2/15/2020 | Stephen Hitchcock

Back in September of 2019 I went on a camping trip to Lake Tugalo in Long Creek, South Carolina with 3 friends. It is a secluded lake on the edge of a wildlife management area. Towards the end of the second day we all took naps in our hammocks. I was the first to wake up so I went and sat by the campfire. After a few minutes I heard the snap of branches coming from up on a ridge that surrounded our campsite on one side. I had taken my dog with me on this trip, and she must have heard the snap as well because she looked in that direction. I couldn’t see anything so I went back to what I was previously doing. As soon as I looked away there was another snap from the same area. This happened three more times. Immediately following the final snap, a very large tree fell over into the lake with a loud crack and splash. This was a live tree, approximately 10 inches in diameter with no clear signs of rot. It was clear that this did not fall over naturally. The most peculiar thing about this occurrence is that after a few seconds the tree was lifted slightly and shaken a few times. There were no sounds of chopping or sawing leading up to this. Subsequently I researched and found out that Sasquatch will sometimes push over trees to get you to leave their territory or alert you of their presence.

Tree that fell over into lake Tugalo during my camping trip in September 2019

I decided to return to the area to investigate some of the woods that surround lake Tugalo for any possible signs of Sasquatch. I travelled down Bull Sluice Road heading towards the Tugalo boat ramp and pulled my truck into the first old, overgrown hunting road on the right. The forest is a blend of mostly pine and deciduous trees. The first thing that I noticed when I started to walk down the path was how quiet it was. There were no bird sounds or even the barking of squirrels which is highly unusual in this area. As I came upon low points in elevation where fresh silt had settled I noticed deer and coyote tracks, but nothing bigger than that. As the path came to an end about a third of a mile in I took some pictures and headed back to the truck.

First old hunting road.

The second old hunting road that I stopped at was a bit more promising. As I walked down the path I took notice of a few broken trees approximately 20 feet into the wood line. I’m typically not one to buy into the idea of tree breaks, but being that these trees were broken off higher than 7 feet from the base was a little odd to say the least. The trees were snapped, but not broken off completely. Just bent at almost a right angle. I scanned the area and could not find any other fallen trees that could have snapped these in the way that they were. As I continued down the path I noticed a ribbon blowing in the breeze and as I got closer I saw that it was connected to a purple “happy birthday” balloon that was lying in the center of the trail. I remember thinking that it was odd and wondered how it could have ended up way out there. The path led to a dirt clearing at the top of a mountain where I saw quite a few more deer and coyote tracks as well as a wide trail of pushed down grass that led off into the woods. I decided to set up a trail camera about 10 feet off this trail to see what I could capture and what may come through here at night. I will return to collect the camera in about a month’s time and upload any findings in a future post.

“Happy Birthday” balloon.

Trail camera location.

Trail camera view.

The last old road that I went down was a bit more overgrown than the previous two. It only went a few hundred feet before it tapered into what appeared to be a walking trail. I parked the truck and got out to see how far it went. The trail was not defined, but you could definitely see signs of activity in the form of branches being snapped all along each side which made it easy to navigate by path of least resistance. I came to a cleared area of quite a few fallen trees that varied in size from 10-15 inches. They obstructed my view of the path, but it didn’t seem to go any further beyond that point. As I turned around and walked back I noticed a tree break that I didn’t previously see on the way in. It was a young poplar about 3 inches in diameter that was snapped about 6 feet from it’s base pointed towards the path.

3 inch tree break

3 inch tree break

Around this time the sun was beginning to go down so I decided to call it for the day. I would like to return fairly soon with another member of my team for an overnight stay to see if we can hear or see anything in the late night/early morning hours.