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I see him! I see him! Sasquatch! He just walked by! There, in the back! You saw him, did'ncha?
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Strange things found in the woods
- Thread Starter sandman1212
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That means your house is the next forgotten lost shack!
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I once got a little lost on my own 20 acres because the little used trail had so overgrown that I couldn't see it anymore. I knew where I was more or less, but I could not find the easy trail to get back to the house - so I just bushwacked it.
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We have a little over 100 acres in eastern Clackamas County, mostly forested. We have a few roads and firebreaks. One of those firebreaks was used very heavily the New Years Eve and Day 99/00 by a bunch of us night riding ATVs. I think the last time Dad blazed thru there was 10 years ago. I've been meaning to open that firebreak back up but I've got to find it first! 10 years and it disappeared,
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My dirt road that they created when they logged is still there just fine, but trying to find the trees they planted is difficult because the undergrowth has grown up to my chest. I found a few. Unfortunately they planted a week before we burned the slash piles so we probably demolished a lot of the saplings with the equipment we used. I will probably need to replant again. That acreage is a real fire hazard with all that grass and other undergrowth, but not much I can do about it at this point.
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I see him! I see him! Sasquatch! He just walked by! There, in the back! You saw him, did'ncha?
IT WASN'T JUST ME! I'M NOT CRAZY!....I told those #$%^$ I wasn't crazy, NOW I HAVE PROOF!!!
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A few years back a bunch of friends and I camped up the East Fork of the Trask River, in the Tillamook Forest. This was a dispersed site that we stayed at, right on the river, and while rinsing out a coffee pot I noticed a rather wedge shaped object right above the water line. About 18 inches square on the face it was totally covered in moss... and unmovable. Mounted very firmly (steel rod?).Using a piece of split cedar for a scraper I removed the moss from a faint outline on the block... and found a memorial marker.
I have absolutely no back history on this marker. Internet search, newspapers, information request from Tillamook county Sheriff Dept. and state police turned up zip. I doubt this stone commemorates a lost soul or someone swept down the river. I believe it was simply mounted in memorium of someone whom loved the woods, and particularly that spot.
Brian Craig... gone at 55 years young.
I have absolutely no back history on this marker. Internet search, newspapers, information request from Tillamook county Sheriff Dept. and state police turned up zip. I doubt this stone commemorates a lost soul or someone swept down the river. I believe it was simply mounted in memorium of someone whom loved the woods, and particularly that spot.
Brian Craig... gone at 55 years young.
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Wifey has a paid subscription to ancestry.com
I did some searching this morning for a Brian Craig using those dates and variations on those dates. I couldn't find anything.
I did some searching this morning for a Brian Craig using those dates and variations on those dates. I couldn't find anything.
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Fixed it for you.
But the fix makes it even more tragic...
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I found a hole in the middle of the trail...
I've got a few stories I can remember growing up in different parts of Wa, the first one that comes to mind was when I was around nine or maybe ten years old living in Steilacoom. Back then there were still tracts of woods around that weren't part of the base. My friends and I were always roaming the woods and trails building forts (above and under ground), climbing trees, racing around the trails on our bikes, playing army, etc. We were always finding odds and ends of military gear around the edges of Fort Lewis. You weren't supposed to go on the base back then but there were many areas where you could get through or under the fences ...um, or so I was told.
Anyway, there was one trail that we would use that came out near a 7/11. It was used for many candy and/or Slurpee runs during the Summertime. One day walking down that trail I find a hole dug right in the middle of the trail, it's about three feet in diameter and maybe a foot deep. I stopped to look at it and remember thinking it was kind of a weired place for someone to just dig a hole. I looked at it for a minute or two and then continued on my way. A few days later I'm heading up this trail again by myself and as I round a corner I can see three girls, maybe 15 or 16 years old, standing around that hole in the trail talking. As I continue walking I'm thinking I'll just pass by and keep going. As I get closer they turn and see me coming and then stop talking. To this day I really don't remember what they said to me, but as I'm about to pass one of them moves in front of me to stop me and says something. A moment later the other two girls grab me and push me down into the hole and the next thing I know the girl who stopped me is on top of me. I'm freaking out because I have no idea what is going on since it happened so fast. I'm on my back, in a hole, so I can't just roll out but I'm flailing away and finally after a few moments (seemed like minutes) I was able to get her off me and the next thing I know I'm running down the trail hearing laughter fade away behind me.
I didn't know these girls and I never saw them before or after this. They might have thought I was a little older since I was always tall for my age but at the time I was just startled and clueless. Considering what happened in those moments and where things might have been heading, had I been older, I might have had a different perspective on the incident. It was definitely an early learning experience to be wary of people you encounter out in the woods...yup, even cute girls.
