WOW!!!
I just returned from a 10 day trip in the Sierras, including weathering the storm of Tue/Wed at 8000'.
I have a cool story to tell, but am pressed for time right now (got the after-trip blahs, and am trying to get my sh*t together).
However, I can tell you this much: On a sheer coincidence, I met Dr. Jeff Meldrum! (And some other researchers he was with). We talked for a few hours, and he is really a down-to-earth, nice guy. We discussed a LOT of stuff (including Arti) and it was quite a fascinating conversation. We see things similarly in most cases, and he was more than willing to share his thoughts on quite a few topics.

I have pics of the storm to share, and also some pics of a large goldmine that I and a friend have been looking for. I didn't actually "get" to the mine; I took the pics through a telescope. And it's impressive.

I'll post more with pics later, but it was one of my best trips up there. For now, I should probably spend an hour or so shaving off this beard so I can present myself at work...

S.

Rest-up, then write-up!

Hi



Peace
Tim

hey spazmo wow awesome im looking forward to seeing your new photos & field report. ty bill g keep in touch ok.

I'm itching to post some stuff, but I'm at work. I even have a lot of my stuff on a memory stick right here in my pocket, but I don't want to upload a bunch of stuff from here.

I was able to get some video of an interesting trackway at a remote lake up at 10500' elevation. I went here on the suggestion of another researcher, and was pleased to find a set of tracks going into the water and then back out again a few feet away. It was pretty muddy (I almost lost a shoe) and there wasn't much definition to the tracks, but they were quite obviously a biped and the tracks were in a straight line, unlike mine that were regular left/right seperated. I couldn't tell how far into the lake they went. I mentioned this to Dr. Meldrum, and he shared some interesting info that he had learned from Esteban Sarmiento about primates herding fish into the shallows and tossing them up on shore. This may have been the case where I was because there were several areas at the water's edge where the short grass was matted down near some more tracks.

I want to post the pics of the 'coon prints left on my truck too. I don't know a whole lot about racoons and would like someone to tell me how big this fella was based on the size of the prints.
Also, my wife (the skeptic) was alone fishing down at the lake one day and heard a couple of screams. She waited a whole day before she told me about it! She said it sounded like a child's voice, but it was obviously an animal or bird of some kind. It went up in pitch toward the end of the screams. She said it sounded like it was far away but very loud. I think she's coming around...

Some of the stuff I experienced is confidential (sorry) and I agreed to keep it quiet until I hear otherwise. But I can tell you that more tracks were cast in a nearby area later that week. I know some of you have heard my mantra, "follow the food". Well, the canyon was absolutely FULL of deer on this trip. And almost totally devoid of people as well. It was one of my best trips ever, and I've been going there for over 40 years.

I'm working until midnight, so I might not be able to get pics up until tomorrow. Other than the trackway I filmed, the rest of it is just great scenery, weather, and the telescopic pics of the mine I mentioned. We did have animals circling our camp a few times just outside of the firelight, but I think it was likely just deer and other small critters. There was, however, one morning where the dogs took off after something and two of them immediately came right back wanting no part of whatever it was. The third was heard about a quarter mile away barking like crazy (as if it had treed something, or was cornered by something) and I got scared and went looking for him. He had covered quite a distance in a short time. I didn't find him, but he arrived back at camp at the same time as me from a different direction. Knowing there are occasional mountain lions in the area, I got nervous and kept the dogs close by the rest of the trip. I also put out the trailcam to see if I could get a glimpse of whatever was creeping around at night, but only got pics (and video) of me and the dogs, plus a few "false alarms" where there was nothing in the images. But I've only looked at them on the cam's teeny little viewfinder, so once I get them into my PC I might see something I didn't before. Then I can draw red lines on them and say stuff like "the Sasquatch is right here, see it?" Seriously, if there is anything worth looking at in the pics/video, I'll post it as well.

And totally unrelated to Sasquatch: I got to poke around some experimental aircraft (my other great love) at the airfield. One was a motorglider, the other a Van's RV-6. Both were beautiful examples of experimentals and rekindled my dormant itch to start another build. I was like a kid at Disneyland...my three favorite things were all coming together at one time; The Sierras, Aviation, and Sasquatch! WHOO-HOO!!!

I had left my wife fishing at the lake and drove out of the canyon to check my voicemails. I ended up at the airfield. I went back toward camp and radioed the wife, who was catching a mess of big trout. She told me I could go play the rest of the day, so I did. She's a great girl!

