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AllezAllez510
Trad climber
PDX, OR
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 23, 2008 - 08:37pm PT
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So, a few years ago I was climbing at an area up on the pass called second quarry (also close to The Lost World). I had never been there and was with my friends Nic and Dean. On the way down the road, Deano (who's from Sonora) says "I don;t want to mess with you, but...something lives here." At the the time, I was like 'whatever.'
We climb at second quarry (which is okay, not great) and camp near our cars the first night. During the night, I wake up to Nic's dog's barking. This is a 120 lb. pit bull, the thing never barks. Later on during the night I wake up again on my stomach. I feel paralyzed. I can't move. I felt a 'presence' holding me down. Eventually I went back to sleep and woke up without really giving it a second thought.
Climbing on day two went off without a hitch. I managed to get up some .12 and onsight an .11. The night is a different story. We cook dinner and proceed to indulge in PBR's. I decide to go to bed early. I get kicked awake a little later and Deano is telling me: "Wake up dude! We are getting the f%ck out of here!" My first response was "F@ck you! you woke me up." When I got up, I saw Nic, who is from Alaska, where they have bears that routinely eat people, standing enguarde with a knife facing the darkness. He says "Get the shi!t in the car." I knew they were serious.
This is the story as it was relayed to me. Dean was brushing his teeth by the car and he heard a loud THUD. Yes, there are large pinecones there, but it kept happening. THUD THUD THUD. Next he hears "something" let out a loud SQUAAAAAAKKK! like a giant bird.
At this point Nic hears this and they proceed to get freaked out. The THUDS and SQUAAAAAAKKK! noises are getting closer and closer. At this point, I get kicked awake and we high tail it to Dardanelle. Dean and Nic are good friends. They were genuinely scared and were definitely not messing with me.
My question to y'all is: has anyone familiar with the Sonora Pass had a similar experience? Some other quasi famous climbers have given me similar acounts.
PS I am a skeptic. I don't beleive in god, ghosts, magic, or any other BS but we definitely encountered something up there. Sasquatch, spirits, bird monster...I don't know.
edit: I forgot to add: the whole time we at this place, the only living things we saw were insects and birds. No chipmunks, deer, or coyotes. Anyone familiar with SPH will tell you there are plenty of animals up there. wierd.
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Jan 23, 2008 - 08:41pm PT
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Dude that whole Sonora pass area needs a solid and clear guide( To help remind me of the first ascents I've done) and to help sort out that awesome area. Of course there are other things out there but the republicans just don't want you to know about them.....Sleep tight sunshine......
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jan 23, 2008 - 08:42pm PT
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you sure it wasn't Dingus chasing you off?
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 23, 2008 - 08:43pm PT
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That's DMT and Brutus home turf.
They're real good at scaring the sh'it out of people to protect their turf.
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marky
climber
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Jan 23, 2008 - 08:47pm PT
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ha ha
funny shittt
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Jan 23, 2008 - 08:57pm PT
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actually I've heard this from others.. ask Jerry Dodrill.. just recently some friends were up there and had a very similar experience .. definitely NOT a bear.
....
Sasquatch=Dingus/Munge in a trenchcoat
Edit: those two guys were scared shitless also
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JerryGarcia
Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe
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Jan 23, 2008 - 08:59pm PT
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Even though we have never met in real life, my first thought was DMT.
[edit] or man-bear-pig
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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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Jan 23, 2008 - 09:04pm PT
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Something very similar happened to me on a cold night at La Ventana Arch in New Mexico. Late night drive with a quick break from driving to run up to the arch. My dog was with me.
We were sitting under the Arch when he started getting real nervous which was highly unusual. Then, I heard what I thought was a mountain lion screeching except it was if it was coming from the air and changing locations very quickly. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end and neither of us needed further prompting to get out of there fast.
I've also experienced the paralyzed sensation you speak of while something unworldly delivers some obtuse message.
Who knows what lurks out there. At the least it connects one with our hunter ancestors who faced the danger of being eaten by predators as a normal part of life. In that vein, an interesting read by Doug (Hayduke) and Andrea Peacock entitled "The Essential Grizzly" contains some interesting thoughts on how these ancestral memories affect us now.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/photographs150/rockarch.jpg
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AllezAllez510
Trad climber
PDX, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 23, 2008 - 09:15pm PT
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taorock, my frind Brian wouls say you encountered a "skinwalker."
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Jan 23, 2008 - 09:40pm PT
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This isn't the only time these types of stories have been told. By perfectly creditable people, locals and visitors. Very strange. I tend to view things very empiracally, but I've heard enough that I wonder. Some have started using the word Chupicabra as a quick phrase to describe what has been talked about.
PS: Allez, you guys left so fast that dishes were still at the parking area when I got there to climb the next day. I thought they were someone's litter. Nearby I found a bouldering pad that you guys lost in your haste to leave. Months later, climbing with Dean, he told me the story. I put two and two together and gave him back the pad. I don't think people leave so fast that they lose gear unless they believe there's something real going on.
Very odd, I don't know what to think.
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FeelioBabar
climber
Sneaking up behind you...
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Jan 23, 2008 - 09:47pm PT
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skinwalkers are real sh#t. Not like hollywood bullshit skinwalkers, real Navajo legend ones. My uncle was the sheriff of Blanding Ut for a while, as his father was,...and has some NUTS stories of unexplainable things in the desert and on the res. Skinned humans. coyotes walking on hind legs. Blind women running at 50 MPH alongside the patrol car. Just cause you can't explain doesn't mean it ain't real. Better you don't mention the name of these creatures after dark in the desert...as it is rumored to conjur them
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jan 23, 2008 - 09:48pm PT
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i enjoyed this story, having heard serious accounts of sasquatch encounters from another sonora climber. i believe there's a related thread buried way back here somewhere.
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 23, 2008 - 10:06pm PT
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"Blind women running at 50 MPH alongside the patrol car."
WOW! I couldn't even pedal a bike that fast if I wanted to.
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nick d
Trad climber
nm
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Jan 23, 2008 - 10:27pm PT
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How did he know they were blind?
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 23, 2008 - 10:36pm PT
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No eyeballs
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Jan 23, 2008 - 10:48pm PT
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Hmmm... As I spend a great amount of time in the desert surrounding Blanding, Feelio, I guess I should be more aware, eh? Freaky shit!
Maybe I should find me a big woman companion - to keep me warm out there and protect me from the big things in the night! =)
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jan 23, 2008 - 10:54pm PT
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To the tune of La Bamba:
Chu-chu-chu-chupachucabra
the vampire beast
it is killing my chickens!
it is killing my goats
with a bite on the neck!
Chupa, chucabra ......
Chupa, chucabra ......
Chupa, chupa!
Jingle in a radio ad by a Latino store in the low desert, circa 1994.
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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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Jan 23, 2008 - 10:54pm PT
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Not scary...
Back in the early 70's I was hiking in the Canadian Rockies. I was compelled to walk just off the trail. I went about twenty feet and looked down to see a disked shaped rock about five inches in diameter. When I turned it over there was a hand pattern made by silica. Very distinct, finger joints and all five digits clearly expressed.
I carried it (or it used me) for four miles. I was then drawn off the trail again into a meadow at tree-line. Toward the middle of the meadow sat a stand-a-lone rock the size of a small kitchen table. There were great peak views all around. The stone was warm and fit perfectly into a little depression on top of the rock. As soon as I placed the stone in the depression I felt complete peace. I left it there.
So many amazing things happen in a life. This one was very simple, but I've never forgotten it.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jan 23, 2008 - 11:05pm PT
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there's no chupacabra, and no sasquatch.
that's all I have to say
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Jan 23, 2008 - 11:10pm PT
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No goatsucker, Munge?! Awww, man...!
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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Jan 23, 2008 - 11:13pm PT
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We are ignorant, just note that many thought giant squid were fairy tales too.
----
If my hair is standing up, I would run too.
I don't need to have a better reason than that.
In fact "dang it" if you just consider how many people disappear... Over 119,000 people have disappeared without a trace in California during the year 2006.
I think the average smart person will be running at any hint of a funny feeling.
Who cares if the reason is valid or not, I personally don't want to be the one around to find out.
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chez
Social climber
chicago ill
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Jan 23, 2008 - 11:17pm PT
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obviously a Hefelump.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jan 23, 2008 - 11:20pm PT
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stories just make myths.
we don't need a myth.
i am buying a firearm though.
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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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Jan 23, 2008 - 11:30pm PT
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LOL, Has anyone read Tom Brown's books? Anyone trained in the ways of the scout could easily f-with any one of us. That's what they do for fun. How about that Jersey Devil?
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johnboy
Trad climber
Can't get here from there
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Jan 23, 2008 - 11:34pm PT
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"Over 119,000 people have disappeared without a trace in California during the year 2006. "
They might have been caught up in...
*the border zone*
All just from the threat of enforcing green cards.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jan 23, 2008 - 11:34pm PT
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i'm not saying some person is making sh#t up.
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Bodega, CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 12:01am PT
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There is something to this. Indeed. Can't talk here though. Buy earplugs. You'll sleep better at night.
PS. This is a bad sign:
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Jan 24, 2008 - 12:10am PT
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'One summer morning driving to the Valley from Tuolumne, early, had to be at work, just at the start of the straight aways right around the turnoff for the Yosemite Creek campground I saw this huge thing in the distance moving off to the north, I just caught a glimpse of it as it disappeared into the forest. It was tall and I could tell that it was standing up-right as it moved off...."
Harpole?
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jan 24, 2008 - 12:28am PT
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I ain't saying nuthin, but one time last summmer there was one less of us the next morning. Scary place, stay away!
Though the town os Sonors still seems creepier to me.
At least one of those sentences is the truth.
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 24, 2008 - 12:49am PT
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I love these stories
DMT that was a great story and khanom's too.
Now I'm scared .......
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 12:52am PT
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sounds like a good route name Big Foot Hike, you know, for those offwidth things, the horror!
