West Branch Campground - Klamath National Forest

West Branch Campground was used as the base of operations by the Civilian Conservation Corps when Grayback Road was being built back in the 1930s.

I'm a Bigfoot researcher, and like to hike through the woods looking for signs of Bigfoot habitation. Though I saw no Bigfoot while hiking in the woods behind the Westbranch Campground earlier this week, I can't say they're not there. As I've come to understand it, Bigfoot lives in all parts of this forest. I'm speaking of the Klamath National Forest, where I live.

Once I was sitting in my car at this campground, writing in my journal about how strange it was that I rarely saw any deer in recent weeks. At that moment I looked up to find my car surrounded by four or five deer - some as close as two yards from the car! How silent they were as they approached me!

It pays to look around when you're in the wilderness. I'll bet we miss a lot of things by not taking the time to look.

I have a special affinity for this part of the forest because I saved it from a forest fire about 6 years ago. I was coming home from the big store in Oregon late at night - possibly around midnight. Grayback (the road) was empty except for one other car which was ahead of me. I let it get far ahead because I like being alone on the mountain roads. As I neared Happy Camp I noticed an odd light, and when I rounded the bend could see a fire had started at the left side of the road - the woodsy side. The other side is a cliff. Flames were about four feet high at that point. I stopped the car and grabbed two gallons of spring water I'd just purchased from the back seat of my car, and dumped them on the fire, extinguishing it. That fire was adjacent to the West Branch Campground.

Now for a moment, put yourself in the place of a person living in a very small town in the middle of a big huge forest. If you get bored at home and want to go out, what will you do? There's a saloon downtown, but I never go there. There are a few local river access sites if you want to go watch the river flow past. There's the market but that gets old really fast. There are community events, but not too often. There's jawing with the locals, and you can usually find someone you know that has time to talk. And then there's campground sitting - something I do just to relieve the boredom. I think I like this because I maintain journals, plus sometimes I take my AlphaSmart Neo and write on it while I'm out there - you can see me with that on my bio page at my Bigfoot Sightings blog. In that picture I had my feet in the creek and was writing a blog article. So you see, I do love my backwoods adventures and since we have no movie theaters, malls, or craft stores, this gives me something to do.

There's a beautiful campsite - my favorite there - that is also the trailhead for a path that leads down to the creek. I'd been there before but only went half-way down because I was by myself and it got a bit spooky in there. Besides Bigfoot, this forest is full of bears and mountain lions. Call me a chicken if you must, but I really like having a hiking partner. So one Sunday late in August my Bigfoot research partner (and boyfriend) Bob said, "Let's go swimming." We made a plan to go to a favorite spot on the South Fork of Indian Creek. But on the way there we started talking about West Branch Campground, and decided to drive through and look at it. This campground is usually empty and I think it would make a great place for a convening of squatchers (Bigfoot research enthusiasts.) While there I told him about this trail and we decided to hike down it.

Campsite 7 is where we started from. I got this map from the Klamath National Forest web page about West Branch Campground. Whenever I've been to this campground it has had no more than one or two campsites full. Usually, it has been empty. That's why I've found it to be such a peaceful place to enjoy being in the forest.

This isn't the kind of trail you would want to get off of - the forest is thick and I think for most human beings, would be difficult to forge your way through. Toward the end of the trail near the creek, our way was blocked with logs left there from winter storms. The path just sort of petered out at that point. There was lots of poison oak but we managed to avoid it fairly well.

When we emerged through the thicket of fallen timber, we stepped right into the creek's chilly waters. There's been a lot of gold pulled from Indian Creek over the last century and a half. This looks like a fine spot for prospecting. No Bigfoot to be seen, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one hiding behind one of the trees.

One thing that really disappoints us about most of the beautiful places in our river valley - is that so little of it has been made more comfortable for human visitation. We noticed that there are some lovely swim sites on the Illinois River north of Selma, Oregon, that have been developed with walkways to the river, picnic shelters, bridges, and more. We believe similar development around the creeks in our forest would be appreciated by all who visit.

The hike was so rough at the bottom of the hill I had to find a walking stick... this one was right next to the river. If you're planning to come explore this area be sure to wear good hiking boots and bring a walking stick along too. I was wearing Tevas rafting sandals -- not recommended for hikes!

By the way, look at the orbs in the photo. Could it be we were not alone?

I made this lens as part of a Senior Squids project on events. I could have done this lens on the upcoming Bigfoot Jamboree, or on the Happy Camp River Run, but... decided to go with a simple hike in the woods. A hike is an event! Sometimes a hike is even eventful!