Anyway, I got to tell my stories to the group, and they were genuinely interested. I told them of a deer kill I had found here as a boy, with a broken back leg and the guts torn out with no other damage. I also told them of a scary visit I had in a remote camp 30 years ago, and of my unknown encounter two years ago. They seemed to take it all in as if they expected to hear this type of thing, and I understand that this group has been trying to coordinate a trip to this area for close to a year. They seem to feel (as I do, and have mentioned) that this time of year is "special" in this area for several reasons. One of which is the migration of deer in the area.

I owe most, if not all, of this wonderful experience to my new friend and fellow researcher. I'm not sure if he wants to be known yet, so I'm not going to mention his name unless he tells me otherwise. But he deserves credit for my trackway video and for bringing me together with Dr. Meldrum. He is a very dedicated researcher and spends more time "boots on the ground" than any other researcher I have met to date. We are already planning a few more trips together, especially to my area because I have access to the locked gate into the canyon during the off-season (when there's no people there).

It was a wonderfully fascinating trip, and I learned quite a bit from several hours talking to Dr. Meldrum. Made me think I shouldn't have dropped out of college and joined the Coast Guard...

Anyway, I'll get some eye candy up as soon as possible. I'll post the trackway video on my YouTube account once I've edited some of my commentary out (names and locations), and I'll post the stills here unless the mods would rather I open a Flickr account to save forum space and just link to them. All I ask is that if someone recognizes the location, that you please keep it quiet for me unless/until I know it's ok to release it.

Stay tuned...

Spazmo,
wow, sounds like a great time and has me itching to get back out in the bush! I'll be waiting for your pics and whatever else you can share??? Glad you had a good time.

Cheers

Wiping the drool off my chin waiting on more

If we guess who the mystery researcher is do we get a prize I'm guessing the guy with the youtube videos of tracks hundreds of miles apart made by the same "creature", who has a bunch of barefoot tracks through the Sierras, former marine or something. Am I close!?

Hmmmm, So you had an encounter with Jeff Meldrum, huh?

Do you have any evidence that you had this encounter like photos, hair, stool samples, dna? Or do you just expect us to believe you...........







I'm kidding of course. Sounds like you all had a great time.

Ok, here are the 'coon tracks I mentioned. The back footprints are 4" long, can anyone tell me how big this 'coon would be? And if it is a 'coon in the first place? I don't know much about them.
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

This is a link to the video I took at a remote high-altitude lake. This is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, this small lake was full of fish just a few weeks ago, and now there are none. There are no "exits" to swim out, the lake is in the process of shrinking away (until the recent storm). There are only these two trackways (I walked around the entire perimeter), one going into the water and one coming out, plus one more spot on the other side of the lake where there are three prints and the small grass at the water's edge is matted down. But there are no tracks leading to this spot; it appears that they may have come from the water for a brief while and returned.
When I first saw these tracks I didn't think they were that remarkeable, but on reviewing the video I noticed that they are more in a straight line, unlike the tracks I left which were very clearly left/right separated. If I had walked with my feet like those in the trackway, I would probably have fallen over because the mud was so thick and deep. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q99Ygh4HPag

I've got more pics and video, but most of it is for the Member's Lounge. This one video was 49mb in size and took a long time to upload. I have another that shows my tracks next to these, and I'll try to upload it as well, time permitting.

Hi MB!
Ya know what? I actually DO have some video of Dr. Meldrum and a few others! But I agreed to sit on it until the purpose of their visit is officially announced (in a month or two). You guys know me, if someone asks me for confidentiality then I take it pretty seriously. But not to worry, when the time comes I'm pretty sure I'll be able to tell you all everything.

Until then, I'll find a pic of some grainy-looking foliage and draw some squiggly lines on it saying, "Meldrum was here"...

Spazmo, you lucky bum! You got to discuss Ardi with Jeff Meldrum! And WHAT a great trip. I am so jealous!

Those tracks are neat.

Raccoon tracks:

http://www.bear-tracker.com/coon.html


Not really an exact match, is it.

I'm just wondering if you can give us any idea of where in the Sierras, north or south of...? I understand wanting to keep the location to yourself, but just wondering if there's some sort of reference point you could give to give us an idea of where you were without giving too much away.

Hi Vil!
Yes, I am a lucky bum! And for the record, both Meldrum and I are of the same opinion that Arti was NOT a dedicated biped (based on the splayed out big toe), but rather an accomplished biped when the time for standing was right, such as foraging and/or moving through tall cover such as forested areas. He also mentioned that there were more than a dozen computer reconstructions made of that skeleton before they finally settled on the one we have seen, and he wonders (as do I) what was "wrong" with the first round. I guess there is controversy brewing about why they kept the info for so long before releasing it (18 years), and some new standards may come from it.

