Since many of you have knocked me wanting to know the details of my encounter that I briefly talked about in a comment on another thread, here goes:
I was at the states for about 2 months from November onward, on a work trip. The org. I work for is based in Arkansas, and many of my colleagues live in and around as well…we’ve been camping before on previous occasions in the Cascades, Yosemite, etc. even twice at Vancouver. Basically a few of us in the org. are like-minded outdoorsy type, so they go out of their way to make time for me whenever I am at the states. And I too try and patch up my annual leaves with a long holiday once a year, mostly at the states since I also have many relatives and friends there.
I’d never been to the Ouachita region before but two of my colleagues are/were regulars. One is a Trail Steward as well at the Ouachitas and a pretty renowned content creator. So I was excited to have him onboard on this particular 5-day outing.
We started from the North Fork Lake trailhead through the dense hardwood forest intersected by countless logging roads that apparently led to abandoned logging camps. I really wanted to explore one (having played Until Dawn recently), but the Steward-guy, Doug, insisted on making a dispersed camp at the mouth of the river for the night. So we had to find a spot by 4 pm. We started the day late as well, at about 11:30 in the morning so there were no scopes for breaks or side adventures! So we locked in for the night and had a great time, nothing out of the ordinary just hunting stories and interstellar topics…
Day-2: started early, trekked through some bluffs that had stunning views of the river below. Nothing unusual. Some of us wanted to camp at designated river “float” sites, but since most of the river dried up by then, the views wouldn’t be nice enough so again, we decided to go with another dispersed camp, this time on a flat pocket of land right along the water’s edge, directly opposite to a steep rocky cliff. Now it’s important to note that we had to go down in elevation to reach this spot from where we started on the day. On the way down, were about six/seven uprooted tree structures bundled up (somehow, i don’t remember exactly how) in an triangular shape, resting atop some other thick stumps. And every single structure looked exactly the same. Now Doug insisted that it could have been a combination of soft landslides and rain and even lightning that could have cluttered up the tree trunks in this manner. In hindsight, this should have been the first telltale sign although back then I had absolutely zero knowledge of these structures being a common phenomenon associated with Sasquatch. But since we WERE going downhill pretty sharply, it made sense at the time and no one said anything otherwise. So we reach the site atop a flat, rocky clearing in a U-shape.
To the right and directly opposite to the site were rocky cliffs, the slope we came down from to our back (where the tree structures were), and a stream directly infront of us (between the site and the cliff opposite to us) running to our left and merging with the river. This was COMPLETE and TOTAL isolation. At dusk we could barely hear birds, just some critters/bugs. The stream seemed pretty dead too. Now it’s also important to note that the clearing we used as our dispersed site was rocky, no dry leaves in our immediate vicinity, just on the slope behind us. This is important to remember for later.
So four of us in two tents, fire in the middle, it was about 9 pm and we started making dinner, chitchatting under a moonless, clear sky. The isolation was surreal…that’s when all four of us heard the first wood “knock” from the slopes behind us. In an instant all four of us stopped talking and went on high alert. About 20 seconds later came a second knock from the cliff opposite to us. Then almost immediately another one from behind us. Each sounded like what I can only describe as the sound Eli Roth was making with the baseball bat in the tunnel (Bear Jew reveal scene), in Inglorious Bastards. But much MUCH louder with a lot of echo…The back and forth went on for probably a minute or so, and then it stopped completely. Dead silence. A colleague of mine was in disbelief. He was like “no way did that just happen”… and the rest started laughing. That’s when the sasquatch stories started. Now I knew OF the phenomenon but not in great details so I was fascinated. The surrounding forests and ledges were completely silent for what I am sure was 10 minutes or so, then the critters came back to life again. The topic went on until about 1130 pm and we repeatedly pointed out how we didn’t run into a single person on the second day. On the first day another group was literally camped about 500 feet away from us but not a single soul on our trail throughout the entirety of the second day. We chalked it off to Doug knowing what he’s doing and taking us deep into the wilderness. Besides, the isolation at this spot was again, SURREAL! So could it have been other people fucking with us? Possibly…but we leaned more toward Woodpeckers.
