Bloodsucker Lake. We would get suited up, strap on the packs and ready the beast for sunup to sundown event!

Bloodsucker Lake

I went to use the restroom and some kid was in there or teen. Funny thing is when he got out he stood by the bathroom acting paranoid we could not figure it out at first. But he just sat there all worried like we were the police. It turns out the boy was smoking secretly in the camp rest rooms as if I give a shit look at me I got three pipes filled with fresh bud cookies and cream, bobble head and some dreamstar lol so that I do not have to load any bowls hiking. So I guess that makes me guilty to but not really I am more of an outdoor toker lol.

So we stopped at the rest rooms then begin our hike through the campground. I hate tight little campgrounds id rather carry my tent deep in the wilderness pitch it and deal with bigfoot all night then to have a person five feet away but whatever. The trail is a bit hard to find it goes nearly through a campsite and well at that site the people had three big goats not small ones but there heads were nearly level with mine. They also had huge horns and the white goat seemed to not like us very much it started to freak plus I had Rocky with us who I call Ted meaning Teddy Bear because he is one but despite his size he is a great outdoors dog and he will take on a bear its his breed. Sadly Rocky is almost 13 years old so some of these hikes are his last ones so I knew he was in for a treat this hike would be special for all of us including him.

When we went through the forest it was fairly level but was a gorgeous series of woods lots of old big trees and beautiful foliage throughout. Eventually we went down a little on the trail and came across the raging waters of the South Fork of Silver Creek which is below Wrights Lake so it was flowing and the spillway was not closed. It was very cold that morning I wore my leather jacket so getting our feet wet when its 40 degrees was not something we wanted to experience. I followed Silver Creek for almost a mile we still could not find a place to cross. Well there was places I could have leaped but Tammy was not able to so I wanted to find her safe passage so it put us heavily out of the way.

Allot of the trails found in this area are old wagon trails from the 1800's some are old ranch roads because this area was divided into parcels for the sole purpose of cattle and livestock ranching. They had dairy farms and cattle so that the dairy could be shipped along with the beef up to towns like Virginia City, Truckee, Placerville etc etc. These towns had large populations and since they resided in the sierras so did the ranches that fed its people. But today such old rocky dirt roads remain overgrown perhaps even forgotten.We were on an overgrown rocky road at times trees had fallen over the road that we had to climb. I seen a few horseshoe prints its hard to grasp that people bring there horses back here ducking under trees, through narrow paths, brush etc. But its evident that their are some primitive horseback riders who utilize this area along Silver Creek.

We kept following the creek for over a mile but over time we also were pulling away from it westward. I noticed on my GPS Dry Lake was really close by and its not as dry as you would think. Its actually a massive marsh with a series of deeper ponds and high grass growing throughout. Their is something creepy about Dry Lake did not like it my first time I was there a couple weeks ago. Its got a really creepy swamp monster type of vibe and the forest here is much more creep then other regions of the basin. When I seen that we nearly hiked out to Dry Lake which is on this rugged dirt road on the other side of Lyons Creek I decided to cut to our left towards the creek.

We hiked for awhile through this big open area with huge granite slabs, a few trees growing but not many and massive rocks. We were in deep you could almost feel ambushed here if Natives or Bigfoot like creatures were to stand above us as we crossed this small basin. Eventually after getting through it we went through more rugged dense forest and came out near the creek. Tammy and I were trying to find a spot to cross but many the water was flowing fast and it was fairly deep. We definitely did not want to get our gear wet or cameras. I think it was worst to cross here then where we were at in the early morning. At least in the morning hours we could have walked across here not so much.

We found a few primitive campsites even areas erosion had carved out the rocks which were not small pools of water filling them in all along the creek bed. This is not a place many know about but its a great camping place along the creek and I bet the bigfoot experiences around here are pretty amazing if you pack on in. I did not have my tent or sleeping bag this was just a day trip but its something I can keep in mind for the future possibly.

We decided to follow the creek back along the way for awhile still no spots to cross although even if we made it across the other side had no trails it was primitive, steep, overgrown and put us kind of out of the way. Eventually after a few hours we were back where we started boy was I peeved. I leaped about six rocks and made it across. Then I sat my pack and gear down reached out gave Tammy a hand. Both of us made it cross dry things are not always what they seem. We just have just tried to cross in the morning but it was much darker and we did not see that there were a few rocks we could have crossed. Despite that we were dry it was a rough crossing some of the rocks were moving around and we almost fell in a couple times.

We eventually continued on a decent trail which use to be an old ranching road in the 1800's. I felt it was more decent then where we just came from. Once we crossed over a cattle guard we had about a mile and half to reach the lake. The road continued to ascend I mean when you go from 7k to nearly 8,600k your going to feel in that short span. The road was nice there were flowers and butterflies everywhere but lots of steep mountain sides the entire inclination to the lake. At times high grass and brush grows in the road you could tell its been a century since a wagon used this. Its possible that at one time you could drive up here but that was probably decades ago.

Parts of the road were really rugged lots of rocks, high grass growing and brush. At times I begin to even question if we were even going the right away. My GPS was having issues it would not allocate our position efficiently or turn us around based on the direction we were facing so really because of it all we did is waste half a day trying to get our bearings. Once I was able to be on the old diary road climbing with views of some of the crystal mountains through the trees I knew we had to be nearing Bloodsucker Lake.

The road does not have much shade and we were so tired going uphill that it took us awhile to get to the lake. But I had rested knowing we were on the other side of the creek  There is a fork also in the road which goes up or right stay to your left and ascend. While many trails in the area are also named Bloodsucker Lake Trail only one takes you directly there. If you take the right path it will end and you will have to go through rugged terrain to find the trail again as it does not do a complete loop. Which means you would have to heat east then climbing the cliffs to a little dead end road which eventually takes you to a lake and trust me I know because when I was done with the lake I came out this way just did not go to the lake this way.

So we kept climbing man it was hot this region for some reason gets hotter then other parts of the sierras. It might be the crystalline rock which absorbs the heat up here but we were roasting. You can stand under trees along this road time to time but there are gaps without much shade so it sucks. Even more so my gps on our phone and my device stated we were here and its another quarter mile up hill and another quarter mile through the forest so its a bit deceptive. But if you are patient staying on the trail you will eventually see the lake through the trees. The old dairy road only skirts around a small portion of the lake a short time so if you are not paying attention you could miss it. So look to your left through the trees and you will also see beyond the lake the Crystal Mountains.

There are very few places you can sit on this lake its heavily overgrown all around the lake. Their is probably two to three locations that you can go sit and reflect. But across the other side the brush and foliage is so dense that you cant really walk around the entire lake. There are no trails around this lake like many of the lakes in the sierras. I took a series of narrow animal paths to the lakeshore the foliage was scraping my legs walking through them where we found an area of about 6 x 8 to sit on with a small rock. We had a picnic here or rather our lunch which included pizza, cheese, nuts, fruit, crackers, pepperoni, blueberry pastry etc

We probably spent an hour just sitting here relaxing trying to refuel because its a hell of a hike here so we knew going back would be more intense since we had some primitive places to check out along the way. So we needed to eat well for the journey back and it helped just to lay back rest a bit. We had been out in the hot sun since sunup and here it was 2pm ish so that is a long time to be exploring without much of a extended break. But we finally were here and its really a gorgeous little lake. Its a bit shallow but very clear. I read that if you stand on the shoreline you will see leeches all over the place but we never seen a single leech does not mean they were not in there it just means where we were at did not have any.

The backdrop is amazing in regards to this lake with Pyramid Peak, Mount Agassiz and Blue Mountain all overshadowing and reflecting off the waters of Bloodsucker Lake. This is the closest I been to these three peaks they are so close out in front of you that it makes you want to continue forward just to stand on there peaks. I think about two miles away the mountains were in front of us and we could see them in great detail including the forested canyons that run from their peaks down to lake level.

You can kind of see where Pyramid Peak and Mount Agassiz Meet there is a big canyon that is where Lake Sylvia and Lyons Lake are found in. Lyons Lake, Creek and even this dairy road we were on were named after the rancher who once resided back here. He had a huge dairy ranch right on Blood Sucker Lake and that trail we took to the lake once at one time a wagon road. Of course the roads and trails around here are forgotten untouched and definitely not maintained which is why this was such a hard hike for us. I can only imagine how difficult it was for a farmer living here in the 1800's but I guess some of the roads up here were Indian trails at one time since three tribes inhabited this area. So he probably just improved it enough so he could ride his wagons through here.

If you had south of Bloodsucker you can take the Lyons Creek Trail which follows the creek to both of these lakes. We had no time but we were only two miles away and if we went primitive we could have just made our way around the lake then cut to that canyon. But the trail is nicer if you want some clarity and to enjoy the creek. We were near Lyons Creek earlier that morning when we kept going south along Silver Creek. The two meet so definitely lots of water up here and flowing water which makes it a great area to seek out Sasquatch. So were not done out here but we have to plan an expedition where we can pack in for the night to Sylvia or Lyons Lake set up a tent stay a day or two then come back. Its to major of a hike to not spend the night up there otherwise it would be 11 grueling miles five and half in five and half out and all rugged.

So Tammy and I just enjoyed a lovely time at the lake I did not go in even if I seen no leeches thanks but no thanks not interested in being sucked on by anything other then a hottie. I know that came out wrong but there has to be humor in some of this I mean we spent hours primitive turned around thanks to my GPS unable to cross the creek only to go back to where we started and give this hike a second chance. It was a bitter sweet ending to our day however because we spent so much time up here we did not have time to go up to Cody Lake which is another awesome lake in the region you can hike out to and has the oldest most primitive boy scout camp in the country. So we just had to take a rain check on that. But we were right on the edge of the Desolation Wilderness and well I have had some bigfoot experiences there before so it all hit close to home for me.

Ill tell you its like a jungle on the other side of the lake I may have gone around the entire lake bushwhacking but we just had no more time since most of our day was eaten up by Silver Creeks unforgiving flow. I do pay attention to my surroundings and a few things I did notice while I was up here at the lake. The first thing is that I thought I seen something walking on two legs covered in hair that ran between two trees on the other side of the lake. The other thing I noticed was an old huge massive track right where we had our picnic. I did not even take a photo or do anything with it because it could have been someone's boot but it was to old and weathered which means its inconclusive. Bigfoot could have made it or another hiker no less it was deep so whatever made it had mass as I could not make an impression that deep.

Another thing I noticed on this hike is for example when I was up by the creek earlier that morning I thought I heard talking or whispering. But it did not sound human and I notice this quite a bit out this way. Maybe these creatures have their own little language but I sometimes hear them talking to eachother in a low tone whisper like they are hiding up in the trees or bushes as we walk past. Maybe its nothing but its the small things in my paranormal career that lead to bigger better finds so you have to take what you hear too into consideration.

Being up here was amazing there was not one hiker, backpacker, dog, person, woman or child. This place is really offbeat and primitive we seen nobody. I figured when I got to the lake id seen a tent or a few others up here but in fact it was just us and it was very quiet. It may have been a pain to find this place but the mountains reflecting off the water and that serenity is priceless. I read stories about how this place is packed with folks and that is not true. We seen nobody and we spent the entire day nearly hiking all over this area exploring and so forth. That is rare for the Crystal Basin area but their are other lakes that are far more bustling so if your looking for something more primitive this would be the place.

We eventually packed on up then continued to hike the road which only skirts a small SW portion of this lake for a couple hundred feet. That is why I say pay attention because its easy to miss the lake I mean it is over 120' from the old wagon trail to your left. But their is one point the old abandoned road gets about 20' and that is a nice camping or picnic spot. There is even a log you can sit on and rocks but since we did not know about this spot we ended up picnicking at the overgrown location. But the second spot we found did not have high grass or foliage all over. So if you read this report and you want to go out there don't be over zealous take the road for a couple hundred feet more and seize the opportunity. Because the spot we took a break at was overgrown which means more bugs even possibly ticks so you have to be careful. We had some really awesome bug repellent so we did not have an issue with it.

Eventually the old wagon road begins to the SE below the lake a little and then jets back to the SW. It does end at these really steep hill and dozens of old fallen trees. I am not sure why they wont finish the road or trail so that it loops back around. Not even sure what the point of this trail or road is maybe the rancher never completed it or maybe it did connect back in the day. But my reason for taking this to begin with is that off to the left of it is a hidden lake or pond rather. Its hard to pinpoint how close it is to this road but I guess when you see the fallen trees you jet to your left through the foliage and forest.

Well my GPS messed up on our position so I ended up climbing logs, down these cliffs and a series of tiered rocks to this beautiful meadow filled with these white wildflowers. By the time my GPS allocated our position it now showed the lake back up above us diagonally to our right where we just came. I told Tammy forget it because there was no way I was going to leave her there alone in the middle of nowhere because she was not able to do the climb back up. Besides the fact we were running out of light and we were not going to retrace our steps for a pond that is a 100' across. I really wanted to check out its marshy banks for tracks so I felt a bit disappointed damn GPS. But it was just to much work and time consuming to have to climb everything back up to an area we just descended from.

But being I found some big impressions, bear tracks and other strange things I am sure we would have found something up at this hidden pond. Yeah I found some tracks just before we descended at the fallen trees. They were fresh and a fairly good sized bear which could have made those tracks within hours of us finding them. So this bear could have still been in the area and it does not surprise me they have signs up at Wright's Lake Campground about it so if they are found there they will be found here to since Wright's is a couple miles to the north.

I thought a few times I found some worn tracks with toe impressions maybe bigfoot? bear? Its hard to know when tracks deteriorate its more difficult to decide what made them. But on that old wagon road before it ending going down off the mountain I found some tracks that were very wide and had toes. But they were very old and worn. Therefore, again its inconclusive but no less I was on the hunt for a fresh track so that I could log it as evidence. Tammy and I figured they were just bear tracks but you never know these bigfoot like creatures are all over the place in this area. More sightings, vocalizations and tracks found here then almost anywhere in the U.S. which is why we really need to continue our research here.

But when you find tracks like these and your on the side of a mountain with no trail around you know your setting yourself up for an encounter. Sure enough Tammy seen something two hundred feet away running between the trees. She told me she had no idea what it is I figured maybe it was a deer she said it was brown and fast. I remember hearing a branch snap earlier so maybe it was a bear or bigfoot hard to know. But we were so deep in the wilderness anything could have been stalking us since its doubtful people descend off the lake this way climbing cliffs, rocks and fallen trees. I really do not believe much in coincidences if you put it all together I seen something run on the other side of the lake, heard whispering, branches breaking, found tracks and then Tammy seen something too. So either an animal or it was the king of the forest Sasquatch. Either way we were not alone up here perhaps the only humans but something else was lurking around Bloodsucker Lake that we just could not identify.

I told Tammy I could hurry up climb the cliffs cut over to that pond check for tracks but after seeing the big bear tracks and a few other happenings I did not think it was a good idea. Folks vanish up in this region without a trace. They are never seen again and while I may be okay with that I am not okay with someone else being put in that situation. I was alright with my decision I still had one more primitive pond I could check for tracks so maybe I would get lucky there. The thing is that pond is closer to the trail which means its not as secluded from hikers. This pond was a bit more primitive but it is what it is I always imagined hiking to some primitive pond and catching a couple bigfoot like creatures splashing and playing. Then I also think what will happen if they catch me in their line of sight which may not have good results because these creatures are elusive they do not want to be found they are up there but they rely on their outdoor knowledge to remain hidden which in turn is a self preservation tactic.

The hike downhill was very hard eventually we would make it about a half mile south of the lake making a descent. I would begin to cut to our right or westbound  I went fairly far SW for awhile it is like a jungle probably seen parts of that forest no humans have seen in over a century. Eventually we would intersect with a portion of the Bloodsucker Trail. We almost were so SW we were close to Lyons Creek and its trail system. But we got lucky and we ran into another Bloodsucker Trail like I said their are a few named that surrounding the lake in this region. It was not easy to find this trail its only a foot wide in nearly waste deep foliage its as easy to cross the trail missing it because you kept trucking. But I noticed the narrow overgrown path and so we got on it then hiked NW.

This is really primitive most folks do not take this trail because it does not take you to Bloodsucker Lake as a matter in fact if you take it SE it will run into the Lyons Lake Trail. Some folks will take the Bloodsucker Trail and at the split go right to cut into Lyons Creek Trail which takes them up to the lake and gives them access to Pyramid Peak. Pyramid Peak can be seen all over the region from Tahoe, Carson Pass and many of the other mountains we have climbed. So honestly if you want good access to it then that is a great journey to take. But at that split Tammy and I stayed left ascended up to the lake. Then we descended from the south end of it and cut west back into this trail. So all we really did was looped around but some of it was primitive with no trail just making our own path.

We begin to hike NW anyhow which took us to another hidden lake I was happy to see it because the other hidden pond we missed. Well I found it but by the time my GPS pointed us the right way we already came off the cliffs. If it was allocating right we were so close to it we could have jetted left and bam right there. So I was happy to find another body of water that day I could explore for tracks. As we were going to our NW you can cut off to your left and there is a small marshy pond. Its not scenic and its not even really beautiful but its very serene. Their is this tree with a few rocks that you can sit on and under. So we took a half hour snack break here so that I could examine the marsh shoreline for tracks. I did not find anything other then possibly some old deer tracks and by the time I was done my feet were wet because its very spongy at this pond.

The sad thing is this probably was more of a small lake but many of the primitive lakes found in the sierras are drying up forever or shrinking. This lake was probably twice if not three times larger and I know this because I could seen the water lines on some of the rocks which extended out into the forest a little bit. Most of the shoreline here was grassy and marshy past that was a small body of water which I could not get to close because it was so soft I was sinking like quick sand in the mud. But it was a nice little break watched some wildlife for a half hour, ate a snack, explored for tracks and then it would be time to hit up the trail again.

This portion of the trail is really intriguing lots of giant rocks, various types of trees and nature. Its hard to calculate where your at on this hike because views are so limited unless your at Bloodsucker Lake. I mean if you take the main old dairy road to the lake you will get some views of the sierras and forest below but not many. However, taking this trail because that is what it is a trail not an old dairy road offered very little except a very overgrown forest. Its so easy to lose sight of the trail to being that is overgrown, trees fall over it and so narrow. We found this really cool rock it looked like a rock stage and of course I jumped on the slab pretending to play the air guitar lol. It had this slab facing upright behind a slab laying on the ground. It was big enough to boast a band on this thing if you wanted to.

Eventually we came out to the creek same spot we crossed at now we had to figure out a safe way to get across. The first time we leaped from that last rock to the shore but we could not leap from the shore to that rock to dangerous and slippery. So we took a series of rocks about 10' away it was a bit tricky but we both made it without an issue. I stood in the middle of the creek to help Tammy keep her balance as she took one rock at a time. Of course my dog already made it across he just leaps rock to rock and without any struggle is sitting on the shoreline staring at us lol like hey you coming. Its not easy carrying a huge backpacking and leaping rocks. If you fall off a rock you could hit your head and drown or have a serious injury even die. So their is some skill that comes with crossing and so its important you use a buddy system if I was alone slipped hit my head I could drown just as Tammy being so short without having me to grab her arm pull her to the next rock she might slip and get hurt so you have to work in tandem.

We were not paying attention well we just did not see it but when we crossed the creek we ended up heading west or straight instead of NW back to the parking area where the campground was. Which honestly I was going to park where this trail came out anyhow because its easier then going through the campground dealing with goats and people. The Bloodsucker Lake really is an equestrian area meaning there is allot of people that horseback ride. On the hike I seen hundreds of horseshoe prints everywhere so if you get lost follow them because generally folks take their horses only on the main trails up here. Well I figured since I seen horseshoe prints I was going the right way so I was not really paying much attention. So I went west and man was that nuts because that small portion from the creek to the road was so overgrown we lost the trail because there was trees growing on it, logs etc.

There were times I went around a bunch of trees growing on this little trail and id go around nearly getting turned around. I can say without a doubt that this area is not very well maintained which is why you need to be careful. It only takes losing the trail to get lost and you wont find it again. The trail from the road all the way to that primitive pond we found was like this. Its a hard trail to follow and an easy trail to lose if you do not have a GPS or a good sense of direction you could be a few feet off and end up hiking miles till you hit something so be careful. The trails are much better defined and maintained in other parts of the Crystal Basin. But this quadrant the forest, trails and terrain is much different. I mean these are the foothills of the Crystal Mountains and close to where they begin.

