Searching for Sasquatch
Outdoor x 4 • December 15th, 2019
We were deep and high in the towering mountains outside of Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, creeping along a dirt path in the inky curtains of the western rainforest that’s as dark and deep as any jungle in Africa.
With shadows playing peek-a-boo through the brush as thick as chest-high carpet and trees as dense as a prison fence, it was easy to believe that Sasquatch might be peering back at me, huffing quietly inside one of those mossy shadows.
My Sasquatch Country Adventures guide Bill Miller grumbled softly next to me in the four-wheel Polaris off-road vehicle we’d been riding for nearly four hours. He yelped out eerie calls to try to lure sasquatch to call back - a mix of yips and long hoots that sounded as crazy as they did when he first described the calls.
I didn’t hear anything calling back, not even the songbirds. But Miller has. He’s not only heard Sasquatch’s barks in the dead of night, but he’s also seen the beast - twice! He watched its rolling gait one day as it scampered up a hill to disappear in these Canadian wilds. He saw one while fishing in the dark.
He’s not the only one either. Harrison Hot Springs, a resort town tucked at the head of the nearly 40-mile-long glacier-carved Harrison Lake, has more sasquatch sightings than almost anywhere else. It’s a bucket-list destination for any Bigfoot enthusiast and the town itself even has a small, yet surprisingly thorough, curated museum dedicated to the mysterious creature.
The First Nations Sts’ailes tribe has stories of the “wild man of the mountain,” and cave drawings going back thousands of years display his likeness on walls as old as the legend itself. The name “Sasquatch” was born here in Harrison Hot Springs, a bastardization of the Sts’ailes word “Sa:sq’ets,” meaning ‘hairy man” or “caretaker of the forest.”
Looking out over the endless jagged rolls of green and rock that stretch out north as far as the eye can see, it’s easy to fall into the seduction of believing that some forgotten offshoot of hominids may exist out here. After all, according to Miller, 98 percent of Canada is mostly unexplored and uninhabited. With the majority of Canadians living within 100 miles of the U.S. border to the south, this massive country has millions upon millions of wild, untamed and uninhabited mountains and forests that stretch out into the mysterious, untouched north.
In that moment, I did believe that sasquatch could exist. And I was out there alone with a sasquatch hunter in grizzly bear-infested woods in the middle of the mountains of British Columbia to prove it.
THE LIFE OF A BIGFOOT HUNTER Bill Miller was sitting in a small boat in northern Minnesota with a friend one night in 1980. Midnight had passed and in the dark, Miller was fishing quietly as his friend dozed to the nighttime sounds of the rustic wilderness.
“It was just peaceful and quiet. As we sat in a feeder stream coming off of the lake, I heard a noise from a distance,” Miller said. “It is hard to explain, but it was a thumping sound like someone had started a power driver up in the middle of the night. I realized the sound was moving because it was getting closer and was slowly getting louder.”
Miller woke his friend. Together, they heard the thumping pound towards them, accompanied by heavy breathing.
“Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere. it came out of a patch of fog from left to right on the shoreline,” Miller said. “We saw something big and tall go by. It wasn't bright enough to see detail other than a silhouette and motion at night, but you could just tell something just went by.”
Years later, Miller stumbled upon the book “Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us” by John Green, which included numerous accounts by hunters who heard similar sounds as Miller had that night. They too heard the thumping footfalls and saw something run by them - something upright and too tall to be a man.
From that point on, Miller was hooked on Sasquatch. In 1998, he met the infamous University of British Columbia Anthropology Professor Grover Krantz, one of the few scientists not only to research Bigfoot but also to express his belief in the animal's reality, at a Sasquatch convention.
“I understood better what it was I experienced that night and realized it made more sense that it was a Sasquatch rather than just some large man running around in the wilderness in the dark,” Miller said.
We bounced up an old logging road in Miller’s beat-up Polaris as he spoke about his passion for finding Sasquatch. Halting, Miller pointed out an orange safety cone deep in the woods marking the spot where a group of university students saw something “big and tall” moving through the trees. When they went back the next day to investigate, they found the iconic “bigfoot” footprints.
“I started coming up here as a researcher,” Miller said, adding that after surviving cancer three times, he was officially disabled. “So rather than just sit around my place, I thought I'd go out here and look into something that interests me.”
Miller became a familiar face at the Sasquatch conventions in British Columbia, and along the way, he met people who shared Harrison Hot Springs’ history with the monster. He visited Harrison every spring and every fall, investigating the sightings and talking to people who had seen Sasquatch. Eventually, he moved to Harrison for six months at a time to conduct research, returning to the states when winter hit.
Harrison Hot Springs has long been known as “the birthplace of Sasquatch.” Newspaper accounts from the 1700s and 1800s document local sightings of a great hairy man-like creature. The hot springs that gave the town its name attracted tourists in the early part of the 20th century, and the local legend just grew.
