Introduction
Hey guys, Chris here. Tonight, we have a story about a father and a son who go sledding in Northern California, where they have a very frightening encounter. It's an odd situation, and at the end, there's a blatant government cover-up. That's next.
Setting the Scene
There's a lot of snow up in the mountains right now, so I'm in the warm cabin set up tonight, really cozy here, and I'm drinking, appropriately enough, the Accumulation IPA by the New Belgium Brewing Company. The Sierra Nevadas are getting some really good snow; that's going to be great for our snowpack, for our rivers, and for all kinds of things in this area and out West here. We have been having a 20-year drought, and I've been watching this thing for a long time, so oh, that's a great name, Accumulation IPA. Really tasty too, cheers.
The Adventure Begins
Northern California is home to Mount Shasta, 14,180 feet above sea level, the second highest peak in the Cascade Range, the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range, and it's also a dormant but potentially active volcano. It last erupted in the 1700s, a long time ago. It is also in the Shasta Trinity National Forest, which is 2.2 million acres. Just nine miles south and west of there is a small town called Mount Shasta, where a young boy named Tyler lived in 1999.
Tyler was at school one day in Mount Shasta, and it was December, and it was snowing all morning. By noon, the school had called the day off and was going to have a snow day for the kids. Tyler gets on the bus, beats the treacherous road conditions, gets home, and as soon as he walks in the door, his dad says, “Hey Tyler, guess what? I got the day off too, and I'm going to take you sledding this afternoon.” So they decided to go sledding up in the mountains, the hills around there, and his dad has done a lot of cross-country skiing, and he knew the area really well.
The Encounter
They went to this hill, it was still snowing pretty good, and they found out there was no one else there. Tyler was really excited about this. He remembers going up the hill, sliding down, and his dad was sliding, they would trade sleds, and they were having just a great time. About 30, maybe 40 minutes into it, they were both standing at the top of this hill, and Tyler noticed his dad was staring down into this tree line that was at the bottom of the hill to the left. There was a forest, then at the bottom of the hill to the right, it kind of was clear towards where the vehicle was parked.
His dad was staring, and he later learned what he was seeing in the forest was he saw a shape moving through inside the tree line. You would see it intermittently, see something running, then it was trees, and then you would see a shape, a dark shape moving pretty quickly at the base of the hill to the left in the forest. And then Tyler looked, and he looked down there, and he didn't see anything, and then whatever this thing was, it stepped out of the tree line where they could clearly see it in the snow, and it was on two feet standing there still, motionless, really broad shoulders, this dark shape had to be 80 maybe 85 yards away from them.
They're both staring at it, and his dad was squinting at it trying to determine what it was. It wasn't relatable to anything that he knew, and his dad wasn't saying anything like, “Oh, there's a bear,” or “That's a mountain lion.” And just then, this thing dropped to all fours and started running to the base of the hill. It continued up, and it was coming up the slope, and it looked like it was coming towards them.
The Escape
His dad is still staring at it, trying to determine what it was, and it wasn't anything relatable to anything Tyler knew of, wasn't a bear, mountain lion. And his dad is staring at it, and Tyler's feeling this looks possibly dangerous, and so he says, “Dad, dad, what is that?” And right in that moment, his dad turns, picks him up, sets them on the sled, gets on the back of the sled, and they take off and go down the hill. They leave the other
sled at the top of the hill. Sounds crazy, sounds suicidal almost, but they were at the top of this hill, there was nowhere else to go, the back of the hill sloped off really steep, and at the bottom, that was a chain-link fence, so this was their best chance to get away.
As they reached the bottom of the hill, Tyler's dad pushed him off the sled, stood up, picked up Tyler by the arm, and they both started running, leaving the sled behind. They were running on the trail they had made coming in, but the snow felt thick and deep for Tyler, and he wasn't running as fast as he'd like to. His dad told him not to look back, but Tyler couldn't help it. He saw the creature looking like it was heading back up the hill. He continued to run and looked again, seeing it at the top of the hill, now upright again and pacing back and forth.
As they were heading towards the car, they saw some men who looked like they were in the military, armed with guns. One of the men stepped forward and started talking to Tyler's dad. They both turned and walked away from Tyler, and it sounded like his dad was describing their experience. A moment later, the man gestured for the other soldiers to go in a direction. Tyler had the thought that they were heading in the wrong direction, but his dad gave him a look that said, “Be quiet, don't say anything.” The soldiers headed off in that direction, and the man started patting down Tyler's dad, seemingly looking for a camera or some kind of device that would be an obstacle to the cover-up they were experiencing. They didn't find anything and let them go.
Reflections and Conclusions
It was quite a while later that Tyler's dad revealed to him that he had deliberately sent the soldiers in the wrong direction. He explained that when they were coming down the slope on the sled, he saw in the face of the Sasquatch running on all fours an overwhelming fear and that it just wanted to be left alone. Tyler always remembered that experience near Mount Shasta, but even more so, he remembered his dad's compassion and empathy towards whatever that creature was. Tyler also thought about what would happen if mankind were to get a hold of one of these mysterious beings and what they would do to it. He was always concerned about the fate of such creatures.
And that is our story for tonight. It's a nice winter night, warm and cozy in here, with a crazy story to share. I've been getting a lot of stories from you guys, really interesting ones. I've been talking to some of you on the phone, emailing with some of you, and there's a lot of stuff going on. I've got a lot more stories to share. I really appreciate you guys watching my channel. I'm going to be getting back out there, but it's kind of nice being indoors on these cold, dark nights.
If you guys have a story, please send it to me at basecampchris2 at gmail.com. That would be great. I read everything. I can't retell and put on the channel every story, but everything you send, your experience, is helpful to what I'm doing here and what we're talking about, so please send that in. I really appreciate it. And if you guys like stories about the strange, unexplained, and things that go bump in the night, please like and subscribe. We're getting close to a hundred thousand subscribers, so please like and subscribe if you haven't done that yet. We're just about to 80, and a hundred is coming up here at some point. So thank you, as always. I appreciate the comments. You guys are an inspiration to me as well, and as always, keep hiking.