06x04 - Perilous Descent

[bunniefuu]

Previously on expedition big foot.

The nest took place
just south of this fork.

It seems to be like a natural choke point.

I was driving down this dark road,

and something darted
behind my car right there.

Wait a minute.

That's two.

That's where it came out at.

We're right on it.

We're going to set up a
seismographic trip wire.

And that sensor should
be coming online now.

Yeah, I can clearly detect both of you.

It almost sounds like a
little bit of wood knocking

or some teeth chattering.

What we have is an
array of lidar sensors,

and they can track moving objects

with an infrared camera in real time.

We know that something's come in

to explore our camp.

Now we're going to be able to see

anything that moves out there.

A couple of places down there

that are pretty interesting.

Whoa. From over a mile away.

That was big.

What's that? Did you see that?

- Something's moving towards us.
- It's coming.

- You see it?
- It just ran away.

Maybe it's not moving.

You can't see it anymore.

Let's grab our lights and just head out.

Deep in the heart of the fork,

primatologist mireya
mayor and biko Wright begin

to track a creature
after seeing movement

on the real-time lidar surveillance array.

Let's head towards the creek.

The way this system works is

that the closer something
gets to the lidar array,

the more accurate it will be.

Can you see me?

And that's her right there.

Wow.

We saw something move

just on the outskirts of
what the lidar could see.

So it was difficult to
determine what it was.

But there's definitely
something moving around

the edge of our camp.

Did you hear that?

Yeah.

Let's just...

Everybody, just be still for a second,

let's just listen.

What the hell was that?

That reminds me of what we heard

a couple nights ago.

What the is that?

I've spent a lot of time in the woods,

and I'm familiar with most of
the animal sounds out here.

I know what a bear sounds like.

I know what mountain lions,

and bobcats, and foxes,
and coyotes, and wolves,

I know what they sound like.

But the howls we've been
hearing near our base camp

are like nothing I've heard before.

That definitely was
coming down from the water.

Let's keep heading towards the creek.

Let's go.

When I'm hearing things

that are completely foreign to me,

yeah, I want to go after it
and see what that thing is.

Even if it's something
that's going to scare me,

I want to know.

Let's keep heading this way.

Watch your step. This is deep.

Six miles away from mireya and biko,

survivalist Russell a
cord continues to pursue

a heat signature while
staking out an area

near where Bryce captured

two possible big foot crossing the road.

Well, this stuff is straight down.

We got to get through it.

Tonight we saw a thermal

that is way down on the
bottom of this mountain.

And it didn't move

like a bear milling
around looking for food.

Do you see this thing right here?

Whoa. That thing
stepped out into the open

and back into the trees.

I'm going to keep moving tonight

and see if I can find a way
to get through these trees

and down to the bottom.

I've got to get down to
where I saw that thermal.

There's something down there.

If I can find out what
made that heat signature,

this is probably one of
the best leads I've had.

So I'm going to do what I can tonight,

see what I can find.

This is very gnarly over here.

Yeah.

Let's try and cut back to the trail.

After several hours
of searching the area,

mireya and biko found
no signs of the creature

that entered their base camp.

I'm not seeing any movement at all.

Nothing.

Let's head back to base camp,

get a good night's sleep,

- and we'll come back early in the morning.
- Okay.

We spent the entire night

searching for any movement
and tracks in the forest.

Once again, something
was creeping around,

but we didn't find any fresh tracks

and there was no more
vocalizations happening.

It was so frustrating

when suddenly, we had something,

but somehow, whatever
it is that came into camp

stayed just outside the perimeter

so that we could see that it was there.

We could see that it
was large and upright,

but we couldn't see what it is.

It's one of the most frustrating feelings

when you know that you are so close.

I mean, it's right there,

and then it's gone.

It was clear

that something had
been through our camp

more than once, with
our tents being messed up

and other signs of
commotion, a musky smell.

It seems that all of the activity

that we've been getting is
coming down from the water.

So, tomorrow, when
we've got some daylight,

I want to look for any
evidence of movement,

anything that could lead us

to identifying what it is

that keeps coming into our camp.

You know, talking with
witnesses is interesting

because you never really know

what small detail might be
helpful to an investigation.