“This town used to be really known for the Sasquatch back in the 1950s, 1960s. There was even a gentleman that came once and wanted to create an actual Sasquatch hunt and hunt for the Sasquatch,” said Erin Goosen, event coordinator and visitors services manager for Tourism Harrison Hot Springs.
“We have had interest (in Sasquatch) definitely throughout history. We used to have, a wonderful Sasquatch sign at the entrance of town. It was all lit up back in the day. The great mystery is we have no idea where that sign has gone or why it was taken down.”
For the St’ailes, the Sasquatch was an important aspect of their spiritual beliefs, and the band’s adopted logo is a stylized image of the hairy beast. In their cultural identity, Sasquatch was a caretaker of the land - a spiritual being that could pass through worlds.
“We were always told we were not to be scared of him, and that he was not a monster,” said Kelsey Charlie, a Sts’ailes Sasquatch dancer in an interview for the Harrison Sasquatch Museum. “Red Ochre is used for all our paintings at (Sasquatch Mountain.) The paintings are 3,000 to 7,000 years old, and our people back then… were already depicting Sa:sq’ets (Sasquatch). The word Slalikum in our language means supernatural. It is like a shapeshifter. So if they want to be seen, they are going to be seen…”
For many believers, Miller included, Sasquatch isn’t just a monster, but a real evolutionary possibility. Many believe that Sasquatch is a species of undiscovered North American apes that crossed the ancient land bridge over the Bering Strait into the Pacific Northwest forest land.
Some pretty impressive names believe that as well. Dr. Jane Goodall, made famous for her work with chimpanzees in Africa and one of the most respected biologists in the world, told NPR she was certain Sasquatch exists. She even speaks at Bigfoot conferences.
Thousands of others believe the myth is real too. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has more than 45,000 submitted reports of encounters.
Soon, people were showing up on Miller’s door on a regular basis to learn about Bigfoot and to see the plaster casts of footprints Miller had. Miller and fellow Sasquatch researcher Thomas Steenburg came up with the idea of offering tours.
“I got to thinking. Instead of me spending all my money on the research, why not offer these people a chance to experience what it’s like to be out looking for the Sasquatch,” Miller said. “Let them see some of the evidence we found, charge them a reasonable fee to go along with us and see it for themselves. So that’s how Sasquatch Country Adventures came about. In 2012, we were running full steam.”
JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN’T SEE IT, DOESN’T MEAN IT DOESN’T EXIST The giant squid - possibly the inspiration for the legend of the Kraken - wasn’t photographed by scientists until 2004. The Coelacanth - an enormous primordial fish - was thought to be extinct for 65 million years until a live one was caught in 1938.
Just recently, the American Jaguar was photographed outside of Tucson, the first verified sighting of the elusive cat since 1963. “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” said Miller as we parked at the base of Rainbow Falls, a towering, multi-level waterfall that glows with color when the sun hits it just right. I asked him why Bigfoot remains have never been found. Surely, at least, its bones would have been discovered at some point.
“How come you never see a dead bear or a dead elk?” Miller replied. “These woods… Hell, there could be an elephant standing 20 feet away, and you wouldn’t see it.”
Peering into the thick rainforest of Canada, I grudgingly agreed. Dripping with wet, blanketed in moss and mold, things decompose faster out here. Bears and coyotes run off with bones to chew the marrow and the bugs make quick work of dead flesh. What Sasquatch does leave behind, however, are footprints.
“I've been here since 1998, 21 years now. In that time, I've seen seven or eight really good sets of footprints,” Miller said. “In 2003, on the west side of Lake, I had a brief sighting. I saw something going up the hill. I realized it wasn’t a moose or a bear. It was on two feet. It was hair-covered and it made this climb to the top of the mountain with its back to me.”
Miller shared numerous stories from people he interviewed who had their own run-ins with Sasquatch. One woman still cries at the memory, terrified of the towering hairy “gorilla-like” thing that barrelled down a wooded slope at her while she was mountain biking. A young fellow on one of his tours spotted a tall, moving shadow in a small valley near the logging road. He didn’t say anything until later, and when Miller went back to the spot, he found footprints.
“You look for it, but you don't really expect to see one. So when you do see it, it's like ‘wow.’ The last thing you're thinking about doing is pulling out your camera until you realize it's too late to pull out your camera,” Miller said, explaining why no one has ever had a clear photo of Sasquatch. “I don't know about you, but by the time you grab your phone and get your picture set up, he’s already gone.”