Tammy and I had plenty of fun trying to go under trees, through evergreens growing close together and dealing with parts of the trail that were just out. But we did come out onto Wrights Lake Road then we had to hike north up it back to the parking area where the campground was. We had missed the junction to the NW so we ended up instead just heading west till we hit the road. Its so easy to get turned around here because you cant use the views to allocate your position your basically in a jungle and it all starts to look the same. The trails and old abandoned wagon roads are forgotten nothing is labeled hell when we found the bloodsucker trail itself on the way back there was a sign we found broken and laying on its side which I fixed with some rocks to help other hikers. There are places up here you could leave the trail and never be seen again which is why its such an intimidating place. I mean all it takes is getting lost and getting eaten by a mountain lion or bear so you have to be careful. My GPS was not working right up here but it least showed me a general idea of where we were at so all we had to do is stick towards one direction and we knew we would either hit a road or trail system which we did do.

By the time I had gotten to the truck it was almost nightfall and we hiked over seven miles most of it primitive. We did not have time for another lake hike or expedition that day which was fine because we were exhausted. This terrain is unforgiving but on a good note we never came across any red brush which is more common in the Tahoe National Forest not so much the ElDorado National Forest. We also did not have to go through the campground and deal with them goats which the one looked like it was about to charge me so I can see the positives of it. But we managed to hike a few trails, along Silver Creek, see a pond and spent time at this lake so we covered quite a bit of this quadrant.

Its just another area of the Crystal Basin I never had gotten to see before but our work is far from done we still have many more lakes to hike out to and explore. Bloodsucker is just one of dozens of lakes out this way to see and experience. I think if there was any bigfoot in the area your sure bet is somewhere up here probably on the other side of Bloodsucker Lake where there is forest then this mountainous ridge and then beyond that Pyramid Peak. Alls I know is that this was a very rugged difficult hike we took on and we busted our ass. But we seen lots of wild flowers, butterflies, scenery and we did experience a few things that could have been bigfoot related for sure. The thing about finding big bear tracks is that we can say that if this area can support a large bear then it can support a large primitive creature such as Bigfoot too.

The nice thing about a hike like this is when I got home weighed myself and finally dipped below the 200lb goal. This has been a long time in the making trying to get below that mark so that extra exploring really paid off here. Rocky did quite well I mean he is only 25lbs and he hiked seven miles over streams, massive fallen trees and through brush much taller then him. If I only had four legs like him because ill tell you what this was a crazy crazy hike. Even crazier then when we hiked to Beauty Lake a few weeks prior which is to the North of Wrights Lake while Bloodsucker Lake is to the south. This entire area is very intriguing and water is still flowing up here so where their is water your going to find these bigfoot like creatures. But its hard to find tracks on any of the trails the horses step right on them so going primitive has its advantages to but up here going primitive can also mean more danger so you have to be careful this wilderness is not like other places in the sierra. This really is a bigfoot like creatures playground here it was never meant for humans to endure yet its adventurers like me who endure it anyway's all for the love of the great outdoors!

We have to be thankful for the things we get to see and experience. But also that we come out of these types of journeys unscathed. This was not an easy outing then again most of our explorations are just that intense. Its easy to panic when you get turned around or when there are obstacles which is why we just don't. If we did we would not be still doing what we do out there. Their are allot of elements to being a cryptozoologist and the work we do is difficult. But at the same time we see things so very few ever get to see or are meant for our eyes only. Bloodsucker Lake is a crazy crazy place one I wont forget anytime soon! There was one track I found on this expedition that was gigantic with toes bigfoot possibly? Who knows but I believe that this creature does lurk or dwell up around here. You have to wonder if old man Lyon himself had some of his own experiences while culling the herd and operating a ranch in the 1800's here you really do! A secret he may have taken to the grave!

Peace,
Lord Rick

PS This report is a rough draft and subject to changes before it gets indicted onto our site with our casework in the future.

Our Crazy Bigfoot Expedition At Weaver Lake & Quartz Peak On 7/13/19

Ill tell you what the Grouse Ridge area never seems to be disappoint in regards to Bigfoot. The last time I was up in this region was a few years ago not once but twice. Both times I found some weird things so I figured the third times a charm. Little by little I am slowly chipping away at certain locations and the Bowman Lake region is full of wonders. There is just so much more to see afterall this is an area that is over 80 thousand acres so its quite vast in itself that is if you can get to it. Their are quite a few lakes, isolation, creeks and caves where anything could be living up here remaining elusive for many years.

This would be a special expedition because I wanted to take my son out alone with my older dog who really loves the outdoors. This was kind of the father and son Bigfoot adventure of a lifetime its the one thing my son and I have in common. We both love to squatch and explore id like to think were really good at it and you have to be to explore an area like this. A couple years ago I went to Bowman, Sawmill, Lindsey, Culbertson and a few other lakes. This time though id set my eyes on a a very hard to get to Weaver Lake where we would set up a camp and explore the Quartz Peak area.

I have spent to many years to count in search of Sasquatch some of my encounters were to close to call. Little did I know what I would be getting myself into by the time we completed our expedition. It does not matter how you cut it their will always be bumps in the road, obstacles and risk involved. Sure its easier to stay home but that would put us in a bubble and my research is far to important to not take a few risk to have a chance to do research in this region.

I love the NW region of Truckee its full of ghost towns, rugged roads, lakes, rivers, screams, meadows and last year ago in October I camped a half hour from here at White Rock Lake which turned out to be a great UFO case for us. The entire area is remote and when you camp here its an area your going to work for. Nothing gets handed to you here many of the roads are rocky, rugged and hard to traverse. You definitely need a jeep or 4wd truck to navigate the high sierras up here. Among the recreational opportunities the area has a longstanding history of bigfoot encounters some more terrifying then others.

There have been cases where people have gone hiking and were never seen again. With Weaver Wake there is a story about a young boy being found deceased at the bottom of a cliff laying at the bottom of Toms Creek. The young man was with a group of folks nobody seen him fall I guess he got up ahead but the hike was primitive so nobody knows for sure if he slipped or if he was thrown from the cliff or whatever. Going primitive is very dangerous its something I been doing for many years but once you enter the wilderness its fair game up in these parts so you do have to be very careful.

Despite reading about the death and finding out a few folks have gone missing forever I was not going to let it deter me from exploring such a beautiful remote place. While Bowman Lake gets many more visitors Weaver is a bit more quiet but its also perhaps a little harder to get to depending on which way you approach it from. While not many folks realize this the lake is home to one of California oldest Sportsman Clubs which sits on its own private road and is limited to 100 members so its very exclusive probably for prominent individuals who vote one another in that goes also with a bit of cost. There is a price to pay for such unforeseen beauty I guess.

Jarrod and I left in the middle of the night we wanted to make sure we found ourselves a campsite on Weaver. Since Weaver is very primitive with only a dirt road along its eastern shoreline there really is only two areas you can patch camp on the water. One area sits in this little cove has some okay views and you can kind of see the Sportsman Club far on the other side. This area is great because there is big trees for shade a nice open shoreline for fishing or kayaking. The other spot is similar but its near the dirt road but you have logs you can sit and you get views of Quartz Hill or Peak as I refer to it as since it is a fairly tall geological landmark that overshadows the lake.

Most of Weaver Lake is private so its first come first serve to camp here. Its also very primitive I am so not into campgrounds id rather just find a lake to offroad to pitch a camp or backpack in. Which is why this place has drawn so much interest because you can practically pull your truck up to the shoreline pitch camp and be grilling in no time. So my plan was to get back to Weaver and then put together a nice little adventure near the top of Quartz Peak.

I took a rather interesting journey on up here of course there are a few ways you can get out Weaver Lake one of the easiest ways right now is out due to the past winters storms. With that being said now that I know the easier back way in I can use it for future reference but for now I would take a more rugged way to get here that which is Bowman Lake then switch back over to Weaver Lake on this road that sees very few vehicles a year because the rocks are very sharp.

I started my morning off taking on the old Henness Pass Road. I love this little route through the woods it use to be an old wagon road but they improved the road so that hikers and campers like me could make it to this region of the sierras. If you take this road you can branch out from it visiting quite a few really nice remote lakes. In this case my first stop at the morning was up at the old Webber Lake Sheep Camp which is seasonal this time of year. I have not gotten to see all of Webber Lake but its an old trading post, hotel, stage stop etc well it was today its a preserved historic site that you can camp at on Webber Lake.

I stopped to take a few photos of the sheep that is when this big old white dog ran out of the woods and begin to chase me lol. The dog is just doing his job there to guard the flock from wild animals or people up to no good. But the sheep camp has a historic structure, corral and there was a few hundred of them grazing so I thought id get out for the Kodak moment lol. The dog was not to happy about that and he chased my truck right to the end of the road lol.

I think made my way along the shores of Jackson Meadows Reservoir this is far to busy of a place for me to camp at. Although they do have something like 13 campgrounds up here and an old general store that is historic which served some other purpose back in the day. Some of the campgrounds were full some were empty I was just driving along the shoreline this is a massive lake in comparison to even Weaver or some of the other lakes in the region. There was plenty of boats and fisherman out I drove over the dam stopped a few times to take some photos of the lake. Maybe when things calm down up here ill camp there are times of year some places like this are dead.

I eventually took a back road on into Bowman Lake driving along it. I love Bowman its another very large lake in the area. But despite it having primitive camps it was full down this entire rugged road along it. I enjoyed camping on Bowman had a blast we used our raft, fished, rock climbed, swam etc. Its a really gorgeous lake and at sunset Bowman Peak is glowing orange its just stellar. When I camped at Bowman I hit a few lakes in the area and I remember seeing Weaver to the north of it but the road was so bad I had to turn around so I never got to see it let alone hike up to it I did however see other cool features near Bowman including this purple, pink and gold snake it was very exotic.

I forgot how rugged it is up here to traverse Bowman as most of the road is very narrow at times up on cliffs but the Bowman Lake area alone has over 23k of wild lands so much to explore. Some areas of the shoreline you can camp but there are areas it just drops off and so its a rough journey. Honestly, I have seen jeeps broke down on this road but if you can get back here its worth every bit of that effort. Its a scenic blue lake and there is allot of little coves and cool places to check out. There use to be mines and not far away is an actual town known as Graniteville which is a semi ghost town in the area. I never came to Bowman Lake from this route but I am not a stranger to the road that runs along the lake.

Eventually we would turn off its a switchback road so it goes back and forth till it eventually enters a much more level road. Problem is the road from Bowman to Weaver is bad real bad. If you do not have good tires you are going to get a flat just being honest. While some roads might be mixed with dirt and rocks this road here is all rocks piles of them. There is no dirt its all rocky and very rugged. The first lake we seen to our left was Lake McMurray through the trees. Supposedly there is a primitive camp on the south end of this lake but we got out and begin to find out this was not the case. I guess someone recently bought the entire lake and some dirt road that is on the back side of it to build a house or cabin at. Because I told Jarrod maybe we could camp here afterall McMurray is so isolated it hardly ever gets visitors unlike Weaver Lake which is used by the old sportsman club.

McMurray Lake was hard to see its not very big and is surrounded by dense forest a bit off the road. We found an old stone fire pit on the one end of the lake but it would have been hard for us to carry our gear to pitch camp or less convient so we ended up moving a few hundred feet down the road from here and we could finally see Weaver Lake. There was a nice young couple camping on the south end of the lake so the first beautiful private spot was taken and by the time I got to the other end of the northern portion of the lake there was some family group spot also taken. I know it was a family spot because they had at least six to seven tents right on the beach to this cove so we turned around went back to McMurray where I seen two guys giving us the death stare sitting on there truck.

I decided the hell with it this is the national forest you can pitch camp anywhere I just prefer to be on water of some kind because I like to fish and I like views. I dont want to be in the woods where I cant even see where the hell we are at so I pulled in this huge area nestled by trees not far from the couple and drove the truck up about twenty feet on a hill and pitched my camp above Weaver Lake. I was not sure how that would work out because I did not want to interrupt this couples honeymoon I mean they found the spot first on the lake and its there little slice of heaven. But as the sierras become more dense from the folks traveling up here from the big city its getting harder to find places to camp believe it or not.

The couple both came and introduced themselves I left them know I cant find anything and that id be camping near them but on the hill above which was around 50 to 65 feet away so they could have privacy. I explained to them I am very quiet and they wont see much of me because ill be gone most of the day hiking so all was cool. But they had the fire pit we did not that was the difference but I still could see the lake from where were at so it was not to bad. I backed the truck in we unloaded and unpacked everything within an hour or so. The couple told me they been there a few days and they were happy we decided to camp near them because I guess the guys we seen in there truck a few hundred feet down the road were trying to harass the couple or intimidating them for that camp site on the lake.

It was funny to because they told me the guys would not leave them alone and I get it there are some old timers who are so stuck on camping at certain locations. Here is the thing if you do not want it to be taken simple just go on a Thursday or something but if someone finds a camp spot the right thing to do is let them have it nobody owns the mountains or forest. While the couple was explaining there horror story to me the guys drove by real slow and I gave them the evil eye as they drove by real slow they got out of there never came back. So in a sense my presence alone remedied the situation and the men left the couple along. Everyone introduced themselves shook hands and I felt pretty confident I found some good folks to camp near. Just a guy with his girlfriend camping, fishing and rafting so I felt safe leaving my camp while going out hiking in search of Bigfoot and so our adventure would begin.

Weaver Lake California

Man the water up here is so crystal clear most of these alpine lakes are. I mean you still have snow on some of the peaks up in this region which means pure snow melt. I noticed that Weaver Lakes water was not even to cold. Jarrod and I would pack our bags up we did not hang out to long at camp just enough to get the camp set up with our tents so when we came back later we could grille eat a nice dinner.

So we set on off into the wilderness walking along the Eastern shoreline we followed the road then we decided to jet into the dense forest to our right towards Quartz Peak. Often when I do an expedition we do go primitive no trail, no road, no path or anything. Just coordinates and us trying to allocate the best safe passage to that destination.

We left before noon we would not get back to camp till 9pm  So we had a long journey ahead of us you cant even see Quartz Peak from either end of the lake so how do you summit something you cant see other then generally coordinates? Especially when your in dense forest or ravines climbing? So we had our work cut out for us and my goal was really to follow Tom's Creek up near the summit and then visit this hidden lake not many folks know about.

I have to say I should whoop myself because you see the Tahoe National Forest is one of the harshest national forest in the state of California. Its so diverse that its a high desert, alpine and rain forest type of mix sometimes all at the same time which I know sounds weird but over my years of going primitive here this is one of the harshest environments I ever hiked in. There is a ton of red brush and this other foliage which will cut you up like razor wire and their is no avoiding it because their are no trails up where we were at.

Most folks really have no idea how far the Tahoe Forest goes up into California. Most believe its on the lake and its not. The forest extends beyond the NW end of Tahoe and it contains some of the most rugged terrain in the high sierras in comparison to many other wilderness areas in this range. My son and I were in for a battle to get close to quartz peak and it would not be easy.

We followed some old mining or wagon road at times it was so overgrown we had to crawl or push through fallen trees, brush and fallen boulders. Eventually we could no go any further on this old unused road so we cut to our left when it met up with Tom's Creek then followed that awhile. This was a bit of a rugged hike because we had to keep climbing down into the ravine to cross the creek and back out of the ravine to follow it for awhile then vice versa for about an hour or so.

The forest is full of rock formations but also small cliffs, granite slabs and a mix of foliage. Eventually we would come out of it and begin to hit the cliffs of Quartz Peak. Jarrod went up this 200' cliff while I took a safer route to the left then up and around. I heard there are some caves somewhere near here we never found them but their are quite a bit of rocky peaks where we were at so its hard to know they could be anywhere.

Eventually Jarrod and I made it up to Quartz Lake it sits probably a few hundred feet below the peak. There is at least three peaks that surround the lake and if you can make it to the ridge which is almost straight up you can follow it to the peaks but again very steep. We simply did not have time to climb Quartz Peak but we did make it to the lake or should I say pond between it and the other peaks just below them. Its very dangerous to climb around here lots of loose rock and sheer cliffs but if you want to see places like this going primitive is really the only way.

The lake is well hidden you have the backdrop of the cliffs while a hundred feet away you have these granite overlooks above the forest and off in the distance you can see Weaver Lake. Everything from up here looks so small and you can even see Pyramid Peak from afar which we were above mind you high above really. Did not realize how much we climbed to get up here but it was worthwhile.

We sat on the lake had a nice picnic which included jumbo subs, fruit, beer and other treats. We always eat good on our hikes and we bring good food. It stays nice and cold in our packs to since we pack ice with it so the food was fresh and yummy. The lake up here is like a mirror although most of the shoreline is marshy there is even an island with trees out in the middle. Its a very shallow lake but it reflects the peaks behind it and there is trees that grow along the shoreline. We sat on a log and had our lunch!

I was not at the time sure which peak was Quartz Hill to be honest because the picture I seen did not show me very much prior to the trip. I would not realize which peak was what till the next day when I hiked on the NW side of the lake and was able to see it in the full view. But the lake sits between two peaks one of them being Quartz so we were fairly close to it. We simply did not have time to progress further on the hike so we figured we would spend an hour at the lake look for tracks, eat a lunch, hang out and chase nature that sort of thing. I heard what sounded like whispering but some unknown language and yes Bigfoot has its own language in case people were to ask. They do communicate with one another although they use tree banging more often my son and I tried this over and over without ever hearing a response back.

We were about 120 feet from these overlooks so a few times we went to the cliffs and overlooks to take some nice scenic photos on the tripod. We were so far from Weaver Lake and it looked so small. All we could see below us between us and the lake is dense forest, rocky faces, granite slabs with cliffs and brush growing everywhere. We then realized how far we came and well we would be going a different way out of here so I was trying to think of how we could do this. I mean its tiered meaning that you will hit some flat forest then cliffs, then more forest then more cliffs etc. Their is some skill in going primitive because you have to decide the safest paths and even those are not that safe you still have to navigate cliffs whether you climb down them or find a safe passage around.

Jarrod and I after taking some photos went back to our luncheon area on the lake that is when a huge tree limb snapped. I did not think much of it other then to tell my son maybe its an animal. But I also told him maybe its a big animal but it was close like 100' close in the woods beyond the lake near us. Looking for tracks on this lake was a bust not even deer tracks so I found it strange a branch broke because it means a big animal was out there yet the animals do not appear to be using this lake as a water source therefore my thought is what is something like this doing out there and the thing is that whatever it was had to be very large. I just found it strange we had been here for an hour then all of sudden nearby was this big crisp snapping sound. But it was once snap not as if something was just passing through more or less like it accidentally stepped on a limb then stopped dead in its tracks.

Jarrod and I packed everything up it was relaxing this was a hidden lake nobody really knows about up on cliffs it does not get better then that. But we knew if we did not go now it would be dark and trust me you do not navigate this place at night there are cliffs, ravines and yes Bigfoot. The reason most folks do not encounter him up here is because they do not go into these parts at night they stay camped around there fires. So we had to begin our descent so we could get back to camp cook dinner and get some rest.

Jarrod and I spent awhile climbing off the cliffs below the lake then we followed the ridgeline below Quartz Peak. We were so close we could see the peak just above us if we had more time I had found a way up there but we just did not the sun was going down fast. We descended into the forest which was really rough at this point. There was some areas we could not get through without pushing through dense brush some of it was 8' tall and I was crawling, climbing and snapping brush. Both my legs had gotten cut up bad over 50 cuts blood running down both my legs did not even think about it my son had to point it out. He is like your a beast dad and at the time I was my mind was set going back to camp to eat some hot food lol.

In the forest we would come across cliffs that we would have to climb down off of or go around safely. Its really tricky back here I mean afterall a 16 year old boy fell to his death back here. He is not the only one people have died back here this place can kill you if you do not have climbing experience or know how to navigate around things safely. The woods were so dark and dense eventually we came out on an old road. This portion we did not traverse but eventually after pushing through fallen trees and brush growing on the road we found the portion we hiked on earlier which took us on the road which runs along Weaver Lake well a small portion of it does.

Soon as we had gotten onto the dirt road heading to Weaver Lake we hear this massive vocalization and more brush snap. Something followed us quietly from the cliffs of Quartz Peak all the way to the road. I was just amazed because its hard to descend back down to Weaver Lake from up here and you cant do it without making allot of noise to much foliage. Yet this thing had followed us for a couple hours sure we heard a few limbs break on occasion but we thought nothing of it till we got onto the road or out of this area of the forest and hear the vocalization. I cant say what it is but its not a bear and its not a mountain lion so it has to be bigfoot.

