Don Monroe From Idaho
Sunday, June 6th, 2010Part 1
Once in the presence of Don one can feel the energy and enthusiasm emanating from his ambitious personality. Don is always ready to share his knowledge and experiences with a little mixture of wit and humor. He is truly a man of the world having set out on his own at the age of fourteen to discover the world. Don is a person of many characters; pirate, gunslinger,mountain man, game guide, hunter, adventurer, explorer and Santa Claus, for he’s always bearing gifts for people who are in need. Don also has a respect and a deep appreciation for nature. He once guided a fellow on a bear hunt. Having found their quarry his client was anxious to shoot. The bear was at a distance of about 400 yards. Don’s client shot and wounded the bear after Don had insisted not shooting, for the bear was to far for a good shot and because the difficult and steep terrain would make it difficult to retrieve and remove the bear. Don was furious. Not wanting to leave a wounded bear to suffer Don tracked and killed the bear. After seeing the difficulty in removing the bear the client suggested leaving it only to infuriate Don even further. Don said, ” We’re not going to leave the bear to waste. You insisted on shooting it, now I insist on you removing it.” Don told his client to remove his clothes for they were needed to haul the bear up the steep ravine piece by piece. The client, stunned and reluctant, agreed, considering it might be in the best interest for all concerned.
Don has also been successful in a variety of businesses in his life time including being a trader, which he still does from time to time when on the road or, at his trading post in Idaho. Don’s trading post is centered in the middle of a small town. Visitors are a welcome sight for trading or just good conversation, most of them that is. One day a couple of suspicious looking fellows that didn’t look like the socializing type pulled up in an old car and came into the store. Don noticed the hippie-looking one kept one hand in his pocket, possibly concealing something. Looking at the pistols in the display case the stranger asked Don if he would use one of them if someone tried to rob him. Don, already on alert quickly responded, ” No! I would use, this one!” While the fellow was still looking down at the pistols in the display case Don had pulled one from a shelf above his head and told him to reach for the sky as he pointed it at him. As quick as this all came down his partner like Flash Gordon was even quicker escaping out the door and heading to the freeway in the vehicle leaving his buddy behind to fend for himself. Don retrieved a pistol from the suspects pocket, hog tied him and put him outside on the ground, threw his pistol beside him and let him lay in the sun for a few hours in an ant bed checking on his well being from time to time, pouring syrup and beer on him and giving him a few kicks for good measure before finally calling the Sheriff. Knowing the fellow would be reluctant to explain the circumstances after trying to rob him, Don told the Sheriff he had just walked outside seen the fellow in that situation and called the Sheriff. I’m sure the Sheriff, knowing Don, suspected their was more to the story as the stranger was cursing and threatening to kill Don as he was being taken to the Sheriff”s unit.
The only problem with the trading post, aside from the unscrupulous types on occasion, it’s almost never open. Why not? One might ask. Well, that could be the beginning of a long story so we’ll try to keep it short. Don is on a quest. A life long quest to try to solve an ageless mystery or legend if you like. For Don got smitten with what is known as the Bigfoot bug at a very early age of eleven with a friend of the same age in the Pocatello Mountains. Don and his friend went into the mountains with the intentions of tracking down a mountain lion with their twenty-two rifles and dogs. They were by the camp fire when their dogs begin to tremble and cower at their feet. The two grabbed their twenty-two rifles, put more wood on the fire and stood at the ready. “Suddenly from the darkness, came a series of terrible sounds, of shrieks, high-pitched yells and guttural growls,and the sounds of activity, as if something were out their fighting with something,” Don said. The two boys sat at the fire, guns in hand with their cowering dogs for the rest of the night with no further disturbances. The next morning, fifty yards from their camp, they found the remains of a sheep, torn limb from limb, scattered over an area of twenty square feet. No part of the animal had been eaten! To reinforce this quest, while hunting Don and his wife Marion saw something on Mount Index, Washington in 1982. Don and his wife were bear hunting when Marion seen something that she thought was a bear until it ran across a rock slide on two legs for over a hundred yards. Don had seen it and said it was about eight feet tall with long arms as it stepped back and let go of a heavy brush and disappeared into the woods. Don is an author who’s wrote extensively about his discoveries and experiences, with a lot of great interviews in two books. “Sasquatch 2001″ and “Sasquatch 2005″ With No. 3 on the way. Don is a delightful character who’s always entertaining and more than willing to share his adventures and experience with a well balanced sense of humor, as long as your not a dork that is. Don doesn’t have time for dorks. Don likes people who are sincere, have a sense of adventure and like to learn. And at the same time not take life too serious.
