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Pollock Pines and the Sly Park Area Southeast of Jenkinson Lake
General report information from this area related to Camp Creek off Bonnetti Road and Park Creek off Mormon Emmigrant Trail (MET)
Sasquatch Investigations At Pollock Pines-Sly Park Area,
Camp & Park Creek Creeks
March 29th to July 1, 2008 at Camp Creek.
Authors of this report:
Researcher Larry Lesh
Researcher BB (pseudonym)
Researcher Mike Rarey
New Researcher Bob Nohr
Researcher RB (On May trip but not contributing to report).
Bill Brewer (BFRO Curator)
Brandon Kiel (BFRO Curator)
October 26, 2007 to July 1, 2008
Authors of This report:
Researcher BB (pseudonym)
Larry Lesh
Mike Rarey
We wish to thank Kathy Strain of the AIBR for taking the time to review our report and for providing her keen insight into improving it.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT:
The Pollock Pines research area is south east of Jenkinson Lake. The elevation varies between 3800 and 4200 feet. It’s forested with pine trees and various hardwoods and moderate undergrowth. The forest does have a canopy that’s penetrated by sunlight and the undisturbed forest floor is generally covered with pine needles, leaves and/or sticks from broken branches.
There are year round streams fed by mountain snow throughout the area and mountains surround it with both bare and forested ridges. The area is rocky with moderate amounts of loam and red clay and the rock composition varies from decomposed granite to solid granite with protruding boulders.
Game is plentiful as we observed bear and deer tracks, ground squirrels several species of birds. Fish were not observed in the local streams but as they flow year round they're considered present.
During March of 2007 the expedition weather was bright and sunny with daytime temperatures averaging mid to high 60’s. The May expedition found the weather as partly cloudy with daytime temperatures in the low 70’s. Better weather June 1st found the skies partly cloudy with temperatures averaging in the mid-70s. The weather for the June 13th expedition was sunny with afternoon highs in the mid-80’s and somewhat high humidity. The August 11 expedition was partly cloudy with morning temperatures in the low 70's and afternoon temperatures in the mid 80's
The area around Park Creek is similar to Camp Creek in elevation, terrain and forest. We've had 2 expeditions there on 10-26-07 and 7-01-08. The first trip was BB's hunting trip which resulted in his first encounter for this specific area and the second on 7-1-08 was our follow-up.
Weather on the first trip had been typical October weather for this area, cool temperatures with intermittent rain. Our July trip was warm weather will clear sunshine and the road was very dry.
CULTURAL SETTING:
This is a multi-use forestry area. People have been shooting here for some time as numerous brass, shotgun and expended paintball casings were observed. There was clear evidence of ATV use and the cutting of firewood. Several new and old campfires were found as well as a broken ceramic sink, a junked pickup truck and general picnic and camping trash.
The area of Park Creek sees the same kind of abuse as Camp Creek. However, since the road is gated and closed part of the year the abuse is less. Also, much of the area of Park Creek is private land belonging to Sierra Pacific.
We considered traffic light on our June 1st trip although some vehicles did traverse the area. We encountered a game warden on our June 1st trip and stopped to visit with several shooters at the top of a hill on Bonetti road on the August 11th trip. It was here on August 11th where we met up BFRO Curators Bill Brewer and Brandon Kiel.
This trailer was abandoned at the end of forest road 10N55G. It apparently was badly damaged trying to turn around at the dead end.
Expended casings dot the area and in conversations with other researchers we're told that the species will move toward the sound of gunfire expecting a free meal.
This is an area that sees alot of use, as the empty Arizona Green Tea bottle attests to.
One of many abandoned campfires in the area.
This was a broken sink at the corner of Bonetti rd and forest road 10N55G. It was cleaned up along with the Camp Creek Site.
RESEARCH DESIGN:
Camp Creek:
The 5 expeditions to the Pollock Pines area involved the rock-throwing incident on March 29th 2007 to researcher BB. The visits in May and June was for the purpose of determining who or what threw the rocks and if this area is being continually habituated by the Bigfoot species. The visit on August 11th 2007 was to confirm Sasquatch activity in this area to search for additional evidence of habituation or migration threw the area near Bonetti road (aka 10N55).