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Radish
Trad climber
Exeter, California
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Jan 24, 2008 - 01:04am PT
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I was just in Yosemite last week climbing at Reeds and heard the Sonora story from someone who just left there for the same reasons. Here's an account from the Southern Sierra. I believe in the stuff myself, especially lying in my bag in some remote place in the middle of the night when I hear a big branch break far off. A gun feels pretty good then................
Back in the summer of 1986 was the last time a Big foot was possibly sighted in the Southern Sierra. It was near Monache Mountain, on the east side of the Sierras, Straight east from Porterville. According to the Fresno Bee, a construction crew was working on a bridge in a remote part of the Inyo National Forest, on the South Fork of the Kern River in the Golden Trout Wilderness. The five-man crew was working at an 8000 foot elevation around dusk and heard a scream so loud it “sounded like a stadium loudspeaker.” The scream came again 3 more times and so freaked out one of the crew, he grabbed a rifle and fired it into the air. From a distance of a city block they saw a shadowed human looking figure about 8 feet tall and walking upright, move over the top of a hill and disappear. The crew, who was camped at the site, were so rattled they promptly decided to leave their equipment, walk the 2 miles out and drive to the Black Rock Ranger station, where they spent the night.. The rangers told them they had probably heard a mountain lion, which when making a kill will scream, which probably startled a bear on the ridge making it stand upright.. Several of the crew were veterans to the mountains and argued this was different than any mountain lion call or bear encounter they knew before. They returned to the site the next day with a ranger and after thoroughly checking the area found no evidence or footprints, though the crew also found no bear or mountain lion prints. Later hikers in another area reported finding huge footprints with a pronounced big left toe marking. I have recently talked with a friend of one of the crew who was there and he still swears that what they heard and saw was something unknown.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 01:17am PT
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This is lame, by comparison, but still....
When I was a kid we went on vacation every year, starting on Flag Day. My parents were good like that. Patriotic and all. The two week flag day vacation was "Dad's vacation". We loaded up the big, long "Prowler" trailer (you guys remember that cat symbol!), my brother and I filled the bed of the Ford "Super Cab" with our bikes and boxes of toys (mostly Star Wars, GI Joe and He Man) Dad loaded the aluminum fishing boat on top and then we all piled in.
note: Our other vacation were "Mom's vacations"... These involved flights, almost always to another country, hotels, restaurants, etc... Though seemingly a pair of complete opposites, they saw their 50th anniversary and my father adored my mother for all of his days.
Back to Flag Day...
My brother and I always had the back to ourselves. Now the Ford Super Cab, mind you, was HUGE! That wasn't a back seat, it was a sofa! We played all the stupid road games and did our best to annoy my mother to no end too! Man, she loved it when my screeching 10 year-old voice sang, loud and proud, when I wore my Sony Walkman! =)
Off we went. We were supposed to be heading to Medford, Or., where our grandmother was buried. We went the round-about way, as usual... We always started at our cabin in Cedar Valley, just up above Oakhurst. After the weekend, we hit the road... Through Yos, across this HUGE sweeping bridge on a highway and towards the coast we went. We stayed in Eureka a few days. I caught a jellyfish while fishing off the pier! Yikes! We also caught a couple of sand sharks. I also got caught... On a dare, I committed my first crime. I stole a candy bar. That was the only time my father every really raised his voice at me and was visibly pissed!
So, after being walked, by the ear, back into the store and returning the candy bar, across the big bridge, out of Eureka we went. Back to singing Journey and Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Or maybe it was "Billie Jean"... Anyhow, it was back to annoying! My mother tried, but in my 501's, half-shirt and Vaurnets, I was too cool to be quieted! hahaah
I remember fishing along the Trinity River and that was a blast! But the part of the story that this thread made me think of was a small town, way up north, along the Trinity, I believe. The town was named Hoopa, and EVERYTHING in the town was "Bigfoot"! Bigfoot Market, Bigfoot Drive-in, etc... Bigfoot statues, maps of sightings, articles, etc. Everywhere you looked was "Bigfoot"! As a kid, this was all enthralling to my brother and I. Cool shit! I'll have to go back there someday.
We left Hoopa and somewhere between there and the Oregon border, my mother fell asleep and my brother and I started working on Dad! When my mother woke up and we were heading east, instead of north, towards Oregon, boy was she pissed! She didn't really talk to any of us for like 3 or 4 days! See, Jesse, my brother and I, had talked Dad into going to Antelope Lake (up near Susanville) instead of Oregon. Antelope Lake was our favorite place. Almost got myself into some big trouble at the market there... Being a real smartass to a biker guy! Not real bright, but I knew it all...
Of course, Mom eventually got over it and started talking to us. We eventually made it up to Medford the next year and handled the business that Mom was there for. That was the year we went fishing on the Rogue River and visited Crater lake for the first time! A sturgeon on my line pulled us against the current, upstream, as my dad helped me bring him in! HUGE fish! A hell of a lot more work bringing him in than the Marlin I caught in the Caribbean!
Wow! Well, that was probably more amusing to me than any of you.. While you guys talk about weird sh#t, this thread brought on some great memories and made me smile!
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FeelioBabar
climber
Sneaking up behind you...
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Jan 24, 2008 - 01:31am PT
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"how did he know they were blind"
ID'd as local woman who was blind and rumored to practice witchcraft, by Navajo Tribal police who was riding in car...told my grandfather to pull over and go home after the "sighting"....and was very freaked out.
stories...right? just stories....
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wildone
climber
Where you want to be
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Jan 24, 2008 - 01:45am PT
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I've spent a lot of time in the Sonora Pass backcountry, skiing, overnighters, touring, hiked from the dardanelles to tuolumne once, etc, and never had anything out of th ordinary happen to me.
I have to wonder if someone dosed you guys. Really.
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nutjob
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 02:08am PT
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that reminds me wildone... one night hiking across the desert plain in Joshua Tree I had the distinct feeling that I was a member of a primordial baboon-like tribe crossing an African savannah, and I was gripped with the fear of being caught in the open. I was desperate to make it to a rock outcropping, thinking that this would protect me from the Cave Lions. Then there was the lightshow in my sleeping bag triggered by the static electricity...
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Standing Strong
Trad climber
one summer dream
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Jan 24, 2008 - 02:50am PT
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"skinwalker...
he takes you to a sacred place
drinks the tears off your face..."
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AllezAllez510
Trad climber
PDX, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2008 - 09:18am PT
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wildone, we never actually saw anything. I guess what freaked them out was the shrieking. I was asleep for all of this, but my friends were leaving and I did not want to stay there...
2nd quarry is f'in creepy...
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BadInfluence
Mountain climber
Dak side
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Jan 24, 2008 - 10:54am PT
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cool someone email directions on how to get to Bodie or sonaro sightings. i want to go camping there. mtn. lion / bobcat screams are pretty load and scary. i had a large cat circling me once while hiking at night.
did have something take a swipe at my propane can, when camping off of Tioga Pass. the can was close to my head and it woke me up when it happened. i didn't think anything of it until next morning when i noticed a claw mark in the propane can.
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deano
Trad climber
sonora
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Jan 24, 2008 - 12:55pm PT
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dude. Not a bobcat.
This thing is soooo fukin unbelievably real its not funny at all.
So many have encountered it at that very spot, most claim to know what it is.... Ie: chupacabra, bigfoot, spirit or whatever.
The only thing that I will claim is that I don't have a clue what it is.
What I do know, from working with a wildlife biologist who has studied the sonora pass area for over 40 years and describing the event to him, is that the behavioral patters of the animal are very typicly PRIMATE.
Most things in the wilderness, or at least sonora pass wilderness, (post grizzly bear that is), will do one of two things.
1. stalk you and kill you, Ie: big cats.
2. run away as to not get killed by you, Ie: everything else.
this thing literaly jumped around us and went Yeeeet Yeeeeet!
So loud man, so fukin loud.
It was, no doubt in my mind whatsoever, trying to scare us away.
make you own opinon based on that.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Jan 24, 2008 - 01:34pm PT
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"dude. Not a bobcat.
This thing is soooo fukin unbelievably real its not funny at all.
So many have encountered it at that very spot, most claim to know what it is.... Ie: chupacabra, bigfoot, spirit ...... typicly PRIMATE. ...this thing literaly jumped around us and went Yeeeet Yeeeeet!
It was, no doubt in my mind whatsoever, trying to scare us away.
make you own opinon based on that. "
IMHO....Harpole
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kev
climber
CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 01:49pm PT
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Ok it was either Chongo, the man-bear-pig, or what ever you were smoking that night....
Seriously though, great stories.
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AllezAllez510
Trad climber
PDX, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2008 - 02:17pm PT
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Yo, deano.
Everyone here likes this story. I think I will write a post on "Fettucini Man" of Mickey's Beach. That was BY FAR the scariest thing I have seen while climbing.
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JerryGarcia
Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe
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Jan 24, 2008 - 03:09pm PT
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Its someone who lives out in the mountains and wants no visitors. Sonora is one of the few places someone could get away with it.
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MountainMama
climber
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Jan 24, 2008 - 03:12pm PT
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I'm not a climber, but spent a lot of time in the woods & hiking. I think you heard a cougar taking a deer. People think when they hear such loud screeching and screaming that it's the predator, but it's actually the victim. Deer, and rabbits, can scream or shriek incredibly loud when injured or frightened. Cougars don't kill immediately, but like all cats, let the injured victim go and chase it some more. There would no doubt be "thuds" involved. Twice I heard this near our cabin in Eastern Oregon below a salt lick. Both times the intermittent screams cames from different directions over a space of 5 minutes or so. I was outside & could hear branches cracking & loud thumping noises that continued downhill. When all was quiet, I saw a mama deer come down, hesitating, but continuing cautiously in the direction of the commotion. A deer would not normally head towards the scene of danger, but a mama deer having lost her fawn might. This was in the daytime while I had a cabin for security, but if I'd been camping in the night, I would have jumped in my car pretty fast too. Checking the area afterwards, only once did we see some broken branches, never saw blood or fur.
