Bluff Creek Project: April 2017

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Update on the impending PG film 50th anniversary disaster...

So as you may know this October 20th marks the 50th anniversary of the PG film. Many people have contacted us about possible festivals or conferences in Willow Creek or Humboldt at that time, as well as their intentions to visit the film site on that day. We opted to have a small celebration during Labor day weekend instead of in October simply because there will be no access to Bluff Creek. The roads that go into Bluff Creek close at the beginning of October every year due to the Port Oreford Cedar disease control measures. At this time there will be now way to legally access Bluff Creek and the PG film site during the anniversary. That is why we have opted to host our celebration during labor day weekend and the Bigfoot Days festival. The weather will still be warm and we will still have access to Bluff Creek.

It has come to our attention that there are several groups planning their own celebration in Willow Creek and are planning to visit the film site. This is fine but be advised that the roads into Bluff Creek will be closed for the winter and there will be no access to the area.

Apparently local hotels are already booked for the week of October 20th and many are still planning to come. At this point we think that we should still do some sort of conference during the actual 50th anniversary even if we can't access the site. It occurs in the week before Halloween and many places would likely be willing to host some Bigfoot related activities.

I will try and plan at least a few local activities for visiting Bigfoot enthusiasts during that time. We have a local pulp theater that can host large crowds and i will be contacting them to see if they would be willing to screen a few Bigfoot related films. Likewise I will also contact the local breweries to see if they can host some Bigfoot parties during that time.

I would like to have it be sort of a Bigfoot week celebration with small events held around the area culminating in a small conference or meetup. I will also attempt to gain permits to allow us access to the PG film site on October 20th itself.

Bluff Creek roads status update

Bald Hills in Redwood National and State Parks

Landslide on Slate Creek rd two miles up.

Extensive damage and downed trees.

Downed alders snapped about eight feet up the stem.

The road was like this the whole way.

On Friday 3/31 Rowdy and I headed up to the Bluff Creek area to scout out the road condition. The forest is a disaster to say the least. The winter storm have caused unprecedented and utter devastation across the entirety of the area we traversed. I counted one in ten large trees have been blown over by the wind of the hill-slopes greater than 25 degree. It was surreal.

I went over Bald Hills and met up with Rowdy after i attempted to get to Twin Lakes via Slate Creek rd. At about 3pm I attempted to access the Twin Lakes area via Slate Creek rd and was met by many downed trees and small slides that had been cleared informally by locals.

At mile 2.2 I encountered a large landslide that completely blocked the road. It will require heavy equipment to clear. That was only after two miles up the road.

We then headed up Cedar Camp rd in an attempt to get access to Slate Creek rd, again we were met by heavy road damage. It appeared that trees have been knocked all over the area. Many large oaks and firs were on the ground. There is a lot of private property up there and a small logging operation at about mile four. The loggers had cleared the road with heavy equipment up to their operation. We proceeded past and encountered the road sagging in several areas and multiple trees over the rd which had been cleared by locals.

At mile seven it appeared the locals had given up and we encountered many obstacles and more downed trees which had to clear via chainsaw. We summited the ridge above the town of Orleans and had a clear view of the town and the GO rd, this was about mile marker nine. At this point there were many large rock piles covering the entirety of the rd and I had to just roll over them with my truck.

At around mile ten we had broken the chainsaw chain and could not cut anymore large trees. We stopped at the next large tree and turned around to head back.

We went to Orleans briefly but opted to not attempt a run up the GO rd because it was now about 6:30pm.

I fear the roads into Bluff Creek and the entire Bluff Creek drainage might have suffered catastrophic storm damage. At this point to do not think it will be possible to access the film site for some time. Likely not before July, the forest service has many miles of roads to clear.

During the past years it was not uncommon to encounter a few downed trees here and there but it was never anywhere near this level of destruction. I also anticipate heave losses to our trail cameras down on the creek. Most of the cameras were attached to alders which do not weather the storms very well.