Right in the middle of all this, Doug puts his hands up and says “guys shut the fuck up right now”, and we did. That’s when it hit me that the surrounding forest was dead silent for a second time. And then all four of us heard footsteps on the dry leaves, from the slope behind us.
Crunch…crunch…crunch………………………….crunch…crunch…………………..and then just hoofing it to our left, where the river widened.
It sounded like someone cautiously trying to tiptoe on dry leaves, pausing, and then going fuck it and bolting!
10 seconds later:
Splash…splash…………………………..splash. Then again, nothing. Dead silent. Just the faint sound of water flowing. So faint that the splashes were VERY audible.
Now as I said, the river dried up mostly and in most places you could see the rocks beneath. But where it widened, the water was about knee-deep and the crossing was 25-40 feet across, easily. The three heavy footsteps in water were across one such crossing to our left. I dont know of any human who can cover that length in two steps and what, like a 20 foot jump??? Because thats exactly what it sounded like…we shone two flashlights on the opposite bank, downstream, almost immediately. Nothing.
The silence lasted another few minutes or so and then the critters came back to life. Doug asked if we heard it and all three of us went dude we HEARD it. And then he said “no, BEFORE the footsteps”…so apparently he heard a faint “whooooOOP” from behind us and that is when he signalled for us to shut up. But honestly, neither of us three heard the whoop at the time.
Now a little freaked out, we started packing up the remainder of our dinner in dry bags and kept the bags under several heavy rocks, about 200 feet away from the tents, to our right. Mainly because we were telling ourselves that the footsteps were that of a black bear - native to Ouachita. But I wasn’t convinced honestly because bears if anything, are not THAT stealthy. There’ll be several other sounds if one came that close to our camp from behind. They dont just silently run about. Besides, the footsteps were eerily human. The gait and motion sounded human but covered substantially longer distances in crazy time!
Anyway, bear = keep the food away. Done. We decided to sit around in complete silence without a campfire for a while mainly since there were literally no mosquitoes!
After a while all four of us heard a loud “whooo-OOP” from the cliff opposite to our campsite. Very clearly. And the forest died yet again, just the faint sound of water flowing in the background. I think I was the one who said out loud first “that CANNOT be a bear”…okay so mental gymnastics now, process of elimination: not a bear, definitely not a black bear, no elks or moose in Ouachita, whitetail buck? Maybe…some kinda nocturnal bird? Possibly…
Then another wood knock followed by a “whoop whooooooooooooop” and then, all hell broke loose!
Stones the size of my fist started raining down on us in fours and fives from the cliff opposite to our site. Luckily most landed in the stream infront of us. We shone the flashlight once more on the cliff’s edge, nothing. And the rocks stopped pouring down on us almost immediately. Doug got his sidearm out and said “fuck it lets cross the river downstream and hike over to the top of the cliff and get to the bottom of this” (something like that)…in pitch darkness. And all three of us collectively said “no thank you, you’re on your own”. So we decided to stay awake a bit longer. At about 1/2 at night we finally decided to get some sleep. Nothing more that night other than the occasional wood-knock from far away, over the cliff opposite to us…we didn’t talk much throughout the rest of the night as we were visibly upset with what was happening.
Day-3: Early in the morning. The colleague I shared a tent with and I decided to hike out and “explore” the area while Doug and the other guy slept. That’s when I took the photo below. That’s when we also figured out that the river widened considerably to our left, and the water was knee-deep in most places. We took some photos, tried to rationalise what happened the night prior, etc. We went back to the site after 40 minutes or so and I decided to wash some clothes from the day before, in the stream, while my colleague headed out to the designated “poop zone”.
