Take a hike near Oregon Caves and you just might see a Bigfoot!
Want to vacation in Bigfoot country? Oregon Caves is a known Bigfoot hot spot and a great place for a vacation as well.
On July 1, 2000 a Grants Pass psychologist, Dr. Matthew Johnson, took a hike with his wife and children on Big Tree Loop Trail behind the visitor's center at Oregon Caves National Monument. They heard odd sounds coming from the forest nearby and detected a terrible scent. When he hiked off the trail alone he was shocked and dismayed to see a huge Bigfoot that had been following them.
But Bigfoot isn't the only attraction at Oregon Caves. This is a national monument run by the U.S. National Parks Service where you can get an outstanding cave tour, sleep in a picturesque chalet, eat in an upscale dining hall, and shop in a well-stocked, lovely gift shop. There's also an educational visitor's center to explore. Or you could just sit next to the waterfall, and relax.
Oregon Caves National Monument
Centennial Celebration
This year Oregon Caves National Monument is celebrating 100 years since the founding of the park.
The Bigfoot Book Club
Our reading of Tribal Bigfoot starts on September 1, 2009
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Tribal Bigfoot
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Tribal Bigfoot contains fascinating Bigfoot encounter stories written by David Paulides in his thorough investigative style. The book also features the amazing Bigfoot sketchings of forensic artist, Harvey Pratt, originally seen in Paulides' first bo...

Examining Oregon Caves
My trips to Oregon Caves
My first visit to Oregon Caves was on June 1, 2000. I was there with my two youngest children to celebrate my son's tenth birthday.
It was exactly a month later on July 1, 2000 that Dr. Matthew Johnson went to Oregon Caves with his family and hiked the Big Tree Loop Trail where he had his Bigfoot sighting which is considered one of the most credible sightings ever due to his professional status as a psychologist.
On this page you'll see photos from my two other trips to Oregon Caves National Monument. I was there in 2005 with three of my children, and in 2007 my Bigfoot research partner and I hiked the Big Tree Loop Trail.
My 2005 trip to Oregon Caves
...with three of my children
The cave is inside Mount Elijah, named for the cave's discoverer.
Dr. Matthew Johnson's Bigfoot sighting at Oregon Caves
July 1, 2000
It isn't often that someone as credible as Dr. Matthew Johnson has a Bigfoot sighting -- but he's adamant about it -- he clearly saw a Bigfoot and has been a Southern Oregon Bigfoot researcher ever since.
On July 1, 2000 he decided to take a hike on the Big Tree Loop Trail just uphill from the Oregon Caves Chalet and Visitor Center. His wife and three children were with him. A terrible skunk-like scent filled the air. As they walked they heard a strange noise, but every time they stopped, the noise stopped. Something was stalking them!
He decided to walk off the trail on his own while his wife waited below; the children played with an insect on the trail. It was then that he saw the Bigfoot as it walked from behind a large tree to another tree. The Bigfoot was watching his wife and children!
This terrified Dr. Johnson -- he ran down to where his wife and children were and told them to start hiking back to the safety of the Chalet. He was not at that time aware that Sasquatch do not usually attack people.
Dr. Matthew Johnson at the Bigfoot Jamboree in Happy Camp, 2006
A reporter talks to Dr. Matthew Johnson before his lecture.
Dr. Johnson's parenting book
Dr. Johnson (Dr. J.) has been teaching this parenting program since 1987.
Dr. Johnson's bio at his professional website:
Positive Parenting With a Plan: Family Rules
Positive Parenting with a Plan (Grades K-12): F.A.M.I.L.Y. Rules
Amazon Price: (as of 12/19/2009)![]()
This book got a lot of good reviews at Amazon. If you've got children, check this out!
Encounter at the Caves
A video documentary revisiting the site of Dr. Matthew Johnson's Oregon Caves Bigfoot encounter.

To see the entire show
go to The Daily Courier's website
Here's the trailer... but seriously, if you want to know about Dr. Johnson's Bigfoot encounter, go to the site linked above. It's a fantastic documentary! But first -- read the rest of this page... I have a lot more information to share (and lots of photos.)
Dr. Johnson was on Coast to Coast AM
Paranormal Talk Radio
- Meeting Sasquatch - March 11, 2003
- ""I was in a state of shock-- totally frozen," said Dr. Matthew Johnson, a licensed clinical psychologist, who on Tuesday night's show, described his reaction upon first seeing a Sasquatch. He encountered the creature while hiking with his family along the Big Tree Loop Trail in Oregon..."
Bigfoot
The official map of the Big Tree Trail at Oregon Caves
...I got this from the National Park Service website (see link below)

Map credit: Big Tree Trail at the official Oregon Caves website
I placed a red arrow in the lower left quadrant of the map to show you that the National Park Service put the Bigfoot sighting location on the map! This shows that they've acknowledged the credibility of Dr. Johnson's July 1, 2000 sighting.
What's strange (to me, anyway) is that when I took my hike on the trail in 2007 I didn't know where the sighting had taken place, but I used my ESP - and determined that section of the trail was a very likely place for the sighting to have taken place. I can usually sense Bigfoot habitat areas and that day I sensed that they are living on the other side of the hill from that spot on the map. This is a true story! I've been developing my ESP skills for Bigfoot research purposes for several years now and have set up a partnership for studying/developing/maintaining psychic contact with Bigfoot: Friends of Sasquatch.
My hike on the Big Tree Loop Trail at Oregon Caves
This happened in early 2007.
I first learned about Dr. Matthew Johnson's Bigfoot sighting from a website he posted years ago, which since then disappeared. I didn't meet him until he came to speak at the Happy Camp Bigfoot Jamboree in 2006.
The following spring my Bigfoot research partner and I took a trip to Oregon Caves and hiked the Big Tree Loop Trail. We weren't sure which trail the sighting was on but a park ranger pointed us toward the Big Tree Loop, and we set out to the left, which is the opposite of what Dr. Matthew Johnson and his family did on July 1, 2000. They went right; we went left. So I had a long hike ahead of me before we got to the location of his sighting -- and at the time I didn't know exactly where that had taken place. As I said earlier, I sensed out the most likely Bigfoot habitat locations and decided it lived beyond the crest of the hill but had come closer that day just in time to meet up with Dr. Matthew Johnson.
The Big Tree Loop Trail is just over 3 miles in length and involves a lot of uphill hiking. The big payoffs are the view from the far end of the trail -- where hundreds of miles of Oregon mountains and forests are at your feet... and the opportunity to have your photo taken with the big tree, of course.