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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Jan 24, 2008 - 03:23pm PT
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My friends who grew up in the valley used to make a contracption with a big coffee can with a string coming out of the bottom of it. You wet your fingers and slide it down the string and it makes an unwordly howl. They'd hide in the woods just outside the campgrounds and do it. Then one would say "it's got me! what the hell is it?" It would FREAK the city folk out.
I was in a bivy sack in Hetch Hetchy, my buddy went to his tent to crash. Then I saw him walking around the camp. I asked him what he was doing, suprised he got out of the tent without making a sound. Then I heard his voice IN the tent. A big bear was visiting. I had to go back to sleep, in a bivy sack in the open with the bear walking around. I was so tired I crashed no problem, but my buddy was tossing in his tent all night.
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Yaro
Trad climber
Philadelphia, PA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 03:30pm PT
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After all those stories it's probably going to sound like a blasphemy, but I think all those stories about the same dude -- Scuzzlebutt. I once saw a TV show about him.
Here is the picture:
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BadInfluence
Mountain climber
Dak side
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Jan 24, 2008 - 04:30pm PT
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"There is something to this. Indeed. Can't talk here though"
"Hmmm, I'm not really at liberty to say too much. But.... "
give up the goods or it's just a bunch of BS
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John Vawter
Social climber
San Diego
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Jan 24, 2008 - 04:36pm PT
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In 1976 I did a solo hike down the length of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, from Santa Rosa Peak in Riverside County to Jacumba, near the Mexican border. I buried water at five places along the route, each two days apart. My folks drove me up to the shoulder of Santa Rosa to drop me off. The next day I hiked past Toro Peak and down the ridge to the head of Nicholias Canyon. On the way off the ridge I spooked a huge owl out of a big bush. I was so close that I had the palpable sense of being pushed back as he spread his wings. I emerged from the canyon into the broad valley at the high end of Rockhouse Canyon where the springs and the indian ruins are, and set up my first camp.
That night I was dozing in my tent when I heard a non-human scream. It sounded angry. I sat bolt upright and opened my pocket knife. Another scream got me up and out standing by the tent door with my little knife, heart pounding with fear that I was about to meet some creature out of Castaneda’s awful dreams. It screached again in my direction, but the beam from my flashlight couldn't reach it. It didn’t sound like anything I had ever heard.
After a few more screaches I heard an owl’s “w-h-h-ooh” from the same location but fainter, like his head was pointed away from me. Then in my direction it gave me the irate, unearthly scream. I heard a faint “whoooo” from far away, and then others from different directions. They were all over the place. I was the intruder in the valley of the owls, and this one really didn’t like having me there. But it left me alone eventually, and I was able to sleep. But I kept the knife open and in reach.
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cowpoke
climber
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Jan 24, 2008 - 04:55pm PT
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great stuff!!! I love the cougar killing deer theory -- even scarier than monsters!
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Denver
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Jan 24, 2008 - 06:09pm PT
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I really love these stories!!!!
Anyone ever experience anything strange in Choco Canyon in NM? My friend believes she had an encounter with a skin walker. he's a scientist, very logical and grounded but also very tapped in, if you know what I mean.
Keep the stories coming. These are great!!!
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Claystone
Trad climber
Sonora Ca.
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Jan 24, 2008 - 07:37pm PT
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Ok ya'll, here's the scoop on Chupie,
Back in the day when we were putting up the first lines at Lost World, the place had a very erie feeling about it, as if someone was checking you out the whole time you were down there.
A couple of years later, while talking with Deano and Yerian about their experiences I was intrigued.
Dave said I called the thing in after establishing "Green Monster", but I just laughed.
So after hearing more accounts of this being, which I totally believed could be real, get this, the thing shows up in my neighborhood here in Long Barn, and actually in my yard, 5 out of 7 days a week, for about 3 months, just ending when the cold came in. Never actually seeing it, but sat out in my yard with my gal for hours just listening to the most wild sh#t you could ever imagine hearing, definitely not of this world. I've got endless stories after it's visit.
I refer to this being as Chupie, short for Chupacabra, For you skeptics, this thing is for real, what ever it is. Google it up.
Peace
David Clay
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fareastclimber
Big Wall climber
Hong Kong & Wales
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Jan 24, 2008 - 07:52pm PT
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Yikes, there are some creepy stories here... and I was just about to go to bed. There must be an explanation to all these? Reminds me of some scary moments frolicking around in the jungle (tropics) after climbing, you hear so much sh#t out there it's hard for your head not to run somewhat wild when you are by yourself... especially in reminding yourself the jungles where I usually am have hidden the odd killer and Japanese soldier. I remember one time coming down from a climb at night by myself I had a good long walk back and heard a growl in the bamboo brush. It was just a dog (wild), but I couldn't see where it was and it had that psychotic quiver in its growl that scared the sh#t out of me. I slowly crept past with my machete in front ready to chop it's f*#king head off and sh#t down its wind pipe.
Worse though, but completely explainable was kipping under a tree about 15 minutes walk out of a small town and as the sun is going down there comes a man from the trail very inadequately dressed and definately not on a hike, far too casual... I look up and say 'good evening' and he grins deeply at me with a fiendish glare in his eye and finally let out a much delayed 'hello.' Man, that dude did not feel right at all... just that vibe... So I ditched camp there for the night and ran to hide in some bushes near the town. I felt stupid in some ways, but who knows maybe I could have just become another pointless statistic of a 'camper gone missing'.
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cintune
climber
Penn's Woods
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Jan 24, 2008 - 08:08pm PT
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"Local legends in the area of Columbia, Pennsylvania speak of a creature called an "albatwitch." The albatwitch is a small (about 4 feet tall), manlike creature which supposedly lived in wooded areas. Their main area of residence seemed to be near Chickies Rock, a heavily wooded area along the banks of the Susquehanna River about a mile or two north of town.
"Albatwitches were also reported from wooded areas all along the river's shore. The creatures are named for a habit which they possess. Their bizarre common name is short for "apple-snitch", as they are reputed to have a taste for apples. Legends speak of how the albatwitches would oftentimes steal apples from picnickers, occasionally even throwing them at the startled people. Legends also record that the creatures often sat in trees, coming down only to find food.
"Legend also says that the albatwitches either became extinct or were driven nearly into extinction in the later years of the nineteenth century. Chickies Rock, where the creatures supposedly lived, does have a tradition of strange sights and sounds - in the 1950s and 1970s, a manlike figure was seen several times, and local legends also speak of sounds like the crack of a whip heard in the woods at night."
http://www.bfro.net/legends/iroquoian.htm
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 08:21pm PT
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I have the hairy attributes for big foot, and maybe at night I look taller than I am in the light...
...but I'm not involved in any of these stories (at least as far as I can remember).
And for all the time I've been in the outback, never really had something that creepy happen, just the occasional "eyes on me" feeling, which was probably happening. How efficient to be eaten, though, recycled to carnivore pop in one digestive track cycle, appreciated down to the last tasty bits. A sweet memorial.
I wasn't implying that DMT et al. actually intentionally scared people, just that nocturnal activities might have been going on which sounded out of place and perhaps scary. But maybe not...
disclaimer: I have no actual knowledge of DMT activities with this regard, all my comments are just uninformed speculation... BS as it were... for the fun of it...
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Risk
Mountain climber
Minkler, CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 10:12pm PT
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If ever there were a time for the spooks of Sonora Pass to come out of hiding, it would have certainly been the evening before the road closed for the season in October/November 1978. Myself, and two good friends camped at the meadows just 1/2 mile west and north of the pass, off an unofficial dirt road. We awoke in the chilly morning and milled about camp and the fire, then took off north up the mountainside right along the crest. The outcrops up there, we found, are like volcanic Swiss cheese; there are caves all over the place, including at least one that passes all the way through the mountain. One cave, I recall, was a pretty small opening on the outside, but opened up into a room where we could all stand up. It never occurred to me up that anything there was spooky. We began to get concerned with the billowing clouds and wind near sunset, so we decided to head west in my VW back to Twain Hart. We were very lucky, as snow came that night and the road closed for the season right behind us. Perhaps the new inhabitants had not yet arrived or were elsewhere that day?
Nearby however, I have had bone-chilling spasms run up my spine on two noteworthy occasions. One in Virginia Canyon and one at Upper McCabe Lake. Something odd certainly inhabits that area. Once, I arrived near the end of the day near dusk from a long hike from Benson Lake when I came upon the carcass of a fawn. This carcass amounted to a completely eviscerated animal minus all organs in the peritoneal cavity. Whoever or whatever had butchered the fawn had done so perfectly, without any mess, and as if with a laser knife. The animal was very warm and its death had been so recent, that its eyes were still entirely wet to the touch. I have always assumed this the work of a cougar, but the condition of the animal, so perfectly cut, has never squared completely with me. Why only certain organs? How so quickly and perfectly? Who? What? How? What for? I did not sleep well that night.
On another occasion, I was caught completely off guard while in total solitude above Upper McCabe Lake. This time I was terrified by the most unusual sound I have ever heard. The sound scared me to the bone. I cannot properly translate it nor fully recall it, as I have never heard it before or since. Perhaps a potential spelling would be a soft and nearby “hoorthieyth-whiielsh” but not quite as a voice, but an artificial sound from something and somewhere unknown. It came from out of the air within 50 feet of me. I searched the immediate area, but found nothing but rock. I always attributed this weird voice-like sound to be the combination of the wind and the shape of rocks right there, like an unusual whistle. However, the wind, it was not, as there was none that day. Who or what was it? What did the sounds mean? Why or how were these odd sounds made?
