A Silicon Valley resident and his girlfriend are hiking on the Loma Prieta Grade Trail in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in the summer of 2019 when they encounter a Bigfoot.
I received the following account:
"I’m a Silicon Valley (San Jose, California) native and have frequented the adjacent Santa Cruz Mountains all my life. This incident happened on the Loma Prieta Grade Trail in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in the late summer of 2019.
My girlfriend at the time and I were hiking on a Wednesday morning. There were already people around. This is a popular trail as it’s a really beautiful locale. That said, there were also stretches when it was just the two of us. I think it’s a 5-mile hike total and we were about an hour in when my girlfriend had to relieve herself. There were thick trees on both sides, so we looked for a clearing on our right side. We saw not really a path, but an opening, and walked past the tree line, maybe 20-30 feet in. She wanted to be out of sight of anyone who passed by. I tossed her my backpack which had toilet paper and she ducked behind a tree. I walked back down the clearing about halfway, but I could still see her. She’s squatting and I’m just waiting.
Like I said I could see her the whole time. It was darker inside the trees obviously, but I could still see just fine. So I’m standing there with nothing to do but look around me. That’s when I caught the movement of something on my left. There was a medium-sized tree with a very distinct, very dark, hand on it. It was about 10 or so feet away. At first, I thought it was someone wearing black gloves. I don't know why but I immediately thought it was some biker pervert looking in on my girlfriend. That’s when I saw the face peek out and EVERYTHING turned upside down.
I can’t say with full certainty but I’d say it was 7-8 feet tall, easy (I’m 6’2). I only saw a half of it but it was everything you would expect from a classic description of Bigfoot: big black eyes, large flat nose, dark-skinned with blackish-grayish hair. I could see only a hint of a conical skull. Really based on nothing in particular, I feel like I saw a female. Not sure why, I just do. Anyway, it peeked back and forth twice. The eyes were mesmerizing, that's the best way to describe it. They felt like they were looking right through my soul. I wasn’t scared really, but I was definitely in shock - like the way seeing a car accident feels like everything is in slow motion. And let me confirm what others say - there was NO way I had the wherewithal to pull out my phone and take a picture. No way. I was totally engrossed in the moment. This was all in the space of maybe 20-30 seconds.
The second time it peeked out, it looked at me for a few seconds then ducked back behind the tree but also sank like it was going onto the ground. That was the last I saw of it. My girlfriend finally finished and when she came back toward me that was when the fear hit me. Not like I was in danger right at that moment but more like the reality of what I saw finally hit me. I quickly took her hand and pulled her back onto the trail. I didn’t say what I saw, but I said we had to go back ASAP. She was confused but I explained to her what I saw as we walked back (at a much brisker pace than when we came up).
She believed me (she’s Canadian and has an uncle and cousin who claimed to see one when she was growing up), so that was good. She actually wanted to turn around and see if we could find it, but I wasn’t quite in that space just after it happened.
I’d say I was generally a Bigfoot believer before this, but not anywhere near a fanatic or anything and it’s not like I set out looking for anything. I know people argue that if you have “Bigfoot on the brain” you’re more likely to jump to that conclusion in certain situations. I did not. In fact the whole hike I was complaining to my girlfriend about my manager at work. Bigfoot was the last thing on my mind.
I’m okay with what happened, but I had strange dreams for weeks after. My girlfriend thought it was a great story and she’d tell our friends over beers and stuff, but I’m not entirely comfortable with people knowing. But like I said, I’m far away from it now to at least share it here.
Yeah, it’s possible a (huge) guy in a suit was out there at that exact time and in that exact spot, but I don’t think so. I’m 99% sure I saw a Sasquatch." MJ
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