Speaking with Chris
was a perfect example.

I was just hoping to gain some insight

into how these creatures
might be using these roadways.

I saw this black object
come out of the forest,

and it was, like, floating almost.

But when he started talking about

how the creature moved across the road,

how when the car lights
hit it, just how calm it was,

that was the detail that I found

the most interesting.

And here's why.

Animals are only calm around humans

if they have a lot of
experience with them,

either interacting with
humans or avoiding them.

So with that creature being so calm

on the side of the road,

it just got me thinking.

If the bigfoots that gather in this area

are so familiar with humans,

then maybe there's a way

that we can use that to our advantage.

Okay.

Cutting.

All right, Tim, I'm at 3,200, f2...

- Hey.
- 12,800.

Hey!

Are those cameras rolling?

Yep.

Yeah? That one too?

Bring them.

Here, come on.

Man.

So I just was walking around the back,

and it looked like I saw
this massive handprint,

almost as if something
pushed on the window.

Dude, it is huge.

So.

I just need to grab a
evidence collection kit.

All right.

Here, follow me.

Me and my camera
team had just gotten back

from talking to a witness named Chris,

and I walk around to the back door

when I see something

that stops me completely
dead in my tracks.

Something definitely came through here.

I just want to make
sure it's still not here.

As soon as I saw that handprint,

I had to come back up to the car,

get the evidence collection kit,

make sure the guys were still rolling...

Dude, my heart is racing.

And then scope the place out,

because there might be more evidence.

Guys, we were only
gone for a few hours,

so this just took place.

This isn't the first time

something like this has happened.

What the hell?

Something hit the cabin.

It sounded like it was thrown.

I mean, that was pretty loud.

What was that?

Hello?

What the?

I just want to check
every window, every door.

Doesn't look like
anything came to the front.

All the doors are still locked.

All right.

I don't see anything else.

Look, it's just that one.

It's like, wham, boom,

and then off back into the woods.

Look at this. Come here.
Come here. Check this out.

Doesn't it look like
something came through here?

I mean, this is kind of broken down,

like right here.

Look at that.

Right?

Man.

Something's come through here,

for sure.

Something's come through here,

for sure.

I want to try something here.

Within the team's
Washington state target zone,

Bryce Johnson has just found evidence

that a large creature has
approached the command center.

I just pulled these from our forensics kit.

Check this out.

I think we might be able

to pull this from this pane of glass.

Jeez.

Yeah, it's really starting to come out now.

In the field, the cast
of a big foot footprint is

considered the gold standard.

But after seeing this handprint

on this pane of glass,

I'm thinking I may have
something even better.

And using my forensics kit,

I can possibly lift some fingerprints.

And that would be incredible

to have the specific information

of a single individual.

That would be a first.

Holy, that is huge.

We are in the middle of nowhere.

This isn't a person.

I just want to measure
this thing real quick.

Dude! That handprint is 13 inches long.

Dude, I'm a pretty big guy.

That's nowhere even near, dude.

Look at that thing.

Look at that.

This is evidence.

You know, this is as good

and as telling as a footprint.

We know that something
has been investigating

mireya and biko's base camp.

So maybe something is also checking

on my coming and going from here.

I mean, this is the only
cabin here within miles.

I'd be interested. I'd be curious.

All right, let's pull this sucker.

Wow.

Look at that thing.

That is massive.

Yeah.

Got it.

That worked great.

Now that we've preserved this print,

we can get this analyzed

and confirm exactly
what made this thing.

Looks like something's
been moving through here.

Yeah, a little bit of tracks.

At first light,

mireya and biko set off from base camp

to try and pick up the trail
of whatever they spotted

on the real-time lidar last night.

- Yeah, definitely...
- More action here,

- so this is good.
- Yeah.

So we're seeing some
signs of life here now.

Yeah, a little bit of tracks
of some prey animals.

- That's what we're after.
- Yep, absolutely.

Let's keep heading down this way, then.

After not finding any signs

of what came into our camp last night,

biko and I are combing
this area for clues

to figure out what that figure was

on the real-time lidar.

Some of these old-growth stumps,

I've seen bears hollow them up

and make dens in there for winter.