My most terrifying wilderness encounter took place in the Ishi Wilderness near Chico. We were on a group outing to find Ishi’s last hideout – a cave named “'Wowunupo:’ Grizzly Bear Hiding Place'“ Our group hiked overland on the mesa above the canyon for miles before splitting up owing to flat-out fatigue by some of the group. I led the retreating group back to camp, but we decided to drop into the canyon and hike back upstream along the creek. Once down along the creek, we picked our way. I spotted a hillside cave above the creek, and decided to investigate it, but the others took a rest instead of following me up the short scramble to the dark entrance. I entered the cave, and with a flashlight shimmied and stooped as I went about 30 feet back. At the end was a small room. I sat down inside and shined the flashlight upward to find the ceiling covered in soot from fire and smoke. Then I felt it; this was a place of dire sickness and likely death for someone whose soul visited me right then that day. I felt overwhelming sadness and grief, knowing that Ishi or his family had been there as his people were slowly slaughtered or sickened by disease. I felt the illness too as I crouched in the little room, imagining the horrible scene this place had once witnessed. No one in the group found Ishi’s cave “Wowunupo” that day, but my little excursion bought his life close to me forever.
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Jan 24, 2008 - 11:33pm PT
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For someone who does not believe in so much..
Are you still talking about that? From a year ago...
You sure you don't believe?
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Chris Woolley
Social climber
Colorado
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Jan 25, 2008 - 03:31am PT
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Back in 91 my brother and I were climbing the west side of Matchless Peak above Taylor Park in Colorado. As we cleared timberline there was a lot of willows ahead of us with patches of open ground in between the clumps. We were pretty winded as we pushed up toward the summit so we decided to take a break half bent over trying to regain our breath. I looked up the mountain and felt a little frustrated because there were people a little ways ahead of us. I nudged my brother and said "there's hikers up there," and he acknowledged their presence.
We started up again walking toward the people which were about 75 yards ahead of us. When we hit the next spot where we could see ahead we realized that it wasn't hikers but Big Horn sheep ewes and lambs. Once again we acknowledged this to each other a little puzzled as we were quite sure what we saw before. Off we pushed again toward the sheep and again as we found a place to see up the hill we realized that it wasn't sheep but turkeys. We looked at each other in amazement because,
a. there usually aren't any turkeys up there and,
b. we were sure of what we saw before.
Now we were determined to really see what this was. The turkeys had moved over a ridge not to far ahead of us so we pushed up as fast as we could go. As we crested the small ridge we looked ahead of us, in the open hillside were a flock of ptarmigan. From the vantage point of the ridge we could see a long ways up the mountain, on the sides and back down into the willows from where we just came. No people, no sheep, no turkeys.
I've lived in Colorado all my life, half of it climbing up mountains. How in the world do you get from people to ptarmigan? I have to say it sure made my head spin because of how sure we were of what we saw.
I really think that because of the original misconception and the light and the extreme exertion, our minds just played tricks on both my brother and I.
Maybe.
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bookworm
Social climber
Falls Church, VA
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Jan 25, 2008 - 10:21am PT
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many years ago, i was probably 13 or 14, my father and i went squirrel hunting with my father's friend, john, in the gw national forest in virginia...we had driven way back on some logging roads with a pop-up trailer and were camped in a clearing--it was dark...i mean pitch
so, we're sitting around the campfire shooting the breeze when we hear this loud, weird, and (for me) terrifying screeching, which went on for about 30 seconds (at the time, it felt like several minutes)...my father and john didn't react, so i played it cool, too...then, after a couple minutes, john got up and casually walked into the camper...he returned with his shotgun, loaded it, and sat back down with the gun across his knees...nobody discussed it, but we went to bed soon after, and i watched my dad load his gun and set it within reach of the bed
at breakfast the next day, my dad and john decided it was probably screech owls (ever seen my cousin vinny?) coming off the roost...they grew up hunting and running around the woods and had encountered just about every creature in the mid atlantic region, and i could tell neither was fully satisfied with their explanation
mostly, i think there are logical explanations for most of these stories...our senses are so corrupted by modern life that we can't correctly process many of the natural sights and sounds and smells we experience in the wilderness...there are too many stories of hunters being shot accidently by experienced hunters who mistake them for animals--like deer, bear, or, yes, even turkeys...when you're deep in the wilderness and alone even the hiss of a domestic cat can sound terrifying
still, the world is way too big for us to be so certain that we know everything...i love these stories, especially the acknowledgement by most of the writers that they simply don't know what they saw or heard
my brother, very staid and not given to hyperbole, returned from a fishing trip on lake gaston...at dinner, he shared a story...he and his buddies were night fishing, probably 1 or 2 in the morning, in a small boat in the middle of the lake...when they saw a red light come across the lake and hover above them maybe a thousand feet up...no sound, just the round red light...it hovered for about a minute, then shot away at a 90 degree angle from its original trajectory...again, no sound and moving faster than anything they had ever seen...my brother saw a ufo, meaning he still cannot identify it
these stories make me want to get out there...way out there
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deano
Trad climber
sonora
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Jan 25, 2008 - 01:28pm PT
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I just realy don't think that it could have been a mountain lion. the noises were brought on by us startling something by the van. then only came back again once we investigated it with the head lamps. I dont think deer screem from being eaten based on whether or not they are being looked at by humans. plus, there would be no noise at all for quite a while and then a loud thumping followed directly by the Yeuuuutttt Yeuuuttttt in a large circle around our camp. it circled us twice before we packed up. I am toataly open to it being an animal that is already know, or a human which scares me more than anything but nothing has presented itself as reasonable so far based on what we each remember about that night.
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AllezAllez510
Trad climber
PDX, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 25, 2008 - 02:23pm PT
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The thought of a person out there f@cking with us what really scared me. When we were up at Dardanelles I thought it could be some redneck defending his outdoor meth lab.
It's just wird how place can have such a creepy vibe. One other place that I always thought was super creepy was the Putah Creek bouldering area. It's a great boulder, but it is super creepy to be there by yourself.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Jan 25, 2008 - 02:36pm PT
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When I was 5 or six my grandad took me camping at Mt. Palomar. He styled me with an extra large box of dept store popcorn for the drive. We slept on pine needle beds and he made pancakes with beer. After breakfast, he showed me how he could take off his thumbs, Both of 'em! He also pulled a quarter from behind my ear.
That trip still amazes me.
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Bodega, CA
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Jan 25, 2008 - 02:49pm PT
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I've talked to a bunch of people who have experienced this mysterioso, and the stories are all similar, though people telling them don't necessarily know each other. Whatever it is, it is real and terrifying. Some described it as being from the spirit world. Nobody has been physically attacked, though the disappearance of a woman from Donnell Vista has never been resolved, to my knowledge. The old man who lives at the power plant above Beardsley said he had a gigantic mountain lion down there for years, but it had moved up canyon (toward direction of Donnell). Who knows what is? Mexican Mafia/pot growers?
Messner's book on the yeti is a good read, though when discussing it one night around a fire in the Desolation Wilderness, we were interrupted by what has been for me the most terrifying encounter in the mountains. We packed up camp, abandoned the fire and ran down the trail, hearing wild shrieking and crashing behind us. Perhaps it is best not to invoke the evil spirits by speaking of them in their own domain.
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BadInfluence
Mountain climber
Dak side
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Jan 25, 2008 - 02:59pm PT
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one night hanging in my friends apartment i was starring at his tapestry. all of the sudden the tapestry had all these Indians (kind of like the Indian on the 5.10 shoes) running around a fire and singing Wa Wa Wa Wa. after i puked the Indians were gone
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jan 25, 2008 - 04:22pm PT
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That link to the Utah ranch is creepy...I'm kinda speechless.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Jan 25, 2008 - 04:43pm PT
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The link to that ranch reminds me of the whole Amityville thing. And you know how that turned out....
Funny shit!
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Jan 25, 2008 - 05:25pm PT
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Now this thread makes sense... To gain further understanding, read this
Lonely f*#kers! Go out to a bar and hook up or something already! Sheesh!
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micronut
Trad climber
fresno, ca
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Jan 25, 2008 - 05:41pm PT
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I got a great sasquatch story, I was just typing it up in a new thread. check it out.
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deano
Trad climber
sonora
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Jan 25, 2008 - 10:03pm PT
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hey Wade,
I don't give a f@ck about you or your grandpa's thumbs.
I would have called myself a idiot too before some crazy sh#t happened to me.
Like I said, I'm not saying that its bigfoot or a monster or a spirit or a ghost or an alien or chuppacabra or whatever.
I seriously think that its some person or a animal that has already been discovered.
I just said that I don't know which or what.
if you want to patronize people go to UFO.com or some other sh#t.
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Caveman
climber
Cumberland Plateau
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Jan 26, 2008 - 12:23am PT
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Deano, most folks are liable to raise an eyebrow when hearing of such stories. People have told me that the 'thing' I heard on Pigeon Mtn. was a deer, owl, bear, cat,etc. I've heard all of those and more and the first instinct I had was that it was human.......but that didn't compute because any human reaching those decibels would have to be huge!
I didn't hear that kind of call repeated until one evening about a year ago. I was in the kitchen and my wife was in the living room reading with the TV on. All of a sudden there was this vocalization on TV that brought me running into the living room.
The show that happened to be on was about the Texas bigfoot and the call was one man's rendition of what he had heard. I had never heard a duplication of the vocalization I experienced anywhere until that night and that dude nailed it! Then, as the subject was brought up stories started filtering out about many similar occurances in the same area.
The 'run away' story I found most telling is of some Johnny Rebs on patrol down along Glass Mill road the first night of the Battle of Chickamauga. They heard noise in the woods and went to investigate and exterminate. They
supposedly came face to face with a 10ft tall hairy thing that promptly chased them out of the area. Having somewhat of an idea as to the condition of Johnny I'd say it would take a whole hell of a lot to chase them away!