So, those 'coon tracks are kinda similar, but mine look "pudgy-er". My wife says they look like baby feet (human). I just don't know enough about racoons to give an educated opinion, and that's why I wanted to post the pics. I'm sure there's at least one 'coon hunter around here that can shed some light on them. One thing that I think about is that the pics you linked to are probably what they look like pressed into dirt, and mine were flattened out on the hood of my truck (and on the windshield, the fender, and even the roof!)

Ace, here's what I can tell you: we were in the Eastern Sierras between Lone Pine, CA and Carson City, NV. And that's not really being too vague; we covered a large portion of that area, them more than I. The areas I actually did research are narrower (like, less than a total of two hours drive time along hwy 395). And I spent most of my ten days vacationing, and only 2 or 3 days actually dedicated to this work. Of course, every day had it's "BF time", especially at night!

Sounds like an amazing trip. We're all looking forward to hearing more!

Very cool!

I'd say those are coons tracks alright.....big honkin' coon tracks! He was a big one IMO.

those are awesome raccoon tracks photos posted above to be continued keep me posted ok...

Thanks for the info. I grew up in a town called Tehachapi and then Bakersfield so I'm pretty familiar with the southern Sierra Nevadas, just south of Lone Pine.

Good stuff, looking forward to reading the rest of it at some point.

Hey Spazmo, you got our attention. This gold mine - you may have mentioned it on here before and i may have missed it. why were you interested in a gold mine? was it the prospect of finding some gold that someone had missed or were you thinking 'Booger B+B'?

Megatarsal

Sounds like it was a fun trip

Those are definitely coon tracks and man, that had to be a big one. Do you happen to have more footage of the tracks? As in further up the bank more towards harder ground? There may be more detail in them, and less washed out.

I'd be more interested in whatever Dr Meldrum might have had to say than more track pictures myself...

Hey Ace-
I used to live near Bakersfield in the Sequoia National Forest, a place called Posey at about 5600 feet elevation. I did my grocery shopping in Bakersfield/Oildale and bought gas there, too. Small world, huh?

Megatarsal-
The place where my family's property is located has a long gold rush history and dozens of old mines. I've explored most of them, but this one has always eluded me. The funny thing is that I've always looked up at the cliffs on this mountain face and seen two "stripes" where quartz and granite are sandwiched together, knowing that this is what the prospectors looked for. I knew this would be a great place to mine, but always thought it was impossible to get to. Well, guess what? This is exactly where the mine is! And if I hadn't had my awesome new telescope (thanks Sweetie!) I might never have found it. Once I spotted it, I decided to try and take some pics, but the snow came and I couldn't find the darn thing again until the last day of the trip, when enough of the snow had melted to reveal it again. I immediately snapped a few pics and told my exploring buddy Alan about it, and we're planning a trip in the Spring to explore it. We just have to figure out how the hell those hardcore miners got up there in the first place. There is a trail mentioned in some of the old literature that we have also not been able to locate, and I think it's also the same trail that served this mine. If it's gone, we may end up going straight up...

RR and Mulder, the tracks all looked like rain had filled them up and washed away any detail. The only tracks with any definition were mine. I have a piece of footage of my tracks next to these too, but I have to edit out my audio commentary before posting it because I mention the exact location in the shot, and I agreed not to disclose the spot yet. I'm not convinced that they are BF tracks, but they did spark some interesting conversation with Dr. Meldrum about primates and their methods for catching fish. The trackways do seem consistent with this, but they could just as easily be some dude in waders fly-fishing. It's hard to say. The funny thing is that this lake was full of fish, and then a couple of weeks later it had none in it except for small hatchlings. The lake is low, and there are no creeks emptying it. My question was, "is it possible for a single guy to have fished out the whole lake in one visit?" because it doesn't look like anyone else has been there recently. Still too many questions, but still interesting to speculate. Dr. Meldrum mentioned that in all of the books on his shelves, there is really no mention of primates catching fish. (Did I already mention this? Sorry if I did...) But Esteban Sarmiento showed him info about Orangutans herding fish into shallow water and tossing them up on the bank, so it's not unprecedented. If those tracks represent the only visitor to the lake since there were fish, and if that visitor was a non-human primate (two REALLY BIG IF's), then what I saw could possibly show exactly this type of behavior. Still inconclusive based on the thin evidence I found, but it was sure enjoyable to discuss it with someone who is familiar with the possibility.