I’ve known Don for several years now, and had my first adventure and experience with him in the St. Joe Mountains. Don called me and asked if iI would like to join him on a seventy-mile trek into Bigfoot country. I told him I would have to decline, I was not prepared physically, or financially. Receiving a call a couple of weeks later and repeating, I was not in shape for such a trek, Don assured me we would be able to shorten the hike to twenty or twenty-five miles,[ha! ha!] and would take it easy at our own pace. Not overly ambitious about engaging in this adventure I said, ” I don’t have a back pack.” Don says, ” I have an extra one.” I said. ” I don’t have food, or supplies for such a trek.” Don said, ” I have food, and all the equipment necessary.” I said, “I don’t even have a good pair of hiking boots or a pistol, and I ain’t going into any mountains with no pistol.” Don said, ” What size boots do you wear? I got ‘em, What type pistol you need? 45, 44 magnum, I got ‘em.” I said, ” I can’t get a ticket right now.” Don said, “I’ll get you a ticket right now, and pick you up in Spokane.” There was no way out. The trek was on.
After Don picked me up we headed to the house of Ted Henderson, an old friend of Don’s, who had made many excursions into the same mountains with Don that we were headed to. Sadly he was not in shape to join us. After being introduced, Ted told me of a fascinating encounter he had with Don. We said our good-by’s. As we drove away, I almost felt out of place seeing the tears swelling up in the old fellows eyes as he realized his days of adventuring into the mountains with Don were over. Ted told me while in the mountains where we were headed that he and Don had heard strange high pitched bird-like sounds right out side their tent during the night. It was like chattering going back and forth. Like something was communicating. After the sounds stopped Don went out and found tracks of something that had walked away on two feet. “I’ve been in the mountains most of my life and I’ve never herd anything like that,” Ted told me. It’s in the mountains like this for an extended amount of time that you get to know each other. I learned a lot about Don on that trek, as I know he did me. After getting into Don’s van heading for the mountains, Don said something like,” You’re going to hate me for this, but your going to love me for the adventure.” I didn’t ask Don to elaborate on what he meant by that, I don’t think I wanted to know, and was sure I was going to find out anyway as it was too late to turn back. I have to admit, it was an adventure. We witnessed some unusual events. The second night[about 20 miles] into the mountains Don woke me around 1 a.m.. He said, ” Come here, I want to show you something.” We walked to the edge of the mountain over looking the canyon. On the side of a mountain [probably 5 to 10 miles] was a lite blue colored light flashing on and off, covering the whole canyon. Don said he had been watching it for about an hour and it was lighting up every eight seconds. We were puzzled as to what it might be. Of course I suggested the obvious, a possible U.F.O. that had landed and was probably studying us while we were looking for Bigfoot. I suggested we try and hike to the area and get a better look. Don’s reply was instant. “I don’t want anything to do with them, they don’t do nice things to people.” After having a good chuckle, knowing we would probably never know the answer, I retired for the night. Don stayed up and watched the pretty light.[At the end of the trek we spoke to a forest service person who told us that area was closed off and nobody was back in there]
Three or four days into the hike, on an obscure trail we came across a footprint that was about fourteen inches in length and several inches in width, with the toes fairly displayed in the light gravel. There was only one track as the surrounding strata was to hard. The morning of the next night Don said he heard something like dogs barking. There were no houses or people in the national forest that we knew of. I told Don that there’s good evidence that Bigfoot makes barking sounds. As we set out on the the trail that morning it wasn’t long before something unusual happened. We were startled by a loud exhaling sound coming from a ravine we had just passed. After 60 miles or so, tired, with little food and water and several miles to go we opted to continue