One thing I might add is that if any of you ever hear what I heard then the words 'might have heard' or 'may have experienced' will not be in your vocabulary. caveman
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Jan 26, 2008 - 12:42am PT
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WoodySt
Trad climber
Riverside
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Jan 26, 2008 - 11:49am PT
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It's been many years ago. My wife and I were driving through Death Valley down from Shoshone. It was dark and we were tired so I pulled off the road under some type of tree; we decided to pull out the bags and spend the night. Sometime later my wife screamed and we were both wide awake. We could feel a vibration in the ground and a loud scraping sound coming from the hill above us. We could sense something approaching from above; and even though dark, I could see something very large more or less undulating down toward us. We jumped in the car (VW Bug), and I tried to start the engine, but was so shook up, I dropped the keys and fumbled around trying to get the hell out of there. My wife was hysterical and crying, and I was freaking out. All of a sudden, I felt the car lurch a bit and the back end sink as something very big passed right over us. The Bug seemed like it was going to be pressed to the ground and crunched with us inside. I couldn't see anything; the windows were blocked. Suddenly, the car raised up and the front window cleared as whatever it was moved on in front of the car. It was in front of the car so we couldn't move out. I flipped on the lights and just about dumped in my pants. It was huge, but I couldn't tell what it was. It was moving up and down much like someone doing pushups. Then it clicked in my mind what I was seeing, and I knew we were okay. I jumped out with my flashlight and ran up next to it. Even my wife came out when I called her. Christ, it was the biggest damn Inchworm I'd ever seen.
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Cap'n Hook
Sport climber
Sonora, CA
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Don't know if anyone mentioned this before but the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center is right around the corner there with more than a few marines that no how to be invisible and scare the sh#t out of people?
A scout sniper is no joke, but I'm sure they'd love to pick on us up there.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
atlanta
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geeze I am glad I took up golf.
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lurxt
Boulder climber
San Francisco,CA
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In the early 80's I lived in Mi-Wuk Village and one summer my friend and I heard the most horrible screams in the middle of the night. It really sounded like a woman in distress but in hind sight I now really believe it may have been something else.
Also spotted an upright white thing walking in 1977 near Kingsbury Grade and I've been a bit obsessed with the subject ever since.
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
Castle Rock
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OK, I did the McLoud River one year and decided to camp out by myself at the back of the lake on private property since four hours of I-5 was not what I needed right then.
First weirdness, night time, a boat pulls into the distant cove, I watch the red and green lights change places, then disaappear.
Great. A landing party coming to use me for cat fish bait.
Nobody ever comes ashore, turns out they left, but the bank hid their lights, and I could not hear the motor.
Next up. Thump...thump...thump.
Three in the morning. Diving light reveals nothing.
Hours go by, thump...thump.
Turns out that dear were stomping in old fire pits to get coal dust on their legs to kill mites, go figure.
Long night. Would have been better off in tat the Cottonwood Truck Stop.
You want something real spooky?
Check this:
Flashlights
"It's night. We're out a fair piece. I'm not sure what language the locals spoke, but since we weren't with 'em, it doesn't matter a bunch. Probably one of the 'yard dialects, which were all outta my league, anyway. It's been a long, hot, miserable day. We're comin' out again. We've been in about five days, sneakin' and peekin', makin' with the low profile. Mostly 'cause this place is straight outta In Country, 3rd cut, 1st side of the tape - Six Clicks - and this is "Charlie's Land." Actually, it was big brother Chuck's, but you get the picture.
We'd been down in a valley with a goodly sized body of troops - not ours. They felt real comfortable there, not a lot of real tight security. We have some counts, some pics, a mail pouch some guy walkin' alone on a trail had been convinced he really didn't need anymore. We'd do that sometimes when it was time to go home. I'm told some people had use for this stuff. Don't know, don't read it any better than I speak it.
We'd moved a long way since then. We're about two klicks from our exfil point, where we're scheduled to be in the mornin'. Did a nice little fishhook, doublin' back to where we could overlook our own trail in case somebody is interested in recoverin' his mail. We move again one more time between sunset and last light, just to be sure. I have first watch. I always have first watch. I snore real bad and everybody wants to get to sleep before me. Whoever's got the watch will sit next to me for the same reason. Snorin' has its advantages - I'm always first to know.
I stand for two hours. It's dead out there. A few crickets, somethin' small movin' in the brush, some night birds about their business. We have mini-claymores out, and I make a last walk of the line before wakin' my relief. He's a "Bru," one of the northernmost tribe of 'yards; taller, heavier and darker than their southern kin. Still all of 5'4". He smiles, musta been dreamin' a good one. He takes the watch and I settle in for six or so hours of snooze. He too makes the rounds before sittin' down next to me. I'm still only in country for six months, and they're still checkin' me out. Okay, they have been doin' it for a lifetime, I'll take the crosscheck. Hell, they're better at it than I am, anyway. I drift.
Someone's shakin' my shoulder. Eyes fly open and I get ready to apologize - musta done it again. Isn't my Bru, it's Mr. Weet, the translator. His expression is not "anger-at-snoring." The rest of the senses come on line as he moves on to wake up the others. It's quiet now. Nary a cricket, bird or anythin' else. This is NOT good. Adrenalin begins to pump as the other rustle softly into wakefulness. It's been maybe two minutes since the first shake, and I'm in my web gear and recoverin' my pack. Weet comes back and points up slope in the general direction of our back trail. I don't, but I wanna scream. I also am glad for the cork, otherwise the place would be an advertisement with neon lights real fast.
A few meters below the crest of the ridge is a row of flashlights. They're movin' down slope, real slow, about five to ten meters apart, online, as dress-right-dress as the terrain allows. I've heard of this in war stories back at Kontum. Didn't believe 'em. Sh#t, flashlights, ridiculous! I'll figure out who I owe apologies to later. The one zero is up and looking, too. He looks distressed. Not at the flashlights, I think he's seen my face. I pick my jaw up, and my RPD. I'm straphangin', not a regular member of the team, and I don't want to look too bad.
The 'yards are up and ready to go. One of 'em hands Chief his CAR, and he starts makin' decisions. We get real close together and he speaks real soft. We're gonna cut and run. Don't look like we've been seen yet, though they damn sure know we are here. Don, our point (another Bru, couldn't pronounce his name, so settled on Don) starts puttin' timin' fuses on the mines. Chief makes sure everybody has grenades at hand. Directionless weapons - they go boom, and the other guys still don't know where you are. Real desirable tactic right now.
Its now about ten minutes after the first shake. Don's got everythin' rigged and we start movin' perpendicular to the approachin' line. Real slow-like. Think the phrase "excruciatingly slow" was made for this. We gotta try to be absolutely quiet in serious darkness and still make enough time to get past any flankers. There's only a few of us, and a good-sized squad could take us out. We're still too close to use the radio, too. Only got so much volume control on the damn things. We've got ten more minutes until the claymores go. That's supposed to draw attention, and when that happens we gonna run like all hell about forty-five degrees off course for the LZ. We'll hook in later when it quiets down again. We got an earlier than planned start, so we have the time. It's a good plan, the 'yards like it - so I like it.
We manage to get past the flank before time runs out. The mines go before the line gets to 'em. Seven of 'em, spaced by the time Don took to set it up. We hear startled grunts just about seven or eight meters straight uphill, where there are no flashlights. Lots of shootin' goin' on behind us, so it's "show time." The 'yards chunk grenades high thata way. I got green tracers, so I unload some of my ammo. This is prearranged, not like I'm thinkin' fast. Adrenalin dump is startin' to wear off. I'm gonna get another real soon now. One scream, maybe a grenade, maybe me. Lots of yellin'. Weet says we can cut a choggy now, they think we're confused "friendlies". We need no second invitation. There's a high speed trail about half a klick off in the direction we're goin'. No time to observe rules. Must have left a trail a blind guy could have followed. Ran the trail, too. Like I said, not a time for strict adherence to the rules.
About a half hour later, it's still dark. We set up in a bunch of rocks on a slope. We've put a ridgeline between us and the flashlights, and it's time for a little talkin'. The FAC won't be up yet, so Chief sets the radio for Moonbeam. Takes two calls, but they're home. He announces "deepshit!" and asks for a sunrise time at the LZ. Maybe some friendly air assets are in order? Damn straight! It's only two hours till dawn. So we get to humpin'. Hit the LZ early. Don and Weet leave us long enough to check it out. They come back with smiles. Good news, 'drenalin only carry you so far.
Sun begins to poke up about the time we hear a distant thunder that sounds like Phantom. Low down to the south we see the first snake comin' over a ridge line. Don sees movement on the far side of the LZ, bushes movin'. None of the rest of us see it. But we're tired. Chief has the fast movers and snakes tear up the real estate just to be on the safe side. A million bucks for a movin' bush. Whaddaf*#k! They can dock my pay.
We get on the slicks and make good time back to a friendly site where we use our bus transfers for the final leg home. Fire base somethin' or the other. Medic comes out on the firebase and paints the lacerations we got from the underbrush. Nobody's got any new holes, so we're in good shape. The guys at the fire base look at us funny. 'Sokay, we probably look a little harried. We sleep from there to Kontum. Door gunner has to wake us up. Didn't kiss the tarmac. Kissed the local equivalent of the porcelain god instead. Good enough, glad to be home.
We sleep for a day or so. Too much adrenalin is not good for you, y'know. We go to debriefin'. Doc (Recon Co. first shirt) is bent outta shape for the ordnance expenditure at the LZ. To a man, we tell him he can go do it his way next time. And what he can do with THAT. We go meet at the Recon Club and get knee-walkin', commode-huggin', snot-slingin' drunk. I apologize to the old timers. They can't figure out for what. One of 'em (Joe, I think) pulls out a flashlight and shines it in my eyes. They laugh their asses off when I sh#t gold bricks. Friends are priceless things. Have to be, who'd spend good money on 'em?
I still don't much like flashlights, even though they're handy when it gets dark."
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
Castle Rock
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OK, I did the McLoud River one year and decided to camp out by myself at the back of the lake on private property since four hours of I5 was not what I needed right then.
First weirdness, night time, a boat pulls intt the distant cove, I waych the red and green lights change places, then diasappear.
Great. A landing party coming to use me for cat fish bait.
Nobody ever comes ashore, turns out they left, but the bank hid their lights, and I could not hear the motor.
Next up. Thump...thump...thump.
Three in the morning. Diving light reveals nothing.
Hours go by, thump...thump.