The worst part of the whole trip (as usual) was leaving. Especially knowing that those guys were staying a while longer, and that this will probably be my last trip of the season unless I can find another soul brave enough (and maybe dumb enough!) to go back in the winter with me to look for signs. It's a dangerous place in winter, avalanches are common. But as property owners, we have access to the locked gate and could snowshoe the 5 miles to the lake, and another mile across it. Snowmobiles would be a lot easier, but silence would be a lot safer. I know that hardcore ice climbers go in there for world-class climbing, but I think that's a bit extreme. The cliffs on some of the mountains are completely vertical, and if a thick ice sheet delivers its load, it's all over for anyone on or near it. Back in the day, there were a dozen people killed in two seperate avalanches in one winter there. So care needs to be taken if a winter visit is on the agenda. I still want to go, but I'm not climbing anything, nor am I going to spend any time at the base of any of the slide chutes or cliff faces. This limits me to about two spots in the canyon, unfortunately. But if my feeling is right about year-round food sources here, then it could prove fruitful to go and have a quick look around.

Ok Jaylee...based on those fat footprints, how big do you figure this 'coon was? I could hear him flipping rocks around in the creek, and they sounded pretty big (like football-sized, maybe). And he was chittering away as if he owned the place. I'm wondering if this big racoon was what got the dogs all riled up one morning? My dogs are all under 40 pounds, so this could explain why two of them ran back home when it all started...? I had a trailcam out in that area, and he never showed up on it. I think he may have been living in an old shed on a neighbor's property. And I think he may have been trying to build a nest in our shed until we showed up on a weekender a few weeks ago. I keep my aluminum fishing boat on the roof of our old wooden shed (built by my Dad out of the remains of an avalanche-destroyed cabin that used to be there), and when I flipped it over it was full of sticks and leaves, as was the shed when I opened the door. I had to rake the darn thing out just to get at some of my stuff, and that was kinda creepy. So he may have moved on to the neighbor's shed after I blasted his half-built home apart. Honestly, when I saw the tracks on my truck I was kinda relieved because I knew they weren't bear tracks. A bear up there in October means a hungry bear looking for a few last meals before sleepy-time, and I didn't want to deal with that issue...

First, I have to ask, and excuse me if I missed it above, but how did you determine that there were no fish left in the lake? For example, we have a very large river that flows freely near my home and the river bottoms are just full of oxbow lakes that are usually full of fish. But, when we have a dry season, these lakes dry up to the point that there may only be pools of water left, yet these pools are teaming with fish waiting for the river levels to go back up and allow these oxbow lakes to fill with water again so they (the fish) can go about their business. I know we're worlds apart, but I do wonder if this may be what had happened there.

As far as the coon goes, from the tracks, 'he' looks like 'he' could be a really big coon. From what I've read, most raccoons, anywhere in the US, range from 7 to 20 lbs...and that's taking into account all the babies and big boars, as far as I can tell. But, you have to remember (again from personal experience) that a 9 pound coon is like 50+ pounds of dynamite. They are fierce animals that have only two things on their mind....finding momma coon and food.

Again, very cool pictures and thanks for posting about your trip. It sounds like it was wonderful!

Hi J-
The lake is in the process of drying up like you mentioned. It's obvious that there is supposed to be a small creek feeding it, but it was also dry. The lake looks to be two or three times the size that I saw it when it is full. It was still and calm, and mainly flat on the bottom with nothing deeper than about 4 feet. Once on the "not so sunny side", I could easily see the entire thing at a glance and could only see small fish less than a half inch. The entire "lake" was really barely a pond at this point, about 15 yards wide and about 25 yards long.
Unfortunately, I have to take someone else at their word when saying it was full of fish a short time ago. I have no reason to doubt them, but I cannot state from personal experience that it was full of fish either; I probably should have mentioned that earlier, sorry about that. But what I was told was exactly what I saw, meaning nothing left but the little ones. One thing I thought was odd was that there were no bird or critter tracks around the lake either. While the water didn't seem stagnant, it looked like it was on it's way.
There is another lake that I'm more familiar with near my campsite, and what looks like seaweed flowing gently in the current near the feeder creek is actually a few hundred brook trout waiting for something tasty to come from the creek. There have been times when I don't see the fish, but the creek is always flowing and the lake doesn't dry up. I suppose they've just moved out of the area, and the creeks around here are almost always full of trout. So no mystery there. But there is also a good possibility that predatory birds are to blame. For the last 5 or 6 years we have had a mated pair of bald eagles in the canyon where my camp is located, which is really cool. Last year I got one on video swooping down about 30 feet from me to grab a big trout (how lucky am I?). This is about 1-2 hours drive from the lake where I found those prints, but it certainly shows one possible explanation for the missing fish.
So many questions, and as usual, not enough answers.

