Sun Valley Sasquatch

If you’re looking for adventure, head north off the volcanic Snake River Plain on Highway 75 in central Idaho and you’ll enter the lower reaches of the Wood River Valley.  For those in the know, the area is a bucket-list spot for fly fishing, hunting, skiing, and all things outdoors. 

As you travel up the valley at night, the stars will shine bright both literally and figuratively.  The historic mining-turned-resort towns of Hailey, Ketchum, and Sun Valley have long been called home to some of the Hollywood elite including; Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Ernest Hemmingway, and Tom Hanks to name a few.

It was this concentration of wealth that brought George back to the valley time and again throughout the 1970’s-1990’s.  George had made a name for himself early on with the rich and famous as a master of “cementuous materials”.  No matter the size of the job, if you needed something constructed out of concrete, brick, mortar or stone, George was your guy.  In the 1990’s he was offered a multiyear job for renowned local photographer, Alfredo Rego.  Little did he know when he accepted the job, that this would begin a hair-raising journey into the unknown with a local Sasquatch.

With the pricey local real estate costs, George and his wife, Jean, decided to live on the cheap and hitched up their aluminum Avion trailer, setting up camp at the mouth of the North Fork Valley for the duration of the job.  The North Fork Valley is a narrow, confined canyon surrounded by steep mountains within the Sawtooth National Forest.  Being an avid outdoorsman, George would take evening walks up the logging road that accessed` the North Fork. 

The first time he walked up the valley he experienced something strange.  He had the feeling that something was watching him.  George was an experienced hunter and very comfortable being alone in the woods.  He was used to being in the presence of bears and mountain lions.  This was different.  The hair on his arms and back of his neck stood at attention.  Whatever was watching him was something big and strangely intelligent.  George realized that day after day, he could never get very far up the valley road before he would have to turn around out of fear and head back to the Avion, often at a dead sprint.

These sensations caused George to poke around with the locals.  Had they, too, experienced the same thing while in the North Fork?  To his surprise and relief, most of the locals agreed and refused to enter the valley on foot because of these exact same feelings.  He found that even dogs refused to walk up the road, insisting to their owners on turning back for home. 

None of the local residents had ever seen anything, but the presence of something watching them was impossible to ignore.  George would continue trying to push past his uneasiness, trying to find the cause. Over the entire three-year duration of the job, there was no shining light.  The mysterious being would not reveal itself.  That would all change when he accepted his next job in the nearby town of Fairfield Idaho.

Fairfield lies to the south, approximately 55 miles on pavement outside of the Wood River Valley.  As the crow flies, however, this small rural farm town is only 25 miles from where George was camped on his last job at North Fork outside of Sun Valley.  George’s new job once again called upon for construction expertise, this time in stucco.

In typical fashion, George and Jean pulled their trusty Avion trailer down to the current jobsite.  It was late August, just before fall hunting season and the couple decided to set up camp above town in the familiar, remote surroundings of the Sawtooth National Forest.  During the day George would go down the mountain to the jobsite and Jean would stay up at the Avion. The wild apple trees, creeks, and hot springs in the high country offered the serenity the couple were looking for. 

Before long, however, Jean raised some of the same concerns George and the locals had previously brought up at the North Fork Valley several years prior.  She felt every time she was outside the Avion by herself, she was being watched.  The hair stood on the back of her neck.  She told George she wasn’t staying up there during the day anymore and started going down to his jobsite and helping anyway she could, just to avoid being alone in the presence up at camp.

A short time later, George and Jean were both at their wits end.  This was the first time that both he and his wife felt the same familiar sense that something was watching them together.  It got to the point that they regularly started covering each other with handguns as they went outside, even for nature calls.  As George would say later, “I knew I was no longer in charge”.

Then it finally happened.  One night in that shiny, metal Avion trailer, after the years of disbelief and uncertainty, the presence revealed itself to George and his wife.  Guns were dropped.  Night eyes met.  Worlds collided and peace was finalized.

Listen to the amazing details and story finale on the Sasquatch Syndicate Podcast episode “Avion” from September 2018.
 
Do you live in the forested areas of Idaho?    Have you had your own unexplained encounter?   Let us know in the comments below or email us.  We'd love to hear from you.
 
BELIEVE

Kevin Weberling
Research Writer - Sasquatch Syndicate Inc.