Bigfoot Museum - Willow Creek, California

Day 10 started off with a good deal of anticipation and a lot of excitement since the Believe It Tour crew was starting their official Bigfoot quest portion of the trip. We were going to travel along the 89 mile Bigfoot Scenic Byway that stretches from Willow Creek to Happy Camp with a few stops along the way. First we would start by visiting a few places in Willow Creek and going for a night hike in an area with a number of Sasquatch sightings. Then midway on the journey we were going to stop at the famed Patterson-Gimlin film site, explore the area, and then stay the night. We would then finish up our journey down the Bigfoot Scenic Byway in Happy Camp with a stop there.

The crew arrived in Willow Creek to meet Steven Streufert who is the amazingly interesting and knowledgeable proprietor of Bigfoot Books in Willow Creek. We stopped to chat with Steven about the area, his experiences with Bigfoot, and to hear some new stories about Sasquatch. Steven also has a fantastic selection of books on Bigfoot in his store. The shop is filled with a huge selection of books and Steven appears to have a little bit of everything that a voracious reader would ever want.

After we spent some time with Steven we were back on the road and heading to the Willow Creek-China Flat Museum or, better known as, the Bigfoot Museum. When the crew arrived at the museum we were warmly greeted by Peggy, one the docents that works there. We had arranged for a special tour of the museum for our group and three Bigfoot researchers we had invited to join us. For the tour this year we decided to invite some Bigfooters to join us at different portions of our adventure into California’s Bigfoot territory. At the museum the crew was going to meet Linda Martin of Bigfoot Sightings, Craig Woolheater from the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy, and Sharon Lomurno the blogger behind Bigfoot Field Reporter. The crew had arranged for a special tour of the museum for our group and the three Bigfoot researchers we had invited to join us there. At 3pm the entire group was scheduled to meet at the museum, which was the time our crew had arranged for the tour. However, Craig and Sharon each had some travel delays, which didn’t allow them to join us until later that evening. Luckily, we were able to arrange things at the museum for them to be open, on a day they were normally closed, as Sharon had never seen the museum before and we wanted her to have the opportunity to experience it. The Bigfoot Museum is filled with information on Bigfoot sightings, many castings of footprints, and an interesting collection of pop merchandise that has capitalized on the image of Bigfoot over the years.

Since the two Believe It Tour guests were running late the crew and Linda went back to Steven’s book store. Steven regaled us with even more Bigfoot adventure stories and we talked about the logistics behind doing two investigations in the heart of Bigfoot country. In addition to visiting the Patterson-Gimlin film site, the Believe It Tour crew had arranged for an investigation, graciously led by Steven, that evening to the Friday Ridge Road in the Brush Mountain Lookout area of Willow Creek. Also while at the store the crew found some great new Bigfoot books to add to our growing cryptid book collection.

From the bookstore the crew and Linda went over to Cinnabar Sam’s in Willow Creek for some dinner and to wait for our guests to finally arrive. Over dinner Linda told us some great Bigfoot stories and gave us a local perspective to the Bigfoot experience. During dinner Steven arrived and we began working out the final details for our night investigation along Friday Ridge Road. There had been a number of sightings reported and vocalizations heard in that area of Willow Creek, so Steven thought it would be a great place for the Believe It Tour crew and our guests, Craig and Sharon, to explore once the sun went down. After Craig and Sharon finally arrived we talked for a while longer before parting ways to get ready for the night’s next adventure. Unfortunately, Linda wasn’t able to join us for our hike, but we had a wonderful time talking and sharing stories with her.

Once we had gathered our gear the Believe It Tour crew, Steven, Craig, and Sharon met at Willow Creek’s famous Bigfoot Motel before heading off to Friday Ridge Road in search of a Bigfoot adventure.

The crew’s anticipation was growing as we drove down the dark and twisty mountain road to get to our location. When we finally arrived the Believe It Tour crew was armed with an infrared (IR) digital video camera and Craig had brought along a small thermal imager and a handheld Generation 3 night vision device (NVD). Armed with our equipment and some bear spray we set off down the road. It took a while to get used to the absolute darkness and almost painful quiet that surrounded us as we slowly moved forward, but once we did our senses became heightened as every sound in the forest seemed magnified. We stopped a number of times to carefully listen and scan the forest with our equipment when we heard noises in the darkness that seemed to indicate something living, besides us, was near. At one point Craig even heard a rock thrown at the group. However, no one else heard it as most of the group was walking in front of Craig. Rock throwing is a common Bigfoot behavior that has been noted by cryptid researchers. After about two hours of walking along the road the crew decided to call it a night. While the Believe It Tour crew didn’t find anything that night or personally have an encounter with anything unknown to us everyone had a great night exploring Friday Ridge Road thanks to the help of our guide, Steven.

Our trip to the Friday Ridge area was exciting, but all of us were even more thrilled to be going on a journey to explore the historically significant Patterson-Gimlin film site on Monday. Look for more adventure from Day 11 as we continue our quest for Bigfoot.