So I don't know.

Maybe that's something
a sasquatch would do, too.

Seems like there's some
good bedding in here.

Plenty of places to hide here, for sure.

- Even these ferns.
- Yeah.

How high they are
and how dense they are,

it reminds me of sort of lion country,

- how they will just...
- Yeah?

Hide and sleep in the grasses.

Just invisible.

Predators, such as African lions,

require habitat with suitable cover,

like long grass and bushes,

in order to efficiently stalk prey.

When choosing a hunting ground,

the presence of good concealment is

even more important for lions

than the abundance of prey.

You see how little visibility you have

step to step?

Something could be lying there,

- and you really wouldn't see it...
- Yeah.

Till you're right on top of it.

We know something
was in the area last night,

'cause we saw it enter our camp,

and we heard that strange vocalization.

But seeing this terrain in the daylight,

it's clear how easy it would be

for an animal to just hide,

even one as large as a big foot.

We could have walked right past it

without even noticing it's there,

especially in the dark.

Look how deep this is.

Like...

It's almost mireya height.

I mean, anything can
honestly just sort of disappear.

It really shows you
how a big animal could

remain pretty stealthy

by utilizing the natural coverage.

Well, let's keep searching this area.

Okay.

My gosh, I'm tired.

Watch yourself there.

Don't let me smack you with that.

All right?

Having traveled down the mountain

through the night,

Russell is now overlooking the valley

where he spotted a heat signature

the night before.

Wow.

Looks like it opens up here, bud.

Last night, we got something
that I'm really excited about.

This thermal actually came out

and then ducked back in.

Getting down to where
I saw this thermal is

the most important thing at this point.

No way.

Looking at my surroundings,

this isn't going to be an easy descent

down into this area.

Well, that's pretty steep right there.

Let me see what we got on this side.

Man, that's just straight down right there.

There's no easy way down here, bud.

You got your climbing
gear with you, right?

There's no way we're going to

walk down here without
getting ourselves hurt.

I think the safest thing
is to get on a rope.

From where we're at right now,

to go around might take us a whole day.

From here, we're probably 600, 700 feet

to get to the bottom where that thing is.

This isn't going to be easy,

but it's definitely more efficient.

- You ready?
- Yep.

All right, man. Let's do this.

I only have 200 feet of rope,

and this is easily 600 or 700 feet

of rappelling to do.

So I'm gonna have to break this up

into three, maybe four different stages.

Lucky for me,

my cameraman is
also very, very proficient

at rappelling.

Between the two of us,

we can tag line and get all the way down

off of this thing.

This should only take a couple of hours.

Taglining is a rappelling method

that allows teams of climbers
to set up multiple rappels

using the same rope.

Using this strategy,

Russell will tie two ropes together

at the top of each stage.

After both he and his cameraman have

descended on the main rope,

they will use the second rope

to pull the anchor system down.

They will repeat this process

until they reach the valley below.

There is some danger involved in this.

It's not impossible, but
it will be challenging.

This section is tied off.

I'll go down first.

Once I find a landing
where we can re-tie off,

I'll give you a holler,
you can get on the rope,

and I'll meet you down on the bottom.

You set? All right.

Russell and his cameraman must

complete multiple
rappels to reach the area

where they saw the thermal last night.

The first target of this 700-foot cliff is

a shelf of flat ground

roughly 200 feet down the mountain.

It's time to go.

It's not natural for a human being

to step backwards
over a cliff into an abyss.

So those first couple steps are daunting.

Any one given failure means

you've free fallen over that edge.

And it's not ever going
to end well for you.

It's steep.

This is the only way down over this edge.

And right now, the objective,

get down to where I saw that thermal,

see what I can find.

I want to get on the trail while it's hot.

Rock!

I don't like that.

When you hook onto that line,

every little mechanism
on this system has to work.

Slippery.

Took a beating.

On a multistage rappel like this,

it's always good to put
your feet on the ground

after that first rappel.

You know your system's working.

I'm clear!

Your rope.

Now that I've hit the ground,

I let my cameraman,
Noel, to hook onto that rope.

Right here.

You gotta keep coming down.

It's still several hundred feet below

to where we got that thermal.