While the purpose of the tour was to learn more about the myth and to try to catch a glimpse ourselves, the scenery alone was worth the drive. Vast open meadows with golden hues spread up the sides of mountains and hidden rivers and waterfalls gurgled throughout the nearly-prehistoric landscape. At one high point, the icy-navy lake and its surrounding peaks spread out before us, hinting at a vast landscape that man has rarely ventured into. We kept a lookout for bears, and fat, brave little land grouse darted back and forth in front of the Polaris. A young coyote usually pops out to greet Miller on his forays, but not today.
In the forests above Harrison Hot Springs, all was quiet. If Sasquatch was there, he didn’t want to be seen.
“All that land…” Miller said, pointing out over the endless peaks of mountains to the north. “He’s out there.”
Back at the meeting point, we study the footprint casts Miller and others have made. He points out the signature heel weight, the individual swirls of footpads and talks about how the gait of the creature is closer to that of an ape than a man.
“They are out there,” he said. “It’s just a matter of being at the right spot at the right time. And if they don’t want you to see them, you won’t.”
HARRISON HOT SPRINGS IS HOT FOR SASQUATCH Considered the Jewel of the Fraser Valley, Harrison Hot Springs is returning to its legendary roots. Known for its watersports, stellar fishing, natural hot springs and boutique cute little downtown, the city is betting that interest in Bigfoot will draw even more tourists to the area. Tourism Harrison was formed and Robert Reyerse signed on as the executive director with a plan to revive the monster’s popularity.
“I would say within the last eight years, Robert has really tried to build the interest again and use our Sasquatch as part of our logo and on our website and that kind of thing,” said Goosen. “John Green, who is one of our local sasquatch experts, passed away a few years ago and that kickstarted the idea that we need a new museum for his history. We figured it was high time that there was some form of a Bigfoot museum in our town.”
The Sasquatch Museum in Harrison may be a tiny, two-room affair, but it’s full of sasquatch artifacts, history, witness accounts, science, lore and myths.
Plaster molds of Bigfoot footprints cast doubt on whether or not the famous Patterson-Gimlin shaky video from the 1970s - the one we are all familiar with that shows a lumbering creature looking back at the camera as it strides away - was a hoax or not. The museum, which opened in 2017, includes much of journalist and Sasquatch hunter John Green’s interviews, research and documentation compelling enough to make even the harshest skeptic wonder… even if just a little.
Miller’s tours along rough logging roads deep in Sasquatch country helped boost that tourism effort as well.
“We got a lot of help from Bill Miller,” said Robert Reyerse, executive director of Tourism Harrison. “What really helped us become popular with Sasquatch again was when Bill started doing his tours. It gave us something to talk about.”
Harrison Hot Springs has a dozen or so Sasquatch statues and sculptures hidden around town, as part of the “Sasquatch trail.” Thomas Steenburg, one of Bill’s fellow Sasquatch experts, has investigated sightings and accounts for more than 30 years and often gives talks at the Sasquatch Museum. The Sts’ailes First Nations revived the famous Sasquatch Days canoe races in 2012, which lures hundreds of competitors to town for the races and events. As in the heydey of the 1950s and 60s, Sasquatch makes an annual appearance at the event.
“The bulk of people who come here - I’d say 90 to 95 percent - come to Harrison because of the lake or the hot springs or because it’s beautiful,” Reyerse said. “But, there are a hardcore 5 to 10 percent who come just for the museum or to see Bill or to do their own investigations. I’m a skeptic, but these are a serious group of people who take the investigations of Sasquatch seriously.”
Another company - Harrison Eco-Tours - has upped the tourism lure of Bigfoot, taking adventurers out by kayak to see petroglyphs along the river, First Nations drawings that date back centuries. A member of the Sts’ailes First Nation tribe shares their legends of the “spiritual creature” during the excursion.
“There is so much space and so much forest out here. If there is a Sasquatch, it doesn’t surprise me that he could be out there,” said Reyerse. “Bill made me a believer that it could be possible. He just has a very clear way of presenting evidence.”
In the summer, when motorcyclists and off-roaders converge upon the resort town as part of the winding, scenic drive through British Columbia. The mountain roads around Harrison and throughout British Columbia make the province a popular touring spot for drivers and motorcycle enthusiasts.
“The roads that bind British Columbia are full of inspiration, taking you from raw wilderness to refined cities, from epic mountains to rugged coastlines, from yesterday’s Gold Rush tales to today’s rich Indigenous storytelling,” said Marsha Weldon, CEO of Destination British Columbia.
“Whether by motorcycle, 4X4, car, RV, bike or foot, our vast network of roads and trails weave together remarkable travel experiences in every season.”
Many of those same visitors head up the rough logging roads for the scenery and a possible sighting of Sasquatch themselves. Every now and again, they catch a glimpse. Sadly, I did not. What I did have was an adventure spiced with legend, a glimpse into history, coupled with eye-watering views of heartbreakingly beautiful landscapes.
And maybe, just maybe, I’m now a believer.