our way out. Looking back at finding the one track that day, hearing the barking in the night, and the loud sound of something exhaling the next morning makes one wonder if we were possibly being followed. I don’t know what night it was but a storm with heavy rain came upon us suddenly. We had taken shelter in a ravine under the forest canopy next to a mountain. Within a short time I was completely soaked, sleeping bag clothes and all, for the rain and mud from the hillside had completely enveloped me. I was freezing and wondering if I was going to die of hypothermia before morning. Fortunately, the storm only lasted a couple of hours. Looking over at Don, all dry and cosy in his little cocoon, I was all most afraid to disturb him. At my insistence, Don, reluctantly got up to build a fire. [after I had scoured the forest floor for dry wood for two hours] The fire was a life saver. After getting dry, the rest of the night would have been relatively comfortable if I wouldn’t have had to endure this singing [noise] to limericks being made up as he went along describing our situation with a big silly grin on his face till wee hours in the morning. I’m not sure but I think it must have been some form of punishment for waking him. With all things considered, four infected teeth on the last leg of the trek that had my face swollen with one eye shut, [Don offered to pull them, I respectfully declined] all the MRE’s [meals ready to eat] and blisters on the top and bottom of my feet [the boots didn't fit] it was a real experience. Hate? hmm- not really, but, thanks for the adventure.
Ronnie
Part 2 - To be continued– This is where it gets interesting –coming soon The strange Caves of Don Monroe
Richard Greenwell: 1942-2005
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
- Richard Greenwell
Richard Greenwell
1942-2005
TRIBUTE
Tribute to a friend and colleague…………….
News of the passing of Richard Greenwell was a shock to his many friends and colleagues, for it came about suddenly. Unknown to many, Richard was terminally ill with Multiple Myloma. Richard was one of the best in his field of research. The research of Cryptozoology or search for hidden and unsubstantiated life forms. Dedicated to his research to the end, Richard was on expedition in a rugged and remote part of the Siskiyou wilderness forty miles from the nearest outpost. Supplies and team had to be transported by vehicle on a dirt road over thirty miles to reach the trail head to begin the final leg of the expedition. On the last leg of the expedition, six hundred #’lbs. of supplies and special equipment had to be carried in on mules for a full days hike over some very difficult terrain.
During this last leg before arriving to their destination deep in a canyon it was obvious Richards health was failing him. After setting up base camp Richards health began to deteriorate rapidly. Richard true to his nature with a strong constitution refused to abort the expedition at the advice of colleagues even knowing that the situation was worse than he let on, for Richard knew he was dieing. Ironically Richards most successful expedition was to be his last. This was one of several expeditions over a period of nine years to this area to gather evidence to support the possible existence of unknown bipeds of which we refer to as ” BIGFOOT.” This particular area of study had been lucrative indeed. In the past Richard and team members had experienced unusual vocalizations, tree knockings, rock throwing, theft of food from their supplies and unusual bipedal human like foot prints left by nightly visitors to their camp.
Evidence of the existence of something unknown to science. Sounds, behavior and footprints too large in their dimensions to be attributed to man or any known animal. The 2005 Siskiyou expedition had been even more successful in this area than the past. After broadcasting certain sounds through out the canyons as attractants in this strategic area things began to happen during the first night. There were visitations of something as yet to be identified every night for three weeks there after. During one of the nightly visitations one of the creatures reached out and from the surrounding vegetation, pressed the tent down to feel the occupant inside. As fate would have it the unknown entity contacted the only person who had no experience in this field but “kept his cool” during the whole encounter.