I've got a few stories I can remember growing up in different parts of Wa, the first one that comes to mind was when I was around nine or maybe ten years old living in Steilacoom. Back then there were still tracts of woods around that weren't part of the base. My friends and I were always roaming the woods and trails building forts (above and under ground), climbing trees, racing around the trails on our bikes, playing army, etc. We were always finding odds and ends of military gear around the edges of Fort Lewis. You weren't supposed to go on the base back then but there were many areas where you could get through or under the fences ...um, or so I was told.
Anyway, there was one trail that we would use that came out near a 7/11. It was used for many candy and/or Slurpee runs during the Summertime. One day walking down that trail I find a hole dug right in the middle of the trail, it's about three feet in diameter and maybe a foot deep. I stopped to look at it and remember thinking it was kind of a weired place for someone to just dig a hole. I looked at it for a minute or two and then continued on my way. A few days later I'm heading up this trail again by myself and as I round a corner I can see three girls, maybe 15 or 16 years old, standing around that hole in the trail talking. As I continue walking I'm thinking I'll just pass by and keep going. As I get closer they turn and see me coming and then stop talking. To this day I really don't remember what they said to me, but as I'm about to pass one of them moves in front of me to stop me and says something. A moment later the other two girls grab me and push me down into the hole and the next thing I know the girl who stopped me is on top of me. I'm freaking out because I have no idea what is going on since it happened so fast. I'm on my back, in a hole, so I can't just roll out but I'm flailing away and finally after a few moments (seemed like minutes) I was able to get her off me and the next thing I know I'm running down the trail hearing laughter fade away behind me.
I didn't know these girls and I never saw them before or after this. They might have thought I was a little older since I was always tall for my age but at the time I was just startled and clueless. Considering what happened in those moments and where things might have been heading, had I been older, I might have had a different perspective on the incident. It was definitely an early learning experience to be wary of people you encounter out in the woods...yup, even cute girls.
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Mebbe playing Slender Man, before it was a thing?
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I have to share this tale. Sorry it's a little lengthy...
A week or two ago, I'm out on what was supposed to be a two night camping and elk scouting trip up in the national forest. The spot I'm scouting is about 12-13 miles back in off the highway, but it's grown up and pretty rough, so it takes like an hour and a half to get back in there. The road dead ends not too far past my spot due to a huge slide. I got back in there and set up my tent at a wide spot just down the road from an overlook of the valley I want to hunt, which has a couple small meadows in it and I can see several decent spots. I glass it until dark and go to bed, planning to get up the next morning to see what would come thought early in the morning.
I get up the next morning at 5am. It's light enough to realize the fog had rolled in heavy and I wasn't gonna be able to see into my valley. I drove down to another spot a mile or two away and the fog was gone. Hoping it had lifted, I drove back to the first spot and was back above the fog again. I decided to build a tiny fire and make coffee and just wait til the fog lifted. It's 6:20am or so at this time. I gather enough dry wood just to build a fire to boil water in my kettle. As I'm arranging the wood it's 6:30am, and I hear something. I realize it's a vehicle. Thinking it odd someone was back there that early, I stool watching the road, waiting to see who was coming. The road is really brushy back there and it'll scratch the heck out of a paint job. I guess the fog suppressed the noise and I was making some clanging my cast iron kettle around and all, so he was way closer than I realized any the time I heard him.
Out of the brush comes a 2wd while windowless Chevy or GMC Cargo van. I was completely dumbfounded. It rolls up, stops, and the window rolls down. The driver barely speaks English and asks me a question. I asked him to repeat it. He shuts the engine off an repeats it. I still couldn't tell what he asked, but it sounded like he either asked if I was with the company or wanted company. Either way, the answer was a firm no. I told him I was just looking for somewhere to go fishing. He started his van up and left. I got a super weird feeling and had no scenarios I could think of that made it make sense for him to be out there. He drove past me, toward my camp and the dead end. As soon as he was out of sight, I threw the coffee kettle in the truck and hauled tail down the mountain, trying to make sense of it all. I was running low on gas, so I drove the hour plus it takes to get to town to gas up and get coffee.
I do all that, then assume if this dude is up to no good, he'll probably be out of there as soon as he can. If he's still up there, he's probably doing something legal. So, I go back in, take the long way around, go back and tear down my camp, pleased to find nothing missing. I decide I'm gonna go around to the other side of my valley and hike in to check some trail cameras I have out. As I'm driving around to that other side, I come around a curve and there is a wide spot where an old, impassable logging road comes in from the right rear. As I turn the curve, I see the same van backed as far back in there as it can go. That same feeling overtook me, so I whipped a donut as fast as I could and hauled tail again. As I drove by, I looked at the van and saw that it had a couple trim pieces missing, the driver's window was down, and there was a cage between the driver and cargo area, like a lot of contractor vans have.
