BigFoot Investigation: near Golden, Colorado 05/14/2011
Joe Fex, in working mode.
The following was written by Joe Fex, BigFoot Investigator:
As with most reports that I receive leading to an on-site visit, what attracted my attention to this particular location was a call from a second-hand witness who’s known me for awhile and had spent a fair amount of time discussing various paranormal elements with me.
A reliable local psychic shaman friend of mine called to tell me of a friend of hers had mentioned a few curious observations near the location of his semi-remote home. This rang familiar to our discussions regarding the wily Sasquatch with their many subtle means of communicating with each other in the dense wilderness. This often goes completely unnoticed by even the most experienced hunters and adventurers that risk to penetrate into such regions.
Wherein Leon, the witness himself, had made no claims to her at all regarding the super unknown, what he’d mentioned to her in idle conversation caused her to call and ask “Is this a Sasquatch thing”? After getting permission to exchange phone numbers, I set up a time for an interview. Anything is worth hearing at least once…right?
After a three and a half hour conversation with Leon, I not only learned of his odd observations that indeed resonated with typical Sasquatch behavior and experiences, I discovered a unique man, complex in his simplicity, casual by nature but very deep-minded intellectual. From the start we discovered that we shared many of the same personality traits, life experiences and general disciplines and attitudes about the world and our roles within it. An extremely pleasant and easy fellow to talk to, I was impressed by his open and welcoming attitude despite his many hardships.
One thing I was certain of was that he was genuinely sincere and curious about what he’d found and a person well worth getting to know. You simply couldn’t ask for a more open and honest person. Whatever was going on up there on the outskirts of human occupation, there was much to share and learn from Leon and his family. And whenever I discover extraordinary people or events, it’s time to call my number one colleague and field man!
Me… heh heh
Joe contacted me on Friday the 13th and told me about some interesting events which were taking place in near Golden, Colorado. After a long and detailed phone conversation, the decision was made to roll on this investigation and do it quickly. One thing I’ve learned about BigFoot investigations is, “Ya snooze, ya loose”. Just like cattle and horse mutilation cases, you have to roll quickly on theses if you hope to find any evidence.
Meeting early Saturday on location with the witness Leon, we were briefed on the strange events he was encountering. While hiking in the back woods he had noticed trees unusually broken, some thrown across the trails as if trying to block them, and unusual sounds and foot steps behind him. The feeling of being watched haunted his every movement, this didn’t seem to be an animal, but something more, maybe more intelligent.
Joe, his protege Andrew, Leon, and I, commenced on a 5 hour hike at over 9000 feet elevation into the deep national forests of Colorado. Starting our hike with a steep climb with over 25 pounds of plaster, water, and equipment hanging from my back pack, I quickly realized I either have to step up my workout routine or decrease the amount of weight on my back. Whew…
At first we hiked past a ranch, then as we went deeper into the forest passed a hunting lodge, then deeper past hunting tree stands, then deeper yet until we were far away from any type of human intervention. One thing we notice very quickly was, as we hiked into the area Leon told us about, we realized how quiet the environment became. The usual animal tracks we were seeing earlier completely disappeared from site as if the local wild life refused to venture into this area, well except for us.
We came upon a stream and decided to follow it for about an hour deeper into the forest. Except for the occasional birds chirping, there was no evidence of wildlife, not even a squirrel. What the hell, I never experience this before. Well it started to sprinkle turning into sleet, and we cautiously walked looking for anything seemingly out of place. Following the stream around the bend, we came to a mountain of boulders to our right. Stopping for minute to drop our gear, Leon spotted something very unusual high up in the rocks. There by the rock’s ledge was a tree with the top broken off. Sure trees get broken all the time due to the weather, but this particular tree looked out of place. High on the ledge of the boulders was a tree with unusual damage. We needed to check it out.
Joe Fex standing near the tree for scale.
This tree’s top was recently broken at about 8 feet from the base. Just behind Joe, the tree is located on a rock ledge with at least an 80 foot drop. This particular tree and its location can be easily seen from below near the stream where it bends towards the right around the rock mountain and deeper into the forest. But why is this tree top broken? Wind? Lightening? A fat bird? It’s a healthy tree with no signs of lightening damage or bug and disease infection.
Closer look at broken tree top.
The tree top was not just broken, but was twisted around the trunk too! A detailed investigation of the trees around this parameter showed no signs of damage at all! Out of all the trees on this rock ledge, this was the only one damaged. The wind would have had to been quite selective for this to happen. Joe’s explanation? A marker, a BigFoot marker!
Hunters, hikers, and explorers all use different types of methods to mark a trail, from stacking rocks to bending tree branches. But this one is 8 feet high! It sure looks unusual to us, possible done by an unusual adversary? In my blog on the Bailey Bigfoot investigation, I talk about a marker we came across involving two extremely long aspen poles upright in an X formation. These types of markers are common in BigFoot traveled areas.
Joe’s many years of research and investigations into the BigFoot phenomenon have included information and sightings about markers like this one. Joe has seen them before first hand and verifies this broken tree as a genuine marker. Remember we’re deep into the Colorado forest following a stream with absolutely no sign of normal animal activity. Why? Is there a very different type of predator in this neck of the woods?
While resuming our investigation looking for more clues, Mother Nature had a different idea. Matter of fact the good Mother decided to be a bad Mutha, and it started to snow on us. Cautiously climbing down from the boulder mountain, we headed back to the stream to follow it back to where we started. Slowly walking looking for more clues, that horror movie feeling of being stalked by a masked murderer hit Joe and I as we ventured out. So just like the B Movie horror flicks, we decided to split up. (Yeah I know, it’s always the investigator that gets it first) Leon and Andrew kept hiking away from us carrying on a normal conversation at a normal volume, while Joe and I hunkered down behind some foliage to see if something was stalking us.
Motionless with slow and shallow breathing, we tried to blend in with the environment. After a few minutes of silence, we both heard splashing in the stream as if something was walking towards us.
Note: Sasquatch investigators say one reason BigFoot prints are hard to find is because the big guys use streams to cover their tracks.
We both heard the sound of what appears to be walking in a stream. We both acknowledged the sound at the same time. We heard it twice, the second time a little closer. Hearts pounding, we were trying to peer through the trees at what was coming towards us. A few moments later? Nothing… Not a sound, not a foot step, not a peep… We’ve been made.
Joe then had a brilliant idea. Hey let’s make some noise! Oh… ok.
Joe finds a stick and starts tapping on a tree.
What Joe was doing was trying to get a response to his drum-like experiment. If a BigFoot was out there and close to us, he might be in a communication mood. Bigfoot have been known to communicate with each other using these methods, they’ve also been known to answer back to humans. Joe attempted this experiment for about five minutes with unfortunately no response. This experiment has worked for Joe in the past on other investigations if BigFoots (or is it proper to say BigFeet) are eager to communicate back. But not this time, so after much thumpin’, we decided to catch up and head back to civilization.
So did we find a BigFoot marker? If it was a marker, then what was it marking?
What was following us as we hiked out? Was it our imagination, or was the abnormal sounds we heard actually something walking in the stream towards us. Could it have been a deer? Elk? Mountain Lion? Bear? If so why no tracks? I’ve hunted numerous times (ok I never shot anything) but am quite familiar with tracking. And yes I’m not Davy Crockett, but usually I can find animal tracks, at least the ones I’m familiar with.
Conclusion?
Joe is in communication with Leon and if deemed necessary, we’ll go back….. At moments notice!
Category: Bigfoot, Chuck Zukowski, Guest Blogs, Investigations, The Z-Files
