The Free Radical

Oh dear! I’m being asked to move outside of my comfort zone… again. I guess it’s only fair since that’s what I encourage everyone else to do.

Almost a year ago, I asked the Forest to have meaningful interactions with me that would be appropriate to share with the rest of the world. The Forest responded well beyond my expectations. Basically, I asked to have the ambassadors and emissaries from the Animal Nations come to me for “dialogue.” We even entered into a contractual alliance to support each other in uplifting a suffering world. Anyone who has followed these Forest Reports will have noticed that the frequency, degree and depth of interaction has been consistently astounding!

So why not Bigsquatch? Indeed; it’s the next “logical” step. I’m prepared now to let my explorations take me deeper into the New Adventure…

(Baka Play Baka by Baka Beyond from the 1993 release Spirit of the Forest)

Sometimes it’s obvious that we’re being followed. I just always imagined that it was merely Ravens and Cougars and such who were keeping tabs on us.

As we got to the sub-Mesa on this day, the dogs abandoned their regular antics in order to investigate a most intriguing smell extending over most of the surface of the sub-Mesa on our approach to the river valley. They were all quite insistent that this was something new… and interesting. It was then that I decided we would go deeper…

The next day was mystical, and we decided to venture into the Mountains where the magic always lies thick and heavy upon the shoulders of forlorn travellers. We headed toward my old cabin in the woods where I lived for a time– in winter– more than ten years ago.

My purpose on this excursion was merely to document all the various things we might find in this rather remote place in the “Deep” Forest. We were not disappointed!

All the dogs stopped to sniff at this tree excitedly. At first glance, it seemed rather unremarkable… but upon closer inspection, the small diameter larch was dotted with tiny tufts of long blonde hairs from about six inches above the ground all the way up to about six feet. Someone had come to scratch himself…

Here we have the “Best of Poo” Collection. There were many more, but these were the ones of interest. I believe that I will be required to become a bit of a scatologist.

And of course Sitka found the freshly killed remains of something…

I’m thinking Grouse.

The dogs were all very pleased when we reached the enchantment of the little babbling brook. (Just once I’d like to meet a brook who can speak coherently!)

Here, I’m standing inside my old cabin looking out through the door…

As I’m being tested and evaluated by the mystic eyes of the Forest, I will do my best to keep my readership informed… without prejudice. Nope, I don’t know what’s going on… but I do enjoy receiving the messages that try to explain it in natural terms.

With these posts… I’ll keep you posted!

Astrologically, today’s energy is highly supportive of revelations. Additionally, Crow and Raven are the longtime keepers of deep secrets… who have recently agreed to spill the beans, so to speak.

Certainly, the last few days has seen me outlining the puzzle pieces to an intriguing mystery. Yesterday, as I searched the swamp and surrounding area for more clues, I had to laugh out loud at myself as I realized that I’m actually walking through the Forest looking for signs of Bigsquatch.

Early on I coined my own term– “bigsquatch”– because I didn’t want serious researchers to get pissed off with me when my Reports would come up on their Google searches for “bigfoot.” Also, I’ve always been rather reluctant to take myself seriously on a whole schwack of topics… this being one of them!

As I’ve already stated, now I really don’t know what to think, so perhaps a little recap would be in order.

My very first mention of Bigsquatch in the Forest Reports was last summer. Foraging Alongside Bigsquatch was the title of that piece from last July. In it I describe the anomalous sounds of some very large creature crashing through the forest in the North end of the swamp below the Mesa. This wasn’t the sound of a few twigs snapping and branches breaking; it really was as though a bulldozer was making its way through the thick forest– without the accompanying sounds of an engine or of machinery in general. All I knew at the time was that, whatever it was, it was big. A couple of months later I encountered a young bull moose in the forest nearby. Still wishing to occasionally appear rational, I concluded at that time that perhaps what I’d heard in July was this bull moose having a particularly bad day. In an ever-deepening retrospect, I now point out that Moose is actually an extremely graceful animal who knows quite well how to navigate dense forests.