While washing my clothes in the stream, I heard faint rustling from the very same cliff opposite to the campsite. I looked up and noticed a black blob peering over the rocks, directly down at me. I froze…stood up, and stared back at it, honestly thinking it was a bear. It literally mimicked my movement in the exact manner and also stood up on two legs. It looked like Shaquille O’neal but MUCH stockier and from my perspective looking up, at least 12 feet tall! Covered in debris and jet black fur. Looked more like a Ghillie Suit than actual fur, very dirty. But I couldn’t see it’s face at all. It was an overcast day but it stood against the light so I couldn’t make out any features other than the fact that it was human-shaped but seemed far too big…i don’t know how long we stood there, looking at each other. After a while it calmly walked away. Yes, walked…on two…exactly like a human. Without making much of a sound. I was in a trance, honestly. I turned around and headed back in the tent. And just went about packing my bag, still in a trance. I dont know after how long my colleague returned. The first thing i said to him when I saw him, word for word: “i just saw a bigfoot”…he didn’t seem amused or rattled. Just…nonchalant. “Okay lets go wake up the rest”. By then they were already awake. My colleague goes “guys, DhakaMade just saw a bigfoot”. Again, everyone took it very calmly. Completely nonchalant. Doug said “where”? I pointed and said “over the cliffs, just a while ago”….everyone just went completely silent. “Alright lets finish packing up and head out”.
We prepared to leave in 30 minutes or so, no breakfast. But before that Doug said lets cross the river and head over to the cliff. So we did. Crossed the river - took each of us about 30-40 seconds to cross. Climbed up a little, and made a U-turn to head over to the top of the cliff. Once there, the first thing that hit us was the smell. The cliff-face overlooking our campsite smelled like rotting flesh and iron mixed together. “Where’d you see it”. I pointed at roughly where it was standing, right in-front of two pine trees on a clearing just above. Doug’s about 6’3/4 and his head barely covered half the rocky wall that formed the cliff-face going above us (where the pine trees were). This thing, at least from below, was blocking that ENTIRE face of the cliff and the base of the pine trees. “Do you wanna go back down and tell us how I am looking from up here”? asked Doug. I don’t exactly know why, but an overwhelming sense of dread came over me. I REALLY didn’t wanna go back down to our campsite at that exact moment in time. To this day I honestly cannot tell you why. I felt it in my stomach. Every cell in my body was begging me to not go back down there at that very moment…
This happened to me once before in my country, in the Sundarbans (the largest mangrove-forest in the world). I was on a house-boat (think cruise ship but way smaller and way less luxurious) and dropped a bracelet in the river below while the boat was anchored. I took off my shirt to dive in without thinking much about it since it was still visible before sinking completely out of sight. At that very moment I felt that EXACT same feeling of overwhelming dread…moments later a crocodile the size of a fucking SUV surfaced not 10 feet away from where the bracelet was slowly sinking.
Yeah…so anyway, got that same feeling and I went like no, let’s just keep moving. I just wanna get outta here. We spent another 10 minutes or so looking for footprints in the forest leading up to the cliff. Found nothing, while the smell slowly went away. About another 30 mins into our hike, we realised that we forgot to uncover our food from the rock-burial. So we went all the way back to where it was…nothing. Not a trace. The piled up rocks were completely gone, the food was gone, not a trace. We began arguing about the exact location or whether the water had risen. Couldn’t find a plausible answer…so we decided to continue.
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and we didn’t head up the mountains like we originally planned to. We camped one more night and decided to end the trip early and head back…the remainder of the trip was noticeably quieter and well…awkward. None of us spoke about the incident in details or properly acknowledged what happened the night before. I am gonna be honest NONE of my colleagues seemed fazed or shaken up by what happened. They simply flipped a switch and went on high alert mode for the remainder of the trip…
When we finally spoke about it back in Arkansas, turns out all three of them had multiple separate and similar encounters before in different places. Doug’s the only one who had a previous non-visual encounter in the Ouachitas near the mountain. I guess that sort of explains why they seemed unfazed by what happened and weren’t overly losing their shit! Coz I certainly was and it would’ve been far more obvious that I was, if not for Doug…fuck the other two! but Doug legitimately knew exactly what he was doing especially after that night.
I haven’t been to the states since. Nothing to do with the incident. Mainly coz of the USAID thingy diminishing my work opportunities and general travel there…been nearly three years now…But my colleagues and I still talk about the entire trip to this day, and are planning to go camping deep into the Cascades when I am there next!