There was some sigh of relief when I left the forest knowing something was watching and following us. I went about a quarter mile up the road hit the NE shoreline of Weaver Lake. There was a huge group of folks camping there with music on, grilling and partying. So were out of the woods but man whatever this was followed us to the road just a little ways away from these folks camping. I bet they have no idea either most folks do not believe in Bigfoot lore nor have they seen these creatures or dealt with them. I have!

I followed the road along the lake and eventually I seen the campfire the young couple made on the SE portion of the lake. Then you cut right down this hill and your in this little cove where they were camped and I was on the hill above them so we were back just as the sun went down. The entire lake looked pink, purple and all the trees looked like black dark solid shadows. The water was glistening and calm their was a sigh of relief to be back at camp. I know something followed us we were in a place that gets very few hikers and we caught something's attention up there.

That night I cooked these steaks smothered in seasonings and steak sauce. I also made a healthy stir fry along with that we had apple sauce it was a decent meal. We had lanterns but no fire I did not build a pit and well its really no longer allowed thanks to all the arsonist and wildfires. If you have a ring put there by the forestry you can have one we did not have one since the primitive spot was taken by the couple using it so that was kind of a bummer but its all good I can go in my tent do some reading or whatever. So that is what I did set up my night cams on trees then turned in for the night I was exhausted.

About 3 maybe 4 am I heard this walking behind my tent it was heavy and it kept me up a bit. Something was outside my tent in the woods behind the tent. I cant tell you what it was but I got this feeling that whatever followed us off of the peak earlier was now in our camp. Bigfoot creatures are curious if you visit them they visit you. They just are more elusive then humans therefore whatever this was came around when I was sleeping. I had the food locked up in the truck in case of bears and well this sounded like something bipedal so I knew it was not a bear.

I woke up early in the morning did not find tracks and the cams revealed nothing which makes sense as to why something stayed behind the tent to also stay off the cams. That morning we had breakfast I made hot coffee then packed my gear as we were getting ready to hike again. My goal was to hike through the woods behind us maybe hit up Lake McMurray. So we set on off into the forest behind our camp which took us over a hill above the lake where we took the road and found a little road down to another really nice camp site with a stone firepit. Even though there are signs posted everywhere it was evident nobody follows said signs because the camp was destroyed people leaving garbage bags, bottles, plastic, cans etc But if I would have known the gate going down this primitive road to the lake was not locked I probably would have stayed here over night instead.

The sportsman club owns most of the lake and its shoreline however its evident they were not using this primitive camp. The camp was shady just a few feet from the water so you could fish and yes Weaver Lake is stocked with some fairly large trout again its a sportsman club. The stone fire pit, big trees and soft earth made it inviting. It sat in an area that was private not even really boaters can see this camp. It was a nice find to bad we did not find it the day before. Its ashamed people are dumping here no wonder why its posted but people camp here anyways and then they abuse it how freaking disheartening this is to see.

Jarrod and I hiked south along the primitive shoreline of Weaver Lake. I threw Rocky in a couple times there are areas along the shoreline that it drops off 6 to 8' and is clear all the way to the bottom perfect for swimming or letting the family dog go for a dip. I could see to the SW the sportsman club they have a bunch of docks for boats and if you look north behind the lake is Pyramid Peak. Half of the peak protrudes above the lake the other half  the mountain descends down into this valley below Weaver so when you look at it you think oh that is just a little geological formation but its not its an entire mountain that your only seeing the crown of.

There was people on boats fishing at first I thought that this was Lake McMurray I mean both lakes are side by side. I figured ehhhh hiking through the woods that is where we were at but that was not the case. Weaver Lake is a big kidney shaped so there is much more lake to see then where were camped at. I did not realize how big of a lake this was but this part of the lake was much larger of a portion then where we camped at and now I got to see the entire lake. I continued to hike along the SE portion of the lake through the woods which we came across a season creek then eventually giant granite rocks and marshland. It was becoming inhospitable so we had to turn around most of the shoreline is very rugged, primitive and full of brush which can cut you up. Across the other side of the lake are just cliffs everywhere and foliage growing while we were on the woodsy side to Weaver.

My goal was to find anything bigfoot evidence wise but we did not find much. The shoreline is full of big trees, roots, rocks and harder earth. There are some little areas you can climb down to and sit on the lake which I did do but we did not find anything. We did not make it past the marsh through the brush to get to Lake McMurray either. However, we did get the full Lake Weaver experience and this really is an awesome lake now that I got to see more of it. Its just a hard lake to camp on there is not many spots you can pull of pitch a tent. The club owns most of the lake and hell they have there own private road going to it so in a sense they have it mad but its all inclusive so if your not a member here most of the lake is off limits.

We did hike primitive ended up at camp actually on a portion of the lake trail where we came out in front of our camp site below on the lake. I decided we would cook lunch then pack up camp and do our second hike of the day which would be on the northern end of the lake around Pyramid Peak if possible. So I grilled these spicy sausages with garlicky spinach and apple sauce. It was a good lunch with some hot coffee and a bowl of dreamstar bud. I was ready for anything after that lol well almost anything! While we at I put my truck battery on the charger yeah charging my stuff overnight drained the vehicles battery it sucked but lucky for me I carry a portable battery charger just in case and it worked like a charm.

We packed up camp got everything loaded then decided to climb out of this area. Problem is there is two roads one had a bunch of big boulders which I did not feel like driving around but I should have because it was easy to go around or move the boulders and it was less rugged. The other road was steep, rugged, rocky and had a tree growing half way across this road.Well since I took the rugged dirt road in I thought I could take it out problem is there is this two foot dropoff and tree root growing on top of it. So you have to climb over this tree root and two foot edge my truck was not able to get the back end over it grrrr so frustrating because we were right there.

Well what happened is I kept backing up then revving it to climb it but my truck would not go. To make matters worst I hit that tree growing in the road put a dent just above my brake light on the passenger side lol. My son was on his phone was not spotting me so I could not cut it without hitting it because it was in my blind spot. I tried again to go up and over but my wheels ended up getting stuck in the soft earth then I bottomed out. My truck ended up being wedged on a steep hill leaning against this tree while all the wheels were buried with earth. I looked under my truck and I was bottomed out and we were stuck really bad.

I had to dig out all four tires then put it in four high and low of course the low was not kicking in as a matter in fact my four wheel drive was not kicking in at all. I kept gunning it forward then backward and the truck would move a hair. The problem was that I was wedged between the drop off and this tree so gravity had done what it needed to do. I could not get enough traction to go forward and I could not go back because I was up against this tree. I tried multiple times and nothing the couple camping told me they would call for help when they left soon over at Bowman Lake or when they got to the bottom of it. They also told me maybe I could hike to the sportsman club and see if someone could help me.

Well I took a ten minute break then I tried again my four wheel drive finally was kicking in so I was able to pull a little forward turn the wheel then let it roll back down this rugged road and out onto the flat area. It took a bit of work getting the truck out the camper even told me its a miracle I got it considering how I was wedged between the dirt, rocks and this tree. But my tires had grabbed and I just managed to get the four low to kick in so at that point I knew I was out of here. The campers were nice in helping us he helped me shovel the truck out lent me his fire shovel and so really it was awesome to camp next to these wonderful people. Little did I know that at the time getting stuck led to a more serious issues.

I guess all that gunning the gas in four wheel drive was not a good thing to do because my truck was smoking and overheating. When I got it unstuck the first thing I did was shut it off for a half hour then we moved two boulders so we could just drive out of here without any obstacles there was no way I was going to try the road I was just stuck on. I went with a much easier drive out of here so if anyone goes to Weaver make sure you know there is two ways down to the SE portion of the lake and only one of those roads is in decent shape. The other one is in bad shape its easy to take in but to climb out of there on it is difficult.

After temps cooled under the hood I left Weaver Lake parking on the other side of the lake closer to the dam directly across from the cove we camped near just a quarter mile on the other side. I did not look under the hood of my truck just figured it overheated earlier and we would hike a few hours let it cool completely. I had no idea at the time that because of gunning my gas in four wheel drive to the max it caused a hose and connector piece to blow. Again at the time just figured I overheat from trying to get unstuck had no clue to the events that were about to unfold.

Jarrod and I hiked along the northern part of Weaver Lake. There are no trails you just push along the shoreline through brush, over rocks etc and eventually you come out near the dam. Its pretty deep water near the dam and behind it is the creek which was flowing down into the canyon below. We crossed the dam and there is some really nice open areas along Weaver Lake on the northern side cleared of trees where you can picnic at or just sit back enjoying the views. From the Northern Portion of the lake you can get some awesome views of Quartz Peak and the ridgeline on both sides of it along with a few other peaks. The view is much better on the dam side of the lake rather then the woodsy side we camped on.

Some young guy on his boat went pass me with two hot blondes holding up his beer. I was also drinking a beer so I held mine up to. There was also two girls on paddle boards on the lake making out a blonde and a brunette both in little bikinis that was pretty hot too. These folks are club members maybe even family members of the club members ya know rich kids lol. I hiked along the lake shore through some woods ended up right above the docks and the sportsman clubhouse. There was pretty women walking around in bikinis, folks grilling and well it appeared they were having a party. Since its a private place we had to turn around but not before I checked out some cute ladies lol.

I went through the woods found actually a hiking trail which took me up this hill and huge open area or clearing. We found a helipad where we took a break at for about a half hour. From up here we could see Pinoli Peak, Pinoli Ridge, Poorman Valley and views of Pyramid Peak. We really wanted to climb Pyramid but there was this saddle you had to climb down into then you had to climb back up and well this peak is super intense because its nearly cliffs straight up and down. The back side is less steep but to even get on the back side would take a considerable amount of time. When you stand on the helicopter pad you only see from the Weaver Lake area  the top half of the peak but on the back side this peak goes fairly deep down into Poorman Valley. So we had to scrap it because we decided that we did two solid hikes and due to us overheating and getting stuck sundown was setting in.

So my son and I decided we would wrap up and id take the back road out of Weaver Lake to Route 41 which is this road that follows the crest of the sierras. Its an old wagon road that follows the eastern crest of the sierras or at least goes over it so the road goes nearly to the top of the sierras. Due to a bad winter I read that the road had trees across it and areas with snow still. I thought ehhhhh its July the forestry should have taken care of that boy was I wrong. But I figured at the time id take McMurray Lake Road to the NW then come out onto 41 and take that East descend onto Jackson Meadows and then the Henness Pass Road out to the highway. Jarrod and I were talking about going to dinner at Panda Express up in Truckee which is about 34 miles away not bad if you can make it to the highway.

So when I arrived at the truck I got my things ready such as drinks, snacks, took my meds etc. It is kind of spooky up here on a Sunday evening. There are no campers, hikers, boaters or fisherman we were up here all alone by the time we got back to my truck. I took the rugged road out of here which took me to route 41 where the road slip three ways. By the time I got to split I was not sure if I should go to Graniteville which is a semi ghost town about 13 miles to the SW or we could go straight or make a right head east which would take us back to Jackson Meadows where there is a ranger station and quite a few campers if I needed help. I did not want to go to Graniteville to many hills and it was a much further drive then going to the reservoir and the other road who knows where it went but I was not taking any chances because by the time I got off of McMurray Road my truck was heating up and smoking again. Just so everyone knows I did investigate the old Graniteville Cemetery its a cute town but I never felt welcomed here which is what deterred me to try to go elsewhere where I thought id get the most help if necessary.

At that point I did not think much of it other then I lost coolant when I overheated at Weaver Lake so I begin to put some of my water in the radiator just in case stopping every once in awhile. There was some moisture around the air and heater hose near the dashboard but nothing looked out of the ordinary but I suspected maybe a small leak so its possible the fluid was just gushing out as I was driving. I guess that where this bracket or fitting goes into that hose underneath it had broke off or had a huge crack through it. I just could not see it at the time but because of that fracture I must had lost all my coolant and did not even know it and here I thought I was just low. I went right past Weaver Creek and could have filled up or stored a few gallons of water. But at the time we had no idea a hose busted we figured a gallon or two of water will get us through and once we get to Truckee will buy some actual coolant boy was I wrong.

We got about a mile up the road and I was smoking bad. Every time I would overheat id put more of my water in the radiator then let it cool for fifteen minute go another .2 miles it was very slow going. The sun was setting we were up on cliffs, edges of ravines with mountains to our right or cliffs with woods then to our left steep dropoffs above the forest floor. I could look north at sunset and see for fifty miles nothing but mountains and woods. The trees looked like dark shadows the skies were turning orange and pink. I told my son we need to find a water source fill up our jugs etc that way we can fill the radiator when it overheats. Problem is every .2 miles id shut the truck down go into the woods around us to seek out water yet to no avail. It is July so most seasonal creeks stop flowing some of the seasonal creeks are trickling barely.

We could not find any water and we were burning through ours quick. Just before dark we found this steep cliff 200' down we talked about climbing down there to get water as we heard a rushing creek but it was not only dangerous but nearly dark out so once we were to go down there in the dark we would have to climb out of there to. Not a good area to be stuck at in the dark so we skipped the plan I figured id just find water in a safer place along the road which we never found any. Not because there are not ponds or creeks but because it was getting to dark. The road was getting worst and worst also here we are almost at nightfall hood open on a dirt road without a person coming to our aid in miles.

We were high up in the sierras with steep cliffs to our right with peaks and to the left overlooks with nothing but wilderness no services in miles. We came to this area where a tree had fallen across the road and my truck barely went underneath it that is when things became strange. I had my hood up was letting it cool keep in mind I had 13 maybe more 15 miles till Jackson Meadows Reservoir yet I could only go .2 maybe . 3 miles at a time every fifteen minutes. My trucks meter would hit the red in seconds then it would tell me to turn off engine warning me of danger so once the truck begin to shake or explode id turn it off for a bit add a little water let it cool then go .2 or .3 miles gunning it to get as much distance in as I could.

Well the area the road was out which I got past I had the hood open and all of sudden above us on the hill in the woods is this massive scream or vocalization. It was almost completely dark out so we could barely see. I was in the middle of putting new batteries in my tactical lights so we could get out search for water at night in the woods since ours was running out fast. The bellowing vocalization I did not hear as well as my son did but he got scared jumping in the truck and was like dad lets get the hell out of here that is close real close. I decided to put some distance between whatever this was and us since we were all alone up here with no where to go let alone escape. I figured if I put a half mile distance between whatever this was and us it would just come through here and keep heading down off the mountain above us over the road and into this valley leaving us alone.

I believe it was bigfoot I told my son the king is here and he is the king of the North American forest. This is his forest his rules if these creatures want to they can make you disappear. Something like this could have taken us and pushed our vehicle off a cliff nobody would have found us or seen us again. This was a big boy the most common bigfoot experiences around Grouse Ridge and Bowman Lake are strange vocalizations. Most of them occur just at dusk when then sun goes down this is because they are nocturnal and when they come out of there dens they do vocalize. I believe this thing seen us broke down from the top of the ridge and was either scaring us out of the area or it just woke up and was letting out screams. Just like any wild animal these creatures do hunt, gather and traverse great distances over short periods of time. My son loves bigfoot but this time around he was scared whatever it was had to be enormous in size and it was close roaming around on a dark woodsy steep mountainous hill just above the truck.

I was lucky to get off a text to Tammy back home to let her know were in big trouble. I let her know there is something big up here running around and were not alone. I let her know were leaking coolant running out of water and I can only go .2 miles at a time and that it might take hours into the next day to reach a highway just to get towed. I let her know the coordinates where we were at and let her know I loved her. My text went through as we were nearly at the top of the crest but that is it we lost signal again as quick as we had gotten it so we were on our own up here to brave whatever this was and figuring out how to get out of here without frying my engine.

When I put some distance between us and this thing I sat in the dark vehicle off listening in silence. That is all I could do is drive .2 miles then sit in the dark this went on all night. I kept my window a bit down recorder running figured id record these vocalizations I never was able to because they were so random but I tried. I am always a cryptozoologist even when broken down I did not panic but I was concerned because something was up there with us and we had no help at all. I was thinking all night long how much I wanted some Chinese food honey walnut shrimp to be precise and well since I am not patient .2 miles is nothing but a two minute jaunt then you have to let it cool off.

The forest along this road are not friendly there are cliffs, most of it was uphill which causes me to overheat faster, giant open areas with huge rocks the size of SUV's and dense creepy woods with so much foliage you can barely see even into them. Some of the most intimidating woods I ever been in and I got some good tactical lights. They are so dense and the thing is anything could be out there or hiding in them. I was not going to leave my son, dog or truck I figured id just keep traveling wagon route 41 and eventually descend down to Jackson Meadows where I could maybe get a signal at or have a ranger help me.

Well it was nearly midnight and I was driving my .1 sometimes .3 miles it varied id take cat naps just little 20 minute naps then wake up start the truck go a little bit then shut it off. Well at one point when we were nearly at the top of the sierras there are some little dead end dirt roads they show up on my GPS. Well as we were traveling we seen two lights no it was not a flashlight or a vehicle. They were two lights chasing my truck but not behind us but out front to our right and my son said to me hey dad there are flashlights or campers. I knew otherwise those were UFOs or willow wisp as some refer to them as. But imagine two giant glowing balls of lights going through the woods traveling right towards you. Talk about the sheer terror there was no vehicles up here, campers and certain these were not a couple folks shining lights on my truck. This was something else something paranormal! The lights were coming towards my truck fast all different directions like probes or globes of energy it was intense.

I gunned it did not care if it was UFOs or humans at this point I mean here I am traveling down this road never once seen a vehicle to get help or coolant did not even know why till almost sunup which ill get into in a bit. But I knew that whatever this was it was not there to help us first we had the bigfoot experience hours before now we were getting the whole UFO abduction experience. Reason why I say this is that I managed to put a half of mile between where we seen the lights and further down the road. I dozed off for awhile longer then I should have then jumped out of my sleep startled to death put my key in the ignition instantly peeled out of there.

Just before the sunup I begin to hit patches of snow and parts of the road were out. I was driving along cliffs and had to avoid fallen tree limbs, snow and rocks. Eventually I came across a massive wall of snow we could not go any further my GPS showed us being two miles from the reservoir it was downhill the entire way past this snow. I knew I could not drive over it there was cliffs to the left that could be bad slipping on it then rolling off. There was no way to get around the snow it went for about 50' maybe more and it was a hilly dirt road so where the road went down hill and back uphill the snow was 10' deep in that area so really if I were to shovel it id be there all day especially since I only brought my small shovel. So I sat there on the road in front of a huge wall of snow it was starting to get light out but barely.

I got out walked over the patch of snow and ice I never felt so hopeless. I spent the entire night driving to get to this point we had no water really and we were in deep. My son wanted to hammer the snow away I said to him good luck with that this snow had been up here now for almost a year it was not going anywhere. Hell this is why I never seen any vehicles come from the east because this road was out and for the first time in years I am reading its been out. This is one of the back ways into this wilderness area from this road you can access Bowman, Weaver, Jackson Meadows Lakes and Graniteville. But we could not make our descent down to the reservoir.

Man, I had gotten out of the truck to look around went above the road and around this ice sheet. I stood on this cliff and realized we were nearly at the top of the high sierras. I looked over the edge of this cliff and before me the crest of the sierras. There was this massive canyon and for miles peaks covered in snow. There was nothing for miles I felt very small when I walked above the road and realized there was this massive cliff on the other side which gave me a 50 mile view of snowcapped peaks. We were truly in isolation with no end or help in sight I was discouraged. I was more so discouraged knowing that id have to go all the way back to Weaver Lake over ten miles away almost therefore if it took all night to get here I figured it would take all day just to get back.

I never felt so hopeless in my life feel like I failed like this was all for nothing. I should have just turned around camped another night on Weaver or tried to leave out another way at least id had a water source. So I ended up turning around that is when I noticed my cell phone had the wrong date and time, my clock on my trucks time was off and my sons time on his watch was off. I believe that we were abducted by aliens up there and whatever it was took advantage of us being stranded. It was not like we could go very far all night long we were sitting ducks not moving ones. I cant explain while all our dates and clocks were off but that is not normal especially on a wrist watch. Could the vocalizations and lights be related? I have no idea I just know we were not alone up here.

I went back down the road its amazing how different this place is during the day its serene, scenic, peaceful and much more friendly. I found this pond amazingly just off the road a little with clear water. If you drive along 41 there are a few areas you can pull off set up a camp site and this small pond was a nice place you could do that at. I may have to go back up here once 41 is open pitch a camp here then do some woods exploring see what I could find. Speaking of finds I hiked down one of the dead end dirt roads nearby and found a mans ripped hiking boot as if that is not anymore intimidating above all I experienced.

