38th Anniversary
Patterson/Gimlin Film Expedition
October 20-22, 2005
by Tom Cousino & D.
On the morning of Oct. 20th at 6am we
started our drive to Weaverville, CA. to
meet up with Sean Fries, Don Monroe, &
M.K. Davis, our final destination was to
arrive at Louse Camp where Roger
Patterson and Bob Gimlin camped during
their expedition into Bluff Creek that
historic day on Oct. 20, 1967.
As we left Sean's house that afternoon we
headed towards Willow Creek on our way
to the Willow Creek/China Flat Museum
so Don and M.K. could see the Bigfoot
collections donated by Bob Titmus,
Dr. Grover Krantz and John Green. Al
Hodgson also donated a plaster track he
discovered himself as well as various other
researchers. Upon our arrival into Willow
Creek we contacted Al Hodgson, the
curator of the museum, who met us there
and gave us a private tour.
Don and M.K. were very excited to say
the least at being at the Willow Creek
Museum. M.K. traveled all the way from
Mississippi to join in the expedition, he
met with Don at the Boise, Idaho
International Airport where they headed to
California. All of us have been at the
museum except Don and M.K. but every
time we go we always find something
interesting and different that we didn't find
on our previous visit.
After approximately one hour of touring
the museum we departed and headed down
the road to Louse Camp. With daylight
fading we knew it would be close to dark
before we reached camp. As darkness fell
we were about three miles before Louse
Camp there was a pile of newly logged
trees stacked up on the side of the old
logging road. As Sean stopped cutting
wood with his chainsaw M.K. started
hearing what he thought was wood
knocking coming from his left slightly
down an embankment. M.K. then heard a
loud, snap as if a tree had been snapped in
half. D. walked over to M.K. and
picked up a stick and intermittently started
knocking it against a nearby tree. D.
and M.K. continued to listen hoping for a
return but instead heard nothing but silence.
After loading Sean's truck with wood we
arrived at Louse Camp a short time later.
We started setting up camp while Sean
started a campfire. When we finished we
all sat around the campfire discussing our
plans for the following Friday morning. In
between our discussion M.K. decided to
relate a true story involving himself and an
aggressive batam hen and a very fat
Vietnamese pig. While M.K. was lying on
his stomach he was a few feet from this
hugely overweight crinkled faced pig
attempting to take a few pictures when this
batam hen rushed over and started pecking
at a silver filled tooth in M.K.'s mouth
loosening it. M.K. started chasing this hen
back and forth to no avail. The next
morning he was eating eggs and bacon
when he swallowed the tooth. He then
went to the dentist and eventually paid
$1,500 to get his tooth repaired. As M.K.
told the story he made it sound so hilarious
we we're all rolling in laughter by the time
he was finished.
As the night progressed we slowly
retreated to our tents well after midnight
thinking of the possibilities that lie before
us with the new day. At dawn we awoke
and after having breakfast and gathering
our gear we headed out in Sean's truck to
Bluff Creek (Bat Boxes) up-stream from
the Patterson site.
From this location Tom and Sean chose to
go up stream looking for any signs of
bigfoot activity at which time D.
guided Don and M.K. to what he believed
was the area where the Patterson/Gimlin
site is. The reason for D.'s decision
was that D. had been to this area back
in the fall of 2003 during the Willow
Creek Sasquatch Symposium on a field
trip that the Symposium had conducted.
Members of the museum and a Park
Ranger from Six Rivers National Forest
drove everyone down to the Bat Boxes
and proceeded up stream about 50 yds.
to what they believed was the Patterson
/Gimlin Film Site.
D. had a discussion with Daniel Perez
and several other researchers and decided
that this was not the actual site. At this
time he chose to break from the group and
walk down stream. He did not feel that the
area they took everyone too was the site.
After walking approx 45 minutes to an
hour he came upon an area where the
embankments of the stream widened
considerably and the contours of the
hillsides leveled out. Walking further he
noticed several distinctive landmarks and
a portion of an old Logging Road to the
right of the creek and a high Bluff area
down stream on the left. Some of the
landmarks are three stumps, tall trees with
one leaning tree and a large fallen tree.