So we've got a long ways to go.

It's time to pull that
anchor down, get reset,

wrap up this rope.

Now reuse it to do the
second stage of the rappel.

This is the fastest way up this mountain.

Okay.

Let's go get the next
stage of the rappel set up.

You ready?

All right. Let's do this.

I hear water.

Looks like something's been
moving through here, too.

Yeah.

Recently, too.

Five miles from the cliff

that Russell is
descending, mireya and biko

have followed a trail
leading from base camp

to a system of waterways that
they explored three days before.

You wanna follow this
creek down or cross it?

There's all these holes and drop-offs

that we might be better off crossing it

and see what that side's like.

All right.

It looks like whatever we
saw on the real-time lidar

came up from the area
around these creeks.

So focusing on these waterways where
we've already found some impressions

might be our best chance of
actually finding physical evidence

of whatever it is that's
coming into our camp.

Here's a small print.

Check this out over here.

Yeah, that's kind of interesting there.

A nice small print with
toes smudged up against.

Looks black bearish to me
because there's nothing back here.

But that's not to say
that it couldn't be moving

in such a way that just the front half,

you know, of the foot is going and
making a print while the heel is up.

- You know?
- Yeah.

It's great having biko
as a partner out here.

Not only does he really
know these woods,

but he's also got an open mind

and is willing to look at everything

that we find out here
from multiple perspectives.

Just for safety,

since it's here and it's
actually a very scannable print,

we've got light.

- Let's just take the scanner out.
- Why not?

And give it a shot.

Then we can send that back
to Bryce and have it analyzed.

That sounds good.

Even though this is a pretty small print,

the size would make sense
if it's from a young big foot

that's been checking us
out, you know, out of curiosity.

Hopefully, the scan will come
up with some more answers for us.

I've seen that.

There's still a lot of
disturbance in this direction.

There's broken branches and
whatever moved through here kept going.

- Yeah. Let's keep following it.
- Yeah.

After hearing Russell's
strange recording,

I realized quite quickly that,

you know, I was a little out of my depth.

That was the most weird sound.

It's just strange.

To analyze the clicking
sound that Russell recorded

on his parabolic microphone...

Hey, Stuart, how you doing?

I'm doing very well. How are you?

Bryce has contacted

primate communications
expert professor Stuart semple.

Thank you so much for, for
taking the time to speak with us.

Just to give you a little context,

one of our team
members was in the field

and with his parabolic
microphone captured this recording.

That's an interesting noise.

That's what I thought.

It's intriguing. It's not a
sound I've heard before.

It's sort of reminiscent of when primates,

there's a kind of a teeth-chattering
sound that they make.

And we think that
teeth-chattering is one of these calls

that plays a key role in mediating

the social interactions
and social relationships

in these rich, complex social
environments that these animals live in.

That's interesting.

What does this sort of
teeth-chattering indicate

in forms of communication?

Sometimes in the mating season,

males from some groups will
move to the edge of another group

and then try and kind of
persuade females in that group

that they're friendly and
they want to mate with them.

And there's often some
teeth-chattering back and forward there.

So these sounds could
be a form of a mating call.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, I've always
wondered why Washington

had more reports than any other state.

And now maybe we know why.

Maybe these creatures are coming
to Washington to look for mates.

You know, when Russ recorded this,

it sounds like what you're saying is,

there's a good chance that there
was probably another one close by.

If this is teeth-chattering, then yeah,

there'll be another animal close by.

Wow.

Stuart, this has been really helpful.

That's an absolute pleasure.
And good luck with your expedition.

Thank you.

Wow.

What really piqued my interest
was this idea that if Russell,

in fact, did record a potential
mating call of a big foot,

that points to why
Washington is significant.

In northern California, we believed

they went to the lost coast to
give birth and raise their families.

But here in Washington, they
might be looking for mates.

I know we still got
that final stretch to go.

Once we hit that, we should be clear.

We should be right on top of that siding.

After four hours, Russell and his
cameraman have repelled nearly 600 feet.

They're now 100 feet from the bottom,

where they hope to resume
tracking before nightfall.

Once we hit this landing,
let's gather up our gear.

