About mid-August 1960, I was asked by a good friend Barry to go on a two or three day camping trip to Pitt Lake. Barry's dad Vince Sr. had arranged a boat ride into an isolated beach at the mouth of Debeck Creek with his brother Joe who at the time owned and operated several big logging operations in the Pitt Lake region.

Note: At the time Barry and I would have been eight or nine years old, Barry's younger brother Terry (who also tagged along) would have been about five or six, and Vince Sr. would have probably been in his late 30s.

Joe picked us up at Pitt Lake boat launch after dropping his logging crew off at camp one early morning, and we traveled by speed boat north up Pitt Lake about 15 kilometers. Joe dropped us and our gear off on the beach at the mouth of Debeck Creek with a promise to keep an eye out for us when he passed by each morning. Since the weather was warm and clear, it was decided no tent was required (probably because Barry and I insisted to his dad that we camp in the wilds just like our heroes Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone) and we would sleep in our bags and blankets under the stars. Vince Sr. and young Terry picked a beautiful flat spot on the pea-gravel beach right near the mouth of Debeck Creek to camp. Barry and I decided we wanted to camp like the Indians and mountain men did and found a spot about 80 feet away to lay our sleeping bags. We tucked in a hole right in under a ten foot high root ball that was still attached to giant Red-cedar log. The hole inside the cedar trees's root system looked more like a little cave just big enough for us to crawl in.

. We did the usual stuff that kids and dads do while camping: roasted wieners, went swimming in the lake, sat around and cooked over the camp fire, went on short hikes up the creek to try fishing, and generally had a bunch of fun. We did, however, do one thing that was a little different that may have played a part in what happened: while back at our hideout Barry and I had a long wolf howling contest on our first night there (until his dad told us to shut up and go to sleep).

Although I can't for the life of me remember the sound that woke Barry and I up from a deep sleep under our log, I do recall that it was just beginning to break day. I also remember that we both jumped up out of our sleeping bags and headed for his dad at a real quick pace.

Once Barry and I got over to where his dad was sitting with his .303 British army rifle clutched in his hands, we could plainly see he was rattled, shaking like a leaf, and as white as a ghost. Even though we were kids we both knew by looking at his dad's reaction and facial expressions that something was seriously wrong. Thinking back, when you see real fear in a grown person, it's little things like this that you can never forget.
I remember that Barry and I were scared stiff after seeing his dad, but we did ask him what was wrong. He replied to us that he kept his loaded rifle aimed at a big black bear "walking continuously on its hind legs" that had been sniffing, pawing and circling around and around the log that Barry and I were sleeping under. Now even at this young age Barry and I were not stupid city slickers. We both came from hunting families and knew that bears don't remain on their hind legs while walking. I clearly remember that we gave each other a look and knew that his dad's story was pure bullshit (excuse my language).

In any case, I also remember that as soon as we finished gulping down our breakfast the first thing that Barry and I did was casually wander back over to our log hideout to search the ground for tracks. I do remember finding some big tracks but all they really were was holes in the pea-gravel where something had gone around the big root-ball in circles.

It might be of interest to note that in 2003 I was contacted by a Brad Hay from Abbotsford, BC, who reported seeing a Sasquatch not more than one mile from where we camped at the mouth of Debeck Creek. Also, John Green's report (page 19 Encounters with Bigfoot) of the two prospectors that encountered an estimated 12-15 foot Sasquatch that left 22 to 24 inch tracks was no more than five miles from this location. John Green also received a report from two men who in 1933 witnessed a Sasquatch eating berries about three miles from Debeck Creek. I also watched a private 1967 video of a prospector/trapper named Warren Scott who lived in a huge tree house. Scott had built his house 20 feet from ground level (because of deep snow in the winter) some 5000 feet up on top of a mountain located at the northerly end of Pitt Lake. Scott showed his sketches of Sasquatch on camera and made a comment about a Sasquatch migration route that has stuck with me for all these years. Believe it or not, my life-long friend Dan Gerak (and 3 witnesses) who owns the upper Pitt River Lodge (http://www.pittriverlodge.com) once found fresh 17-inch Sasquatch tracks in a particular valley, and made the exact same comment as Scott to me about a Sasquatch migration route over 30 years later. Gerak told me this after spending many hours flying all over this country in Jet Ranger helicopters and noting that there is "only one open valley" between Pitt, Stave and Harrison lakes that does not end in sheer cliffs.

If I was ever going to get serious about finding Sasquatch — and had the time and means to do it — I wholeheartedly believe the place to do it would be up in the Boise Valley country northwest of the head of Pitt Lake. However, I would never consider going into the Boise Valley alone. Why? My own experiences and the following information (and good advice) from page 22 of John Green's book Encounters with Bigfoot: "The mountain country around the head of Pitt Lake is extremely rugged and quite a few people have gone in there and never come out. It is supposed to hold a lost gold lode of fabulous wealth, which is why some of the people have gone there, but whether or not the story of the gold is true the story of the missing people certainly is. I have noted the gradual increase in the total (note: the number missing people is now 22) during my years in the newspaper business. The terrain itself provides plenty of reasons why lone venturers might never be seen again, but there are persistent traditions that the sasquatch have something to do with it."

Although John Green did not mention it (or didn't know it at the time of his report) the two prospectors that encountered an estimated 12-15 foot Sasquatch that left 22 to 24 inch tracks, were in the Boise Valley. The Boise has never been logged and has giant cedar and fir trees over 1000 years old. It is also the "only" valley at about the 4000 foot level northwest of Pitt Lake that contains small lakes. How do I know this stuff? When I had my guiding and wilderness adventure company going I was deeply involved (and have the newspaper articles, maps and videos to prove it) in getting the Boise Valley set aside as part of a park in the Pinecone/Burke Wilderness Area. I was also "the only" person that supplied water and land transportation into the Boise Valley and upper Pitt River Valley.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- During the fall of 1977 a few friends and I decided to make a duck-hunting trip to Red Lake up in the Kamloops region. We packed up a couple of camouflaged boats, 50 or 60 rubber mallard decoys, grub, guns and headed for the high country.
Once we reached Red Lake high on the Kamloops plateau, my friend Randy and I decided to hunt a marshy area on lake that we knew well from our eastern brook trout ice fishing trips during the winter. (Note: At the time the closest ranch or building was a good 10 miles away over bush roads.)

We had our boat loaded before first light and made for the marsh. Once there we set out our decoys and slipped the boat back into the high weeds and grass about 60 feet from open water.
Hunting was slow due to warm weather and little wind. We would blow ourmallard calls once in awhile hoping to entice a duck from the far end of the lake but nothing was moving. A few hours had passed and we had not fired a single shot.

Myself and Randy were both bored and staring out over our decoys on Red Lake when something suddenly but quietly surfaced just outside the edge of our flock of decoys. What came up appeared to us to be a human-type head covered in long, wet hair ... something what a person with long hair would look like if they surfaced while swimming. The skin under the hair as well as the eyes, appeared dark brown in color. Our view of this strange head was about even with the shoulders, although they did not break the surface of the water. The eyes (what you could see of them under the hair) looked dark (no white) like an animal's. The face had no expression or movement. It seemed to look at our decoys and us for maybe 10 or 15 seconds, and then slipped silently under the surface with a slight swirl or wake and it was gone. Nothing else was seen or heard.

When we returned to Cliff Tuscon's ranch where we were staying, I asked him aside if he had ever seen anything like what we witnessed on Red Lake that morning. I'll never forget the look he gave me. I think he figured I was either piss drunk or on the verge of going crazy. In any case, old Cliff never saw anything like what I described in his 40 years up in that country.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------