Two Portland men die searching for Sasquatch in Washington wilderness

kutv.com ^ | December 28, 2024

[lowbridge]

Two Portland men lost their lives while searching for Sasquatch in eastern Skamania County, Washington.

The Skamania County Communications Center received a report on December 25, 2024, around 1 a.m., about two overdue individuals who had planned to return home on December 24, 2024. When the pair did not return, a family member reported them missing and endangered.

A recently installed Flock camera helped locate the vehicle associated with the missing men, allowing the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Coordinator to find the vehicle off Oklahoma Road near Willard, Washington.

Over three days, more than 60 volunteer search and rescue personnel, including canine, drone, and ground teams, were mobilized. The United States Coast Guard from Astoria, Oregon, provided air support using F.L.I.R. technology.

After a challenging search through difficult terrain and harsh weather, the bodies of the 59-year-old and 37-year-old men were found in a heavily wooded area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Both deaths appear to be due to exposure, attributed to weather conditions and lack of preparedness.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I've hiked county and state parks in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. Even in that heavily populated area, you are in wilderness with a few minutes' drive.

Just six months ago...

Missing hiker found alive after spending 10 days in Santa Cruz Mountains
By Lauren Martinez, KGO TV
June 21, 2024

A missing Santa Cruz County hiker is back home after spending more than a week in the mountains, and the heartfelt reunion was all captured in photos.

Lukas McClish, 34, said he spent 10 days in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

On Tuesday, June 11, McClish headed out for a three-hour hike from his hometown of Boulder Creek. He said he got lost and didn't recognize certain landmarks wiped out by fires.

When he didn't show up for Father's Day dinner, he was declared missing on Sunday, June 16. Four days later, McClish was rescued.

My wife bought me a Garmin Inreach Mini last year for Christmas and I take it on all my hikes now. You don't even need dedicated Garmin devices these days -- just get a satellite-capable iPhone. I can check in with family and, if things get real bad, press "SOS" for Search and Rescue. These guys were absolute idiots for not having such gear with them.

[Pol-92064]

This reminds when 35 years ago when I had a FM radio transceiver with GPS. GPS was not accurate as it is now, but we used to hunt & hike in the woods with no worry.

[chief lee runamok]

"Dense heavy vegetation, you can lose your bearings easily if you don’t stay
focused."

While traipsing about in the western oregon Cascades, I'm never without a
pocket gps, with extra batteries. I also carry a simple compass as a backup.

Certain times of the year, foul weather clothing is a must.

In other words, being prepared beats being dead.

[crusty old prospector]

Squatch Denier!

[kingu]

Should be noted that rescuers also didn’t find Sasquatch.

[Big Red Badger]

That’s Funny right there!

[AndyJackson]

lack of preparedness

No kidding. I bet they didn't even do an internet search for precautions to take in a sasquatch encounter. Of course the "are you insane?" response may not have been seen to be helpful however well intentioned it was.

[logi_cal869]

Tragic.

Darwin wins again.

[faucetman]

Let me guess... They were killed by a Sasquatch. /s

[faucetman]

“lack of preparedness.”

What if we get lost and have to survive out here?

We won’t get lost.

[curious7]

And a compass - no batteries needed.

[MAGA2017]

Future episode on The Missing Enigma YouTube channel.

[Fireone]

My two older brothers and I, could navigate by compass at age 12. It seems to be a lost art.

[steve86]

It’s quite a ways from the Olympic Peninsula but that sure was a good description of rainforest.

[Beowulf9]

Sounds impossible. Why did they go during the winter?! This is not the time to head into a desolate area, and unprepared. If there is a sasquatch why look for him in the worst weather time of the year?

[Colt1851Navy]

That’s in reality just some average guy from Tennessee, that got driven insane by nutty Portland Liberals.

[oldeguy]

I hunted Mount Adams for elk for a week in the winter of 2007. Google earth had records of Sasquatch sightings in the exact spot where we pitched camp. The week that we left the area in November, a huge snowfall buried the roads and several camper rigs.

One thing that was unusual was the amount of cold air that came down that mountain as soon as the sun set. My brother attributed it to the glacier up above us, but it was so cold we felt like we could have stood in the fire and froze. The Sasquatch must have had better sense than we did, because we didn’t see any.

[lowbridge]

Every now and then I run across a story of a guy who was hospitalized because he was attacked by a sasquatch.

Inevitably, the guy is visited in the hospital by a total stranger who tells him, “you were attacked by a bear. It was a bear.” The guy would insist that it was no bear. But the stranger would still continue, “it was a bear.”

In one incident that took place around the 1950s, one guy recounted his story of his family going into the woods to go camping when he was a child.

They were set upon by a sasquatch who attacked them. The guys father tried fighting the sasquatch hand to hand, but got killed. He and his family ran for it.

They were hospitalized, and while laying in his hospital room, a guy came to his room, telling him it was a bear that attacked his family and killed his father. He would insist it was no bear, but the stranger kept on telling him over and over again, it was a bear.

Later on, his family was gifted with a brand new vehicle to replace their old beater, the same one they used to drive themselves into the woods. How they obtained a brand new vehicle, he doesn’t know. His family was way too poor to afford a new vehicle. And his mother never said anything about where it came from.

[BobL]

“Two Portland men die searching for Sasquatch in Washington wilderness”

Sounds like they found what they were after.

[PGR88]

The problem is - once you find Sasquatch, what do you do with him?