Searching For Bigfoot: Winter 2006 Bigfoot Expedition Diary

Bigfoot In Bluff Creek, California

March 2006

The team headed south down I5 towards the California city of Yreka. This is home area for many of us on the team. Mountain Pat Heaton lives to the east and south of Yreka, closer to Redding California, as does Lee Hickman, the grandson of the famous outdoorsman and tracker Ivan Marx. I, myself, (JavaBob ), live west of Yreka between I5 and the coast along the Klamath River. Once near Yreka, we got onto highway 96 heading west towards the Hoopa Indian reservation. Northern California’s State Highway 96, is the nation’s newest scenic byway, it was officially dedicated "Bigfoot Scenic Byway" April 1, 2001. It winds along the wild and Scenic Klamath and Trinity Rivers, with breathtaking forested views around every curve. Bigfoot Scenic Byway completes a driving/riding loop which encompasses three additional scenic byways: State of Jefferson, Trinity, and Trinity Heritage. We were headed to a site between the Hoopa Indian Reservation and the town of Orleans, where many people have claimed to see the creature. We were hoping to be able set up camp there and see what we could find.

Once there, we found the road to the site we wanted to investigate completely blocked by snow. There would be no way for us to get back the 17 or so miles we needed to travel to set up camp. However, about 9 miles downriver from Orleans is Bluff Creek, the area where the famed Patterson Bigfoot film footage was shot. Roger Patterson shot his now famous Bigfoot film back on October 20, 1967. We thought, as long as we are here and so close to home, we might as well take some time to go to Bluff Creek and check out the area.

We drove on down river and came to the spot where Bluff Creek emptied into the Klamath River. Once there we were surprised to find an old friend and respected Bigfoot Researcher, Sean Fries. Sean was there with M.K. Davis and his team, doing some investigative work on the original site of the Patterson film. M.K. Davis is the host of the web program Big Foot Central, http://artistfirst.com/bigfootcentral.htm . Mr. Davis is an expert on the Patterson film and was at Bluff Creek to do some measurements and get some gravel and sand samples to take back to his home for additional analysis.

A photo of members of both teams meeting in front of the confluence of Bluff Creek and the Klamath River.
Tom Biscardi in the black hat is seen talking with M.K. Davis wearing the reading glasses.

The Searching for Bigfoot Inc. team was disappointed to not be able to reach our planned destination, but this fortuitous meeting seemed to make up for it. Seldom before had we had the opportunity to sit down with several experts in their respective fields and get to listen to them compare notes about their own experiences. Sean Fries, an independent researcher formally with the BFRO, M.K. Davis who is considered the foremost expert on the Patterson Film, and our own Tom Biscardi who stands alone for his field work over the past three plus decades!

M.K. Davis had brought up a casting from Bluff Creek that he was unable to identify. Our trackers were able to help him recognize the casting as something other than a creature. M.K. readily admitted he was not expert in that field and was happy to have the help of our team. He then invited us to his Motel to see some of the ground breaking discoveries he had made on the Patterson film by using skills he had learned as an amateur astrologer. This simple exchange seemed to open the door to a sharing of knowledge that is almost unprecedented in the field of Bigfoot research.

Both teams and Sean packed up and headed into Willow Creek. Tom invited everyone to dinner at a nearby restaurant. There, we all got a chance to relax and talk. Tom and M.K. talked about people they had met over the years and mutual friends they had made. We were all amazed with the stories and events the two of them were familiar with. Although the two legends in their respective fields did not always agree on all points, they found enough common ground to build on. Tom was very impressed with M.K.’s ground breaking work in the photo analysis field and M.K. was very impressed with Tom’s solid knowledge of the creature, its habits, and most probable migration cycles.

M.K. shared stories he had heard about the creature. One of which, got everyone’s attention. M.K., shared a story about the Chinese government gathering up the Asian version of our “American King Kong”, the Yeti, and training them for use in the Chinese Army. We listened intently, and found ourselves amazed by the breadth of intrigue and mystery surrounding this creature. We, as a team, try to stay focused on more down to earth ideas and findings, while trying to remain open to new and different takes on the subject, but this story stretched all of our imaginations.

After dinner, M.K. invited us all to his motel room to view some of his latest findings. He had saved much of his recent work on his lap top computer. He truly is a master at his craft and had painstakingly cleaned up the short Patterson film, frame by frame, into a clear and smooth masterpiece of filming. The work he had done made the film so clean and clear that each and every muscle was easily seen. The detail was incredible. M.K. had uncovered detail that none of us had ever seen before. None of us being experts on photo analysis could question his work, but if he did his job as well as it would appear we would have to give more credence to the Patterson film then ever before.

We ended our meeting with a true sense of synergism and cooperation that was rare in our small circle of researchers. We had not found our elusive friend, but we had made friends all across this great county. We added a wealth of information about the creature and its habits to our data base and we have gotten just that much closer to documenting and solving this mystery once and for all. We are writing up our findings and reviewing them carefully for any missed clues.

In the meantime, we will be waiting to hear from you! Your input may bring us to your neighborhood where we just might find the missing pieces of the puzzle that will solve this mystery and help us find “AMERICA’S KING KONG…. BIGFOOT!”

Until then, we will continue SEARCHING FOR BIGFOOT

See more photos from Photos - March 14 2006 ...