This area of study, is off the grid for communications. It would be weeks before the mules would be back to take the team and equipment back to the trail head. It would take at least a week on foot to get help in case of an emergency. Dedicated to his research, with all this activity, Richard refused to abandon the expedition, inspite of his grave condition. Weeks later when it was time to abandon camp, Richard was to weak to make it with out assistance to the top of the canyon wall where the mules were waiting. To make things worse, night had fallen by the time Richard and the equipment were loaded on to the mules and the team had to negotiate the rugged mountains in the dark. To add to all these complications, one of the team members broke an ankle helping Richard scale the steep canyon wall where the mules were waiting to begin this arduous trek out.
Richard was transported to the University of Berkeley Calif. then home where he passed away two months later. Richard was the secretariat of the [ISC] International Society of Cryptozoology from it’s inception in 1982 to 2005. Richard helped found the society along with Dr. Roy Mackal……….. and Bernard Heuvelmans………… the convention for the society was held at the Smithsonian Institute. In 1982 Richard was a member of Dr. Mackal’s second Congo expedition to search for evidence of the possible existence of living dinosaurs.
Note for the skeptics……in spite of having thousands of dollars in night surveillance equipment nothing was documented except an image picked up by thermal imaging which shows something standing up right with what appears to be part of the upper head , torso , arm, and hand. There are all kinds of difficulties and complications in trying to film wild life in the wild at night or day for that matter, especially when that wild life is secretive and remains hidden in the surrounding foliage. Not to mention camera placement even if their was something to pickup. Or cameras that are powered by batteries that are powered by solar panels that weren’t working because their hadn’t been enough sunlight in an unstable environment. On the 1999 Siskayou expedition we had night cameras mounted for a solid month. Out of one months filming, when the cameras were working we filmed one rabbit, though the evidence of elk, deer, coyotes, and was every where and at least one cougar that let his presence be known.
Richard Greenwell was an English naturalist, explorer, historian, and writer. He attended boarding schools for two years where he learned Spanish fluently. In the 1950’s while growing up in England, he embarked on a life long interest in natural history under the tutelage of aquatic biologist John Clegg, curator of the Haslemere Museum. He joined the Air Training Corps [ATC] the youth cadet division of the Royal Air Force [RAF] and later personally located and documented Japanese world war two aircraft wrecks in Papua New Guinea. After attending college for two years in London.
Richard moved to South America for six years where he.about the ecology and wildlife of that continent. In 1976 he returned to academic studies at the University of Arizona where he was research coordinator of the Office of Arid Lands Studies in the College of Earth Sciences. In 2001 he was appointed research associate in mammalogy in the Dept. of ZoologicaL Collections of the International Wildlife Museum in Tucson. Beginning in the 1970’s, Richards interests in natural history and zoology, particularly as related to mammals, began to focus on ecology, zoogeography, systematics and taxonomy, paleontology, human and primate evolution, and primate behavior.
For many years, he maintained his own colony of Amazonian tamarin monkeys, and he collected many zoological specimens from around the world for universities and museums. His natural history library numberd almost 2,ooo volumes. In the 1980’s, his zoological interests expanded further to include the field of Cryptozoology, the scholarly evaluation of evidence for animals that are reported anecdotally but remain scientifically unverified. In 1982, he and 14 other scientists from around the world founded the International Society of Cryptozoology [ISC] at a meeting hosted by the the U.S. National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution. Richard was appointed its permanent Secretary and Editor of Publications. Over the years, he organized many ISC conferences, and, as editor of the scholarly journal Cryptozoology, he was personally responsible for the editing and publishing of 376 manuscripts. Richard also participated in, or led, numerous Cryptozoology expeditions to various remote parts of the world, including China, the Congo, and New Guinea. He also led numerous scientific field projects in the Siskiyou wilderness of Northern California in a continuing attempt to determine the possible existence of the supposed large bipedal entity known as the Sasquatch or Bigfoot.