Research methods used were taken from Professor Jeff Meldrum’s September 2006 book, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. We were interested in handprint or footprint evidence, unusual broken trees and/or tree limbs, evidence of digging for insects, nests or places where a Bigfoot might lie down or rest, Bigfoot body parts which might leave impressions in soil or mud, actual sightings of a Bigfoot, audio sounds especially screams and/or whoops or whistles, and loose rocks on the hillside which could provide stones for throwing toward the road.
Other reports from this area are as follows:
Brothers hear unusual, late-night vocalizations near Sly Park
Campers hear late night screams near Pollack Pines
Man has early morning sighting near Sly Park
Man has sighting after massive landslide on Highway 50
Family finds large footprints and hears strange sounds near Pollock Pines
Park Creek:
Our design for Park Creek was like our methods for Camp Creek. Any evidence found was documented photographically using a Sony Cybershot DSC-707.
Researcher BB's encounter happened on 10-26-07 when he was driving his truck to go hunting. Our trip on 7-1-08 used BB's Jeep to access the area for our investigation.
RESEARCH METHODS:
Camp Creek:
All 5 trips to the Pollock Pines area were 1-day events. The March visit lasted only a few minutes, the May visit by researchers BB and RB lasted approximately 45 minutes, the June 1st trip lasted over 2 hours, and the June 13th trip lasted approximately 1.5 hours. The August 11th trip by BB and Larry Lesh was an all day affair with signifcant events.
Researcher BB was driving a 1991 Jeep in April when the rock throwing occurred from a low hill facing the road. Although armed he decided it was prudent to quickly depart the area. The June1st trip involved the same vehicle for BB and Larry Lesh used his 2004 Sierra Pick-up for the expedition. The August trip involved BB's new Toyota 4WD truck.
A special emphasis was put on documenting photographically any evidence found in the area, as researcher Larry Lesh is a photographer. Still pictures were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 8700 set to 8 mega pixels on fine jpeg compression. A Sony Camcorder was available but was considered unnecessary by the researchers due to a lack of motion in the evidence. Significant evidence was found on the June 1st trip as well as the August 11th trip.
A thorough search was made around the area of the rock throwing incident on June 1st and the nearby stream to a distance of about 500 yards up the stream. This includes the area across the road from the hill. Numerous pieces of evidence were found and documented photographically with some using a measuring tape. Ultra cal was available for casting any outstanding footprint finds but only partials were found and documented.
Forest Road 10N55G was searched twice on August 11th by researchers BB and Larry Lesh in the morning. We were joined in the afternoon by BFRO researchers Bill Brewer, Brandon Kiel and their family members and friends. Significant evidence was found and documented.
No direct attempt was made to lure a Bigfoot but a few whoops and whistles were attempted. We did on August 11th make some knocking sounds with wood. It's possible this action is what attracted the Sasquatch to our presence near the end of the road.
We sometimes have encountered other people in this area. A game warden at Camp Creek checked on us on June 1st 2007. On August 11th several target shooters were encountered on the hill above Camp Creek and we discussed firearms and the woods with them.
During the visit of April 2008 Larry Lesh and Mike Rarey searched the area around the edge of Bonetti Rd, along with the area of the depression, the Camp Creek stream area, and Forest Road 10N55G and its' associated trails. No clearly defined footprints or other evidence was found with the exception of the unusual broken and snapped limbs at the Camp Creek stream area as described in our Results.
This evidence was documented using a Sony DCR/DVD-108 Camcorder.
However, trace evidence was noticed which may or may not indicate the presence of the species in this area. Attempts were made to gain notice of the species attention by banging heavy branches against a log. No response was noticed. Also, no other persons were met during this investigation.
Park Creek:
We examined the area around the encounter looking for footprints on or near the road, deadwood which could provide an explanation for the snapping sounds heard by BB, footprints or impressions on the hillside or toward Park Creek, broken or twisted limbs and any unusual or out-of-place formations.
Also, some rocks were clacked together and some attempts were made at wood knocking. No responses were received or noticed.