Next, there was an incident last fall, in October, which never made it into the Forest Reports because it didn’t seem significant enough… so I just made a mental note and filed it away. Now is the time for its resurrection. Yesterday, I returned to the site with my camera to document what I’d found last autumn.

These are five very inglorious piles of poop deposited on a game trail on the edge of the swamp. Suddenly they have relevance because I’ve never been able to determine what type of poop they are.

Put your sandwich down and check out these closeups.

In twenty-five years of roaming these hills I’ve never encountered this before! My best description is that it resembles a cross between horse shit and cow pie… very vegetarian in this instance, but much of the fibre very poorly digested. (Yeah, I poked it with a stick.) Cows haven’t been ranged in this area for more than three years now, so cow is impossible. (I know precisely when it was deposited.) It does resemble horse shit– almost– but the thing about horses is that they always leave very easily identifiable prints with their perfectly arced metal shoes and tremendous weight. Admittedly, the ground at the time of this deposit would’ve been alternating between frozen and thawed, but it is predominantly mud and clay… and even when frozen solid, I would expect to see evidence of a horse’s shoe somewhere in the surrounding area. I searched; there was none. Also, a horse with rider would most likely have been to that spot sometime in the middle of the day, not early morning when the ground is most severely frozen. No, this certainly isn’t definitive evidence, but it’s another piece to the puzzle.

And now more recently, over the past few days, there have been numerous prints which are not quite fully explainable in terms of conventional zoology.

It began with this partial print here, which made me say “Holy shit! That’s one big bear!” I couldn’t really tell if there were definite claw marks or not… but I didn’t think about it much until I later came across this next print in the mud.

I looked very closely for claw marks… but couldn’t make any out. My nephew suggested that maybe it was a cougar– who has retractable claws. If that was the case, that’d be one huge cat!

And then the next day, we came across this print.

Either it’s two overlapping prints from a rather large grizzly who somehow manages to walk without leaving claw marks, or it’s something for which I have no “reasonable” explanation. I would point out however that I have NEVER seen a grizzly in this area… but then, I’ve never seen a bigsquatch in this area either!

And now, after having made a more thorough search, I can offer one more pick that just makes me scratch my head.

Here we have two distinct prints in close proximity. The one in the foreground is the one with the really wide foot and huge toes… and no discernible claw marks. The print in front of it appears to be that of a regular-sized adult black bear– whom I’ve encountered in the woods more than 400 times! (I’m not kidding; I have extensive experience with Black Bear.)

So maybe… just maybe… Bigsquatch has a pet black bear… and they travel through the forest and swamp together.

At this point, I’m still not making any claims… just presenting the evidence… for your perusal and enjoyment!

And then, a little less than a year into the project, the Daily Forest Report takes a sudden left turn! Yes, my thoughts are well plickened! Let’s start off with this new image for you to ponder. In some ways it’s self-explanatory, and in other ways it’s totally baffling. See what I mean?

In terms of scale, you can clearly see my own footprint up and to the right. There’s a bit of tread on my toe-shoes and what’s clearly depicted is my heel and the outside of my foot. Additionally, there’s another of my prints directly facing the “animal” print toe-to-toe. From this, you can see that the footprint is really rather large… and is again lacking any clear claw marks which would be present with a bear. I’ll let that image sit with you for a moment as I back up and provide additional context.

Throughout the daily adventure of these Forest Reports, there has been one who was always watching, discussing and visiting at the periphery of these excursions. I’m talking about Raven… just as surely as Raven has been talking about me!

Raven knows– better than anyone, I believe– exactly what’s going on in the Forest. I honestly don’t think that a single day has gone by when Raven wasn’t encountered… at least cawing or croaking in nearby treetops unseen, or doing brief recognizance flyovers too quick for my camera. Despite Raven ALWAYS being there, I have written very little in that regard because it was always so subtle… and, well, unremarkable. But I fully believe that Raven is so intelligent and well-informed that if he had his own blog you would all abandon these Forest Reports in favour of Raven’s insightful musings!