 I also seen across this massive valley the sierra buttes which is one of the Tahoe National Forests tallest mountains. The buttes are home to over 50 miles in mines, dozens of lakes that are below it and even a few semi ghost towns. We have done a ton of projects, hikes, explorations etc around the buttes it was weird standing at the top of the sierras looking across miles of wilderness and just seeing the cloud covered buttes that morning the sun came up which really put things into perspective for me about how remote of an area we were at. We were so high up that I was nearly as high as the buttes were to the north. You sort of feel so small when you explore places like these there are so many areas up here humans have not explored which is why I continue to conduct my bigfoot research out here.

Anyhow, Jarrod took duct tape because the hose and the bracket were broke at this pond we filled our water up at. We figured we could tape the two together it would not be a good fix but it would for awhile slow down the leakage so we do not overheat as fast. I was not thinking at the time but the plastic crumbling piece was broken off inside the hose. I did not bring my tools or I could have taken a screw driver got rid of the piece that broke off inside then stuck the hose on the fitting. I still had an inch fitting left but could not get the hose on because part of the fitting melted and broke off inside the hose. No less we put the two together taped it up and made sure we had enough water to keep it running cool enough to get to our next water source. Sometimes when we get in sticky situations we have to do temporary fixes or fix it where we are at I did my best. But now that I think about it I could have just tried to get the melted piece out of the hose and stuck it on the fitting probably could have driven home like that but I guess gunning it on 4 high caused it to go or that led to its demise because of all the pressure, heat and exertion I put on the truck trying to get unstuck.

The water helped we filled the radiator completely to the top then our jugs and water bottles. My son went to sleep then I put my truck in neutral turned it off and conserved the engine. I nearly road seven maybe eight miles back to Weaver Lake. Most of the journey was down hill no power brakes no power staring at one point I hit a boulder so hard I hit my head on the roof of my truck. The problem is yeah I was not overheating but the ride was rough real rough could have broken an axil, tie rod or something else like my exhaust underneath. So I was worried more so since I would have to take Lake McMurray Road back to Weaver which is so rugged and that you cant coast on you have to drive it.

I saved all that water in the radiator for driving it which was enough to get me to Weaver Lake and do the 1 mile rugged jaunt then I figured I could fill up at Weaver. So I came back to my old camp site filled up water again drove down the rest of McMurray then shut it off riding the rocky road down to Bowman Lake. I had extra water stored so I would drive along Bowman Lake stop fill some water up then proceed. I was not sure if I did any damage to my wheel wells or whatever because driving McMurray down was hard its all rock so when you hit these boulders you hit them hard but in neutral with the vehicle off it saved me a new engine.

I did drive along Bowman Lake Road eventually leaving the lake behind me which is eight times bigger then Weaver Lake. Keep in mind eventually you begin to go around the dam which the bridge was out so you drive this alternative route and over this place known as Windy Point Cliffs. Bowman Lake for miles is unforgiving lots of holes, big rocks etc not an easy road to navigate try it without any power steering or brakes sheesh. Your up on this curvy rocky road descending down along this massive cliff to your right and a rushing creek to your left its intense. I mean its a single lane road big enough for my truck so when I overheat people trying to go around me is next to impossible and if they did id have to pull the truck right up to the edge of the cliff its just so narrow. Some lady told me she overheated a few days prior coming up to Bowman I mean it is steep, narrow, rocky and its not meant for anything less then a jeep or truck.

I had about eight miles of dirt road downhill till it changed to pavement. The dirt road ends at the turn off for Lindsey Lakes which is a place we explored a couple years ago. I figured if I could hit the pavement id at least be able to get a tow truck to two me home maybe even a signal. So after a few times of filling up at the creek once we began our steep descent I was able to put it in neutral again letting it coast. The curves are so tight it took all my strength to brake and steer my truck around the curves which follow Little Canyon although its not very little and then there is Celina Peak and ridge you have to navigate around.

Once I hit pavement after riding downhill on dirt roads for miles and hitting rocks hard because of the lack of control like power steering I felt some relief. I knew I could be towed out of here and if not I could at least ride the curvy road for eight more miles to the bottom in a place known as Emigrant Gap which btw has a long history of Bigfoot sightings, tracks and vocalizations. This is as hard to ride on pavement down to the bottom below the Bowman Lake area as it is over the rocks. This is because there is a ton of traffic on this road mostly folks heading to Bowman Lake.

But there is a few other dirt roads that go east that take you out to other lakes and campgrounds worth checking out Lindsey Lakes is one of those roads. So lots of folks around a curve I almost hit a vehicle coming around the corner I had to brake so hard as he came around the blind spot then six more cars followed directly behind him so this is not a great place to ride your truck with no power going to it but I did not want to overheat rather save the water in the radiator for the places the road does not go down hill so I could start it up drive .3 miles then turn it off and let it coast some more. People speed up the paved portion so you have to be careful and here I am coming down the mountain like the wheels had come off and people are just speeding past me. I had to do everything in my power to keep the truck from hitting someone or going off the cliffs its not the best of roads going up to Bowman or leaving it.

Eventually when I got two miles from Emigrant Gap which is near the highway and the expressway my phone got a signal when I reached the south fork of the Yuba River. I found out Tammy was out looking for me and thought shit if she tries to take that route 41 from the other way she is going to hit that wall of snow then after my night of horrors I was worried sick about her no place for a woman to be alone at not after the night I had. She actually got clamps, radiator fluid etc and was out looking for me. I managed when I got to the bottom of Bowman Lake Road to find a shady area to park it and I called for a tow. I did what I set out to do get the truck to pavement so it could be towed and fixed. I was so drained did not sleep well just cat naps in the truck and had to many close calls with shit. But I kept the truck running cooler doing downhill for miles then uphill all night long and we were off the high sierras and saved. Then Tammy call me she was in a town nearby she had to turn around it got to rugged she was surprised that I made it out because the truck was out.

Within an hour the tow truck came and we were saved but boy was it an adventure. My truck was covered in mud and what is surprising to me is I never got a flat tire. When you hit sharp rocks going that fast down hill usually you get a flat and my tires were not in great shape because of all my recent trips they were heavily worn. But they survived the intense offroading experience and I got lucky only thing that my truck needed was a new radiator hose and a good cleaning lol. But it had been a very tiring experience I was all cut up blood on my legs, tired and my quick thinking got us out of an impossible situation. It sucks to blow a hose or even anything to do with the radiator when your in such a remote location.

The first tow truck driver I did not like he drove us to Truckee there company cant drive to NV so I had to wait for a second tow truck. That guy was a dick he was texting while driving swerving in Donners Pass nearly got us killed and made my dog ride in the truck rather then with us. He is a 25lb little dog quiet and harmless yet the dude would not let him ride with me. Then the second guy that picked us up in Truckee was much cooler he actually ran the air conditioning so we were not overheating and he let the dog ride in the tow truck since there was plenty of room as this truck had a back seat in it too. The second guy though was a perv he took us through Tahoe so we could check out all the blondes walking around in bikinis everywhere because as most of you know Tahoe has some of the most beautiful women in California and since there are beaches all over around it you will get women walking in there bikinis everywhere because you have to hike down to the water to swim.

Both tow truck drivers ran my battery down you see they are suppose to turn the vehicle off once they get it on the flatbed. But since the first guy left the keys turned on it drained my battery badly and I could not recharge it. They actually blew a cell in my battery so I had to go out buy an entirely new battery once I got the truck home. They should pay for it I mean my battery drained at camp once but it did not get to low I think because of the tow my battery got so low that it damaged a cell because it would not hold a charge anymore. So when I got it home could not even start it once I fixed it because it was dead lol. Grrrrr I hate dealing with tows always a hassle no matter where I have lived. But on got top quality triple AAA and this is the first time in years I had to use it knock on wood!

On a good note I had my truck fixed the next day bought a new hose did not even try scraping out the fitting that broke off from the inside. I bought new hose clamps the ones with tabs you can turn manually that way down the road if a hose goes or something I can try to maybe cut it and fix it. I have extra hosing I bought in case this ever goes again I can just cut the hose and reclamp it. But what you cant fix is the fittings which are made of this plastic material the hose fits onto then you clamp it. So if that ever goes you sort of are screwed. Not sure why they make everything with plastic the female fittings should be metal that the hose fits over not plastic because that is what crumbled on me. I also will be more careful when I am stuck never to gun it or let it get that hot the key to getting unstuck in patience problem is I was not patient in the beginning and when I took a break then got back in trying to get it unstuck I was much more clearheaded which got me out of the jam but by then it was to late the fracture already occurred.

Boy was I glad to be home relaxing I ate a couple TV dinners that evening played a game with Tammy watched my show and turned in for the night. I am not sure what happened up on Pinoli Ridge that night but I am almost sure that we dealt with Bigfoot wanting to eat us and aliens wanted to abduct us all in the same night welcome to my world lol. This was a great adventure but shit happens truth be told its a risk going primitive or remote if you break down your screwed and if you have no experience on how to even temporary fix it your going to have to do that walk of shame or abandon the vehicle.

 Lucky for me I still have my truck id hate to leave it behind with a nice stereo system, my drones and gear that would have sucked. But I fixed the vehicle it runs better now then it did then and that's not bad considering I filled the engine with creek and lake water. The water is very cool up around Bowman Lake and it has so very few impurities so it really cant hurt the engine more or less it kept it running and that is all I needed it to do till we could get out of there. Hopefully, I never have to go through this again but things happen does not matter how prepped you are. If your going to take 50 mile dirt roads in the mountains here and there your going to run into some hurtles.

I am a survivor I just wish none of this happened but little things turn into bigger things. We had some pretty close encounters with the paranormal on this trip. The views, food, offroading etc were great the only part that sucked about the trip is overheating. It was discouraging hearing my truck ring like crazy when the truck had gotten hot being stuck in the woods at night with no aid in site. Things like this have not turned out so well for overs up here so I am lucky but also thankful that I did not panic. This is some rugged country if you study maps there are mines and a few old ghost towns where nothing remains around Bowman so imagine what the pioneers had to endure up here that is why such towns died out.

Ya know another thing I forgot to mention is when I was in the forest exploring I found a few deep holes like eight inches down into the hard earth. Its possible a bear was looking for roots or bulbs then again could it be bigfoot doing this? I did not find any tracks well I found an old one but it was to heavily weathered to log. I think the strong points were being followed, branches breaking, strange vocalizations and of course the balls of light chasing my truck at the top of the sierras. Like I said we are lucky some people who have those encounters are never seen again and now I can tell my story to all of you.

For me its just another day at the office but the main thing is nobody is hurt and we can take such experiences to advance our own knowledge in case something like this happens and will be ready for it! Sometimes you have to take a few risk to get to the reward I know something is living up by Weaver Lake and it is the king of the forest! it would not scream at sunset if it did not want to make its presence known I will never forget what I experienced and heard up here all the more reason to eventually return in the future! We came out of this allot stronger and knowledgeable which makes me all the more stronger of an explorer! Re silence is strength and strength

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

My Exploration Up At Mono Lake May 11th 2019......Journey Report

The past year we have been spending more time up near the Mono Basin for example last year I did a couple homesteads and farms along with a ghost town above Mono Lake. But this year I wanted to physically bring you an adventure right along the lake with a variety of fantastic locations that we could share with all of you. Which half of them share quite a bit of western heritage to go with the beauty that surrounds them within the Mono Basin.

I love Mono lake and the basin its a fascinating place bordered by massive mountains of the sierras along the edge of Yosemite. The lake is so blue from above and their is a chain of craters here from a super volcano that could blow anytime. Hell the Long Valley Caldera is rumbling and that volcano is worst then Yellowstone so if it goes this basin would not look very beautiful like it does today. I mean really its a giant oasis in the desert on the edge of the forest so I would enjoy both worlds. Their is so much nature we seen on this trip but its still very cool at night up here so in another month or two their will be even more I am sure.

It was Tammy's birthday on top of it so I wanted to give her a good experience. On our birthdays we always choose some really awesome paranormal adventures, explorations and journeys. She wanted to see the basin and I told her id put something awesome together so I did. That would include Frank Sam's Homestead, Grave Of The Unknown Prospector, Sam's Pumice Mine, Panum Crater, Mono–Inyo Craters, Navy Beach, South Mono Tufa Beach, Ghost Town Of Mono Mills, Inyo National Forest, Grave of Adeline Carson Stilts, Mono Lake Cemetery and the Mono Black Point Fissure Site. Also Tammy's Birthday party which was her celebration after such a grand adventure!

Its a very diverse basin and honestly two hours away from me so I do not live far from this place. Which kind of can be a bit scary considering how hot and volcanic this area is. But I can promise you this is one of the true treasures in the world and in California. If you feel like Bodie was not exciting enough just a little past it is Mono Lake and all sorts of treats surround the lake.

I was excited about this trip I packed food, snacks, Stella Artois, six different types of 420, backpacks and anything else you could think of. I just did my brakes brand new bled nice and also ready to take on the basin so we were on our way before sunup to paradise. I tend to sometimes go all out then again when your in the middle of nowhere you need to be ready for anything. I was just excited to be able to explore this place more in depth.

If you go into the Mono Basin you can go up into the woods into the town of Lee Vining which is your gateway into Yosemite. But also you can access a few other treats from here. Its so scenic especially when you come in from the top of the mountains into the basin and you see the entire lake before you surrounded by desert to the left and national forest covered mountains to the right its surreal. I mean the share size is amazing and Mono use to be an ancient sea so in fact it was ten times larger and deeper at one time.

For those that do not know it its also three times saltier then the ocean and only contains brine shrimp. Its about sixty square miles so driving around it takes a bit of time. Now I live near Lake Tahoe which is 191 square miles so Mono Lake is a couple times smaller but still its a fairly large body of water. It is also eighty times more alkaline then the sea. Their are all sorts of sites along the way worth checking out so when I put this on our site ill put it as one giant mass exploration and it will include galleries of all locations that surrounded the lake we worked with on this trip and maybe even a few locations we did previously near its shores so it should be stellar.

John Muir said that this basin was  "A country of wonderful contrasts, hot deserts bordered by snow-laden mountains, cinders and ashes scattered on glacier-polished pavement, frost and fire working together in the making of beauty." Its one of the oldest lakes in North America and it has no outlet let alone inlets. Water runs off the mountains therefore the lake grows and recedes based on year snow melt. Springs also flow under the lake which in turn form Tufas

Among the most iconic features of Mono Lake are the columns of limestone that tower over the water surface. These limestone towers consist primarily of calcium carbonate minerals such as calcite (CaCO3). This type of limestone rock is referred to as tufa, which is a term used for limestone that forms in low to moderate temperatures similar to cave formations.

Personally I think this is one of the coolest things about this lake so its a must to see. When I go off exploring the paranormal I sometimes instead find history, mystery etc other times we find cool stuff. No less I always share what I find and see with our community. Everything we do ties into things so its important to link these places together with the ghost towns and sites we seen.

I mean its easy to get excited about this place with the Mono Inyo Chain of Craters and volcanoes, high sierras in fact glaciers sit at nearly 13k today and then this gorgeous oasis in the desert. Of course if you came here looking to fish at this lake you were sadly disappointed so I cant imagine living in any of the boom towns. Hell most farms and historic sites that surround this lake are very old but while the views were great trying to drink or fish from here was really impossible. I cant ever imagine living on a lake I could not drink or fish from so that is the downside.

We would set off early before sunup I love leaving early getting some coffee, snacks on the road and listening to music. Sit back smoke a bowl of some kush tune on into the sound system and just enjoy the snow all on the mountains. I live where I do for good reason the same area Muir felt in love with and so many other explorers. Its hard to believe I once grew up as a kid back east when I get to see the stuff I get to see as a grown mature man and believe me I take none of this for granted the great outdoors is truly my second residence my friends!

Our first site we would visit would be the Frank Sam's Homestead. I would stop at this vista point before I descended down to the basin. Once you travel the basin you will start to skirt around the lake where you will find just a short distance away a homestead or rather small farm with a couple of acres. Overshadowed by forested mountains with bigfoot right out in its backyard I mean as an investigator how can I refuse?

So our first stop would take place at the old Route 395 house its a well known location for urban explorers and its quite a bustling little place. I went just because I feed off abandoned places do not care what they are or where they are if its abandoned I am game and so we pulled on up to the old Frank Sam's Homestead.

Frank Sam's Homestead

Frank Sam ran his pumice mine right out of this homestead of course prior to him living here it belonged or was part of the Tom Farrington Ranch. The cabin site or homestead rather are a bit run down sitting behind barbed wire. I just went right under it no hesitation because I wanted to see the property more in depth. From his home you could see the edge of the Mono Craters and they are just these giant hill like geological features with a crater on top. Some of them craters are as big as entire mountains hell they are mountains but you can see one after another all in succession its bad ass. At one time lava was pouring out from these craters flowing and spewing.

To the right out near some sage brush was a homestead or shell of one then to the left some sort of small outbuilding probably used for his pumice operation. You see Frank owned a mine about a mile away at the base of Punam Crater. He would mine pumice up here then bring it back to his homestead and sell it by those passing by on old 395. Back in the day people such as tourist would buy it. You guys know what pumice is right? Well its formed by volcanic activity its very aerated type of rock which women often use on their feet when doing pedicures etc.
Their use to be a ton of pumice at this homestead but folks been stealing or taking it. I hardly seen any but what I did see is allot of tools, vehicle parts, wood, overgrown brush, rusty relics of the past and vandalism here. Nobody can just explore people have to destroy shit and that upsets me. I want to enjoy these places absorb there history not find holes in walls grrrr it just pisses me off to no end.

This is a mix of desert and forest in the distance is a patch of woods behind that a huge woodsy canyon with mountains and cliffs all back dropping it. I mean if I had more time id love to set off on foot with a backpack and go deep up into that canyon. I mean really the edge of Yosemite comes right to the edge of this place and man those thousand to three thousand foot cliffs are really phenomenal.

I found an entire wooden wall or roof on the ground their was also out near the outbuilding a fridge, deep freezer, washer and dryer. I also found this weird shaped structure maybe a trough near this creek and what may have been a grill. The site is a big scattered out in the field is an old bed all the coils and entire frame are heavily rusted. This area can get 6 feet of snow during one single storm overnight so the buildings and anything of value is very damaged from the elements.

I noticed rusty water pipes, piles of wood, furnace, rusty trough, water heater tank and a vehicle also. It looks like a tornado hit the place but like I said bad weather, vandals and high winds have pretty much assaulted this place. Their are a couple other ranches in the distance also but those are working ranches with livestock. Ranching is huge up at Mono Lake its easy to drive around see cattle, horses, chickens and farms every so many miles.

While I was exploring three different vehicles pulled up the first one looked like a cop. Obviously if I am beyond the fence roaming around I assume all risk so I was like oh boy here we go time to deal with a cop or crazy local farmer. Well I walked up to the vehicle and this little old lady with her hound dog told me she has been wanting to see this homestead for years and photograph it but was not sure she would get into trouble.

Maybe she thought I owned the property or something but I told her I am just here to explore and I do not care if she does either. I gave her some local history about the property then went back underneath the barbed wire in front of her and wandered around some more. You can kind of see the lake not far off in the distance and the snow melt is so high this seasonal creek was flowing hardcore. The lady left then two other folks pulled up then left as well. I guess they were spooked by me but this spot is very popular.

The house had three rooms someone drew an alien on one wall so I put my alien mask on then stood next to it lol. Their is a bit of spray pain from punks who did graffiti its not anything special believe me. Near the front door the entire floor was gone someone had put a few wooden pieces over the holes so you wont fall in but with my weight they were buckling and even if its a foot down you can still break an ankle or get hurt.

The one room had blue tiles but they were dirty, worn and peeling up. Out the window from the home you could see Panum Crater which is the lowest crater unless you count the crater or volcano that resides in the center of Mono Lake which is now an island. But its the lowest crater on the main land and then you look right and you see more and more massive volcanoes each one getting taller its phenomenal as long as you know what to look for. I did allot of research and studying so I was ready to see what I wanted to see even from an abandoned homestead.

Their was a small bathroom or closet in the bedroom and on some of the walls someone took a marker and wrote some really weird shit. One of the quotes I took a photo of because its freaking out there. I would not say this site is spooky in anyway but a hundred years ago the ranch was not a stranger to having native American people on it. Frank Sam was a descendent of Captain Sam who was one of the Yosemite-Mono Paiute leaders during the historic Mariposa Indian War. Captains Sam's daughters Leanne and Louisa were sister wives of Bridgeport Tom and they did some amazing basket weaving. Sam's daughters both would have visited even stayed on this ranch before even Frank took hold of the property.