I can't shake the weird feeling so I drive out as fast as I safely can until I have a cell signal. I call the police to see what they think. I had to leave a message until an officer could call me back. He calls and I explain all the details. He asks a few questions that he seems like he already expects the answers to, and then tells me he's pretty certain it's someone picking berries or otherwise perfectly innocently foraging some variation of nature's bounty. I think he was pretty entertained that it had freaked me out so bad, and I got a chuckle out of it, too. I thank him for his time and decide that, dang it, I'm gonna go check those trail cams come Hell or high water.
I drive all the way back in there. I make the next to last turn I have to make to get back to the scene of the not-crime. As I go around the curve, my truck lurched to a stop and acted like the rear wheel was stuck on a rock or log. I put the truck in reverse and it won't move. I put it in drive, and hear gears grinding. I realize something major is wrong and assume I've ripped out the rear end or transmission or something. I don't know if a tow truck could or would fit back there, and am already trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. I get out, and find that the driver's rear wheel has fallen off. Somehow, the wheel ended up under the hub, with the hub centered in the wheel opening. I have an open differential in my truck, so that hub was just spinning and that's why it didn't move. Glad I didn't try in 4wd! I survey the situation and it looks like all my lug studs have broken. An issue, but at least one I could fix on the trail once I sourced parts, so I'm happier. I then see that the break drum has loosened, and when I push it back on, only one stud was broken, but all the lug nuts are gone. Sweet, I'll just pull a nut or two off the other wheels and limp home. Well, then I look behind the truck and 5 of my 6 lug nuts are arranged in a circle about 2ft in diameter about ten feet behind the truck.
I have rock sliders on my truck, so I use a hi-lift jack to lift it up, get the wheel back on, and can get 4 lug nuts back on. The threads were too beat up on one to get the nut back on. I check the nuts on the other wheels. One on the driver's front twisted right off just with the force of me testing to see if it was tight. One on the same wheel was broken recently from a torque-happy trigger finger at a tire shop recently and I hadn't taken the time to replace it. So now I'm down two of six lug nuts on both driver's wheels. I check the passenger front, all are fine. Check the passenger rear, and all are finger loose. I tightened them down snug. I figured that, with all the weirdness that had happened that day, this was a final sign that maybe I ought to stay the heck away from there for the day. So, even though I was supposed to camp that night, I headed home while I still had four wheels that would turn and (hopefully) stay on.
I still haven't completely shaken the weird feeling, but suspect the cop was right. I just moved to WA last year and hadn't been out in the backwoods in berry season yet. A friend of mine here has mentioned berry picking and having it interfere with his scouting before, but it never even crossed my mind. I replaced all the lug studs on the driver's side of my truck yesterday. I'm gonna head back out there open day this week to glass a couple spots and check my trail cameras. I always have my pistol and often have a rifle with me, but I'm still gonna tread very carefully. I think it's all a massive over-reaction on my part, but at least I'm here to tell the tale!
A week or two ago, I'm out on what was supposed to be a two night camping and elk scouting trip up in the national forest. The spot I'm scouting is about 12-13 miles back in off the highway, but it's grown up and pretty rough, so it takes like an hour and a half to get back in there. The road dead ends not too far past my spot due to a huge slide. I got back in there and set up my tent at a wide spot just down the road from an overlook of the valley I want to hunt, which has a couple small meadows in it and I can see several decent spots. I glass it until dark and go to bed, planning to get up the next morning to see what would come thought early in the morning.
I get up the next morning at 5am. It's light enough to realize the fog had rolled in heavy and I wasn't gonna be able to see into my valley. I drove down to another spot a mile or two away and the fog was gone. Hoping it had lifted, I drove back to the first spot and was back above the fog again. I decided to build a tiny fire and make coffee and just wait til the fog lifted. It's 6:20am or so at this time. I gather enough dry wood just to build a fire to boil water in my kettle. As I'm arranging the wood it's 6:30am, and I hear something. I realize it's a vehicle. Thinking it odd someone was back there that early, I stool watching the road, waiting to see who was coming. The road is really brushy back there and it'll scratch the heck out of a paint job. I guess the fog suppressed the noise and I was making some clanging my cast iron kettle around and all, so he was way closer than I realized any the time I heard him.