In the past few days, I’ve been reporting a great deal of animal activity in the area. Between various eagle sightings, obvious bear signs, and even Ground Squirrel feeling the need to yell at me like never before, I forgot to mention that there was also an incident of several Ravens having a very loud discussion just out of my sight near the Mesa which lasted at least 10 minutes. I thought maybe they were fighting over food, but that would’ve seen the appearance of Turkey Vulture who never misses such an opportunity. I can only imagine what they might’ve been discussing!

Yesterday, before we got to the site of the anomalous print in the mud, Raven decided to interact very deliberately for the first time in nearly a year. First he flew directly over me and the three dogs at a very low altitude and then landed directly on the road behind us… for no apparent reason.

Here you can see him in the middle of the road… giving me ample opportunity to dig my camera out.

Lhasa and Sitka are determined to go out to greet him… and cawing loudly, he is forced to fly away… temporarily.

Now we fast-forward to the discovery of the new print in the mud. I’m looking closely, utterly baffled… and totally excited, when suddenly there’s Raven again flying very low right overtop of me cawing loudly… as if to say “Pay attention! Something startling is being revealed!”

Yes, I was sort of joking about the whole Bigsquatch thing. It’s a tough thing to take seriously. And now I don’t know what to think at all!

If you do a Google search of “Columbia Valley Bigfoot sightings” you will find that very near to our area there has been considerable recent interest and credible evidence surfacing. Now, what’s really odd in this case is that my walking area is not really that far into the backcountry. Some would even argue that it’s not backcountry at all. Admittedly, it’s not particularly remote… so that certainly doesn’t fit with Bigsquatch’s typical M.O.

At this point, I’m going to refrain from speculating any further. It could very well be that I’m being hoaxed. If I am, the hoaxers are doing an extremely good job! Kudos.

And before I submit my findings to our local newspapers, I will spend the next few days thoroughly searching the swamp and surrounding area for further evidence. Yes, I’ll actually leave my regular path and do a little bush-whacking. Of course, I will report any further findings here.

And here’s that picture again with the left side revealed. It’s only a single print in the mud, but you can see that being the print of an apparent right foot, the left foot would’ve stepped directly in the puddle. The surrounding ground was too hard to yield any more definite prints.

Wish me luck!

I’m no true Trailer Park Boy– almost– but perhaps there’s something to this “Samsquamch” thing! I found another footprint…

I’m six feet tall; I wear size 11 (43 European sizing) shoes. Each of the toes in this footprint is as big as my big toe, and the overall print is quite a bit wider than mine. Also of note is that you can’t make out any definite claw marks in front of the toes– which usually is the case with bears. Maybe I’m being hoaxed, but this appears to be a genuine mystery!

If I assume that these are indeed bear prints, then that means that there are at least three adult bears in the immediate vicinity… the two different sized prints I’ve found in the last two days and the young bear my Mom spotted a few days ago. That in itself would be a very odd occurrence. Despite what that lying bitch Goldilocks would have you believe, bears don’t do the whole family thing. Cubs stay with their mothers for two seasons, and daddy bears… well, they tend to eat their babies when encountered. Bears are fiercely territorial– the exception being when there’s an over-abundance of food, like at a dump site. You simply won’t find Mama Bear, Daddy Bear and Baby Bear all hanging out amicably in the same area.

So I don’t know what to tell you. All this week I’m out in the woods with three dogs; I’m dog-sitting, so the chances of us actually seeing a bear out there is rather remote due to my traveling circus. But the tracks in the mud are intriguing to say the least!

And then there’s the whole problem of trying to determine the symbolism for Bigsquatch! He’s not typically listed in the relevant anthologies and manuals.

Intuitively, this speaks to me of fierce independence and self-determination. Also of note is that the two large and somewhat inexplicable footprints are both facing the opposite direction to the direction I always travel. Bigsquatch isn’t eluding or fleeing; he’s choosing to meet us head on.

