Bigfoot

 

After a week of snow, rain and cold temps, in Lassen National Forest, we headed for the California coast on Highway 299. This road travels through various canyons and along Trinity River and was one of the last major roads to be built in California. The route is remote and ranges from just above the river to climbing the canyon walls. The terrain is rugged and untouched. The curves seem to never end.

This region of Northern California is the unofficial home of Bigfoot with the most sightings to date. Situated on Hwy 299, the small town of Willow Creek is where the first widely reported Bigfoot sighting occurred in 1958. About nine years after the first encounter (1967) the infamous Patterson-Gimlin footage, of the creature walking across a clearing, was shot near Willow Creek. Today the official museum is located there. Whether or not that footage is authentic is still open for debate but there’s no denying it sparked an obsession with the Bigfoot legend that continues today. Perhaps the film has endured because it reminds us that  no matter how old we get, there are some things in the world we can never know for sure.