Turns out that dear were stomping in old fire pits to get coal dust on their legs to kill mites, go figure.
Long night. Would have been better off in tat the Cottonwood Truck Stop.
You want real life horror?
Check this:
Flashlights
It's night. We're out a fair piece. I'm not sure what language the locals spoke, but since we weren't with 'em, it doesn't matter a bunch. Probably one of the 'yard dialects, which were all outta my league, anyway. It's been a long, hot, miserable day. We're comin' out again. We've been in about five days, sneakin' and peekin', makin' with the low profile. Mostly 'cause this place is straight outta In Country, 3rd cut, 1st side of the tape - Six Clicks - and this is "Charlie's Land." Actually, it was big brother Chuck's, but you get the picture.
We'd been down in a valley with a goodly sized body of troops - not ours. They felt real comfortable there, not a lot of real tight security. We have some counts, some pics, a mail pouch some guy walkin' alone on a trail had been convinced he really didn't need anymore. We'd do that sometimes when it was time to go home. I'm told some people had use for this stuff. Don't know, don't read it any better than I speak it.
We'd moved a long way since then. We're about two klicks from our exfil point, where we're scheduled to be in the mornin'. Did a nice little fishhook, doublin' back to where we could overlook our own trail in case somebody is interested in recoverin' his mail. We move again one more time between sunset and last light, just to be sure. I have first watch. I always have first watch. I snore real bad and everybody wants to get to sleep before me. Whoever's got the watch will sit next to me for the same reason. Snorin' has its advantages - I'm always first to know.
I stand for two hours. It's dead out there. A few crickets, somethin' small movin' in the brush, some night birds about their business. We have mini-claymores out, and I make a last walk of the line before wakin' my relief. He's a "Bru," one of the northernmost tribe of 'yards; taller, heavier and darker than their southern kin. Still all of 5'4". He smiles, musta been dreamin' a good one. He takes the watch and I settle in for six or so hours of snooze. He too makes the rounds before sittin' down next to me. I'm still only in country for six months, and they're still checkin' me out. Okay, they have been doin' it for a lifetime, I'll take the crosscheck. Hell, they're better at it than I am, anyway. I drift.
Someone's shakin' my shoulder. Eyes fly open and I get ready to apologize - musta done it again. Isn't my Bru, it's Mr. Weet, the translator. His expression is not "anger-at-snoring." The rest of the senses come on line as he moves on to wake up the others. It's quiet now. Nary a cricket, bird or anythin' else. This is NOT good. Adrenalin begins to pump as the other rustle softly into wakefulness. It's been maybe two minutes since the first shake, and I'm in my web gear and recoverin' my pack. Weet comes back and points up slope in the general direction of our back trail. I don't, but I wanna scream. I also am glad for the cork, otherwise the place would be an advertisement with neon lights real fast.
A few meters below the crest of the ridge is a row of flashlights. They're movin' down slope, real slow, about five to ten meters apart, online, as dress-right-dress as the terrain allows. I've heard of this in war stories back at Kontum. Didn't believe 'em. Sh#t, flashlights, ridiculous! I'll figure out who I owe apologies to later. The one zero is up and looking, too. He looks distressed. Not at the flashlights, I think he's seen my face. I pick my jaw up, and my RPD. I'm straphangin', not a regular member of the team, and I don't want to look too bad.
The 'yards are up and ready to go. One of 'em hands Chief his CAR, and he starts makin' decisions. We get real close together and he speaks real soft. We're gonna cut and run. Don't look like we've been seen yet, though they damn sure know we are here. Don, our point (another Bru, couldn't pronounce his name, so settled on Don) starts puttin' timin' fuses on the mines. Chief makes sure everybody has grenades at hand. Directionless weapons - they go boom, and the other guys still don't know where you are. Real desirable tactic right now.
Its now about ten minutes after the first shake. Don's got everythin' rigged and we start movin' perpendicular to the approachin' line. Real slow-like. Think the phrase "excruciatingly slow" was made for this. We gotta try to be absolutely quiet in serious darkness and still make enough time to get past any flankers. There's only a few of us, and a good-sized squad could take us out. We're still too close to use the radio, too. Only got so much volume control on the damn things. We've got ten more minutes until the claymores go. That's supposed to draw attention, and when that happens we gonna run like all hell about forty-five degrees off course for the LZ. We'll hook in later when it quiets down again. We got an earlier than planned start, so we have the time. It's a good plan, the 'yards like it - so I like it.
We manage to get past the flank before time runs out. The mines go before the line gets to 'em. Seven of 'em, spaced by the time Don took to set it up. We hear startled grunts just about seven or eight meters straight uphill, where there are no flashlights. Lots of shootin' goin' on behind us, so it's "show time." The 'yards chunk grenades high thata way. I got green tracers, so I unload some of my ammo. This is prearranged, not like I'm thinkin' fast. Adrenalin dump is startin' to wear off. I'm gonna get another real soon now. One scream, maybe a grenade, maybe me. Lots of yellin'. Weet says we can cut a choggy now, they think we're confused "friendlies". We need no second invitation. There's a high speed trail about half a klick off in the direction we're goin'. No time to observe rules. Must have left a trail a blind guy could have followed. Ran the trail, too. Like I said, not a time for strict adherence to the rules.
About a half hour later, it's still dark. We set up in a bunch of rocks on a slope. We've put a ridgeline between us and the flashlights, and it's time for a little talkin'. The FAC won't be up yet, so Chief sets the radio for Moonbeam. Takes two calls, but they're home. He announces "deepshit!" and asks for a sunrise time at the LZ. Maybe some friendly air assets are in order? Damn straight! It's only two hours till dawn. So we get to humpin'. Hit the LZ early. Don and Weet leave us long enough to check it out. They come back with smiles. Good news, 'drenalin only carry you so far.
Sun begins to poke up about the time we hear a distant thunder that sounds like Phantom. Low down to the south we see the first snake comin' over a ridge line. Don sees movement on the far side of the LZ, bushes movin'. None of the rest of us see it. But we're tired. Chief has the fast movers and snakes tear up the real estate just to be on the safe side. A million bucks for a movin' bush. Whaddaf*#k! They can dock my pay.
We get on the slicks and make good time back to a friendly site where we use our bus transfers for the final leg home. Fire base somethin' or the other. Medic comes out on the firebase and paints the lacerations we got from the underbrush. Nobody's got any new holes, so we're in good shape. The guys at the fire base look at us funny. 'Sokay, we probably look a little harried. We sleep from there to Kontum. Door gunner has to wake us up. Didn't kiss the tarmac. Kissed the local equivalent of the porcelain god instead. Good enough, glad to be home.
We sleep for a day or so. Too much adrenalin is not good for you, y'know. We go to debriefin'. Doc (Recon Co. first shirt) is bent outta shape for the ordnance expenditure at the LZ. To a man, we tell him he can go do it his way next time. And what he can do with THAT. We go meet at the Recon Club and get knee-walkin', commode-huggin', snot-slingin' drunk. I apologize to the old timers. They can't figure out for what. One of 'em (Joe, I think) pulls out a flashlight and shines it in my eyes. They laugh their asses off when I sh#t gold bricks. Friends are priceless things. Have to be, who'd spend good money on 'em?
I still don't much like flashlights, even though they're handy when it gets dark.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Aug 13, 2008 - 02:27pm PT
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I'm surprised you superstitious, in-monsters-believing, afraid of the dark types weren't all over this!
Chupacabra Caught on film
hahaha Superstitious foo..., err, I mean tools!
Still not as "happenin" as that ranch tale up-thread though! lol
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Aug 13, 2008 - 03:10pm PT
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if
grey fox with mange = goat sucker
??? = bigfoot
else
photoshop pics = tahoe tessie???
or
DMT=BigFoot=LEB=Tahoe Tessie=locker=Chupacabra?
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Aug 13, 2008 - 03:15pm PT
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"It is also known that the Washoe used Cave Rock as very sacred area."
It is known by more folks that they used it as a repository for their empty beer cans and trash!
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Aug 13, 2008 - 05:19pm PT
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I'm thinkin' you all are hearing Oogie Boogie, honestly...
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TahoeClimb
Trad climber
Reno, Nevada
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Aug 14, 2008 - 02:05pm PT
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bookworm
Social climber
Falls Church, VA
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Aug 14, 2008 - 07:53pm PT
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ok, here's a backyard scary story...
i let the dogs out and they tear ass straight for the holly tree along the fence; as they near the fence, i see a squirrel drop to the ground from about 15 feet up; i think, "oh sh** they're gonna eat some squirrel"; instead, they both hit the breaks and stand over the immobile squirrel; now, i've seen squirrels fall from 20-30 feet, and they usually bounce right back up; so, now i think, "injured squirrel...not a fair fight" and push the dogs away, glancing at the squirrel that is half buried in the leaves; a tap with my foot convinces me this squirrel is dead; i'm puzzled because the squirrel didn't fall far, and he looks plump and healthy; i get a plastic bag and pick up the dead squirrel--which is still warm--and the squirrel HAS NO HEAD! whoa!!! i quickly look up but see nothing in the tree (not sure what i was looking for)
my first thought was a hawk, which are fairly common, but i never saw/heard anything fly out of the tree, and i've never seen a hawk big enough to tear the head off an adult squirrel, and i've always thought most animals go for the belly first for those nutritious organs
any thoughts...this was in the spring, middle of the day, suburban neighborhood
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scuffy b
climber
Elmertown
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Aug 14, 2008 - 08:07pm PT
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I think you need to make yourself a squirrel suit and spend
some nights alone in your back yard (for science, of course).
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Aug 14, 2008 - 08:26pm PT
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I saw this show on TV where an Elk or large deer made this hideous sound by either blowing in or out it's mouth and nose, might explain the almost scream like noises that were commented on above.
that's all i got to say about that.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Aug 29, 2008 - 08:34pm PT
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For all you inbred, superstitious climber types... Another scawey monster ting from under yer wittle bed...