I probably spent almost an hour here give or take but its a really cool place at the bottom of the basin which once was part of a sea. I would then go on to a place really close by known as the grave of the unknown prospector.

Grave Of The Unknown Prospector

I know very little about this site but right by the highway there is a little road you take or pull off. Out in the middle of the basin you can see this wrought iron fence that surrounds this massive gravestone. It is the grave of the unknown prospector. Many miners came to this basin looking for gold some only found death. I mean honestly from hiking up here I can clearly see that this is a very harsh area to venture into some simply died of dehydration crossing the basin.

The gravestone reads the following On this site is the grave of the unknown prospector. A reminder of the great sacrifices made by our ancestors, who explored and settled the western frontier, and especially to the memory of each and all of the pioneers of Mono County, whose resting place is known only to God. May they rest in peace.

The grave sits all by its lonesome self its a bit odd no less. But men died all the time in this vast frontier and I did take some EVP here. Without men or pioneers like this the west today would still be an unknown land. But the miners came in built towns, cities and they explored the west. Some simply did not make it and they were just buried just about anywhere.

If you look below the gravestone on the ground there are coins, rusty cans and other trinkets put there. I think I seen a small gold pan and maybe part of a lantern. Who knows some of the things may have been what was on the miner when he died or passed away. The big open expanse and views from this grave are awesome but you do tend to feel small here.

Behind the grave a mile or two away is the chain of craters and they are breathtaking high desert mountains covered in patches of forest. You can seen miles of these volcanoes and if they were to blow wooo I would not want to be standing at this gravesite. In front of the grave off to the west you can see the snowcapped sierras. Very little has changed here minus the wooden power line poles that run past the gravesite.

I would end up moving onto a mine after this but not any type of mine I been to before a place the locals called the Sam Mine.

The Sam Pumice Mine

On my way to Panum Crater there is a split one to the right one to the left. The road to the left leads to an area you can park then climb one of the first volcanoes in the chain of craters. But if you go to your right you skirt around to the south side of Panum and between this other massive crater which is double in size then the third one doubles in size again till you have a series of massive mountains all with craters on top of them.

However when you skirt around to the south end the road goes through a few hills and in this little open area you have this wooden frame. Behind it quite a few rock faces which look stripped mine. What were they mining? Simple pumice stone! There were bricks of them they have very little value unless you want to make your feet soft lol. When I was on this expedition I actually found a big rectangular block of pumice which I fetched for Tammy so she is good for a couple years lol.

I have never came across pumice before or a pumice mine really so its a bit odd. Not sure what this wooden frame was it had no walls it just extended out from the hillside. Maybe at one time there was a tunnel and this was the entrance. Perhaps this was a work shop where they carved the pumice into blocks. Its really hard to know what was all here or how they mined the pumice.

Frank Sam was mining the pumice BBQ briquettes as they call it or Feather rock landscaping rocks. Back then the pumice was used to heat food up like charcoal others used them in their garden. Today women use pumice to get rid of calluses. Frank Sam would mine the pumice many times bringing loads of it back to his ranch which was the first site I visited see how I do my research where there are connections?

In the early 1940's the U.S. Pumice Company leased the mine from Frank Sam and today they still have an operable mine. But I did not see anything that would make me believe the pumice is still being mined here and since Panum is a protected site now nobody can do any sort of mining here because the crater is now a geological landmark overshadowing Mono Lake. But the company probably now mines elsewhere and some of the worlds pumice comes right from these local volcanic sites.

We almost climbed to the rim of the volcano but we wanted to start at the beginning for our hike so we went back down to the truck. Their is quite a bit of rocks and pieces of pumice everywhere so you have to be careful climbing around here you can fall or roll an ankle just because of the terrain and how unforgiving it is. We could sort of see the lake from where we were at the thing about this basin is that you see the lake from so many different locations so the best thing to do is enjoy them as a whole that whole being Mono Lake.

We would go back to the crossroad then head up to Panum Crater. The crater is amazingly large even though its the lowest of the entire chain its share size can be a bit intimidating more so if this volcano were ever to erupt again it is always in the back of your head. These are not extinct and the last eruption was about 650 years ago but still deep underground its hot. Most folks offroad up here and do not even realize that below your feet is chambers of lava building up.

Panum Crater

Their is a kiosk in the parking area before you ascend to the rim. It talks a bit about the geology here its interesting. This crater is really the first of many but this one sits by itself kind of. Then just across the desert you can see two more which are blended into one another followed by a series of mountains, cliffs and other craters three to four times even higher then Panum. But Panum is one of the smaller craters in the Mono Inyo Chain. Of course do not misunderstood Panum Crater is still very large

You ascend to the rim in soft sand its a bit of a pain but once you get to the rim the ground is much more dense and rocky. I believe the top of the crater nearly stands at 7k so once you get to the rim you can see nice views of the snowy sierras and when you come around the north end views of Mono Lake along with the White Mountains.

When we got up to the Rim the views were nice everywhere and as you hike around it you can see Sam's Pumice Mine below. This is a textbook rhyolitic lava dome. Their was an old couple who was with us for a short time and when get to the top you have two choices. The first choice is you can hike down into the crater or caldera then skirt around the plug. The plug resides in the middle of the dome its huge all volcanic rock. We could have climbed down into the crater then rock climbed the plug as it sits about 75' above the rim but instead we veered to the right and took the 2.1 mile rim trail so we could walk around the entire crater.

Rhyolitic volcanoes are characterized by having large amounts of silica (quartz) in their lava. The content of silica at Panum is about 76 percent. It makes the lava very viscous, or thick, and very glassy. Products of this rhyolitic eruption are pumice and obsidian, the volcanic glass that Native Americans used to make arrow points and scrapers. So as you hike you do see pumice and obsidian along the way also. As a matter in fact later during the day out in the desert we found two really nice pieces of glass like black  obsidian one piece I gave to my son the other one I kept.

The hike is fairly level and easy you just skirt the rim so you can look down into the crater to your left and open vast expanses always to your right. It was a long hike you have to wear good shoes for it trust me  As you make your way north Mono Lake does come into view and then the rim ascends till you can see the entire lake before your eyes which is really awesome. You can see south beach which is home to hundreds of Tufa formations and from here t hey just look like rocks along the shoreline. Their were some wild flowers blooming and also plenty of butterflies so lots of nature to see if your paying attention.

When I arrived at the highest point of the rim trail I busted out my pipe, beer and a few snacks. We sat down had a nice break above the lake on a volcano. I never felt so much at peace as if this place were my own private fort where I could see people coming from miles away except that their was no people their was just silence. It was a gorgeous day out to really no wind, sun was warm and the skies were clear. The views were amazing I mean the sierras are covered in snow and those are some high steep mountains draped with thick dense forest and you see it all from here. This basin is your gateway into  Yosemite so its a real deal type of place.

When you come around the rim it began's to descend as you head north then left to your west. Eventually it gets super close to the plug as a matter in fact between the plug and the rim at this point in the crater is only separated by a few feet. The plug is what is keeping the lava at bay below. Its kind of like taking a liter of soda shaking it with the plug on. Yeah their is pressure and any time you loosen that cap pow it blows same concept with this crater. While this crater may not be as old some of them in the area nearby do date back to 40k.

Once you get around to the west end you will descend almost to the valley floor where you will come up over a small hill back to the parking area. Its a simple hike you can take your kids here its very safe and fun. I did not go here for the paranormal believe me but I respect this place there is power here. If these volcanic cones were ever to go that massive plug would be in pieces airborne raining down on Lee Vining and other towns. I would not want to be near it and really they are just cones the real volcano is what lurks underneath known as the Long Valley Caldera just up the road where the highway goes right through it. Its been rumbling more so in recent years and some scientist think it could blow anywhere from now till a hundred years from now. If it blows so will this chain of craters including Panum.

Panum is the most northeastern crater in the chain and the youngest. The craters different you can see others ones further to the south that are forested even a few times higher. I suppose you could park on the highway hike it in and climb them. But their are thirty miles of craters some much largest then this one and this crater is over 2 miles just to skirt around the rim so yeah its big and a hike worth taking to put the entire area into perspective.

When I came back the old couple was gone my guess is they climbed down and walked around the plug. But they did not stay it was fairly warm out and the hike can be strenuous depending on where you go or how you take on this crater. I thought this was a cool place to do and it will be a great addition on our website eventually. While I may operate a paranormal site were not all strictly paranormal. We try to bring our viewers mystical remote scenic locations also that lets the public ponder a little and think on it. This crater will get you thinking and so onward we went below the crater to Navy and South Mono Beach to see some Tufas.

Navy and South Tufa Beach

For my first time I was going to stand on the shores of Mono Lake. I have to say from far away and being on the shores here are two different worlds. When you pull up there is a split if you go left you go to South Tuffa if you go right you go up to Navy Beach. I wanted to at least see both but South Tufa is where you see all the towering calcite formations. I decided to get out though and read the plaque which talks about this beach a little.

I guess Navy Beach was a secret military installation during the cold war which houses technicians, soldiers, scientist and sailors were stationed here. They did what is known as seismic weapon testing which is some serious shit just being honest. It was not just the Navy that operated this base other branches of the military operated out of here during the cold war but not many know about it. They probably tested watercraft to and trained their men in the salt water which is similar to the ocean so that sailors could accumulate some in case all out war broke out in the future.

The entire military base is gone the plaque said their are some remnants like foundations remaining. I never could find them because their is so much sage brush growing as tall as I am out there for miles. So those foundations are likely to be hidden from wandering eyes. I guess they tore down the base in the 1960's because other bases were growing, safety issues plus their were environmental concerns. This is a major protected site today due to the tufa formation.

The South Beach we went to first this is a huge parking lot I mean they give tours here. But they have restrooms and picnic benches so Tammy and I decided this would be a great place to have lunch at. I had fruit, pudding, chocolate, crackers, fresh eggs from my coop hard boiled, giant sub sandwiches and all sorts of treats. I could sit at the bench see craters and cliffs or the snowy sierras and even the lake with tufas everywhere. I am glad we stopped here to have lunch although the sea gulls and birds were getting to be annoying and trust me they do not fear people so watch your food well. But if your not eating this is a great place to birdwatch as I photographed a few while birding here also during my hike after.

There is a trail its about a mile or so loop where it heads north to the shore and between dozens of Tufas. We wanted to take the loop so we could see the formations and hang out on the shore for awhile. So off we went to see some of our Tufas and the first towering set of them were at least 12' in height and they feel similar to stalactites in my opinion. Its a really cool area but keep in mind it cost 3 dollar per adult to see them so you do have to pay to be here but worthy once you see these things. Their is a boardwalk which goes on out to the beach so fairly easy hiking and a good mile trail to get you some good exercise. Of course I hiked over 2 miles at Panum so the miles were stacking on up.

It did not take Tammy and I long to get to the shore of the lake. Along the way are different markers which signify the lake level and the date. Thirty years ago the lake came up to the parking lot nearly and today the water as receded nearly a half of mile. If you pay attention you will see a chain of volcanic islands to called Paoha being the largest then two smaller islands Negit and Gaines.

There are dozens not even dozens but a few hundred Tufa towers which are calcium carbonate spires formed by the interaction of freshwater springs and the alkaline lake water. All tufas are formed in the lake and if you look out into the water you will see these towers peering out as they are forming. While half of the tufas are now on dry land because the water has receded. This is an odd places there are hundreds of underground springs which rise up into the lake forming these spires made of minerals.

Honestly, I felt like I was in Europe or roaming some ancient castle ruins it was a bit surreal here. My mouth was open in awe as I smoked my pipe hiking along the trail. I love to smoke bud while exploring do not care what others think I am here for the journey and to live so if you want to live go for it this is the place to do it. I read that the lake is over a million years old so that would making it one of the oldest lakes in North America which would make sense since Tufas take thousands of years to form.

We would reach the lake shore there is many inlets, coves etc etc all surrounded by these Tufas and towers. I think one of the Tufas I seen had to be almost 20' in height so its a no joke type of place. But its an important place since two million birds migrate here and come to feed at Mono Lake every year. When we got to the shore I felt small this is a 65 square mile lake yeah not as big as Tahoe but its close nor is it as deep. Its deepest point within the lake is 160' and if you stand on Panum Crater you can see this dark blue water towards the NW but near the middle of the lake.

The water was fairly calm not choppy at all as I scoured the shoreline. The beach was kind of sandy we were all alone for awhile. Its a very interesting shoreline as you walk through these spires or go out on a peninsula full of them. When the miners came here the old timers claimed that this water had healing benefits and qualities. For years salts and minerals been washing into the lake from the Eastern Sierra Streams. Freshwater then evaporates each year from the lake leaving those salts and minerals behind which makes it four times saltier then the ocean really. But you would never know it unless you swim then your very buoyant.

The water was not what I expected its not very clear almost greenish in color and their is a ton of algae which you can see 15' from the shoreline. Its full of trillions of brine shrimp their is not many predators that will eat them perhaps birds but that is it. But man your at the bottom of the basin here so when you look off to the west you can see the high sierras all covered in snow and forest. You just feel so small because when your at the bottom of the basin your looking at mountains rising thousands of feet up above this lake.

We would set up the tripod took some nice pictures of Tammy and I. We were alone for awhile here then a tour bus came I could see it in the distance with what appeared to be over 50 college students maybe since they all seemed to be kids in there 20's then again who knows. But these tours they give are short lived they might give you twenty minutes to go see a couple Tufas and I know this because when they arrived we were hiking back along the loop. Within a few minutes they were loaded up when I arrived and begin to leave the parking lot in my truck. If you do not have time to at least hike the trail then its not worthwhile their are so many great formations to see at south beach.

We would leave but I was in awe you sort of did not want to go this is a special place worthy of a picnic, hike and journey. Lots of birds, light breeze off the lake, beautiful formations and views. What is their not to like? Our next leg of the journey would take us to a ghost town known as Mono Mills. Before I left for the ghost town I did take a split in the road which takes you down onto Navy Beach.

When I arrived here it was a bit of a let down there was no tufas hell not much of anything but a marshy shoreline probably a haven for ticks because there was a ton of brush along the beach. I did not see any foundations, tufas or anything special other then Although half of the beach had a huge sandy area with grass which might be a nice area to have a picnic or swim which seems to be where folks go if they want a bit of serenity. But south Mono beach is a stone throw away so I took a nice panarama here of both linking the two beaches together as one!

Mono Mills California

When you head out of the Tufa Beach you make a left down the highway and it begins to skirt around the lake to the Southeast. All of sudden you begin to leave the high desert and enter the Inyo National Forest. Unlike other national forest nearby that I have hiked in the Inyo is not as dense just plenty of tall thin trees that are evenly spread out so you can see very far back into the woods great if your looking for Sasquatch.

The SE side of the lake is all woods and national forest its amazing when you think about how you go from being in the desert to a forest in a whim but you do at Mono Lake. But the forest was nice it was cooler and gave us much needed shade for this time of the day.

Within about five to ten minutes of journeying you come up on a huge sign that says Mono Mills. You can park and walk a little ways to the base of this massive ravine and this gazebo which has quite a few good reads about the history of this ghost town. This was a lumber town that is why the trees are not as large here because they nearly deforested the area but it has made a come back.

Their was a railroad here it ran from Mono Mills all the way to Bodie and I believe Aurora. I have done both ghost towns so yes you can see the connection here. All the projects we do have some sort of connection to other locations we have done over the years so its really a grand master of a project here.

The forest is Lodge Pole and Jeffery Pines which when I looked at old photos they cleared the entire town of them. You can actually see many structures along this ravine but today all of them are gone and nothing is left. I have heard that if you hike around the woods on both sides of the ravine you can find remnants of the town but who knows.

If you look at the bottom of the ravine below the historic plaque you will see remnants of a saw mill site, skids and railroad. As a matter in fact all you will see is a concrete foundation, some stone blocks, mangled rusty pieces of metal and a few wood beams. I did not slide or climb down into the ravine. But the skids were more like slides placed along the sides of the ravines so the trees could be slide down the steep side of it and then get processed in the saw mill loaded onto a rail car shipped off to Bodie or Aurora. Both were big cities in the 1800's but they also now are BIG ghost towns.

Their is also on the site a stone memorial and then you can look at a bunch of old time photos of the town itself if you like reading the history. The gazebo probably has about 12 different signs behind glass which show pictures of the lumber town, railroad and has loads of historic info. Its a nice little set up a bit disappointed that more of this town does not remains.

Can you imagine you travel via wagon hundreds of miles to end up here? Then you find out that you cannot fish in the lake this camp was built on. The camp sat right above Mono Lake and you can see the lake between the trees. If you look straight down the ravine you can also see Mono Lake. So it was a very short walk from the saw mill to the lake shore from here yet what would be the point you could not fish in it. Sure it was a great view this was a lake front lumber town but you could not drink the water either.

Supposedly there use to be a turntable at the end of the ravine with a water tank and engine house. The engines could go into the ravine then go in reverse. Then the table would spin it around facing it again towards Bodie it was a real nice setup. I am not sure if anything remains of the engine house and turntable often called the "Armstrong". I read there are remnants of it but when I stood above the ravine and looked down it further all I could see its brush growing here and there. But at one time the turntable sat at the opening to the ravine and then you had tracks that went all the way up to the sawmill and skids.

I enjoyed being in the woods above the lake it was serene so serene you could hear a pin drop. Not one vehicle even passed by this place during our exploration. It was so quiet and there was this mild breeze blowing through the trees with beautiful lake views to the north it was simply stellar. While Mono Mills may have been a lumbering town to the north of the lake is another ghost town on Mono Lake I did last year ago high up in the mountains called Monoville which is a gold mining camp. Monoville is far more extensive then Mono Mills but both were two examples of the types of towns which once resided on Mono Lake and today are long gone Ill have to include photos of both ghost towns on our website when this location gets indicted in a couple years.

We could not stay here long we had so much more work to be done. My only regret is I did not roam the woods enough. I believe if you hike around you probably will find some remnants of Mono Mills like a wood board or a tin can type of thing but today nature has taken this place back. The Jeffery Pines and Lodgepoles in the area are making a comeback. In this patch of national forest on a hill just above the southeast side of the lake. We would then move onto our next site which is known as the Grave of Adeline Carson Stilts.

Before I visited her grave I tried to go to Old Marina is on the west end of the lake. I ended up turning around there had to be hundreds of people there cooking out, walking around in swim shorts, kids playing etc. The place was packed and on top of it the fees for Tufa South Beach do not cover the fees to get into Old Marina which is dumb really. I mean both sites are technically near one another and are similar to state parks. You pull up fill out the card put the money in a drop box and leave the other half hanging up in your window. Not sure what Old Marina offers its historic but it does not have anything left although there are some Tufas you can see here just not as many as South Beach.

Grave of Adeline Carson Stilts

When you get back into Lee Vining there are a few historic sites. I pulled off at one of them which turned out to be private property or belong to some residence and inn. But nearby on the side of the road near this restaurant is a grave site of a famous explorers daughter.

Kit Carson had a daughter her name was Adeline he often called her Prairie Flower and supposedly was his favorite child. She came to Mono Diggins aka Monoville which again is a ghost town we visited last year ago during our first major expedition near Mono Lake. As a matter in fact she came to this town in 1858 with her husband. She died in the winter of 1859 at the age of 21 at the Wilson Ranch which was the home of some friends.

I remember when I was 21 years of age I am sure most of you do. This was a young girl who traveled the west. I mean the trip up to Monoville was not an easy one it was filled with cliffs, big rocks and rugged terrain. But she came to this area and she laid eyes on this lake which is a grim reminder to those who visit here that this is an unforgiving wilderness or at least it was when pioneers first came here. Winters were harsh so harsh in fact that Bodie himself froze to death while leaving Monoville to head back to his town.

The grave resides near highway 395 just a few feet from the road. Its this giant rectangular concrete block which stands about six feet in height. On top of the block is a stone with a plaque on it. I would assume that the stone at the time marked her grave and the county decided to raise it up higher and attach the plaque to it so you could read who was buried here which of course is Mrs Stilts.

While this may not be a major site it was apparent that the Wilson Ranch was nearby so when she died they buried her nearby. There are quite a few old ranches near Mono Lake as a matter in fact last year I did two historic ranches which we explored. Again you can see the connections I am trying to make in my research when it pertains to this area.