Ok, back to those racoon prints...
To keep things interesting, we're going to have to start calling them "infant Sasquatch prints". That way someone will undoubtedly jump into the thread and tell me they're 'coon prints, and exactly how much it weighed...
...and at first glance they looked like they had dermal ridges. But it's just the normal lines like we have in our palms plus the mud that was on his feet that made it look that way. They're still on my truck (I only wash it when it's time for an oil change; then the wash is free) and I can get some clearer daytime pics that should be more interesting. And here's another remote possibility: they could be beaver prints. Although I have no idea why a beaver would climb up on my truck! And of course, I have no idea what beaver prints look like anyway. But the canyon here is crowded with various beaver ponds. They are not native; they were introduced in the '30's and have become kind of a nuisance. I saw a beaver last year up there that was HUGE. I had no idea they got that big. It had to be at least 75 pounds. So that's another posibility, although it's a good quarter mile to the nearest pond or creek that they would be found in.

After 40+ years of camping here, I always manage to find something new and interesting. This is why it's my favorite place on Earth...

Those are racoon tracks. I'm as sure of it as I was of the "porcupine in a tree" video and I was willing to bet $1000 on that.

The size? As big as they come. Maybe the size of a large grizzly bear or a small elephant ( ). Just kidding, but whatever the books say is the upper limits for size, that's what you've got. My neighborhood is overrun with the little bandits. They even come into our house if the dogs are sleeping soundly.

The nest thing under the boat and in the shed sounds more like pack rats than 'coons. Rats nests have two distinct features- rat turds everywhere and they always place some sort of man made object in their nest. Sometimes it's a beer can, a plastic bag, shotgun shell or whatever they find. I even found a license plate once. Their nests are also pretty big relative to the size of a rat.

I also know that bears (and whatever?) will have a field day with the fish in a declining pond or pool. I've seen it twice and there were LOTS of tracks in both cases.

Your tracks look pretty cool. I had the sound off until the very end so I didn't catch if you mentioned the stride.

And WOW! Meeting Meldrum, what luck. I would have prefered the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders but hey! Nothing wrong with Meldrum.

Keep us all posted and reveal what you can, when you can.

Have fun, Norcal

A pack rat?
Hey, that makes sense...it's the reincarnated spirit of my Great Uncle Tony who built the cabin and was a total pack rat! He used to keep all sorts of stuff from the area in the "cabana", which was the first storage shed there, also built from cabin debris. He had all the fixtures from the old cabin (and probably from some of the other destroyed cabins) packed away for future use, including the water heater, the doorknobs, most of the plumbing, and even the kitchen sink. When that shed got demolished, my Dad built the current one. I was about 10 at the time, and I remember taking several loads of that stuff to the dump.

I sure wish I could have seen that racoon. It would have been right outside in plain view, I park my truck about 15 feet from the trailer and there are windows that I can look out to see it. When I lived in the Sequoias, I would see the local 'coons regularly. Interesting creatures, obviously smart, and brave enough to act like you're "interrupting" whatever they're doing (how rude of us, right?). They'll stare you in the eye while rummaging through your trash, or sit next to the dog's dish as if to say, "when are you going to fill this thing up?"

The stride of those tracks was nothing special, just a little bit longer than mine, and all of them (including mine) were strides of about a foot. The mud was pretty impressive, and if you watch it again with the sound up you'll notice I almost went down in it. There weren't any bear tracks that I could see anywhere, just the tracks in the video plus 3 or 4 matching prints on the opposite shore. The area from the waters edge out to about 20 feet away was mud all the way around the lake. I'm not sure what kind of weather had been coming through, but this was the 4th day of my trip and there had been dazzlingly clear skies the whole time (until the next day, when it started snowing and blowing). I'm no tracker, so I can't even begin to say how old the tracks were. But they were pretty wet with zero definition. It looked like they had filled with rain at some point, but again, that's just my impression of them and not an expert opinion. There was also one spot on the far shore where there were a couple of big rocks in the ground that I used as stepping stones to get through the mud. The rocks would have allowed me to go from the edge out to about 30 feet from the water without making any tracks, but there still would have been 15 or 20 feet to go to get to dry dirt. But I thought about someone approaching from that side and hopping on the rocks. But there didn't seem to be any evidence of it. Once you reached dry land, it was sandy. So anything recent would probably have showed.

I'm thinking that I should go back to these areas, weather permitting. I already winterized and stored the trailer, so maybe a cozy hotel room next month is the way to go. I've always wanted to see it in the winter, and I've got chains for all 4 tires. It's a good excuse to do some snow-wheelin', which I always love. Then maybe I can come back with some pics of chipmunk snow prints that have melted enough to look like BF prints, draw some red lines on them and become famous...

very cool............