Columbian Cafa
From Butterflies to Bigfoot
Book commentary by George W. Earley
"S om ething is d e fin ite ly a fo o t in the
fo re sts o f the Pacific Northwest. Either an
o ffic ia lly undescribed species o f hom inoid
prim ate dwells there, or an act o f self- and
group deception o f astonishing proportions is
taking place. In any case the phenomenon of
Bigfoot exists."
Thus does naturalist Robert Michael Pyle
begin his c u rre n t book, Where Bigfoot
Walks:
Crossing
the
Dark
Diuide
[Houghton Mifflin; $21 .95 ]
Pyle earned a doctorate in ecology from
Yale in the 1970's, w ritin g his dissertation on
th e range and h a b ita t o f n o rth w e s te rn
b u tte rflie s .
He w ent on to w rite several
b u tte r fly books including The Audubon
Society Field Guide to North American
Butterflies.
Now, a quarter of a century later, he has
tackled a much larger to p ic , the possible
existence o f Bigfoot, the huge, hulking, and
sm e lly c re a tu re s w hose q u a s i-m y th ic a l
e xiste n ce p re d a te s th e a rriva l o f Euro-
American settlers in the Pacific northwest.
W rite s Pyle: "T he im p re ssive fa c t,
especially in light of the many versions w ith
their seeming contradictions, is th a t all of the
orig in a l N o rth w e st people have a stro n g
B ig fo o t tra d itio n . And th is continues in to
modem tim e s . . . "
Unlike m any w rite rs , Pyle does not
a tte m p t to 'p ro ve ' the creatures e xist by
interweaving tales o f sasquatch sightings and
fo o tp rin t finds w ith speculation and surmise.
"I've been looking into B igfoot" he writes
"b u t not looking fo r Bigfoot. Plenty o f others
are doing th a t — true believers, whose hearts,
souls, and wallets are on the line. I am not one
o f these. Even so, I fe lt the need to take my
research to the hills, to confront the concept
o f Sasquatch on its own ground."
And so, a few years ago, his search fueled
by a Guggenheim grant, b u tte rfly net in hand
and backpack in place, he set o u t to traverse
W ashington's Dark Divide, a largely roadless
area o f fo re st and lava bed lying between Mt.
Adams and Mount St. Helens
In the w ild c o u n try Pyle encountered
[and lovingly describes] all manner o f flora and
fauna, pointing out as he does so th a t there is
ample forage to keep the B igfoot well fed.
Twice he found tracks -- large ones - he could
not id entify, though he does not claim th a t
B igfoot made either the tracks or the strange
'n ig h t so u n d s' th a t bore lit t le if any
resemblance to the cries of any wild animals he
knows.
In more civilized surroundings, he m et the
'tru e believers' and the sim ply curious who
make up the members o f W estern Bigfoot
Society, talked w ith Native Americans [some
re tice n t and some cautiously willing to share
trib a l b e lie fs o f B ig fo o t] and shared his
concerns about B igfoot and people with such
B igfoot experts as Canadians René Dahinden
and John Green, ex-hunter Peter Byrne [who
heads th e O regon-based B igfoot Research
P ro je c t] and W ashington S tate University
anthropologist Grover Krantz.
Many 'tru e believers' will likely dismiss
much o f Pyle's book, im patiently flipping past
lyrical descriptions o f field, forest and fauna
while searching for the nuggets of Bigfoot lore
th a t lie embedded like plums in larger pudding of
his writing.
But to dismiss the pudding for the plums is
to miss the point of the book. Pyle's concern is
not so much w ith Bigfoot per se, but with the
to ta lity o f the environment of which both we
and B igfoot are a part.
". . . everything we
know," he writes, "tells us th a t if it [B ig foo t]
exists, it is in fin ite ly more peaceful and
nonviolent than the other great ape occupying
[th is ] contin ent." For as Pyle frequently and
caustically points out, Bigfoot's impact on the
fo re st environm ent has been far more benign
than ours.
Which brings us to the major disagree
m ent between sasquatch seekers: do we kill
one or not?
Peter Byrne has become the de
fa c to leader o f those who want to prove
B ig fo o t exists by passive observation and
photographs. Professor Krantz says th a t's
nonsense, noting that in an age of increasingly
sophisticated photo fakery, science will only
accept an actual Bigfoot, living or dead. And
Krantz is w illing to shoo t one should the
opportunity arise.
As fo r Pyle, he urges accepting the
existence o f the Bigfoot today so that, should
one be eventually discovered, they will already
be p ro te c te d .
But while saying th a t, he
declines to take a stand on the question of its
existence. "That's up to others. I am content
to have walked where B ig fo o t walks fo r a
season or tw o."
Readers who walk th e walk w ith him
th ro u g h th is fa s c in a tin g and im m ensely
readable book will likely agree. I certainly do.
Maps and photos round o u t what may be
the best Bigfoot book of the decade. « «
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George W. Earley is a freelance w riter who lives
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unsuccessful sasquatch seekers.
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