Richard called himself a slave to objectivity and the scientific method, and his Cryptozoological activities, whether they involved theoretical work or fieldwork, followed that same philosophy. He himself was the author of several books and over 100 scholarly and popular articles. He also was once a columnist for Britain’s BBC Wildlife Magazine. A member of numerous scientific societies, Richard was also a Fellow of both the Royal Geographical society [London] and the Explorers Club [New York]. He served on both the Expeditions Committee and the Youth Fund Committee of the Explorers Club, and was also chairman of its Southwest Chapter.
After his experiences in almost 30 countries on five continents, Richard had little patience with braggarts and charlatans. He preferred the company of thinkers, but only those who, like himself, were modest about it. Although much of his life revolved around scholarly pursuits, and he was once awarded an honorary PH.D., he himself never attempted to obtain an earned doctorate. He was always to busy doing research, spending time with his family and friends, traveling, reading, lecturing, and writing. He was also a quest on dozens of television shows and documentaries. Although he’ll be remembered for his curiosity, his creativity, his integrity, and his good will, Richard’s most memorable attribute may have been his sense of humor, and he was particularly fond of double entendres and linguistic twists. There were no enterprises or experiences-even adverse ones, when he himself was the victim-in which he didn’t somehow inject humor.
He once complained to a doctor in the hospital that, although he’d been taking his seizure pills daily, as prescribed, “nothing ever happens- I haven’t had a single seizure!”.
Richard loved the swamps as I do. While trekking in the Big Cypress swamp in south Florida, Richard said to me, now I know why you come down here, this place reminds me of the Congo. Richard had the mind of a scientist and the sense of adventure of a child.
During our investigation of the Turner River and Burns Rd. swamp ape sightings I was following Richard through the swamp when Richard turned back to look at me and motioned to be silent, he whispered to me he had seen something white moving rapidly through the trees ahead of us, then informed me there are reports of white Bigfeet. After a couple of more hours sledging through the swamps we had a closer look at what Richard had seen earlier, it was a white tail deer. At the time Richard could only make out the tail of the deer standing straight up as it moved quickly through the trees.
I know Richard always anticipated in seeing something unusual but was realistic in his final evaluation of the data. I once stumbled upon what appeared to be an unusual human like foot print in a swampy area and I was elated. Finding Richard I brought him back to the spot. Richard simply turned the leaves over and exposed claw marks at the front of the toes. The track was simply that of a large bear with an over lapping print. Richard had quick wit, a great sense of humor and may have been hopeful but he was serious in his research.
Often I would see a light in his tent till wee hours in the night. Asking him why he was up so late, Richard replied “I read three hours every night, that’s why I know so much” Indeed he did for he could elaborate on just about any subject extensively. With Richard their was never a dull moment. Having a photographic mind with a degree in Psychology, and a great sense of humor Richard could always flash back in time to share some special moments or inject something humorous that was always up lifting.
One of the most amusing memories was in the Siskiyou wilderness one morning when a bear came into camp. I heard our utensils being moved around. I looked through the screen of my tent to see a large bear making some noise. Awakened in his tent, whose opening was facing my blind side and thinking I was making the commotion, Richard hollered “Ronnie knock it off”, when I informed him that it wasn’t me, it was a bear, he hollered, why didn’t you tell me, as he immediately came out of his tent in his shorts with pistol at the ready.
After yelling and throwing rocks the bear refuse to budge. Only after firing a shot into the ground did the bear flee into the woods, from my line of view I could see the bear take off into the woods with Richard in hot pursuit in his shorts, pistol in hand pointed skyward, only to see a moment later Richard running out of the woods in his shorts pistol pointed to the sky with Bear in hot pursuit!
Thanks for the memories, I will truly miss sharing the adventure!…………….Ronnie Roseman