I don’t really know if I’m being totally silly or not… but I can say for sure that I’m looking forward to getting out there again today!

Where is he?

Damn, it’s getting busy in the Forest!

Early on, when we got to the Lookout, I was taking a pee when very quietly Eagle came to spy on me– at least I think it was Eagle. There’s only small patches of open sky above when you’re in the thick of the woods, so a raptor flying above is only visible for a few seconds. I considered in this instance that it might have been Richard, the turkey vulture, because I never saw him beat his wings as he flew above me– a characteristic of Turkey Vulture’s uncanny ability to effortlessly soar. But I didn’t have the opportunity to dig out the binoculars in time to make a proper determination. Anyway, this is the view from the Lookout:

Minutes later, we heard the distinctive call of Eagle up ahead, so that loaned credence to the earlier encounter having been Eagle too. And then as we entered the Burroughs, Ground Squirrel was shouting up a fuss like never before. One even came running after us shouting his fool head off. I didn’t know what his problem was!

And then a picture began to emerge… a reason why all the critters might be a bit on edge. A few days earlier my Mom had warned me that there was definitely a bear in the area as he had spent some time in my parents’ yard– close to where these walks occur. My Mom estimated him to be only three years old, but he wasn’t shy and quite curious. Bottom line is that I was expecting to encounter either Bear or sure signs of Bear.

It wasn’t hard to find the signs of bears in the area. This particular print though, had me a bit nervous. This is definitely not the print of a mere three-year-old! This almost looked like it came from Bigsquatch himself… up on his tippy-toes.

The next series of data points showed that the bear wasn’t actually THAT big… but still likely bigger than the three-year-old my mother saw. The big print might be the result of two overlapping prints; that happens sometimes, and I’m no expert.

So the conclusion here is that there are some bears in the area… along with the family of eagles. All this has led me to consider a new symbolism for the whole affair. The two-headed eagle appears on numerous Russian coats of arms. Additionally, the bear is commonly associated with Russia as well. So at play here we have issues of spiritual integrity (Eagle)– and the right to self-determination; also, we have Bear, the representative of true sovereignty. The prevalence of these formidable predators has gotten the surrounding forest on vigilant alert and in a state of mild agitation. I’m looking to the situation in the Ukraine as the macrocosmic correlate to my Forest drama.

We shall see how this all plays out!

Today’s energy may prove to be a challenge, undermining our self-worth, making us feel isolated. We’re still busy integrating all of the recent reconfigurations. Nature and music are the preferred antidotes.

As I was gazing upon this Misty Mountain, I was immediately thinking Led Zeppelin. When I got home though, I listened again to Misty Mountain Hop, and I’m sorry Zep, it’s just plain boring… and you’ve heard it before. So, this is what I came up with instead…

(Song to Comus by progressive folk band Comus from their 1970 debut album First Utterance)

As you already know, Sitka– the forensic archeologist– comes up with the strangest artifacts… from deep within the swirling mists…

At first, I was thinking perhaps a young Klingon…

But no! This is clearly part of the remains of the supposedly mythical virgin-defiling creature called Comus! His lair is situated among the mists in these mountains…

Actually, it was a three-eagle day… but I know you’re getting bored with all of these pesky eagles inserting their ennobling energy all over the place! First we had the youngster– looking quite disheveled in the rain– practicing his hunting skills near the power line. Next, we glimpsed mama eagle flying up the river valley… which makes it impossible to snap a reasonable picture when she’s backgrounded by trees. And then shortly after that, the regal daddy eagle was spotted in the sky above the Mesa by Sitka. I often catch her watching things in the sky. (Sometimes the UFOs are invisible to my human eyes.) Big daddy eagle provided a great photo op, but it turns out that when you start the film rolling on the GoPro when it’s pointed directly at the bright sky, you run the serious risk of filming nothing more than the “magenta screen of death.” There were no eagles to be found in the botched footage. Oops!