Let's see what we can find.
There's got to be footprints.

There's got to be something down here

that indicates what
we saw the other night.

Ready? All right.

This is our last repel,

and then we can get on
that trail and start tracking.

Almost there.

I'm clear!

And we'll get you tracking.

All right.

After finding that handprint
back at the command center,

I started combing through reports

of big foot activity near houses.

So I'm on my way to speak
with a gentleman named Ron,

who lives in a residential
area near our target zone.

I think this is him.

Thank you again for obviously
allowing us into your home.

Absolutely. It's my pleasure.

And, Ron, I want you to
sort of just walk me through

this experience that you had.

Okay, so this was about may of 2020,

much like a night like this.

I have my back to the west,
which is where your back is now.

- Okay.
- And I heard this.

I don't know how to describe it.

Howl coming from behind me.

It was so loud, it felt
like it rattled my body.

I heard this howl
coming from behind me.

It was so loud, it felt
like it rattled my body.

Wow. So, you like... you, like, felt this.

I felt it.

And it lasted ten seconds?

I kind of turned, to where
I was facing the west.

And then from my
right side, which is north,

I hear a second one go off.

You heard more than one?

More than one. Two different pitches.

- Okay.
- So the first howl was very deep.

- Yeah.
- And the second one was much higher pitch.

Not as loud and not as
vibrational as the first one.

- So now we're talking about two features.
- Two.

Two different vocalizations.

The second one that sounded
off, that was to the north of me,

must have been much smaller.

- Smaller?
- Smaller.

- Because of the volume...
- because of the volume

and the strength of that howl

versus the volume and
strength of the first one.,

and then the first howl
now sounded off again.

Wow.

So one goes off, one responds,

and then the first one responds again.

But it was closer.

- The first one?
- The first one was closer.

- So it's starting to move in.
- Correct.

It definitely was closer
'cause it was even louder.

Really?

And then the higher-pitch
one howled a second time.

Wow.

So this sounds like a
communication happening.

Yes.

I mean, they sounded off for...

God, a good ten minutes.

Wow.

So it wasn't just one sound
off another, and a response.

- This was like...
- this went on for a while.

Yeah.

I've heard just about every
animal sound you could hear.

In 50-some odd years, I've
been living in Washington,

and this is something
I've never heard before.

If Ron was, in fact,
hearing a larger sasquatch

trying to communicate
with a smaller sasquatch,

well, then that lines up with
what Dr. Semple was explaining

about these social dynamics of primates.

If that's the case,

then what Ron heard could have been

a young male trying to lure in a mate.

It seems to me Washington state

holds significance in
establishing big foot family groups.

Looks like we just hit
a logging road here.

Yep.

Looks like it's definitely
an overgrown one.

Following the creek system
leading away from base camp,

mireya and biko have
pushed into the night

looking for signs of the creature
that came into their camp.

Based on the signs of activity
that we found around the creek,

it's likely that whatever came
through our camp fled in this direction.

I've seen 15 or 20 elk
walking down a logging road

so I know that large
animals use these paths.

So have you heard a
lot of stories from loggers

about encountering big foot on
logging roads and that sort of thing?

I actually have, yeah.

I've had a lot of friends
who've worked in that industry

and a number of them have stories.

And I've even heard that some of
them have had to sign, like, ndas...

Wow.

To not disclose anything
about certain incidents

because there's so much
money in the logging industry.

And the existence of these
creatures, I think, would threaten that.

When we were in Alaska,
we talked to some loggers

two weeks ago, we were all working
out here. There was at least 20 guys.

And that's when the sound started.

It made our skin crawl.

We felt like sitting ducks out here.

That's when people started leaving.

These are guys whose entire livelihoods,

their families depend
on them for those jobs.

And yet something was so powerful

that it actually still drove them out.

Yeah, I've even heard
of people quitting logging

and being like, I won't
go into the woods anymore

just 'cause they're so scared.

There we go.

That stuff is turned up. Look at this.

After rappelling to the bottom

of a nearly 700-foot cliff,

Russell has resumed
the search for the source

of the heat signature he
spotted the night before.

Son of a g*n.

That's odd.

Yeah, the leaves are dry.