All these landmarks can be seen in the
Patterson/Gimlin Film. D. pointed
these out to M.K. at which time he started
taking photographs to have M.K. compare
these with the original film. Don and M.K.
proceeded to discuss the film and
land-marks that we were looking at. At
that time D. proceeded to walk to the
left of a group of cottonwood trees
towards a slight embankment near a
marshy area. At closer observation he
noticed what he believed was a possible
Sasquatch print. Don was behind D. by
a few yards and when D. noticed the
print he called out to Don to come and
look at the track. At that time with M.K.
they all agreed it was a Sasquatch track.
Don Munroe, Tom Cousino and D.
A "Bat Box" suspended at the end of a shiney pipe.

Don immediately took off his pack and
started preparing plaster in order to cast
the track. At the same time D. continued
to walk in the area looking for any
other evidence. D. found another
track in a sand bar about 30-40 yards from
the first. This track had distinctive toe
impressions that were longer and narrower
than humans. Don was called over again
and determined that the track was
unsuitable for casting. But, Don did
outline the track in the sand with his knife
to show the overall size. Pictures and
measurements were then taken of all the
evidence. While Don was waiting for the
plaster to dry M.K. found a tree break not
far from the prints.
Sean and I had backtracked and came
upon the plaster in the ground drying.
Sean called out and Don finally heard us
and came over to where we saw the print.
All three showed us what they found as we
waited for the plaster to fully dry.
At this point we all started taking are own
field documentation including pictures and
video. M.K. took all these landmarks in
mind and with the video clips that he has
enhanced with hours of comparison on the
Patterson Film concluded that this was the
original Patterson/Gimlin Site.
We all hiked back to the truck and
returned to Louse Camp. Once we arrived
we changed out of our wet clothes from
hiking down the middle of Bluff Creek
and placed them close to the fire.
Don then took out of his car two plaster
casts that he poured from prints he found
from the caves in Idaho to show us in
relation to the track that D. found.
Surprisingly, Don showed the similarities
between his two casts and the one found
along Bluff Creek. He pointed out that all
three had a Mid Tarsal Break that was all
similar in both width and length.
We were all very excited at this moment
listening to Don explain the similarities.
We compared our notes and talked about
After eating dinner we then discussed
packing up the camp early the next
morning and heading for the Hoopa Valley
to see the Hoopa Tribal Museum.
Later on that evening while sitting around
the campfire Mother Nature decided to
call and I headed for the portable “T”. At
which time while inside, the camp antics
began with Sean backing up his truck ever
so quietly against the door to my office.
All the time while D. is using my Sony
handycam to record the event unbeknown
to me. Soon after I tried opening the door
to my surprise I could not get out. I could
hear faint laughter outside the door, I
called out, “D.”, “D.”, “Sean”, with
no answer but laughter. Luckily, soon after
Sean moved his truck. To my surprise I
saw D. holding my camcorder. Little
does he know I erased said event!
About 9pm Don, M.K., and I set out on a
night hike while Sean & D. stayed back
at camp playing poker. We stayed on the
dirt road leading away from Louse Camp
so as not to get lost on the clear starry
night. We hiked about a mile all along the
way rolling football-size boulders down the
hillside to see if we would get a response.
When no response was giving Don
prop-ped himself up along the hillside in
order to look at the stars. M.K. being an
amateur astronomer started to tell us where
the dif-ferent constellations were. After
about 30 minutes we began to head back to
camp.
Upon our arrival D. and Sean said they
heard distant vocalizations at what they
thought was a Sasquatch. We were all
very excited being this was the second
time we heard noises that are reminiscent
of Sasquatch activity. In addition we were
all very thankful for the clear weather that
we had not to mention it was practically a
full moon both nights we camped. Again,
we all sat around the camp fire talking
about the days events for a couple of hours
until one by one we started retreating for
the night into our tents.
As we arose early Saturday morning we
had breakfast and shortly after we started
to break camp. We all followed each other
as we headed to the town of Hoopa on our
way to the Hoopa Tribal Museum. We
were fortunate enough to make it just as
they were ready to close the museum for
the night. We all looked at the various
native artwork and artifacts showing how
they lived and prospered through out the
region. During our visit we spoke with a
tribal member who shared with us stories
about Sasquatch and the history
surrounding its existence with the native
people in this region. They called him,
“The Old Man Of The Woods” and respect
its way of life. We were impressed with
this person's knowledge of the Sasquatch
and thanked him for sharing with us what
he knew.
We then went to Willow Creek and ate at
Cinnabar Sam's and enjoyed a final dinner
amongst friends.This was a very
rewarding expedition and we are looking
forward to our next adventure in the wilds
of northern California searching for
evidence of the existence of Sasquatch.