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east side underground
Trad climber
crowley ca
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Aug 29, 2008 - 11:11pm PT
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chreppy sh@#T! It's a strange world! Do you think the creature hybernates? Spend alot of time around Sonora pass in the winter.Never heard anything like this.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Aug 29, 2008 - 11:47pm PT
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hey there all... say, just a bit more notes to add to your collection... not sure if these help at all... as this was from someones "purple martin" site, and how owl trouble causes the birds to scream--though perhaps other nested birds could do so, out in the wild, if owls attack them in colonies... but only bird and owl study-folks would rightly know more... here is the share from :
Understanding How Owls Raid Purple Martin Gourds And Houses
From: Steve Kroenke, Tallahassee, Florida
Date: 2/2/02
Time: 10:31:37 AM
link: http://www.purplemartin.org/forumarchives/archive/KroenkHowOwls.htm
Behavioral Signs Of Owl Predation:
"There are several key martin behavioral signs that will TELL you something is bothering the martins at night. First, are your martins highly nervous about returning to roost in the houses and gourds? This is particularly true early in the nesting season before martins have eggs or young. This is NOT the typical "hawk fright" response where martins circle high above the colony until late and then come screaming down all at once to their nests. This pre-roosting "owl fright" behavior is different. You may see your martins land on the houses and gourds then fly away. They stay there a few minutes, and then bolt. They make repeated back and forth flights and seem hesitant to stay. The martins don’t socialize in the late afternoons around the colony. They are definitely nervous. Finally, they may enter their nests, but some start leaving right before dark and these DON’T come back. This leaving before dark behavior is one of the best signs that it is an owl bothering the martins at night and not any Accipiter hawk. I have seen this behavior over and over again at my colonies that had repeated owl attacks, particularly early in the season. The martins would return and enter their gourds and houses at roosting time. Then just before dark, many martins would start leaving and flying as fast as their wings would take them away from the horrors of the night.
Most disturbing to me has been the death screams of martins being killed at night by owls. It is one of the most horrible sounds you will ever hear and I sometimes find myself shaking afterwards. I still can’t accept it. That is how martins let you know at night that an owl is attacking. I used to leave my window open in my bedroom so I could rush outside when I heard that "death rattle". These screams were so loud that I was awakened from sleep. As a martin emits its final death scream, other martins may bolt from the gourd cluster or house. I have seen that happen. The night and early morning acoustics are excellent for the transmission of sounds and the death screams of martins being butchered alive by owls has greatly disturbed and emotionally affected me."
From: Steve Kroenke, Tallahassee, Florida
also:
http://birdcinema.com/view_video.php?viewkey=d1ad154ad2d039d1fadf
"Owls have amazing binocular vision under low light conditions. Their hearing is acute and they have good depth perception. They can pin point the horizontal and vertical direction of a sound. They hunt by night and sometimes emit a horrible-sounding noise when they make a kill."
one lasts note, so far:
http://www.wickedlocal.com/brewster/news/lifestyle/columnists/x775333336
you must go down to the baby owl section, near the bottom, where it mentions their "blood curding" screams for food....
(most likely adult owls could be in attack mode, if folks are nearby???, such as campers?) while they try to hunt and feed these "loud" babes...
*well, just trying to add some nature-notes, you all.. god bless...
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Aug 30, 2008 - 12:00am PT
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hey there all... now... here are some more "unatural" sounding accounts for you, now that we got nature set into the first catagory:
THIS IS A LINK TO TUOLOMNE ACCOUNTS OF NIGHT NOISES, and some etc:
http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_county_reports.asp?state=CA&county=Tuolumne
EDIT:
oh SAY, you can acctually submit a REPORT here, too, if you want... so it says at the bottom...
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Aug 30, 2008 - 02:52am PT
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hey there... say, just a bump, in case someone needs the TOULUME link for to make or read the reports....
very interesing stuff there folks...
i never knew that existed and never would, if it had not been for this "sonora pass monster" thread here ---- thanks allezallez510
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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This is probably the biggest myth of all.... Scary how many people believe in this one.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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some weird sh#t up on the Pass found yesterday.
I'll let JD post up about it though.
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CAMNOTCLIMB
Trad climber
novato ca
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Oct 28, 2008 - 07:39pm PT
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i have spent a lot-o-nights under the stars, inner city as well as the outback. so far nothing to scare me. except for that time in the bar in utah...
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Oct 29, 2008 - 04:24pm PT
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Raccoons
At least at Pleasant Valley Res. that's what it would be.
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katiebird
climber
yosemite
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Oct 29, 2008 - 05:58pm PT
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In mid July Ron and I were climbing back behind Pywiack. It was a beautiful day with that typical strong wind back there. As we were getting ready to climb this intensely strange smell hit us. It was really strong, not musky like a bear, more semi-sweet and curious. We both looked at each other and said "what's that?" We started to scan around the trees below down towards the water run-off and up towards Pennyroyal area and towards the approach back there. Neither of us saw anything but then suddenly the hair on our arms stood up and it felt like any second something very very large was going to turn the corner towards us and we heard movement through the trees and then suddnely the wind picked up again and it all seemed fine. It was strange, for sure. That's my only experience like that, thankfully.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
somewhere without avatars.........
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Oct 29, 2008 - 06:19pm PT
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Once, a LONG time ago while on an Internet forum, I heard stories of a magical hammer that would appear. No one has actually seen this mythical hammer, but many believe it will one day spring forth, out of mid-air, as if made by magic and save the aid climbing world.
Me, I say it's just a myth and makes for great campfire stories...
Oh... `cept for that one time I saw a chupacabra wielding one, as he was headed to big foot's pad. Tea and cakes with Mojo Risin' and Elvis, I think.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Oct 30, 2008 - 01:25am PT
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I was reading some of the sh#t on this site and it's kinda creepy...I'm just sayin'!
http://www.bfro.net
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Porkchop_express
Trad climber
thats what she said...
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Some interesting stuff here. I dont have any relevant firsthand experiences to relate but I enjoy hearing them from others. I was wondering, however, if anyone has heard/seen anything odd at Arrow Canyon in NV? I ask because I have a climbing guide of the area and they actually make reference to strange goings on there without a whole lot of detail but they actually advise against camping there... just wondering...
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lucho
Gym climber
San Franpsycho
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I spent a summer camping alone at the trailhead for Lost World looking for a change of scene from the valley. Well I got it there was absolutely no scene. It was a nice change but I've gotta admit I was pretty scared some nights there was no one around and at sundown i would always hear that same loud squak like nothing I have ever heard before, on weekends my friends would rally up to climb with me and I felt better having folks around but I know exactly what you're talking about. There are some strange creatures around there, On occasion I would walk out into the woods to investigate the sound with rocks in my hands ready to chuck and run but it never came to that it was kinda cool to be so scared like that, you know when you're scared on a climb and you just have to tell yourself to get over it, thats pretty much what I had to do to get over the fear. It turns out its a unique bird that lives in that area, and everytime I would venture away from my truck I wouldnt see anything but deer. Really magical place though.
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mottaaa
Trad climber
tucson
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Last year, my brother and I were hunting in the Redington Pass area east of Tucson. We awoke to a strange growling noise. I tried to convince myself it was a sick cow or something. It was very close to camp. 50 yds maybe. Finally decided it was a bear and got into the jeep. Circled camp a couple times lights on while Charlie wielded the 9mm. Things quited down after that. Next morning went looking for sign and track. Found nothing. Went back to town later in the day, I had to work. Charlie was going back out. I asked him if he wanted the Winchester 94. He said no. That evening, walking back to camp in darkness after the afternoon hunt, he heard it again. This time he said it sounded like two bears fighting over a dead cow. He said he started to run then realized there was nowhere to run.
still don't know what it was.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno
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Feb 17, 2009 - 02:34pm PT
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Another Scary, Mythical Beast Sighting here....
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Feb 17, 2009 - 03:51pm PT
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Lucho, have you been back recently? Same sounds or different?
It's a pretty wild place in those canyons.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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Feb 17, 2009 - 04:13pm PT
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Big Foot = UFO's = Time Travel = Ass Raping.
Juan
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Radish
Trad climber
Seki, California
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Feb 17, 2009 - 04:24pm PT
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Someone described the sounds and monster stuff like this....."Its Addison"
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Feb 17, 2009 - 05:31pm PT
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for what it's worth, not all the weird sh#t on 108 is Addison.
Real aliens have probed me up there. scary stuff mang.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Feb 17, 2009 - 05:31pm PT
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Oh sh#t, I'm laughing my ass off at my own one liners.
That's just sad.
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scuffy b
climber
just below the San Andreas
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Feb 17, 2009 - 05:51pm PT
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I can only hope there's help available for you, Munge.
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deano
Trad climber
sonora
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I've been back to second quarry parking lot almost every day for the last week or so working on a new project. first day - one stick teepee in the parking lot - nothing new.
day two - about 15 stick teepees all thru the woods. strange!
day three, more than 30 stick teepees - some with dead & eaten squirrels under them. they were everywhere.
crazy.
I do no man...
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scuffy b
climber
Eastern Salinia
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I say something happens within the next three hours.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Bigfoot Beef Jerky!!!!
Gold, man.......
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miwuksurfer
Social climber
Mi-Wuk
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Mar 29, 2012 - 12:44am PT
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Bigfoot bump...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Mar 29, 2012 - 01:13am PT
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This is from the Bigfoot thread:
My Bigfoot Encounter
Susan and I were bivied just above the circ#m-montane trail at the foot of
the Shoestring Gl on Mt St Helens. Ape Canyon was about 2 miles due east
across the Plains of Abraham. Ape Canyon was the site of a battle between
a group of miners and a 'tribe' of Sasquatch in 1924. The miners claimed
to have shot and killed one of the Sasquatch before retreating to their
cabin for the night. During the night a large group of Sasquatch trundled
boulders down upon the cabin and even tried to break into it.