That's not fresh at all.

The further we went along,
the less it was obvious.

It became a little bit more hard

to find those little turned-up leaves

or those discrepancies in the soil.

There's nothing turned over.

Nothing, not even one single leaf.

We spent several hours

following this trail, and I felt like

I was getting to the point where

I wasn't getting enough to where I
felt confident in what I was seeing.

And I don't like following a trail

where I'm not confident in what I'm doing

because I could literally be
going in the wrong direction.

We need to go just a little bit further,

find a place just to kind of
spread out and sit for the night,

and then I want to
backtrack in the morning,

get back on that trail, and make
sure that I'm not missing something.

It's like it clears out
up here in front of us.

Hold on.

It's a building.

It's a building, bro.

Dude, I think that's somebody's house.

Man, I don't want to walk
up on somebody's house.

Sometimes people can be the
most dangerous thing in the woods.

And if someone lives here
that doesn't want to be bothered,

this could get ugly really fast.

Bringing new technology

to my old-school research ways

has done nothing but
amplify what we do.

I can take a parabolic mic that is
made specifically for isolating an area

and listening in, and there's
a whole other world out there.

I can send a drone into the air

and do a lidar scan of the entire area.

Another great example
is a seismic tripwire

that will test anything that passes by

and recognize whether it is
walking on two feet or four feet.

Items that we use that amplify
what we can see, what we can hear,

these tools are vital in
the research that I've done.

You know, being able to see over a wall,

you have to get a ladder, right?

So you use these tools to
elevate yourself to see better.

And that's what these
tools have done for me.

It's a logging cabin.

I thought I had actually stumbled
onto a home or a house out here,

but what we found was
one of the old logging cabins.

Let's see if it's open.

Pretty clean. Check this out.

Wow, this is nice.

This is a cabin. Loggers come up here.

Haven't been anybody in here in a while.

Years ago, the loggers
built these cabins out here

in the forest for the workers to be
able to bunk up while they worked.

They'd come up here for
weeks or even months at a time.

I say we stay here for a
night, work out in this space.

This isn't bad.

Heck yeah.

Let me get this pack off.

It's perfect for us.

I want to cut back and get
back to this trail in the daylight.

What better place to set up
camp and recharge for the night!

I don't know if I wanna use that.

No, we'll leave that alone.

Check that out.

This is crazy.

This cabin presents a
huge strategic advantage.

If we go set up camp in
the middle of the forest,

animals will see something new
coming into their environment.

This cabin has been here for years,

and they're already used to it.

So if we occupy the inside of this cabin,

we're able to just get in, get in bedded,

and not really be seen.

This is pretty sweet.

Who would have thought?

I'm sleeping on a flat surface tonight.

This is awesome.

This is great.

Boy, this logging road is
not so much of a road, is it?

Really overgrown back in here.

Wait.

What's this?

There's an old... old trestle.

Holy crap.

That does not look safe to walk on at all.

No, it does not.

Careful of the edge. It
could be loose, you know.

Yeah, I was about to say the same.

As biko and I are
following this logging road,

all of a sudden, we get to a
completely dilapidated bridge.

I mean, there was no way that
we were gonna get across that.

All the woods rotted out,

so we're definitely not
gonna use this to go across,

but we do need to get down to the water,

and that's a very sharp drop there.

Yeah. This has gotta
be a 30, 40-foot drop-off.

Wow.

All right. Let's see if we can
find a way down to the creek.

We have found prints
in Washington before

at the bottom of one of those structures.

Look at this.

Dear god.

Holy crap.

Here we go.

My.

Look at this.

Holy!

Look at that.

Does it look like there's
a way down over there?

I mean, this looks pretty dicey, too.

- Pretty big drop-off?
- Yeah.

Let me check out the other side here.

Looks pretty freakin' treacherous.

It does.

That was a big noise.

That sounded like a rock being thrown.

Let's stay quiet for a minute
and see if we hear something else.

That was another rock.

Yeah, it was.

That sounded closer.

Yeah, it did.

All right, so there's no question
that we need to get to the other side.

We've got to make a final way

down to the creek and
then over to that side.

Yeah.

I just heard something again.

Listen!

What is going on right now?