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Saturday, 27 October 2007 |
Local nurse says yes
By Lara Kirkner
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 The term Sasquatch is an anglicized derivative of the word "Sésquac," meaning "wild man." Bigfoot was a journalistic term generated in the middle of the last century during a rash of sightings in Northern California; its use is not unreasonable since the species has proportionally much larger feet than those of human beings and, furthermore, the word has come to be recognized widely.
And so the legend goes. Whatever you call it, whether you believe in it or not, the tale that is about to unfold is creepy enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. In June 2006, Mammoth local Jaime Avalos was driving out to Laurel Meadows. Just before passing a truck coming in the opposite direction, Avalos saw something big and black; its huge shoulders making its upright body look like a V. As soon as Avalos spotted it, it disappeared, only to reappear shortly after looking like it was trying to elude the people passing it in their cars.
“I assumed the people in the truck would stop and say something as we passed each other but they just waved and smiled and continued to drive,” Avalos says. “The people out in the meadow acted the same way, as if they hadn't seen anything.”
Avalos questioned his experience, but became interested in thoughts of Bigfoot nonetheless. He recalled an experience he'd had in Ohio, a state known for large numbers of Bigfoot sightings, according to Avalos, where he had been out hiking and suddenly smelled the distinct odor of a dirty dog.
“I wanted to investigate the smell but my instincts said no,” Avalos continues. “But being frightened by the smell really irked me because I don't get scared that often, and it made me want to go on and find out more.”
After the experience in 2006 and after reading more on the Bigfoot phenomenon and discovering that some hikers had had a similar dog scent experience near Sonora Pass, Avalos began tracking a little bit, just when he was out fishing.
“You have to have a good eye for detail in order to be a tracker,” he explains.
He found his first Bigfoot track in Hilton Basin and he was hooked. Since then he has been tracking more seriously and has made stone plaster molds of the many large footprints he has found. He always carries several cans of the plaster in his truck as well as a bag of it on his person when he hikes.
When he first began tracking, Avalos admits he was timid about sharing his new-found interest with people he knew. Now that he has evidence, however, the idea of being teased does not bother him.
“I want to get in contact with people who've had similar experiences,” Avalos says. “They shouldn't be afraid to speak up, but many of them are.”
Avalos has sent his casts as well as pictures of his tracking to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), which ended up coming out to the Mammoth Lakes area last July for an expedition. Through his contacts at BFRO, his casts were sent to Dr. Jeff Meldrum, a scientist in the Department of Biological Science at Idaho State University, who studied the information.
“I haven't heard back from him, but I don't think these guys would have come out and done an expedition just to make me happy,” Avalos states.
He brought the prints to our interview and while not as huge as one might imagine a Bigfoot to be (Avalos measured the largest print at 11 inches), the gigantic big toe and the large spanning ball of the foot don't really make them look human. Avalos claimed that one area where he took a cast was across a lake bed terrain that had a clay bottom. The terrain was too harsh for a human to want to walk barefoot through, he added.
Besides contacting others with similar experiences, Avalos' main goal is to get a good video of these creatures he believes to be real. He feels that in order to accomplish this goal he will have to study the creature more and find out its strengths and weaknesses.
“There are only two possibilities (for the Bigfoot phenomenon),” Avalos says. “Either it's a secret society hoax that has been going on for the past 600 years or it's an undiscovered living, breathing population.”
It's clear where Avalos stands. What do you think? Contact Avalos with your similar experiences at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or visit his MySpace page, where you can also view pictures and videos from his tracking.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 November 2007 )
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