YEAR: 2023

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 11 & 12th

STATE: Oregon

COUNTY: Clackamas County

LOCATION DETAILS: Timothy Lake

NEAREST TOWN: Ripplebrook

NEAREST ROAD: NF-5890

OBSERVED: The weekend of Aug 12, 2023 I backpacked around Timothy lake in Oregon. I took it easy and did it over the course of a few days and 2 nights. I do not sleep great in a tent and wake up periodically when I roll over. Both nights I happened to wake up like this around 3am and both nights I heard this crazy howl/yell coming the other side of the lake. It sounded like it was coming from really far away.

The calls repeated, almost identically, for what seemed like several minutes. It almost sounded like some sort of alarm or something, except that when it was nearing the end of the yelling each time, the howls stopped sounding so identical and began ending in a sort of gutteral yell.

I could definitely hear vocal chords. I just lay in the tent in amazement! It had to have been insanely loud to be coming from such a distance.

Then on the second night, immediately after the howl/yells ended, just to the south of me, and not terribly far away, I heard the resounding CRACK of a clear wood knock. I am still kicking myself every day for not trying to find my phone to record it. For some reason I felt like if I moved it would stop.

Once I got home I looked up a map of Timothy to try and figure out what direction the calls were coming from. The weird thing is that both nights it sounded like it was coming from the opposite side of the lake from where I was.

I was wondering, at the time, if it might just be some Bigfoot hunters out doing their thing, but it seems weird that they would call from such different and far flung vantage points each night.

ALSO NOTICED: I did clearly hear something get into the lake right outside my tent the first morning. It caught a fish, and got out of the water. I heard the fish flapping against the water as it was pulled out, and I clearly heard water dripping off of fur after it got out of the water.

In the lake it was probably no more than 15 feet from me, and when it got out it was probably something like 20-30 feet away.

It stood there for a bit, and when I rolled over on my loud ultralight pad, it heard me and ran off. It was really early in the morning, just as there was starting to be light out.

I looked for tracks when I got up and could not find anything. It was possibly just a bear or something, but the water where it was in front of my tent was something like 4-5 feet deep, at least, so I do not know what that was.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me. Sleeping.

OTHER STORIES: Clackamas is an active county, from what I’ve heard.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 3am. The night was beautiful, warm, and clear. It was supposed to be the height of the Pleiades meteor shower & I had gone out around midnight to look for shooting stars.

ENVIRONMENT: Pacific Northwest pine forest surrounding a man-made lake

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email [email protected]

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