"In 1950 a skier named Jim Carter was with a group of other men, but went
off by himself to film a documentary. He was never seen again, despite a
massive search. One of the search team members said he had a chilling
feeling of being watched the entire time. Carter's ski tracks seemed to
indicate that he took off at a very high speed, making tremendous jumps
that no experienced skier would make unless he was frightened beyond
reason or being pursued."
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Ape_Canyon/id/1915173
It was late summer or early fall, maybe '73. Without a tent there was no
resisting the full moon boring its way into my medulla oblongata; I was
wide awake. The fact that I was going to solo the Shoestring with my
Clovis era tools contributed to my insomnia.
Around midnight I started hearing the sounds well described by Studly and
Pcousar (and Dingus and others in this thread). I've spent a lot of time
in the wild on a number of continents and I've never heard anything like
this. It started about a mile or more to the south of us but came closer
after each three to five minute interval. It was clearly following the
trail as 'nobody' in their right mind would try to walk across the
tortuous lava flow aptly named the Plains of Abraham. Susan was blissfully
sleeping the sleep of the just, thank heavens. I was almost as terrified
of her awakening as I was of the approaching entity. Why she didn't I
can't begin to fathom although it wasn't extremely loud, just unearthly
primal. When it got within a few hundred yards I threw off my sleeping bag
and held my ice tools in each hand ready to do battle. I was afraid to
take a better position for fear of awakening Susan. When it got directly
below us on the trail it could not have been more than 100' away and I was
sure it could hear the deafening sound of my pulse pounding furiously
against my eardrums. Then there was silence. Though there wasn't a breath
of wind I was certain it had smelled us. I sat upright gripping the tools.
I stared down the treed slope but couldn't see the trail because of a drop-
off. It knew we were there and on some plane knew that I knew it was
there. The silence screamed onwards.
After 15 minutes I think I allowed myself to recline but still clenched the tools.
I guess I dozed off eventually but only just. About 0400 I decided it was
safe to go climb. Yes, it was safe to go soloing! I never told Susan.
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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BUMP for more scary stories - man I loved hearing the tales on here - thanks again to munge for cooling me in to this thread.
Just read R&I issue 219 last night before bed - the article "The Howling" - it was about the Sonora Pass area, specifically Lost World.
curious if anybody has set up any wildlife cameras out there?
not to wet blanket imagination but it seems like the scout-sniper 'playing' with people (didn't know USMC had base nearby) or perhaps pot farmers spooking people off might make the most sense in as much as moving rocks off slabs and setting up stick teepees and other disposable thumb required tasks.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Dude, an autumn night in 2009 I got a picture of him... on the road right near the pass. I almost ran the bastard over. But it was walking on four legs. THe picture was blurry. Now I just went through my albums to post a picture, and it's not there! Seriously!
But there was this cool shot from the same night when I stopped by Mono Lake:
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Oops, my bad, I did have the picture. Here it is:
And the moon shone red as blood after the sun turned black as sack cloth:
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bit'er ol' guy
climber
the past
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Lame!
at least surfers have the BALLS to piss in your gas tank
and kick your assss if they don't want you around.
Sonora big foot?
Really?
So does little jimmmy thornburger think that story will keep people away?
little wooden tee-pees my ASSSS
Here's an idea-don't publish pics of killer babes on killer routes if you dont want crowds.
can't really blame Sonora locals though
look what happen to Gold Wall!
and that place kinda sucks.
Actually........
last time I was at Gold Wall some leprechauns on meth keyed my sprinter van!!!
BEWARE!!!!!!!!
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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silence screamed onwards
Route name? And then he leaves Susan alone(bait), while he is safely off the deck solo climbing? Geez. Are any of the local climbers known to have sleepwalking issues? Do these incidents occur when there are dogs with people?
Munge and Brad have talked up SPH and I finally made it for a weekend of climbing, but not one word about this "phenomenon". Guys?
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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they usually leave weeping. Even the 'Wanted Doggie Posters' get torn down on a regular basis.
Its incanny!. SEEK!
Has any of this been investigated? I just purchased a copy of the new guidebook, maybe there is a warning in the description of the area giving us non-locals a heads up. Or the guidebook writers might have resold a copy belonging to one of the missing BAPs that disappeared?
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J.L. Vaquero
Trad climber
Northern California
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I remember driving up the 108 one friday evening..it was late and rather pitch black, no moon. I was with a few buddies of mine and we decided to spend the night up this ridge close to the Donnell vista, we made dinner, made a good fire and pounded a few cold ones..We were surrounded by tall sugar pines and Doug fir trees, we couldn't see the star above us, however, there was a clearing about 60ft from us, we just decided to take shelter near a few rocks for less exposure.
We were very tired, and decided to call it a night. I was in my sleeping bag and was watching the fire slowly turn to red ambers, and sorta wishing it would stay alive all night, it was pitch black. I felt a feeling of uneasiness, and told myself please don't get up to go use the bathroom. My friends started snoring and I was looking around, peeking through my sleeping bag, I heard this branch snap and like someone taking a deep breath..I never heard it leave and was sure it was behind a tall pine tree about 6ft from us. I needed to pee bad! I waited like an hour and a half and said screw it, I went almost right off my sleeping bag, took a looksy with my headlamp and crawled back to my bag! I've never been creeped out like that, Ive been to scarier woods but didn't have that vibe..next morning my buds told me they were a bit freaked out spending the night there. One of them told me they held their pee til the morning..smh.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Probably related to Yucca Man. I heard that dude/dudette is always messing with the marines on night ops around 29 Palms.
http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2011/12/yucca-man.html
I am pretty sure he paid us a visit when we were camping at the Grey Giant BITD. We were camping at the Dormitory Rock and all kinds of crazy sh*t started happening in that little canyon.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Dingus, you are so totally full of s#%t:
Dogs will not stay at Sonora Pass. Its been well known to locals but pretty much hush hush with outsiders.
Bay area faqs come up to the pass with their dogs? They usually leave weeping. Even the 'Wanted Doggie Posters' get torn down on a regular basis.
Its incanny!. SEEK!
DMT
I know this is a fun thread, and I know you're trying to be funny. I also know that you don't want other people climbing up here; you want it all to yourself (especially NO BAPs). So you try to scare people away. But I happen to like seeing other people (even some BAPs, and even you, a CVP). I like seeing them up here. So tell the truth: dogs love the SPH area.
Why do dogs love the SPH? Because they can go anywhere ( anywhere that is, without seeing other people who might resent them, and without getting busted by any types of LEOs).
How do I know that dogs love the SPH? It's simple:
 My two dogs climb with me here all the time, and they love it, and
You climb up here all the time.
(Love you/mean it.)
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Pass was empty as usual last weekend, not a dog nor climber in sight.
DMT
Like hell it was.
We climbed at Second Quarry Crag with three people and three dogs (and - we think - one big foot and two and a half chupicabras). We saw two cars parked for the Bear's Lair or Lost World, and two parked for Lucky Draw.
Just 'cause you're too anti-social to stop by for dinner now and then (in spite of a standing invite), doesn't mean that others aren't around doing their thing.
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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I'm camping with my cousin at Chipmunk Flat this Saturday. This is just what my over-active imagination needs.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Just 'cause you're too anti-social to stop by for dinner now and then (in spite of a standing invite), doesn't mean that others aren't around doing their thing.
Buahahaa, Dingus got pwned! Dude, you best stop by some time. :)
I eventually caved to the pressure too.
Just do it.
ONE OF US
ONE OF US
ONE OF US
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pb
Sport climber
Sonora Ca
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what happened to the Goldwall?
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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you sure it wasn't Dingus chasing you off?
TOO GOOD!!!
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Jun 11, 2014 - 11:26am PT
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Saturday night passed monster-free for us. Maybe because we had no dogs, or maybe because there were meatier campers downstream.
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Jun 11, 2014 - 11:30am PT
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Whew! His (her? its?) schedule sure worked out well for me.
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Dapper Dan
Trad climber
Menlo Park
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Jun 11, 2014 - 02:15pm PT
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We also had a peaceful night last weekend . You just gotta sleep up high !
This is on a small hill near the pass, probably 9,500 feet.
Edit : yeah we slept inside the truck .
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Jun 11, 2014 - 02:55pm PT
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I KNOW THAT HILL!!!
and the mud in that one section. lol
Did you climb up that way, or just bivy?
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Dapper Dan
Trad climber
Menlo Park
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Jun 11, 2014 - 03:46pm PT
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Just bivy for the night . I think the hill is closed now or something . We drove past a little stick in the ground , but couldn't read it too well as it was dark.
Edit: yup it was muddy all over
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jun 11, 2014 - 07:22pm PT
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When I was a teenager wandering in the Utah woods and scrublands the weird thumps, bumps, shrieks and grunts usually came from parked cars.
Once or twice from my own.
Whoever or whatever had butchered the fawn had done so perfectly, without any mess, and as if with a laser knife. The animal was very warm and its death had been so recent, that its eyes were still entirely wet to the touch. I have always assumed this the work of a cougar, but the condition of the animal, so perfectly cut, has never squared completely with me. Why only certain organs? How so quickly and perfectly? This is a perfect description of a fresh Mt Lion kill. They indeed take their favorite organs first time. Usually at dawn. They often wait all day, scaring off competitors and come back at night for the less succulent parts. Nearly as neat as a butcher. I've seen one fresh deer kill about 1 mile down my canyon mid morning. Liver, heart and lungs gone, all the meat peeled off the exposed shoulder and haunch. The remaining innards still glistening and covered with flies.
Shrieking animals at night: foxes. They can be eerie and scary. Almost like a woman's scream. I have quite a few around my place. Sometimes I've seen them shriek in the daytime.
A few times I've been startled by the groans and shrieks of tree limbs rubbing against each other in a light breeze on a foggy night. Really spooky.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Jun 11, 2014 - 09:01pm PT
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If any of you want more of this, rev old Dave Yerian up and he will lay "honest-to-goodness" big sasquatch type stories on you. One where it swam across a lake while they were on a climb.
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Jun 11, 2014 - 09:22pm PT
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One where it swam across a lake while they were on a climb.
What!?!
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