The Wilson's were a prominent family at the time even they named the creek after them which brings much of the necessary water to other ranches nearby. I cant say where the Wilson Ranch was located I mean you have newer homes and ranches in this area. But on a hill side above where Adeline is buried across the road I did notice an old cart bran or maybe some other kind of outbuilding. Its very old nearly falling apart all made of wood. It is ashamed that Kit Carson lost his daughter but the sierras were no joke winters were harsh and it poured on over into the Mono Basin below them.

Our next location would also deal with death as well we would go to the Mono Cemetery again another great location right above the lake. All day long I worked hard to visit places near or above the lake because when we add this to our site its going to be HUGE and you will have access to allot of good material trust me.

Mono Lake Cemetery

The cemetery is back around the NW end of the lake as I was starting to work my way back north since we had to go north to go home. There is a place though not to far from the Adeline gravesite where a small cemetery resides. Its not the most historic it dates back to 1906 so its not very old.

I just pulled on up inside the cemetery along the edge of this hill which overlooks the Sierra Nevada's. Tammy decided to take a nap which is fine because my goal was to walk around the cemetery taking some EVP while enjoying the views. The cemetery sits on a hill overlooking some smaller ranches and the lake.

Its not a very big cemetery its strange because you have the 1906 grave which I found then nothing till the 1920's. There is about 270 graves here and I read 60 graves that cannot be identified or have no gravemarker at all. Near the 1906 grave is a wrought iron enclosure with a gravestone that was smashed to pieces and it looks very old also.

When you enter the cemetery there is a wood sign that says Mono Lake Cemetery with a flag. But if you go through that entrance just a short distance away is the American Legion Auxiliary Memorial that has the names of 91 veterans. Not all the names can be found on tombstones in this cemetery. But the memorial is really nice with two large American flags and two smaller ones with giant boulders below the plaque.

Their is about four rows or roads that go through the cemetery each row being lined with trees. Also the eastern edge of the cemetery is lined with rows of trees as well. Almost every inch of this cemetery has been utilized here for burials but the western end has an entire aisle with only a few grave markers.

This is a diverse cemetery there are angels, benches, crosses, upper burials, wrought iron enclosure family plots and even boulders for markers. There is at least three to four statues most of them are angels but there is one of a saint. There is one row full of shrubs and when you walk past them you will hear rustling do you know what that is? Lizards! Yes lots of lizards running around this place lol.

Their is no grass growing in this cemetery its all dirt and rocky terrain. Many of the plots have rocks surrounding them to outline a loved ones grave site. Some are burial mounds of rocks or shallow graves anotherwards. It appears their is a great diverse amount of religion here then again you do not have many options as Mono Basin has very few graveyards so if you live here chances are you are going to be buried here.

The basin does not hold a high population mostly small farms surround the lake so the cemetery does not get much use often but over the years many of the residents buried here lived on this lake and in this basin. Its not a fancy cemetery I mean the entire burial ground is surrounded by chain link fencing. I also seen a cement homemade grave marker and another one with no date that may have been older then the 1906 gravestone. No less the cemetery is over a century in age so in a sense its historic to the region just not as old as some of the cemeteries that I explore in ghost towns.

Most of the graves are marble or granite also many newer stones dating back to the past ten to twenty years. This could be because the basin is growing in population and new homes are being built out here. Back in the day there were two towns Monoville and Mono Mills where did they bury there dead? Definitely not in this cemetery and in some cases like with Adeline they were just buried right by the ole wagon road or out in a field near the lake.

While I was doing my investigation some caretaker showed up parked his truck in the center of the cemetery and was cleaning up leaves with a rake. It is nice to see that this cemetery is being maintained as it should be. I do not always see that on my journeys and this cemetery has very little vandalism. However, some other guy showed up out of the blue with his dogs and I was on the east end he did not see me. Well my truck was to the west end and Tammy was sleeping when I caught this dude trying to take a peek at her and look into my truck not very wise that idiot did not even see me standing there totally watching him in the act which is a no no plus I am armed.

People are shady if they think they wont get caught preying on a woman they will rape, rob and murder. Of course she is safe taking a nap because she knows I am not far away and I wasn't. Id say I was about 100' maybe less away. As soon as I begin to head towards my truck the idiot ran with his little ugly ass dogs. People are creepy man especially when I go to these rural areas they get nosy but they also think its okay to be snooping.

 It reminds me of the time my kids were napping in my car at night in a ghost town and two creepy dudes are all looking in my windows. They never seen my kids but my kids were scared when these guys were all trying to look in. I was sitting a 100' above the car on a rock chilling out in the dark and I yell down to the dude if you do not keep moving on ill put a bullet in your head. I had to these strangers had no reason to ever look in my vehicles windows what if I was sleeping in my vehicle for the night or if it was some lady who just decided to take a nap in her car?

So words of the wise folks if you decide to go rural you should try to be armed pepper spray, knife, gun or even a taser but bring something because out there in the bush their is no law enforcement you are the only thing that stands between you and that perp. When I am out in ghost towns or rural I never snoop in peoples cars I have seen folks take a nap somewhere or they are like me exploring and they might be resting for awhile. Tammy was resting I decided to do more research and I let her go back to sleep so I could bring you guys this cemetery. But at what cost? Being a paranormal explorer also means I have to deal with so many different situations and this is just an example of another one I had to cross.

While the cemetery may not have been haunted their is an angel statue I really love here. Most of the stones are kind of small if your looking for fancy stones or ones that are 6' tall you wont find it here. Its very park like of course the guy with his dogs knows this that is why his dogs are shitting on peoples graves so that right there tells me the type of people who come here. No less its a nice place lots of flowers on the graves even some wild ones growing.

But the sun was almost behind the sierras actually half of it was behind this peak shining down onto this cemetery. It was bright and you guys know I do not do well with extreme sunlight conditions which is why I wear sunglasses most of the time. Our time as short we still had to go to a place called the Black Fissure Site. By then Tammy was awake told me she heard footsteps approach the truck and then became aware of this guy. I mean he had the entire cemetery to walk around in yet he chooses to go up to my truck where she was resting come on now!

Mono Black Point Fissures

If you continue past the cemetery there is signs for a place known as Black Point. Its just another region of Mono Lake not many folks are aware of it. But the rocks found here are often orange and yellow near the northern shore. Black Point is a low volcanic hill and was formed due to an underwater eruptions. Do not get me wrong this was an amazing volcano when it blew 13,000 years ago following the last ice age when the lake was five times its size and ten times deeper which would have meant that Mono Lake was at that time 1,600' in depth.

People visit the Black Fissures for its slot canyons which are only a few feet wide and perhaps 50' in depth which resemble many locations found in Southern Utah folks like to call narrows. Black Point is a great area if your looking for the grand view. Below it are Tufas that are harder to get to which means less people are around to see them and its all free of charge unlike the other areas. I read the fissures are caused by rapid cooling of ejected material.

The hill the volcano created was composed of ash and brownish yellow conglomerate which you can see from a distance even from the cemetery I just came from if you know where to look for this site. The canyon walls are enlivened by patterns caused by evaporations and rainwater staining the mineral laced canyon walls. When you get to the top there is black point from afar and this overall flat plateau which protrudes a little ways out into Mono Lake. So if you were to stand on it you could see over the lake technically to both the east and west.

The road going up here sucks its so narrow and overgrown that at times my truck was touching both sides of the brush which in turn scratches my paint. But their is no turning around so be warned you take this road your stuck on it for at least a mile as it switch backs to the top. Well there is a turn around area but its where the road for 65' is in bad shape with these holes, wash outs, ripples etc. But its the only area to turn around but also in my opinion a better area to park and hike the rest of the way on in.

You start off taking a flat road for hundreds of feet then it switchbacks and the same thing a few hundred feet then it switchbacks. You will climb at least five hundred feet but the spiky bushes get real annoying. You cant go fast you have to maneuver the vehicle to fit between the brush without scraping and that takes a bit of concentration. I think I only scraped a three times taking these roads but I went very slow and at times if brush was protruding outwards I would have to try to go around it with no room to spare. At one time I had to break a few limbs to get through.

Tammy seen a very fat desert rat I mean this brush is so thick there has to be thousands of rats in there so be forewarned you do not want to be stuck out here especially at night unless you are okay with rodents. But what is worst in that brush is ticks. Yes ticks have finally reached the deserts of Nevada and California. A few years ago they were unheard of. But since the brush was nearly touching the insides of our trucks window we believe this is where Tammy had gotten her tick. Later when we went home she fixed the sleeve on her shirt and a tick came running down her arm it was a baby but that is the only place we can think she got it from because the brush was within an inch from the trucks window where she was resting her arm.

Anyhow after my climb the last section is this uneven jeep road yes you can roll your vehicle even bottom out. I decided not to take it even if I made it up going down could be a disaster as steep and uneven as it is. I was going to park here and just hike the rest of the way on in. I walked up the hill to the top of the last section of this road and when you get to the top its all flat and the road continues to head on out to the fissure site. Hell the brush is not even as bad up there or as close together on the road its just below black point where its bad. But I had some nice views and I could see the massive plateau in the distance with quite a few fissures. I did a little film up here but I did not get a chance to explore the slot canyons or narrows.

The rocky promontory to the east was merely a quarter to a half of mile away. You could see the summit plateau. I read there is two main sections of the enclosed fissure one branches a few times and becomes very deep in the middle with walls lined by knobbly encrustation's and white staining. The other extends right to the cliffs edge  and is deeper less colorful which contains rocks you have to climb over. Supposedly there is a tiny fissure nearby which is to narrow to get through and becomes so deep that if you throw a stone down into the fissure it takes about four seconds of nonstop bouncing before it reaches the bottom.

The closest I would get is seeing the yellowish cliffs we were almost at 7k here. I ran back to tell Tammy I found it but we both decided not to hike it in because by the time we would grab our gear it would almost be dark. Its pointless to be in a slot canyon a few feet wide in the dark and not be able to see all the pretty volcanic fissures or walls within the canyon so we decided to go home. It was her birthday and getting late we still had to go to dinner and throw her birthday party here it was almost 8pm at night. So you guess it I had to take this road out of here same thing drive real slow and try to salvage the paint on my truck. I did a fine job and man those cliffs looked yellow at sunset so close yet so far sighs. Another 800 feet up a dirt road and we would have been there but again what good is such a scenic wonder if its dark out?

I do plan on returning here but I may have to use my jeep coming up in a few months because I have other locations in this region to check out so I may be able to take a couple hours out of that journey to take on this place. I do want to get up in the slot canyon and get scenic shots of Mono Lake. This is the best area to see the islands of Mono Lake close up without actually boating to the island. Hell you cant boat to the island most of the year anyhow due to birds nesting there more then half the year and its a protected site. So if you want to get a good view of those islands you stand on the cliffs of Black Point!

I hated driving away from here after working so hard to get so close ya know? I could see it out my window driving out of here but eventually I came out on the cemetery road fairly unscathed. It was over a two hour drive back home I was beat. You see I was up for almost two days I spent all night long decorating and wrapping fits for the birthday party then when I was done I left before sunup to Mono Lake so I had very little rest. Lucky for me I own a brand new Californian King bed so I was looking forward to hitting the mattress after the birthday party!

Tammy's Afterhours Birthday Party 11pm

When we got into town I ditched the nice dinner at Chili's or Applebees sorry Tammy lol. Instead we grabbed Panda then took it back. It was easy to obtain and we could at least pick out what we wanted with our meals. Tammy did not seem to mind it then again she is pretty simple or easy to please. Id preferred to sit down somewhere have a few drinks which is something we do after many of our explorations, hikes and paranormal investigations.

I was so tired after this trip here it is almost midnight and I am singing happy birthday lol. I gave Tammy this Hershey chocolate cake with these candles that give off different color flames. She was spoiled for her birthday and really I have no issue spoiling her because she helps me with whatever I need on our investigations and explorations. Whether that is with the tripod, taking photos or video recording me etc etc. Hell lucky for me she drove the last twenty miles into town I could not take it anymore I have nerve issues in my neck and they were getting so painful they were shooting into my shoulder and arm so yeah she gets spoiled for sure!

She had two giant bags of gifts, presents on the table and even a brand new wicked fishing pole. She made out quite well for her birthday she had gotten brand new sneakers that make you feel like your walking on air, a hoodie pink camo, bouquet of orange roses and other flowers, flame light, candles, oil for her mist burner, incense, tshirts, tons of paints, paint brushes, pallet set for her paints, wax cubes, awesome backpack, multi functional flashlight hand held lamp, steel pink mug, ps4 game, pure leather purse, two necklaces, chocolate, candy and that is not even half of it all lol.

I was dozing off while taking photos of her opening gifts no wonder the photos were so blurry but man it had been a long day. I drove nearly three hundred miles, was up for two days and now boasting a birthday party so yeah tired. But I made it through her birthday even black summer a zombie netflix show while eating my Chinese food so ill pat myself on the back lets not try to do that again all at once yikes lol. The cake was awesome though oh man triple chocolate with Hersheys syrup in between layers it was sinful. I also made Tammy the next day a really nice steak dinner so she got the works believe me.

I wish more people would join our group you might just get the works to but see folks do not want to participate or help out in my group. I might be getting my own paranormal adventure show soon but those that did not join my team all these years or help me will not be brought on because if its my show I get a say who I can bring on here and there. I wont bring a soul on who has not put effort into our group. The research we do is to educate people so they can use our site as a guide in case they want to visit the places we go. Some high schools in this area also utilize our site the students write term papers and they use our site even teachers use our website.

We work hard at our adventures this was not a paranormal trip does not mean that I did not photograph a ghost or get an EVP of one or maybe capture a UFO. It just means I was not out there looking for it this was more of a historical adventures which has connections to other places we have done some haunted some not. I love the Bridgeport Mono Lake area I mean you have Bodie, Mills, Cemeteries, Mines, Ghost Towns, Lakes and wicked scenery to top it all off. Hell Bridgeport is a nice little town they have this one restaurant that I love eating at but we did not go there because we decided to get back into town so we could party a little to finish off the night after a hard days of adventuring.

Normally when its a birthday we always choose a cool adventure its kind of like a birthday gift to yourself. Well my birthday is coming up so who knows what ill have planned up my sleeve but it will include some adventuring similar to like what we did with Mono Lake, Godzilla and some partying in between lol. It also may include a nice massage by the oriental women at the parlor and some fun too. You have to live a little you never know if you will be alive tomorrow and the one thing my group teachers others is how to do that.

Mono Lake is going to make a wonderful addition on our website. I will connect or hot link all he locations together as one it should be one of the missing pieces on our site because we have done projects around here except around the lake itself. Its like that last missing piece of the puzzle so folks can see all the great things this area offers but also the basin/lake itself. I do plan on going back were not done yet and well since this is the gateway into Yosemite you have to go through here to go up into the pass. Folks have no idea how close Yosemite is but lets put it this way their is a place called Mono Dome its just west of the lake on the other side of a peak and these domes are all part of the national park.

I remember seeing this lake for one of my first times and was wowed by it really. I mean I had seen it briefly even drove through here at night. But my Yosemite trip back in 2012 was unbelievable what a grand adventure I climbed this waterfall and went in this cave squeezing through small chambers. I also seen another nearby ghost town just up the road from Mono in the Tioga Pass known as Bennettville. Which is so close so the area offers so much to see and do.

Not many folks even know it but Bigfoot and other creatures of lore roam in these parts of the sierras which run very steep right along Highway 95 overshadowing the lake. Their is this one creature which is similar to the rake they call Penelope which roams along the Tioga Pass and probably the woodsy mountains along the lake. The same creature we ran into up near Hobart Lake above Carson City so again during my research I make all sorts of connections. I have also seen video footage of stick like beings in Yosemite so if they are seen deeper in the park they probably also are above Mono Lake since the basin borders this national park.

 I mean this area offers it all paranormal, history, adventure etc. I can only imagine what the first pioneers had to endure here this basin is rugged, vast and unique in every way geologically and historically since the day the first European explorers laid eyes on it! When I explorer I take everything as a whole but I try to envision what life was like when the first explorers came here. They would have technically seen the same things I had seen or experienced only difference was the time period and the fact that we have vehicles. But man the snow on the mountains in the middle of May and this adventure was top notch. In reality Tammy picked this location I just did the research and put the journey together which was very rewarding!

I look forward to seeing more ghost towns, mines, historic sites, scenic wilderness areas etc etc out here in this region as long as the Mono-Inyo chain of craters does not blow. I have some kick ass locations will be doing up here these next few years so you do not want to miss out and we hope by sharing our work we can give our viewers a chance to be a part of something greater or feel at least they are part of it because of how we convey and share our work due to our hard earned research.

But this project was special folks we covered everything along the lake shore and while I did not get to explore the slot canyons I made it hundreds of feet away from Black Point and its fissures. I know their is much more to see and were far from done! While their may not have been paranormal their was a wild western adventure to be had and I even wore my knew cowboy hat for this occasion. This is an amazing region of California and its burned as an image in my head forever because this place will leave a lasting impression on you! Thank you everyone for reading about my adventure woooo wild wild west baby!
Peace,
Lord Rick

PS All reports are rough drafts till they get indicted on our website which generally takes a couple years so they are subject to renditions and changes in the future.

**NEW** Additions On Our Site "St. Stephens Historic Cemetery" Drytown California...

Let me take the time to announce this special addition on our site on this lovely Friday evening. I get excited when I can add locations that we have explored, investigated and done research at onto our site. Its the entire point of what we do here so please try to look for these additions and announcements.

St. Stephens Cemetery is the Catholic parish of Drytown which is btw one of the counties oldest towns. Today its a semi ghost town but in 1848 Dry Creek was mined for its gold so it sprung up as a tent camp which in turn grew into the town it is today. It was a place of fires, tragedies, robberies, epidemics etc.

These gates greet you before you climb up the hill where there are ruins of an old church with the graveyard behind it. Its a pretty cool place and I had a cookout back here a couple years ago for Fathers Day. It served the Catholic Miners an settlers who came here seeking prosperity.

If you would like to see this addition directly you can do so on our site at this link http://paranormalghostsociety.org/StStephensHistoricDrytownCemetery.htm or if you want to read the epilogue and go into the archives you will find this case along with many others at:

Gateway 4/Portal 27

St Stephens Historic Cemetery Prologue Page
St Stephens Historic Cemetery Stills
St Stephens Historic Cemetery Explore
St Stephens Historic Cemetery B&W Gallery
St Stephens Historic Cemetery Notables
St Stephens Historic Cemetery Broken Not Forgotten
St Stephens Historic Cemetery Nature
St Stephens Historic Cemetery Videos
St Stephens Historic Cemetery EVP's
St Stephens Historic Cemetery Journey One
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The next addition which will come out next week onto our site will be Drytown itself its a great semi ghost town lots of relics of the past, old structures, nature etc. When I give my viewers a place I give them something they can chew on and enjoy for years to come. These little gold rush cemeteries are really gems when the fires came they took almost everything but not quite which is why we explore what we can so we can bring others what is left of the wild west like the cemeteries and these ghost towns.

Anyhow hope everyone has a great weekend and you enjoy this nice little edition. Peace,
Lord Rick
PGS Founder

I just wanted to let everyone know that as of today we added on our team hub page new photos, videos from our most recent games 2019 section, stats on our team records page and some photos of the MAC on our main page. I want to continue to add to our sports pages as we play various sports. After basketball this fall will be playing football. I will continue to grow our hub, team and who we are locally by getting men of all ages involved in competitive sports! We hope you enjoy the work we have done so far!

http://paranormalghostsociety.org/PGSPhantoms2019.htm

Our Wild Western Historic Fallon Country Expedition On March 2nd 2019

While Fallon may be Nevada's third largest city in Nevada many folks do not realize that before it was Fallon it was home to many smaller towns and communities. But most of the history has been lost or absorbed by the growth of this ranching community and growing military city. I say military because many of the local folks are employed locally at the Naval Air Base.

However, if you are willing to go beyond the city your going to find many ranches that date back as far as the 1850's. While we have done the semi ghost town of Stillwater which borders Fallon there are some other towns which been nearly erased from the history books that I wanted to do some projects with. So I decided to return to Fallon so we could work with St. Clair which was a small ranching town that began before 1860. We would also visit Ferguson Cemetery, St. Clair Historic Cemetery and Johnson Ranch Cemetery all part of this once thriving ranching community.

