From: cs000rdw@selway.umt.edu (Richard D Warner)
Subject: Bigfoot, or a bear????
Followup-To: poster
Organization: University of Montana
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 06:24:02 GMT

	About three years ago I had an incredible experience.  It takes 
about an hour to tell the whole story - it's good movie material and it
really is true; here's the nutshell version.
	I heard about a nudist resort over in Washington, up in the woods,
and sent off and got a map to the place.  It was in October and I was going
for the Halloween party (what does one wear??).  It was a long trip and it
was already getting dark when I arrived at the gate with the combination lock.
My combination didn't work, so I was mad at them for changing it.  I started the
three-mile walk in to the resort, wearing cutoffs but at least had a jacket.
	It was pitch-dark, no lights of any sort could be seen to the horizon
which at times was 10-20 miles away.  The road I was on had tracks from maybe
ONE car, and grass was growing in the middle of it.  I would try a road, walk
until it turned into a trail, go back to the main road and try the next.  I
had a bank deposit slip in my pocket and worked out a scheme of making tears
to record how I turned at the many Y's in the road I encountered.  I did see
a sign that said, "Cascade tree farm".  By midnight, it was in the 20's, I was
freezing, and decided to give up and turn back.  
	As soon as my dog and I turned back, I heard something in the brush a
bout a hundred yards away.  I figured it was a bear and yelled at it to "get
out of here".  It kept coming.  Keep in mind that I was single at the time, 
and no one even knew I had left Montana, let alone that I was in the middle
of the woods at midnight.  I yelled harshly again for it to get the hell out
of here!  Then it started trotting through the brush directly toward me!
I picked up a rock and pulled the tear gas out of my pocket, and glimpsed 
that my dog was in a splay-footed stance ready to jump any direction.
	Just as the animal was ready to break out of the brush (about twenty
feet away) I started flapping my arms and dancing around, going "WHOOp, WHOOp,
WHOOp".  The animal stopped and made huffing sounds at me.  Then it made a
melodic sound like, "WHEEEOOOOooooOOOOP".  You know, the way those long whistles
sound where you pull the slide in and out.  It was so startling because that was
not a bear sound.  I said to my dog, "What is this, a fucking alien, I thought
it was a bear!".  We had a standoff for a while because the road had a 
hairpin corner and the animal was around the hairpin right in the road, so
I could not go anywhere except to the corner and wait for it to move.  It
kept huffing and finally moved off, and we returned uneventfully.  I walked
about 21 miles that night.
	I've told that story in its longer form numerous times, and always
assumed it was a bear, until someone fixed attention on the sound, and 
suggested it was a Yeti.  What kind of sounds are Yeti supposed to make?
	It turns out that I missed the turnoff to the resort and went to
another gate that had a similar kind of lock.  It was to a very remote tree
farm.  I did find the nudist resort the next day, and the Halloween party is
a whole 'nuther story.

Rich