A big fir named "Big Tree"...
Big Tree Loop Trail hike, 2007
...great workout, lovely vistas, fresh air.
This view is from the far end of the trail not far from Big Tree.

A view from Big Tree Loop Trail
Oregon Caves Book
Oregon Caves Historic Images
...early photographers recorded the beauty of Oregon Cave interiors
The discovery of Oregon Caves
In 1874 Elijah Davidson of nearby Williams, Oregon was on a hunting expedition when he discovered an opening in the side of what was then called Sand Mountain.

Cathedral Arch

Fat Lady's Squeeze

Paradise Lost

Yosemite Ladder - in the Ghost Room
Bigfoot
More of my Bigfoot musings here at Squidoo
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Bigfoot Sightings
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I've always been intrigued by the idea of Bigfoot, but it wasn't until 2005 that I decided to learn more about them. I've never seen Bigfoot, but I live in a small town in the middle of a huge forest in Northern California, and lots of people around...
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Tribal Bigfoot
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Tribal Bigfoot contains fascinating Bigfoot encounter stories written by David Paulides in his thorough investigative style. The book also features the amazing Bigfoot sketchings of forensic artist, Harvey Pratt, originally seen in Paulides' first bo...
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Bigfoot Sasquatch Evidence
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Is Bigfoot real? Dr. Grover Krantz, a professor of anthropology at Washington State University examined the evidence starting in 1963. This book was originally published in 1992 by Johnson Books, Boulder, Colorado, with the title, Big Footprints: A S...
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Bigfoot Videos
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These are some of the best Bigfoot videos to be found on YouTube and other video sites. I've been researching Bigfoot for several years - see my Bigfoot Sightings blog for my collection of articles about Bigfoot. Bluff Creek Northern California
Poll: Oregon Caves
Oregon Caves Tour
Official Oregon Caves websites
Check these out!
- Oregon Caves National Monument
- The official U.S. National Park Service website.
- The Chateau at Oregon Caves
- Find out more about the picturesque Chateau, study vintage photos and Chateau history, check for special events, read a sample menu, and make reservations.
Your comments are welcome...
Ever been there? Do you want to go?
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- hlkljgk hlkljgk Oct 18, 2009 @ 1:39 pm
- great photos of an interesting place.
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- Jewelsofawe Jewelsofawe Oct 15, 2009 @ 12:07 am
- Interesting lens! I live in Oregon and did not know about all of this. Of course I have only lived here for almost 2 years.
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- jeffwend jeffwend Oct 6, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
- Very cool lens. My dad did a few stories covering bigfoot sightings when I was younger for an NBC affiliate. It made for some interesting travels. Rumor has it there are at least a few of them still in Northern Michigan too.
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- dagsmith dagsmith Sep 23, 2009 @ 9:18 pm
- Great site! I have explored many caves in the Eastern US - Someday maybe the West too!
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- bengriston bengriston Sep 21, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
- I would not be that interested in Bigfoot but I love caves and the lifeforms you find in them.
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- kiwisoutback kiwisoutback Sep 17, 2009 @ 2:06 pm
- Looks like a beautiful place, but not sure if I believe the Bigfoot thing. It does make it more interesting though. In the Redwoods of CA, there was an entire shop dedicated just to Bigfoot stuff. Apparently it's that much of a tourist attraction they can survive just from Bigfoot stuff. Squid Angel blessed!
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- eccles1 eccles1 Sep 8, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
- Beautiful lens!
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- poddys poddys Aug 15, 2009 @ 4:02 pm
- This is a wonderful lens, from the layout to the content. 5***** Although many people will laugh when you mention such things as Bigfoot or UFO's, doesn't the continual evidence and sightings over the many years lead you to believe that they do exist? I believe that they do. The sad thing is, that if we do find one, that will likely be the end of a creature once thought to be fictitious, because it probably couldn't and certainly shouldn't live in a zoo. Sad no matter what ever happens.
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- Heather426 Heather426 Aug 12, 2009 @ 11:22 pm
- wonderful lens, I definitely would love to go there and so would my husband..we both love the Northwest, but southern ca is home for now. maybe a visit though.I think Bigfoot does exist...
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- stargazer00 stargazer00 Aug 2, 2009 @ 8:01 pm
- The elusive Bigfoot. A fascinating subject.
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- GroovyFinds GroovyFinds Aug 2, 2009 @ 6:50 pm
- Very cool, Great info!
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- bdkz bdkz Aug 2, 2009 @ 5:23 pm
- Beautiful place!
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- EverythingMouse EverythingMouse Aug 2, 2009 @ 10:17 am
- What an excellent lens. Squid Angel Blessings to you!
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- aj2008 aj2008 Aug 2, 2009 @ 8:47 am
- Another fascinating lens Linda. SquidAngel Blessings for you.
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- spirituality spirituality Aug 2, 2009 @ 2:50 am
- Blessed & featured on my summerschool lensography :)
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