St. Clair also had a post office which was widely used by other communities especially after the Ragtown post office closed down which is worth mentioning. We would do a ghost town expedition in Ragtown too and traverse this back road into another lost community known as Willowtown aka Northam. In between it all after St. Clair we would make a side trip up near Rattlesnake Hill to the old Nevada Sugar Company mill ruins. So we would have a full day and at the time it was my sons first over night pass so he would finally get to go on an adventure because he came home Friday and we went out on a very rain Saturday.

Rain, shine or snow you can bank on us always going out and doing the work we need to get done. The weather just gives these locations more character I suppose. We were lucky it was not snowing because most of the time we tend to get stuck in snowstorms just like the one we had gotten stuck in two weeks after we did these locations.

I love Fallon because parts of it do not look like desert as its very green here their are ranches, canals, Carson River, big ole cottonwood trees everywhere and grass growing everywhere. Their are times you take these old dirt roads and think your in the Midwest or something its pretty far out. Only difference is that in Fallon you also get nice views of the mountains some even covered in snow this time of year. With all the snow and storms we had the area was quite wet even good dirt roads were washed out so we had no idea what we would encounter once we arrived on location to explore these places.

I was very stoked because we really had not done many ghost towns up until this point in the new year due to snowstorm after snowstorm. Nevada got hit so hard in January and February that some areas of the sierra had over 240 inches of snow which is phenomenal considering the drought we went through years ago where rivers were going dry. But when you get this kind of weather its dangerous to go to ghost towns due to the fact roads are washed out, flash flooding, you can get stuck in deep mud, erosion up on cliffs etc which makes it hard to get to these places.

The nice thing about the Ragtown/St. Clair area is most of the roads are paved so these are doable wild western semi ghost towns. Notice I say most not all but ill get into that a little later on. But when it comes to St. Clair the roads are fairly decent throughout and there are a few cemeteries worth checking out which is the bread and butter of such a location. So after breakfast and a Chai tea latte we decided to head on off to our first location of the early morning known as St. Clair.

St. Clair Nevada

St. Clair runs for a few miles its not a small community by any means but its a ranching community. It really did not have many businesses. If you wanted to do business you would have to make the trek to Ragtown or Stillwater during the 1800's. The farms been around for generations so with a expedition like this I wanted to photograph some of the old farms and bars just to kind of show how old the community is.

I love going adventuring I have thousands of songs I can play on my new bluetooth sound system so I sit back burn a bowl of some White Widow/Dream Star/Lemon Sherbert/Blue Steele cranked the tunes and just drive in rural Nevada. It was a rainy wet morning but at least it was not snowing. It was also just sunrise so still very early morning which is an awesome time to explore just as the sun is coming on up. Yeah I always have more then one strain of bud on me when I go ghost towning love to smoke a bowl in the country even just sit under a tree and burn one very relaxing tradition for me lol.

This would not be an easy trip for me I just became owner of our basketball team in Carson City. So we just started our basketball season off as The Paranormal & Ghost Society "Phantoms" at the MAC Center its really intense were playing against the best of the best games are aggressive but still cant wait for football and hockey season for our teams future. So I was quite tired on this trip I mean I jump about fifty times a game and we just played the hardest team in the league. So I went from playing two games of basketball, a long practice all the way to adventuring in the wild west definitely not easy. So it would take a bit for me to get use to balancing playing sports for my team to adventuring in the rural Nevada. So for this trip oh man was I sore and I had not even begun lol.

Anyhow, I would stop first at the Allen Road Cemetery or rather the Ferguson Cemetery first before anything else. The problem is that a local farm and what appears to be a mill nearby now owns it or resides behind it which consumes this graveyard. To get to the cemetery you have to go down this steep bank and figure a way across the canal. Then once you cross the canal then you have to go under barbed wire right into a pasture with cattle grazing all around you. Once you do that there is a wood gate and dirt path leading out to this burial ground.

I did not cross the canal was not in the mood to take a swim and again another historic site on someone's farm which really to me is a turn off. The last thing I want is farmer john chasing me with his shotgun because he thinks I am stealing his livestock or something. The cemetery use to be public but I guess this farm purchased the land then decided to put a fence around the cemetery to keep the cattle out but it also keeps humans out to because in order to get out to it you have to enter the farms pasture land.

There is only one maybe two visible monuments in this open dirt patch surrounded by high brush that I could see from afar. Behind the granite monument is a large cottonwood tree that fell over. Its hard to say if the tree fell on any graves but as far as I could tell I think there was a little stone I seen in some brush and in the center of the cemetery a monument. That monument states that Elizabeth is buried in the Churchill County Cemetery while Jackson's original headstone is also there buried next to Elizabeth. Then below it states Marvin and Wendy Ferguson October 2016.

Its hard to even know if any graves exist here anymore or if most of them are lost to history. Its just an open flat area surrounded by brush with this monument in the middle. More then likely this was a small family cemetery but I also read that the reason there is no graves is because most of them are unmarked. Most of them were early ranchers that came to the area and were buried right up the road from there ranches. While its private you can see the cemetery from the road like I said not very big maybe 100 by 50 feet in size.

The Ferguson's owned a ranch in the area and they also operated a post office on there land. As a matter in fact Jackson served as a post master. The couple was buried in the cemetery today they reside in the Churchill County Cemetery which we have already up on our site from a previous cemetery project we did. That does not mean all bodies were exhumed or moved there are probably other ranchers buried here or family members.

I spent a good hour driving around St. Clair I wanted to find remnants of old homesteads, cabins, farms etc and I did find some very unique sites including this three story wood tower we also found a similar one in Ragtown, stone walls, weird shaped homestead and a few barns dating back to St. Clair's boom years. You really have to drive around to find these places most of the historic sites are on private property though. I remember seeing this big ole creepy farm house not even sure anyone was living in it as it was very dilapidated. No less you could tell it was over a century old back when St. Clair had a post office and was a small thriving community.

But all you have to do is drive a mile or two and you can see this is a very old community. Most of the history exist on these old ranches but still its all original. The town also had a school, boarding house, community center and stage stop or rather hotel. Most of what was is gone Fallon became more relevant and St. Clair began to fade into the history books. I passed by this massive sheep farm so not much has changed they still grow vegetables, raise cattle, sheep and other livestock on these ranches.

My next stop in St. Clair would be the St. Clair Historic Cemetery or as some call it the Adventist Cemetery. Near the cemetery there use to be. You see back in the day there was a place known as Big Adobe located here. It was a ranch yes but the adobe was also used for community gatherings, dances and events. By 1871 it was not occupied so the owner moved his ranch elsewhere and when the building became abandoned it was used as the first school in Churchill County. You had your main classroom downstairs and upstairs had about eight rooms so it ended up becoming a boarding school.

By 1876 the school moved when a new school had been erected therefore the Seventh Day Adventist purchased Big Adobe using it as a church. But they also used it as a private boarding school that way the children could get an education but also continue to practice religion at the same time. W.H.A. Pike and his wife Ida who was the daughter of Ragtown's Asa Kenyon taught here. Asa Kenyon owned most of Ragtown him and his family begin their lively hood by operating a Overland Route Station for weary travelers who crossed the Forty Mile Desert. But he was very prominent owning many businesses and much of the land in Ragtown.

While the boarding school remained open for many years along with church services eventually they would move to Fallon. Not before many of the children died of epidemics and were buried in the cemetery next to the institute. Can you imagine your a parent shipping your child off to boarding school only to find out they had gotten sick and dying? That was how life was in the wild west there was no way to quarantine any of the children from one another so when one had gotten sink so did many others which often led to death.

The cemetery is a symbol of that dark past it really is considering many of the interments are that of children buried here. Yeah the big adobe, school, church etc are all gone. Today there are newer houses surrounding the cemetery but no less its still rural and not to far perhaps a mile from the Ferguson Cemetery. Life was harsh out in this part of Nevada you had floods, bad winter storms and even earthquakes. While big adobe or the institute is long gone the graveyard in a sense is symbolic as to what once was.

When I walked up to the cemetery it begin to rain fairly consistently and it was a cold rain trust me. Once I entered the gate which btw its not posted as a private cemetery nor are there any trespassing signs the home owner living next door to it told me I cant be there. I said hmmm that is strange this is not listed as a private cemetery as a matter in fact there was some fresh foot prints just inside the gate so its obvious time to time people visit this place. Not sure if the guy is watching over the place or is just simply bored living out in the middle of nowhere next to the place. But the cemetery has its own fence around the property and therefore this home owner does not own it he just lives next to it for anyone who might consider visiting here.

He did come up to me told me I cant be here that would not deter me I told him look I am here to do research. I filled him in about the towns early history and a bit about the cemetery then he backed off told me to respect the place and he wont have an issue with me. The man claimed where I was stepping was the graves of children and I need to stay on the path. I thought to myself what paths this place is so overgrown most of the graves or plots are barely even visible. I was like yes sir I mean I never disrespect any location I go to let alone touch anything but that is just me. However, in order to bring you St. Clair I had to also bring you the pioneers and children who perished living out their lives in St. Clair so this was for me a very relevant site so we can put this all together on our site eventually.

When you enter the cemetery there is this big gravestone with four different names on it all painted in black. The names are poorly written as a matter in fact they were all jumbled together, uneven and it was a bit hard to read. Not sure if all four are buried where this stone is or if its to mark that they are buried in the cemetery. To the left near the fence bordering this house is a row of graves all children most of them small plots outlined by rocks. I found a couple wooden grave markers and a few little stoned buried or consumed by brush. The cemetery needs to be cleaned up I cant understand why the man next door is lecturing me on respecting this place when he should go on in with a chainsaw or hedge clippers and at least clean up the place so that the graves are not covered with tree limbs or brush just sayin!

If I was going to live next door to the cemetery I would go in and do a clean up because I would want my house to sit next to something relevant, historic and would want it looking pristine. But this place needs allot of work like I said its hard to know the paths because its all so overgrown your walking between thorn brush to get to certain grave sites. There was a wooden enclosure but no grave marker inside and a newer grave made out of rose quartz. Their was a larger wooden enclosure with a few hard to read wood grave markers all on there sides, tilted and even the enclosure was about to collapse.

Hidden in some high grass was also the skeletal remains of what was either a cat or some kind of giant bird which looked more like a small dinosaur. It was hard to tell what the remains were but based on the skull it looked more like this thing had a beak did not see teeth so my guess was a large bird of some kind but who knows I was not going to move it or touch it lol. Sometimes I find weird stuff just exploring I am not looking for anything other then chasing histories and the ghost that go with them but we do find some things time to time that are a bit out of place.

I found a third wood enclosure which had a few wooden gravemarkers again could not read them. I found another gravesite where a post had been put into the ground. There was also a family plot most graves could not read but this rose quartz or rose colored granite stone said Elizabeth Truman on it. I could not read the other graves in this plot to overgrown and some stones were just poorly weathered.

I would say there probably is about 100 people buried here but only 25 graves are visible or standing. There is so much wild brush, weeds, vandalism etc here its hard to make heads or tails of anything. My cam was getting soaked so I was a bit worried it might get to wet and breakdown so I only spent about twenty minutes here just trying to look at some of the grave sites. Also near the gate and really close to it is a gravestone but nothing is written on it. The weather and just the fact its not being maintained has made this place beyond disrepair.

I would move on with feelings of shock because again I cant understand why someone would be so protective over a cemetery that they do not help maintain. If your property borders this place why not clean it up a little rather then harass people like me visiting it? I cant make the history known or the cemeteries condition if I do not put this place on youtube or my website. So when I do places like this its with the intent to get people and communities working on preservation so its not just about chasing ghost for me.

I was trying to find a place also called Magee Station which burnt down in the mid 1900's. But supposedly the ranch is original and old. A website gave me an idea of where it was but all I found was more farms and newer homes so its hard to know. But Magee Station was just up the road from the cemetery which boasted an ice house but also boasted many large parties and events in St. Clair since 1864. By 1890 it was closed sold to the Springer family who built a nice two story house and eventually an accidental fire destroyed it leaving the ranch behind. I tried to get up to the Springer Ranch but nothing remains but that was just another trek I took while in St. Clair.

I spent more time exploring St. Clair this was a bigger project then I thought. As a matter in fact I went out to the old St. Clair Station site which today is split up between this ranch and new subdivisions or rather housing. But back in the day St. Clair and J.J. McClellan operated a toll bridge and station on there ranch calling it St. Clair Station not far from Big Adobe. But the bridge crossing the river or road rather would have been where the toll would have been located otherwise you simply were forced to have to take another way. The post office originally operated out of this station and was the only one in the region from 1867 to 1869. So it was shortlived and would move over to big adobe.

 In 1860 Augustus Gus Meacham operated a ranch and by 1863 sold most of his lands to other ranchers who settled in the region. Taylor bought that land which was said to have built Big Adobe which served as a sister station of St. Clair just four miles away. Its possible Meacham sold some of his property to James St. Clair and McClellan too since they came to the area a short time after Meacham operated his ranch in the area. But at the time before it was called St. Clair it was Meacham that owned most of the land before it became a community.

I was trying to find any remnants of the old St. Clair Station while once I crossed the bridge over the river to the left was open farm land to the right was a subdivision. I figured I could find some of the original buildings of the St. Clair Station and Ranch. But I did not find many what I found is a road that took me through a subdivision with quite a few new homes. To the left further down the road was a small playground for children and a fenced in area which turned out to be a cemetery and I knew it because a gravestone caught my eye.

I read this is the Johnson Ranch Cemetery just another small forgotten burial ground only this one had high chain link fencing around it. I read that nothing remains of Clair Station that this subdivision swallowed up the entire ranch. Back before the housing was built here there probably was some foundations and old wood outbuildings but not anymore. The housing had to even be built around this little cemetery or so it seems and so they put a small fence around it but its not even labeled. There are two wood crosses inside the fence and a small granite stone that says on it Nellie Mae daughter of R.L. and L.B. Johnson. I assume the wood crosses were her father and mother.

So in total St. Clair has about three to four cemeteries, a bunch of old ranches and I did see along some roads a few artifacts like wood wagons that sort of thing. This one rancher had some homemade art work made out of car parts including a hunter hunting for ducks and a giant chicken all made out of scrap metal. I also found an old power house building I photographed and a bunch of other really old historic barns surrounding these cemeteries. Its sad that both stations and big adobe are long gone because honestly they were the heartbeat of old St. Clair and today they have vanished leaving behind many old ranches on the road less taken. We would move onto our next location the Nevada Sugar Mill Company Ruins.

Nevada Sugar Mill Company

In order to find this place you have to take a series of dirt roads behind the Churchill Cemetery. I was at this cemetery a few years ago doing an investigation. I had no idea there were ruins of a sugar mill back behind it. The thing is its so overgrown back in here most people probably had no idea that at one time a massive mill which employed hundreds resided back here.If I would have known I would have visited this place a long time ago.

Just below Rattlesnake Hill are the ruins when I first arrived I was just driving around trying to find them down this dirt road which was muddy, overgrown and I did not think a mill site could be so close to such a nice kept up cemetery such as this. But sure enough when I was driving I looked left and there it was a 50' maybe 75' wall. I been fascinated with this mill for awhile especially since I got my hands on the original vintage photos this place was huge and when it closed bootleggers during the prohibition were using the abandoned mill to make alcohol until he FBI raided the place.

Today the factory or mill rather is long gone but there are some foundations remaining, walls, rusty remnants, bricks and some other things left behind. Its a very overgrown site then again that was the story of my day pushing through high brush, thorns, weeds etc just to get back into these places to do some old fashioned Lord Rick exploring.

The site is massive but the strange thing is the floors are covered in sand even sage brush growing out of the cracks. But you can see the main buildings floor in certain areas which is concrete and a long wall which wraps around into the hillside. There is also piles of debris with metal in the concrete and even some rusty pipes. This building had some plumbing we found a pipe embedded in the ground where a toilet may have stood or sink at one time.

We also found an iron or steal plate of some kind embedded into the ground and a few other smaller foundations with rebar protruding from it. Most of the mill has been torn up or bulldozed because I could see large pieces of concrete that were just torn up and placed in piles. Its obvious the mill extended further out but had been removed to make room for the cemeteries piles of vases, wreaths, fake flowers and other things. But the foundation for the main building and wall still exist today even if it is overgrown you can make out that this was a massive mill during its hey day.

Just above the mill is rattlesnake hill and they call it that because in the hotter months there are hundreds of snakes that just consume this hillside. You would not want to jog or hike there in the summer but its the only hill near this mill site then afar you can make out some of the mountains and local ranges. My son took off to look around the fields for more remnants I was focused on the main part of the mill. I even found some rusty machine parts embedded in some dirt.

We found a few foundations hidden in brush, concrete floors and walls but most of what is here is now gone. We also found a pile of bricks which when the factory was dismantled many of them were used in the construction of many businesses located in downtown Fallon. The bricks are sort of beige in color most of the ones we found were broken but back in the day there were thousands of them that made up this mill.

Many of the farmers tried growing sugar beets in the Fallon area especially the ranchers up in St. Clair so you can see the historic connection between the two. But growing sugar was not very successful in Nevada and at times the mill just did not produce enough. Granted one year they produced 25 thousand 100lb sacks it just was not that profitable especially for the farmers who were asked to plant these beets so they could mill them for there sugar.

We found id say just about all we could find here its very scattered the site and its been picked clean. Everything else is just concrete remnants and pieces of rusty metal here and there; But if you look at the vintage photos its pretty amazing how nice of a mill this once and today it looks like an earthquake hit it. All the concrete ruins are cracked, eroding, falling apart etc but no less if you are a good day dreamer you can envision what the site once looked like back in the day.

When the mill was purchased by some other company it produced 40 thousand sugar sacks. But the problem was is Fallon farmers were hit with a mysterious disease called Curly top so the beets would just rot or wither away in place with this extra growth. No less this mill had years of being plagued by bad luck and when sugar costs were way down profit was not to be made. Its hard to believe that Nevada had a sugar mill or that it could be grown here.

The locals use to call this factory project Uncle Sam's Nine Million Dollar Farm because this was a spendy mill to run and it was costing the local farmers more then they made in profits. If you stand at the base of rattlesnake hill their also is a giant cross that sits at the top. This is the third cross but it was there when the sugar mill was in operation in the 1920's. The first cross was destroyed by vandals while the second one someone cut with a chainsaw. If you worked at this mill you probably seen the first cross before it was destroyed.

It started to rain hard again my camera was getting wet so we wrapped it up but I made sure to video record and photograph any of the mills remains including some photography of Rattlesnake Hill. I also went downtown Fallon to the historic section to visit the J.H. Corn Building built in 1940 which were previously apartments then an auto shop or garage prior to that. The building was made with bricks from the sugar mill so I wanted to see them. When the factory was dismantled many bricks were used to build downtown Fallon while most machinery ended up being exported to Japan.

The police in Fallon must be bored they pulled up on me sitting in there SUV and watch me taking photos of the Corn building. I thought they were going to ask what I was doing they have a reputation for harassing people maybe they are bored who knows. But I definitely do not look like a burglar carrying around my expensive camera taking photos of a historic building that is for sure. Not only did they watch me then they drove around the block again and past me really slow. Surprised like I said they did not stop me I always am carrying my gun in my holster which makes me stand out like a sore thumb lol.

After we had finished up here we grabbed a quick burger we were on the way to our next destination known as a little semi ghost town known as Ragtown along the Carson River. I also got a spicy butter cream high energy coco oh man that was awesome.  I really could not wait to go up to go up to Ragtown because it is one of the more well known locations if you study the wild west especially in this part of Nevada it was the one settlement pioneers looked forward to seeing after crossing the harsh Forty Mile Desert.

Ragtown Nevada

Just west of Fallon about twelve miles exhausted immigrants in the 1850s would reach Ragtown to rest here after crossing the forty mile desert. At the time there was a station here maybe a few huts or shacks. It had gotten its name because many of the weary travelers would hang there garments, rags and clothes from trees and bushes. It was no more then a seasonal tent city which sprang up in the spring and was taken down in the fall in hopes that men could profit from the transcontinental wagon train trade. Most of the travelers were on their way to California and they would probably stop here for a couple days just to rest up before climbing the high sierras.

More or less the station was a way to water down your horses one can imagine that when the travelers seen the giant cottonwood trees growing along the river they made a mad dash towards Ragtown. When Asa Kenyon came along he purchased the Ragtown property. He and his family were farmers who utilized the Carson River building the first permanent structure made out of wood which became a trading post or rather general store. Kenyon and his family owned and operated an Overland Route Station along the Overland Wagon Road for many years.

