IMAGES: ALAMY
SEARCHING FOR BIGFOOT
of place in the world, Cliff’s goal is to understand the myth from every perspective, to act as educator at his museum and gift shop so others can learn about what might live beyond the edge of our known world. “The most exciting thing is how all the evidence
we have joins together — it’s so consistent,” Cliff tells me, while stuffing a Sasquatch T-shirt into a bag for a customer. Among other items on sale are trucker hats, boxer shorts, beer glasses, camping mugs, sketch books, plush toys, bumper stickers and commemorative coins. The wild bit is a visitor can buy a plaster footprint or knuckle cast stamped with the museum’s seal of authority. Likewise, a mould of a Bigfoot butt print hangs in the museum. What differentiates the search for Oregon’s pin-up
from hunts for other cryptids like the Loch Ness Monster or Abominable Snowman though, is what Cliff calls “the feel of the forest”. To experience something of the wild that Bigfoot might endure, but also to hear it. “I’ve heard them dozens of times. One year, I spent 200 days in the woods looking for them,” he adds. “And, no, I’m not crazy.” If the North American Bigfoot Center is a portal
to adventure — with hundreds of newspaper cuttings, movie reels and local maps pinned with recent sightings, plus walkthrough galleries focused on links to Indigenous Native American culture — then the surrounding area itself is real on a far more visceral level. The original Bigfoot investigators lived and
worked in the Pacific Northwest, building up communities of believers and explaining why data sightings were once skewed towards Oregon, Northern California and Washington. But Cliff says the topography is a factor, too. “It comes down to habitat and rainfall,” he tells me. “The more rain, the more Bigfoot sightings and I’m up to my neck in observations. Rarely a day goes by without a recorded sighting, and on Monday this week, I had three reports before lunchtime.” Where, I ask Cliff, is the best place to encounter
a Bigfoot? His answer, perhaps, is only a half-truth. “My team and I are in the woods once a week and we hit spots that have been historically active for decades,” he replies. “We have four research sites that produce evidence regularly, but I don’t need to share our secrets. When you’re right about something, you don’t need to prove to someone else you’re right.”
Myth chasing As wildly entertaining as the possibility of Bigfoot is, the reality is no more than fantasy in the minds of the majority. Reverence for the
forest is a given in Oregon, and, as I learn the next day, confronting the idea of the far-fetched biped is as much about embracing the idea of the untameable as it is myth chasing. One staunch disbeliever is Arran Robertson of
conservation organisation Oregon Wild, which works to protect the state’s wildest places. Both Arran’s parents worked for the USDA Forest Service and, from a young age, he was brought up at a remote forest outpost station — one where it took a drive of 80 miles to get a carton of ice cream — and if anyone has had the opportunity to see Bigfoot with the naked eye, it’s him. Even so, while Arran and Cliff are very different
people, there’s a similarity. Both put absolute trust in the idea that Bigfoot unites and enthuses those who have a love for nature at its wildest. Let that thought in, and it’s easy to imagine the ape-like creature everywhere within the Cascades’ glowering, unruly spaces. The following morning, we trek deeper into
the Mount Hood National Forest along the banks of the Salmon River. To our knowledge, we’re the only hikers on the trail and we’re beyond all phone service. Blood-red huckleberries catch my eye, and the only sound is a shock-haired woodpecker drilling the trunk of a black pine above. The river rises to a cascade and its surface is creased by fallen boughs. For a moment, we wait for a salmon or trout to leap — it’s a glimpse of a more primordial world. “Even though there’s no proof of Bigfoot’s
existence, it’s interesting how the creature is used to promote the importance of the wild,” Arran says, as our forest hike reaches its natural end. “People are excited by Bigfoot and the idea there are still wild roadless areas full of old-growth forests for them to hide out in. And as an icon and piece of mythology, Bigfoot invokes the landscapes that we work to protect.” It’s difficult to argue with that. The point of
many aspects of travel is to take us out of familiar situations, so we can collect the stories and meanings of different places and, perhaps, that’s the essence of Bigfoot hunting. The joy is in imagining that such a wild adventure is still plausible in the uninhabited forests of North America — it lives on in the continued intimacy between Bigfoot as an idea and Bigfoot as a possibility. HOW TO DO IT: Accommodation at Mount Hood Tiny House Village is available from £110 per night.
mthoodtinyhouse.com The North American Bigfoot Center is open daily from 10am-5pm.
northamericanbigfootcenter.com Oregon Wild offers free guided forest walks.
oregonwild.org
WHILE YOU’RE THERE
Multnomah Falls A great way to explore northern Oregon is to drive the Historic Columbia River Highway Scenic Byway, a 70-mile strip of asphalt running from Troutdale to The Dalles. There are historic dams and extraordinary bridges, but it’s Multnomah Falls that best reveals how wild Oregon remains. One of America’s tallest waterfalls, it’s framed by misting spray.
traveloregon.com
Hood River Halfway along the Columbia River Gorge, Hood River stands out as a basecamp for adventure. Kayak or paddle the waterway, bike the gorge, raft the Rogue River or road trip through the valley’s loop of orchards, farmlands, distilleries and wineries.
visithoodriver.com
Timberline Lodge Come in winter and the most memorable way to explore Mount Hood National Forest is on the shoulders of Mount Hood itself. The stratovolcano is home to six ski areas, including Mount Hood Skibowl, Cooper Spur Mountain Resort, Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort and Timberline Lodge and Ski Area, with the high-altitude terrain offering winter sports right through until early summer. Timberline is the one every visitor wants to see, thanks to the lodge’s star turn as the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
timberlinelodge.com
Clockwise from top left: Bridge over Multnomah Falls, Oregon; Bartlett pear trees and barn at Lucia’s Orchard near Hood River, Oregon; Sasquatch crossing sign in the Oregon wilderness
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER – LAKES & MOUNTAINS COLLECTION 21
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