YEAR: 1984

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

STATE: California

COUNTY: Sierra County

LOCATION DETAILS: GPS for location of second incident: 39.503130,-120.391702

NEAREST TOWN: Truckee

NEAREST ROAD: 89

OBSERVED: Sorry for the long story, but I feel the need to make readers understand how isolated a place Lake of the Woods (LOTW) was during the time my experiences took place. I recently watched the "Sierra Sounds" documentary on YouTube and discovered the BFRO site. After reading through it, I felt compelled to share my two stories.

My family started going camping at Webber Lake in Sierra County, California, every summer in the late 60s. I was born in '73. We lived in the SF bay area, so it was a reasonably short drive for a weekend camping trip. As Webber Lake became more crowded, we started going to Lake of the Woods more and more. Back then, LOTW was as primitive as you could get. No bathrooms, no boat ramp, no picnic tables. Fires were not allowed, but we always had one anyway as the Rangers never drove out there and my dad was never big on being told what he could or couldn't do. The campsites were generously spaced out, with lots of small trees and dense undergrowth providing privacy between sites. We had experienced the odd black bear, raccoons, and even a cougar from time to time. You get to know the sounds of nature that are all around you.

I can remember as a small boy, sitting around the campfire at night and hearing strange sounds in the not so far distance, followed by similar calls back in response. My dad would always tell us it was Bigfoot. Everyone would kind of laugh and go back to what they were doing. It was such a common occurrence that nobody really gave it a second thought. We were certainly never afraid of the sounds or even the thought of seeing a Bigfoot, as it was so familiar.

My parents divorced in 1980. From that point on, It was only my dad and I that went up there. My dad had an injury later that year that put him on permanent disability, which meant that we were "free" to go camping as often as we wanted during the summer as he no longer had to go to work. We would drive up to Lake of the Woods at least 5 to 6 times a summer, arriving on Monday afternoon and leaving Friday morning before the dreaded "weekenders" started showing up. When we arrived on Mondays, the place would be deserted and would usually stay that way until we left on Friday. (What my dad considered crowded was maybe one or two other campsites being occupied.) LOTW truly was a hidden gem back then. 

It was in late September of 1984. I was eleven, I remember I had started back to school just a couple weeks prior. Usually, our last trip to LOTW would've been late August, but my dad asked if I wanted to go one more time before winter set in. Of course I jumped at the chance. So, we packed up and headed out Friday (I played hooky) morning. Although it was a weekend, the lake was deserted, as it was so late in the season. It gets down to freezing at night, even in the summer, so we knew it would be cold.

We got the tent set up. My dad started fishing, and I grabbed my .22 and headed out with my dog to go explore. I was on the far side of the lake, following an old (logging?) road. On my right side, the terrain fell away to give a spectacular view, on my left side the terrain sloped up steeply, and was mostly boulders, trees and snags. As I was standing there, taking in the view, a fist-sized rock flew past me and over the edge of the drop-off. I turned to see where it came from but saw nothing. It wasn't uncommon for rocks to break loose and tumble, so I paid it no mind.

My dog and I reached the top of the ridge, and after resting a minute, headed back down. About halfway down I had to stop to pee. I heard a rustle up on the hillside and instantly got scared it was a cougar. We didn't see too many close-up, but they were fairly common. I scanned the hillside but didn't see anything. About three quarters of the way back down, I had to stop for my dog to take care of some business, and as I stood there, another rock came zipping by. Being a stupid kid, I started looking around again convinced a cougar was stalking me, but nothing. Regardless, we hightailed it back to camp and told my dad about it. He didn't show much concern and told me to stick close by camp. That night was quiet and uneventful. 

The following day, any worries from the previous day faded with the sunlight, and off I went. I must've put a couple hundred rounds through my .22 shooting at chipmunks, squirrels (I never killed any, just wanted to see how close I could get!) and pinecones. Late afternoon, I returned to camp to get some food. We cooked dinner, started a fire as it was already cooling off, and settled in for an evening in front of the fire. My dad and I were sitting directly across the fire from one another. I had the car behind me; he had the trees separating the next campsite to his back.

Now, at that elevation, you will see trees growing on a slant, or even perfectly horizontal, due to the heavy snow load pushing the tree over during winter. I had not noticed any such tree near our campsite, but as I sat talking with my dad, over his shoulder I saw a pine tree leaning over at a pretty good angle. The tree was just at the extreme edge of the light cast by the fire, so maybe 20-25 feet. I didn't think much of it, until I noticed the tree moving just slightly. I figured it was a raccoon climbing up the tree (didn't know what else it could be). I whispered to my dad there was something in the tree and stood up to reach for my .22. My dad also stood up to see where I was looking, and as soon as he did, the tree sprung back up and we could clearly hear something very heavy running away through the trees. Even at eleven years old, I could clearly discern that it was bipedal, most definitely not a bear, and a bear doesn't run on two legs. The only other animal in that area that large would be a cougar, but you would never hear them anyway. My dad ran to the car to get his pistol. He came back and fired a shot into the ground in the hopes that whatever it was would be scared off. After about ten minutes of sitting perfectly still and listening, my dad said we should sleep in the car tonight. That was the first and only time in my life that I saw my dad scared.

The next morning, we walked over to the tree that had been leaning over the previous night. My dad was just over 6' tall, and about 225lbs. He estimated the tree was approximately 11 to 12 feet tall. He tried to pull the tree down at the angle it had been when I saw it, but he wasn't able to grab it up high enough to get the leverage needed to do it. He said he would probably need to be at least a foot taller to do so, or a hell of a lot heavier and stronger. We headed home a little earlier than usual that day. 

We did go back to LOTW the following summer, but my dad had changed. He wanted me to stay closer to camp. He made me check in every hour or so. I never asked him why, but I knew. We moved away after that, and LOTW was no longer within driving distance. My wife and I went back once in August of 2010, to spread my dad's ashes in his "favorite place in the world". We only spent one night. It was completely silent.

ALSO NOTICED: none

OTHER WITNESSES: My dad. We were sitting at the campfire

OTHER STORIES: Not heard anything from other people, just family members

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Evening, approx 8pm. Dry, cold, no wind

ENVIRONMENT: Coming in on the access road, just before reaching the lake, we always camped at the farthest left end of the lake

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email ContactUS@BFRO.net

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