With that being said a small town developed here there was a post office that operated twice here in the 1800's. When it was not in operation you had to use the one in nearby St. Clair. Asa Kenyon owned most of the town hell there was even a cemetery but I do not know where it was located I tried to find it on the expedition. But supposedly all 200 graves were washed away during a flood in 1861-62 that washed away not only the entire graveyard but the town with it at least most of it. Its hard to know if the bodies will ever be recorded or if they are just laying somewhere in the mud somewhere near the river bank.

I really wanted to visit the Ragtown site because Mark Twain passed through here and he does talk about it in one of his books as he did stop here. This is a relevant location since if it were not for its existence many immigrants crossing the forty mile desert would have presumably died Mr Asa Kenyon built up Ragtown to save lives. But with the river nearby and a decent watering hole Ragtown was an important stop in Nevada even if most of it is gone today its historic relevance will live on thanks to folks like me who care enough about its wild western heritage.

Once the railroad came through Ragtown transformed more into a ranching settlement because there was no need for a station anymore. There also was a community called Centerville nearby which boasted a hotel and ranch a mile and half away. So the area was in the 1800's growing today not so much because most of old Ragtown is gone. I remember reading that Dan DeQuille a editor for the Territorial Enterprise who worked with Twain calling Ragtown ancient but also well known. He noted that Asa Kenyon owned most of the town. 

If you stop on highway 50 there is a historic plaque with a bit of Ragtown's early history and how it may have gotten its name. There is also a stone monument with a plaque that talks about Ragtowns Crossing and attached to the stone monument are two old wooden wagon wheels. If you take the road nearby the plaque for a couple miles it will take you to ground zero of where Ragtown use to be. You will pass many old farms, open meadows and see the old cottonwoods meandering along the Carson River.

As I drove down the road which goes from paved to partially paved to eventually all dirt some of the old farms along the road boast some of the old pioneer relics of the past such as old tillers, farming equipment, wagons etc. I tried to photograph what I could one home I seen had about twelve historical relics spread out throughout the front of there home. Its hard to know if these relics were left behind on some of these old farms or someone purchased them. But along the road up to Ragtown if you pay mind you will see that there is plenty of old relics of the past.

Some of the farms are not very old back here or ranch houses but when I see old rusty remnants of the 1800's out on someone's front lawn it just gets me so excited because I know I am getting close to something historic and sure enough we made it to the Ragtown site which today has a couple small farms and a few historical dilapidated structures that I would go on to explore.

I ended up parking for about a half hour walking around I did not want to disturb the local residents like I said there are a couple small ranches back here but wow is it remote. Its a world away from a world back here. Keep in mind this is not like other ghost towns your not going to see an assay office or a mine or an old school and church. Most of what remains is back from the towns early ranching days because while this was a station and eventually a town most of the residents were ranches who harnessed the water from the Carson River to irrigate there fields, crops and livestock.

As most of you know allot of Nevada is high desert well the northern half is. But back here there are farms, green pastures etc especially tons of big 200 year old trees. So it does not feel like desert back here at all which is why the early pioneers loved coming to Ragtown they could fish and swim in the river nearby, pick up things at the local store and some ended up settling here because the land was fertile.

Today downtown is not so much a town at all but there are some older structures to see such as a two story barn my son and I visited. There is also a second barn its very long but missing its doors and a entire wall. I think they were the stables for either cattle or horses. I did not go into the barn the grass to get to it was higher then my head and I am not to keen on dealing with rodents. I am sure that high grass was a rats nest lol. There was a few corrals around did not see any livestock here so maybe some of the old wood buildings are truly abandoned. But the house across the road is fairly new and they had over eight historical relics out front including old wagons like it was some sort of museum. Perhaps some of those relics were left behind and I am glad the home owners at least are displaying them rather then stacking them up in some barn so that nobody can enjoy them.

There was also an old outhouse painted red, some workshop with a table and what may have been a circular saw or something to that effect. Near that was an old homestead it was gutted or empty inside but we were able to at least peer into an empty window. Across the road was a three story tower with a garage actually two garage doors that were all bent and barely clinging to life lol. My son did go up in the tower I did not. I did not feel comfortable going in any of the barns or structures in Ragtown there was people watching us out there windows and I just did not want to deal with it. I walked up to every structure to photograph and video record it for our website and youtube. Most structures seemed to be used to store junk, metal parts, machinery, scrap metal etc.

I cant do a nice historic write up without good photos or videos so that you can envision it see what is left and be a part of the exploration. But when it comes to nosy back country folks I try to keep things neutral that way I am not being chased, shot at or having to deal with drama. Sometimes I end up dealing with drama and I am not even trespassing like that cemetery up in St. Clair where the resident next door made a big thing about me walking around taking photos in the rain carrying my very expensive camera like I was going to burn the place down sheesh. I have not had much luck with the folks out this way a few years ago five guys tried to murder me not far from here so I am a bit skeptical when it comes to people watching me out there windows real hills have eyes shit!

On a good note I logged all the old wood structures at ground zero not much to see really most are very overgrown but I took some good black and white pictures. I am not sure how old some structures are but the oldest structures such as the barns and outbuildings is where Ragtown stood. With that being said over 100 thousand immigrant camped here or visited this town before going to Gold Country, Virginia City and crossing the sierras to the west.

Eventually we would leave Ragtown at least it was not raining anymore but the skies were dark that is for sure. If you take the dirt road its a wonderful scenic ride along the river lots of cottonwoods, meadows, hills etc. The road was rugged there were areas that were muddy, washed out or rugged but I never felt so at home because I was waiting all day long to offroad leave that dang pavement. Eventually it would come on out to our next location yes the back way in I took to a place known as Willowtown which today is called Northam.

Willowtown and Northam Nevada

This would be our final expedition of the day as we followed the Carson River for miles. Its gorgeous back here all farm country. Their is no place id rather be then visiting some rural farming ghost town to be honest with you. I do what I do to escape and get away from the city along with people. Willowtown was known as the Willows which sprang up along the river in 1854 by Thomas Pitt. I guess they called it this because of the willows that grew in this area. But from my research Willowtown vanished a long time ago or did it? Technically it was consumed by a larger ranching community today known as Northam which boasted a school and even a post office in the earlier 1900's.

Jarrod and I visited the ruins of the school which resides in a field along a creek under a patch of trees. The school opened in 1915 today though all that is left is the foundation which contains two sets of stairs. The schoolhouse had two large rooms one may have been the classroom the other may have been faculty or for the teacher or maybe even the office. It was not very big but its one of the only historical remnants of the town. In order to even get to the school you have to leap over this creek/canal. While we were exploring the schools foundation a horse walked up to us lol. Its obvious that the school is on a ranch so id ill advise anyone going but you can photograph it from the road. I just need to get closer to it for our documentary for our site.

Just a half mile away you can take this dirt road out to a place known as Sheckler Lake and Dam. Actually the damn is called the Carson Diversion Dam which was completed in 1905 as part of the Newlands Irrigation Project. Right now they are doing some kind of work back there I came across a bulldozer and a bunch of trees etc were being cut. Not sure if they are going to make a picnic area back here but I did see someone offroading on the other side of the dam on a dirt road one I would take in later March when I was doing my Lahonton Pony Express project.

The road to park up near the dam was completely blocked with a giant earth mover It was a mud fest back there. I am sure when it dries up you can go back here see the dam, lake and river. This is a nice area around the dam there is this brand new bridge that goes over the Carson River to the left there was white water rapids to the right also the river but it was barely flowing so it was more like a pond. Then the dam and the lake on the other side of the dam. You can cross the bridge or the dam to get to the other side. If you veer left after crossing the river you can visit an old wooden bridge which today is deplorable but back in the day it use to cross the Truckee Canal at Lahontan City on the Lincoln Highway or Highway 50 rather which is just outside of Fallon.

The bridge was moved by George Frey in 1933 and I was able to visit it. I even climbed on it but I was alone did not bring my tripod so I had to just take selfies with it lol. I do not mind anyway's I just try to prove to our viewers that I do visit these locations so I do that by taking photos with everything I find that way nobody can say that I am bsing them. The bridge was not an easy find because you have to cross the river then veer left walking through this willow forest and eventually you follow this canal and there it is an old wood bridge spanning across where there is some ranch. Its real backwoods definitely would not want to be caught by any of the locals snooping around but I had to see it with my own eyes.

I was by myself my family stayed back at the truck I did not want them to come with me. There are certain places I will only do by myself due to the risk and dangers. I did not know who might be back here and with all the signs about being arrested I figured its not a good idea since the dam is obvious a federal or if anything a state project they do not want people playing on it. No less this is a interesting part of Nevada I got to hike around a cottonwood and willow forest.

I also had gotten to climb up on the dam I was shocked when I noticed that Sheckler Lake was a mud pit definitely not a reservoir or a lake. I would think with all the snow and monsoon rains we had that week along that there would have been more water on the other side but honestly that was not the case. Its a big dam a couple hundred feet across. But the entire lake was dry yeah there was a little water flowing it is afterall a part of the Carson River but its very shallow and most of it was just mud. Obviously I get why they do not want people playing around the dam if you fell in the mud is very thick, deep and perhaps like quicksand so you would still drown without being able to swim out of it. All long the dam was just thick sludge and the dams floodgates were open just a little to let water flow through.

I did walk across the dam there is this bridge that spans across with these old giant wood beams over a century in age. You often see these giant ties or beams in some of the old mills in ghost towns that processed ore. But instead these beams were all put together to create this bridge. There was an area the wood seemed a bit weak or rotted I was a bit worried like I say you fall below the dam your going to end up with mud and sludge 10' deep and you wont be able to swim out of it. So I had to still be careful climbing on dam and crossing the trestle to the other side.

 I seen a photo taken awhile ago of some structure near the dam but its gone. My guess is the earth movers tore it down not sure what they are doing back here but the concrete bridge is new that is probably so they do not have to take the trestle because the wood is starting to rot and well if those beams were to give out it could be dangerous if you were in a vehicle per say. But it appears they are improving some things around the dam. The Carson River down stream also has canals which branch off of it and those canals traverse many of the ranches in Fallon, St. Clair, Northam and Stillwater. All rural towns or semi ghost towns our team has worked with or should I say I have done historical research at and explored.

If the river becomes to flooded in the Spring they can close the floodgates hold back some of the water and slowly release it that way the farms get irrigated and canals flow throughout the summer. Because without the river, dams, canals etc it would be impossible to grow alfalfa, crops, pumpkins, corn and other crops. But because of the irrigation projects in Fallon cattle, sheep and other livestock thrives. Farmers are able to grow crops in the middle of the Nevadan high desert. What happens is the snow melts in the spring in the sierras draining into the Carson River which in turn drains into Lake Lahontan where the dam contains the water then a few miles downstream it ends up in Sheckler where again more water gets released downstream where it then gets diverted to various canals and ranches.

If I were you id be careful crossing the trestle while the big beams could support a vehicle where you drive on the boards in between are loose and weak. Falling through them could be bad so I stayed on the thick wood beams to get to the other side. In turn I got some good photos of the dam but man Sheckler is gone I am sure this spring they will release the water from Lahontan where this reservoir will be up at normal levels. It was a pretty nice little side trip and a part of Northam worth taking a gander at before we moved on to the last leg of this adventure.

I arrived back at the truck was full of mud but it was a fun trek. I had gotten to see the old bridge that Frey moved so that he could cross from Fallon to his ranch making his trek easier. You cant cross that bridge today its a four foot climb alone just to stand on it and its in bad shape. So bad the steel beams are protruding out from where you first cross onto it and no wood boards are covering the beams. But the bridge, dam, school and ranches in the area are all part of Northams early development.

There is this narrow road you take to climb out of Northam actually the south side of Northam more or less. It keeps climbing above this big open valley you can see the ranches below, river off in the distance and even the school its really nice. I had gotten out of my truck to take a photo of the view just wow. But once you get to the top you can cross the Lincoln Highway where you can continue to see the north side of Northam which is this long road for a few miles of nothing but old farm houses, ranches and barns.

I took my time went down the road photographed a few older ranches, farms and homes along this road. Some of them date back easily to the 1800's when Northam was a thriving community. Prior to that it was called Willowtown but Willowtown was contained along the river while Northam was both on the river and also on the other side of the Lincoln Highway. Many of the old farms and ranches have many nice relics of the past from back when Northam was thriving. Then again maybe these relics were original to these farms to begin with and just happened to be laying around. One farm had about ten relics of the past laying out in this corral one of them was an old ox cart and you see some old tillers as well as wagons even just a few wagon wheels laying around. Some of the relics I found not just in Northam but all the semi ghost towns I visited that day had pieces that belong in museums that is how worthy they are.

The thing is about what I do is yeah most folks look for structures and they forget to photograph or look for those museum worthy relics of the past which were also part of these places. At one time farmers in the 1800's used these old wagons to haul there crops to town or families or they may have used this old farm equipment to till there fields. But Northam has dozens of historical barns, outbuildings, farm houses and relics of the past. Most people do not see them because they are to busy speeding down these rural roads to slow down get out and take a peek. There are some gems in Northam lots of history scattered around if your willing to take your time to see it all. Northam also had a post office not sure where it stood or if any of it even remains today but the school foundation can still be seen in the heart of what was at the time downtown before Northam became more of a ranching community and less of a town.

Also in Northam lots of cattle and horses grazing everywhere. I love being out in the country just seeing the ranches and all there animals grazing. Even the smell of the air is so pure and natural that country breeze. Most of my day was spent on ranches along the Carson River and I uncovered allot of history at least what is left of these small farming towns which are relevant wild western sites of inhterest that once boasted stations, hotels, small towns and farming communities. You needed these ranching towns so that beef and crops could be exported to these local mining camps. The miners needed to eat therefore beef could be shipped to Virginia City for example for the Comstock Miners. Without these historical farming communities most of these mining camps would not be able to sustain themselves therefore many famous ghost towns of today would have never even existed. Most of these towns like St. Clair, Ragtown and Northam could raise the beef, grow crops and export there goods via railroad across the west.

My last stop of the day would be at Lake Lahontan as a matter in fact I wanted to visit a ghost town near the lake known as Lahonton City. It was a community established for federal workers so they could live on site during the construction of the Lahontan Dam. It had a huge dining hall that could feed 300 people per shift, hospital, school, post office, billiard parlor, library and even there own baseball team. Well what happened is that I did not have the right coordinates I knew it was near the dam but the coordinates took me on the wrong side of the lake so they did not match. I stopped at the vista point to take some photos of the lake then went down this dirt road in Silver Springs and was on the wrong end of the lake.

I did not have enough time to get back to the other side as nightfall was getting ready to set in soon so I figured id just save it for our next expedition when we had plans to travel the old Pony Express visiting stations, homesteads and this other ghost town near Lahontan so it would have to wait.. When I did eventually find Lahontan City I felt a bit dumbfounded because its near the highway and I have seen its chimney foundations before just never knew that this was it. I would be returning when we had more light to work with and continue on with the our research in the Fallon area.

All in all this was a great expedition I mean who does not like spending the day up in the country? Especially in beautiful rural Nevada so much history along these dirt roads. I been to a few of these farms in the past to buy chickens or visit the pumpkin patches. But you really do not think about the history of the region till you delve into it and realize that Fallon was home to many ghost towns and communities. Now its all sort of either blended due to the cities growth or there is no in between so you do not think much of it unless you were to research these places.

Most folks think the wild west is just the Pony Express and a few mining camps but its not. Many of these ranching communities had hotels, schools, post offices etc that begin in the 1850's when the west was born. Sure today most of its gone that is why they are considered semi to ghost towns with the exception that for many generations these farms and ranches were there from the very beginning and can still be admired today if your willing to take the road less taken! No less this was our first really awesome ghost town adventure to ring in the new year! I bet some of these locations have some good ghost stories also people died back here from epidemics, wild animals, floods, droughts, Indian raids, harsh winters etc. The life of a rancher in the wild west was not an easy one and its really amazing that many of these remnants of the past have survived for guys like me to share them with all of you!

I was sure tired when I came home the mileage adds up when your exploring on a good exploration I might drive over 300 miles in just a day dirt roads included. When I came home I made Parmesan Noodles with these chicken medallions that I cut up seasoned then smothered it on top with a flavorful garlicky broccoli and cauliflower medley mix. It was a nice meal to celebrate our outing and it was a long hard day I was tired. But I always like to have a nice meal in or out after ghost towning. Just a way to celebrate life itself and the fact that were safe and sound. Because anything can happen you could get bit by a rattle snake or trampled by a bull or have some crazy farmer run you down with his shotgun lol or some drunk driver on the highway up here. So you have to be thankful for family and friends also a hot meal on the table after a hard days work exploring. Nobody pays me to do this were putting together solid wild western history and heritage on our site so that people can see the west through our work and learn about it that in my book is a win! Sure we did not have many paranormal experiences but we definitely nailed it as far as our research and exploration goes! What a great time wish more people were involved with our group over the years they have missed out on good times, partying, great adventure and seeing things most folks will NEVER get to see truthfully!

Peace,
Lord Rick
PGS Founder

PS All reports are subject to revisements before they end up on our site in the future thus reports are subject to change or for rendition in the future as this is a rough draft!

**NEW** Addition On Our Site :::Jackson Mountain Butte::: Gold Country!

Hey everyone I wanted to take the time to announce this very pristine unique location just added to our site known as Jackson Mountain Butte. This is not so much a paranormal addition on our site more directed at urbex or rather some urban exploring high above the bustling city of Jackson California.

Let me tell you returning here was not easy but back in 2008 I spent sometime here and never really put much though into it. I wanted to return to do a nice little story with photos of this extinct volcano which is a natural icon in gold country seen from many mining towns below which today are smaller ranching communities.

This was a nice little adventure with a touch of history and my son had gotten to explore it with me for his first time. I been working slowly with gold country in the sierra foothills we have other cool stuff coming from the butte area not just this in the near future.

I would like to talk more about it but I need to go rest I really hurt my knee bad today during practice at the MAC center when this punk ass from this other team we verse during our regular season games purposely tripped me when I was going to the net. So I got ice on it because tomorrow I got this Bigfoot hike and Monday a game against a second place team so yeah.

Anyhow the chickens roasting in the oven with a mix of veggies full of flavor and baby red mashed potatoes so I am really excited to eat dinner after four hours of hard practice for our paranormal sports team. I enjoy sharing with you these additions but also other departments of our paranormal group.

Pretty soon I may have my own TV show its rather surreal getting to this point. But the producers of the network want me hunting monsters and doing extreme adventurously shit like the Himalayas or Siberia. Will see but I am close to contract and ill be as a paranormal investigating getting busy now that the weather has been clearing up in the sierras here.so bigfoot season is in, were in the middle of our basketball season, have a bunch of ghost towns to adventure to plus the TV series working on to.

My point is I am a busy busy guy and twenty years later were still doing it up. I have so much coming to our viewers you will be like wow so if you do not look at our work that we post ONLY on our website you lose out on good stuff period! You want to see what I am to and my journeys then you support us by checking out the goods lol. So tonight I am giving you the goods Jackson Butte an emotional return at least for me!

You can go to the addition directly at http://paranormalghostsociety.org/JacksonButteCalifornia.htm or if you prefer you can go to our epilogue in the archives which some folks like to do because they run into some of other work or hundreds wait over a thousand places. This is what has been added as of tonight hope you guys like it:

Gateway 4/Portal 27

Jackson Mountain Butte Team Stills
Jackson Mountain Butte Team Exploration
Jackson Mountain Butte Relay Com's Station
 Jackson Mountain Butte Jackson Cityscapes 
Jackson Mountain Butte Historic Ranches
Jackson Mountain Butte B&W's
Jackson Mountain Butte Scenic Gallery
Jackson Mountain Butte Nature Gallery
Jackson Mountain Butte Videos
Jackson Mountain Butte Exploration 1 Report
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I would have gotten this out last week but I got sick with a virus. Actually I wish I had gotten more stuff up this past month but between my son coming back home, coaching our team, all these recent investigations etc I just did not get anything up for the past month. That will change though I should have more good stuff coming including the ghost town of New Chicago next week.Its a really cool remote place in gold country.

Well going to finish cooking dinner on my ps4 add me if you want AngelOfThyNight its all good. I am working on this horror game right now called layers of fear. Anyhow that is about it for now everyone always show your support for what we or should I say I do. I have so many great journeys coming and the butte was just one of many. Its an amazing geological feature sort of like the how devils tower is iconic in Wyoming. Anyhow have a great night and enjoy!
Lord Rick