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Me and my buddy went hiking on Mary's Peak, in western Oregon's Coast Range, awhile back when a strange thing happened. When the snows are not heavy you can drive almost all the way to the summit, where there are several parking lots and camping grounds. We drove up and when I got out of the truck the first thing I heard was the bass from somebody's speaker in an adjacent parking lot. I was a bit displeased that somebody was blaring their stereo in this pristine natural place, but it sooned stopped and all I could hear was the trucks engine cooling down from the climb up the hill.
We were soon down the trail, and once you get out there it's always surprising how quite is, there's so much background noise in civilization you don't realize how noisy it is. But just about two hundred yards down the trail we heard this noise again. It wasn't a car stereo, it was much closer, it was coming from the forest.
It's difficult to describe what it sounds like, except to say that it sounded a bit like deep bass from a car stereo, they were short, very deep hoots or grunts. You could feel it resonating in your spine. My first impression was that it was some kind of large mammal. I know that there are elk around, and the make loud and unusual calls, although I know what those sound like and this wasn't elk.
But we were on a mission to climb the hill and we left whatever it was behind us. On the way back down the hill, and hour or so later, we heard the noises again in the very same spot. This time we were more curious and we stopped to listen.
It was hard to tell where it was coming from, it was definitely coming from up the slope of the hill, and it seemed to be coming from the treetops. I was thinking it was some weird kind of bird, but I had never in all my years growing up in the PNW heard anything like it before. My friend had, but that was during a summer he spent working at a primate research facility in the rainforests of Costa Rica. And howler monkeys are not native to western Oregon.
We heard a second call, from the other side of the trail, down the slope. Then a third, then a fourth. They were all around us, and they were communicating. I can honestly say it was a singularly disconcerting experience. This was made more so by my friends dog, who became increasing agitated. It was starting to whine and pull hard on the leash to get back to the truck. When an alaskan malamute pulls hard, it really pulls hard. So we left, and I can't say I wasn't at least a little relieved. I half expected to see a family of sasquatch step out from behind the trees. At least I understand how those kinds of stories can get started.
But sasquatch don't exist. And there was no animal in that forest that isn't well known to science. And therefore it's probably known to highly intelligent DUers. So what do you think this thing was?
(And no, it's not Oscar, so stop saying that. I'm not making this up.)
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