Out of the brush comes a 2wd while windowless Chevy or GMC Cargo van. I was completely dumbfounded. It rolls up, stops, and the window rolls down. The driver barely speaks English and asks me a question. I asked him to repeat it. He shuts the engine off an repeats it. I still couldn't tell what he asked, but it sounded like he either asked if I was with the company or wanted company. Either way, the answer was a firm no. I told him I was just looking for somewhere to go fishing. He started his van up and left. I got a super weird feeling and had no scenarios I could think of that made it make sense for him to be out there. He drove past me, toward my camp and the dead end. As soon as he was out of sight, I threw the coffee kettle in the truck and hauled tail down the mountain, trying to make sense of it all. I was running low on gas, so I drove the hour plus it takes to get to town to gas up and get coffee.
I do all that, then assume if this dude is up to no good, he'll probably be out of there as soon as he can. If he's still up there, he's probably doing something legal. So, I go back in, take the long way around, go back and tear down my camp, pleased to find nothing missing. I decide I'm gonna go around to the other side of my valley and hike in to check some trail cameras I have out. As I'm driving around to that other side, I come around a curve and there is a wide spot where an old, impassable logging road comes in from the right rear. As I turn the curve, I see the same van backed as far back in there as it can go. That same feeling overtook me, so I whipped a donut as fast as I could and hauled tail again. As I drove by, I looked at the van and saw that it had a couple trim pieces missing, the driver's window was down, and there was a cage between the driver and cargo area, like a lot of contractor vans have.
I can't shake the weird feeling so I drive out as fast as I safely can until I have a cell signal. I call the police to see what they think. I had to leave a message until an officer could call me back. He calls and I explain all the details. He asks a few questions that he seems like he already expects the answers to, and then tells me he's pretty certain it's someone picking berries or otherwise perfectly innocently foraging some variation of nature's bounty. I think he was pretty entertained that it had freaked me out so bad, and I got a chuckle out of it, too. I thank him for his time and decide that, dang it, I'm gonna go check those trail cams come Hell or high water.
I drive all the way back in there. I make the next to last turn I have to make to get back to the scene of the not-crime. As I go around the curve, my truck lurched to a stop and acted like the rear wheel was stuck on a rock or log. I put the truck in reverse and it won't move. I put it in drive, and hear gears grinding. I realize something major is wrong and assume I've ripped out the rear end or transmission or something. I don't know if a tow truck could or would fit back there, and am already trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. I get out, and find that the driver's rear wheel has fallen off. Somehow, the wheel ended up under the hub, with the hub centered in the wheel opening. I have an open differential in my truck, so that hub was just spinning and that's why it didn't move. Glad I didn't try in 4wd! I survey the situation and it looks like all my lug studs have broken. An issue, but at least one I could fix on the trail once I sourced parts, so I'm happier. I then see that the break drum has loosened, and when I push it back on, only one stud was broken, but all the lug nuts are gone. Sweet, I'll just pull a nut or two off the other wheels and limp home. Well, then I look behind the truck and 5 of my 6 lug nuts are arranged in a circle about 2ft in diameter about ten feet behind the truck.
I have rock sliders on my truck, so I use a hi-lift jack to lift it up, get the wheel back on, and can get 4 lug nuts back on. The threads were too beat up on one to get the nut back on. I check the nuts on the other wheels. One on the driver's front twisted right off just with the force of me testing to see if it was tight. One on the same wheel was broken recently from a torque-happy trigger finger at a tire shop recently and I hadn't taken the time to replace it. So now I'm down two of six lug nuts on both driver's wheels. I check the passenger front, all are fine. Check the passenger rear, and all are finger loose. I tightened them down snug. I figured that, with all the weirdness that had happened that day, this was a final sign that maybe I ought to stay the heck away from there for the day. So, even though I was supposed to camp that night, I headed home while I still had four wheels that would turn and (hopefully) stay on.
I still haven't completely shaken the weird feeling, but suspect the cop was right. I just moved to WA last year and hadn't been out in the backwoods in berry season yet. A friend of mine here has mentioned berry picking and having it interfere with his scouting before, but it never even crossed my mind. I replaced all the lug studs on the driver's side of my truck yesterday. I'm gonna head back out there open day this week to glass a couple spots and check my trail cameras. I always have my pistol and often have a rifle with me, but I'm still gonna tread very carefully. I think it's all a massive over-reaction on my part, but at least I'm here to tell the tale!
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Vans in the woods are always suspicious.
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Ar-roo???
"...and I woulda gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids..."
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Safe bet that either Van Man buggered your lugnuts or he had a buddy do it for him.
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Was this it ?
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You were about to be bait for the banjo crowd.
Btw not all law enforcement is on there game.
Btw not all law enforcement is on there game.
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This sounds like if you're out in the woods, plant some trailcams to maintain 360 coverage around your vehicle... then remember to check and retrieve 'em before you leave.
This kinda stuff puts a real cramp on my thoughts about building a cabin out in the woods...
This kinda stuff puts a real cramp on my thoughts about building a cabin out in the woods...
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Would not do that, never ends well.
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