The eagles make me feel good. Even the mist and the new snow line in the mountains make me grateful. I hope your vicarious journeying along serves to uplift you too… and I bet you never heard that song before!

First, let’s answer the question from yesterday’s Report: What new flavour will be added to the menu next? The answer is strawberry flowers and leaves.

I always forget about wild strawberries, despite the fact that they’re literally everywhere! The great thing about wild strawberries is that before the berries actually form, the leaves and flowers are available for harvest, providing decent nutrition. The taste of the flowers is very mild compared to the fruit they produce, though.

And in the vein of anticipation for succulent fruits… I think that these might be the beginnings of high bush cranberries. I took this shot in the place by the river where I know they grow in July. These might be them in their infancy…

As far as the woodland creatures are concerned, this was family day. Eagle called to us early on, and as I spotted her in the sky just above the western treetops, I concluded from her light brown colouring and white head that this was mama eagle.

She kept circling up ahead, voicing the occasional cry, and after a few minutes she was answered in the east by two of her youngsters whose voices and flights were noticeably more awkward. The activity seemed to be centred around the Ground Squirrel metropolis we refer to as the Burroughs. I concluded that mama eagle was teaching her offspring how to hunt gophers. They weren’t comfortable continuing the lesson until Sitka and I moved on. Fair enough.

Next, as we approached the swamp, two ducks flew up from the place where the clutches of frogs’ eggs awaited the warming weather. I was glad to see that the eggs were undisturbed… and that mama frog was settled in amongst them.

It was just a good happy day in the Forest. No one reached out with any sense of true urgency. Critters and vegetation alike were all just doing their own thing, abiding in a deepening contentment with the progress of new life. And I, for my part, am simply happy to be here.

(In the Wild by Swedish prog band Ritual from their 2007 album The Hemulic Voluntary Band)

We’re definitely into foraging season now! A bit of rain and a couple of really warm and sunny days to follow has brought everything to life. The forest and meadows were already buzzing with the activities of bees, wasps and other diligent pollinators– good thing too, because the early bloomers like Gooseberry, Apricot and Apple rely on them to fulfil the contracts for a bountiful fruit harvest.

This wasp is checking the Gooseberry flowers for nectar. Gooseberry is always the first fruit available each season… and they’re virtually everywhere!

I’m often asked what my favourite might be when I’m out foraging. Well, the answer to that is “The spice of life.” Yes, I’m referring to variety. Every day now there’s something new to add to the daily menu… and the flavours are truly incredible.

To start, Monsieur has selected a handful of last year’s dried rose hips. Very good. Next, we shall try the juices of wild grasses to cleanse the palate. This will be followed by freshly dug wild onions. The next course will be dapples of sunshine in the form of dandelion flowers. A few juniper berries will then once again ready the palate for further spice in the form of wild tarragon– all you can eat. Gooseberry and bearberry flowers can serve as desert, but admittedly they are not nearly as good as the mature fruit which they produce. And on tap to quench Monsieur’s thirst we have unlimited glacier water from Dutch Creek.

Tomorrow there will be something new… wonder what it might be…?

What pleasure to be found in wildness! And once the belly is sated, it’s time for a brief nap in a bed of moss. Sitka is really like a little kid. She doesn’t hesitate to indulge whatever fancy crosses her uncomplicated mind.

Saskatoon berries, high bush cranberries, alfalfa and clover blossoms, and all the wild raspberries you could ever attempt to eat will also be along shortly. Don’t miss out on the celebration!

Every story is so engagingly different,
Assembling worlds so we might tear them apart.

Our shattered cocoons stand empty…
And we are the butterflies by an old rusted truck.

Our harmless violence taken in hand
Because Mother picked up after you time and again.

And these clutches of frogs’ eggs
Like brains beneath thin layers of ice…

We dream of this darned elusive happiness
When for Sitka, poop will suffice!

Happy May Day… Blossom Festival… Beltane!