Downey Mtn.

Downey Mountain Encounters

~ Glacier Peak Wilderness~
Aug. 16,17,18, 2003

Ken James McLeod

Up Downey Mtn. we (my son Ken 18 and I) trudged with heavy backpacks for a 3-day into-the-wild adventure. Little did we know at the time that we were to experience something very unusual and simply unexplained...in terms of anything at least I had ever experienced. At any rate, we huffed and puffed up the steep mountain about 3,000 feet in a span of around 1/12 miles, arriving at an est. 4,800' near 3:00 PM, then deciding to pitch our tent and camp for the night, then move on up the mountain and high camp at around 5,500'. We had noticed enroute little human activity previous, so we knew we had the mountain to ourselves.

The day had been cloudy with fog rolling in and out of the forest, and the dew grew heavy upon the blueberry bushes -- the berries were now ripe. As evening settled in we prepared dinner, eventually retiring for a much needed rest and sleep at around 8:00 PM. Sleep came fast for the both of us.

1:30 AM - looked at the watch when suddenly awakened. "What the Hell is that," I murmured and thought?

Out of the dank-dark forest just as the moon burst through the clouds, came the most horrific loud clamor and ruckus I've ever heard in my 50 + years of life on this planet! The noise or clamor had went on for about 10-15 minutes, sounding like that of monkeys or apes at the zoo, "loud whooping and high pitch yelling." You know, the ones that everybody comes to see when they start their whooping it up. It was deep, loud, yet high pitched and carried through the forest like being blown from a megaphone. At 2:30 AM, we heard two more whoops, then nothing more. Whatever had been making the hideous sounds, had large and powerful lungs. I figured it must have been 300 yards away down the mountain.

Was this the so-called mountain beast of the Pacific Northwest? What kind of creature would or could make those sounds? And here at 4,800 feet, at 1:30 AM on a secluded bench, seldom visited, miles and thousands of feet from the nearest maintained trail of Downey Creek. Now, I have always been a skeptic that such a creature exists because I have never seen any REAL hard evidence of its existence (no skeletal remains or fossil record) despite the films and foot casts. A creature of that supposed size would need plenty food -- what kind of food could sustain it, surely not Northwest flora, and what about the winter? Further, I have heard all kinds of wildlife and observed and hunted most all in the wild: "tons" of bears around my camps, wolves and coyotes barking & howling, cougars crying, elk bulging, deer snorting, hawks & eagles crying, weasels & mink chirping and even blood curdling screams, owls hooting and shrieking, and marmots whistling, loon and owl sounds, etc. And in all, I have always been a keen observer of nature...rarely does anything go unnoticed including sounds...even the intimate details of routes are usually logged within my being and brain. My life is being in the mountains and the wild...

So, what the Hell was it? All I know (as with my son) it was something very unusual, something I or he couldn't explain as far as calculating what kind of creature could have been capable of making it. Surely, at this destination with nobody knowing we were here - would anyone be playing a joke upon us? Besides, nobody even knew where we were going to camp for the night. An Alien, a Haunting, a Sign, Mountain Spirits, or a Paranormal? Who the Hell knows? Being DEAD SERIOUS here: I have never heard anything like it in the mountains or forest previously! Did it spook us? Not really, but we were blasted from sleep and just sort of accepted it as something very strange. We talked about it for the next few days and came to no conculsion as to what we had both heard.....

That day, in the high 70s maybe low 80s, we continued on up the mountain well in view of huge Glacier Peak (10,541') to where we made our second camp - well in view of the surrounding mountains: Mt. Buckindy (7,436') and its spectacular blue-hued glaciers and redish rock face, the greenness of Green Mountain (6,500'), a white Mt. Baker to the direct north, and we could even see parts of Snowking Mtn (7,433').

I climbed some of surrounding rim peaks to about 6,500' where a spectacular vertical view was had of Downey Lake to Spire Point (8,264') beyond. The lake, about a thousand feet below seemed as if I could dive straight into it on a death leap if so desired.

In the evening, the colors of the sunset enfolded Buckindy, Baker, and the surrounding mountains. Awesome to say the least! The night sleep in the heather where the tent was pitched was sound and very restful. And in our slumber, the night sky filled with brilliant stars afire. The sunrise near the same as the sunset...pink and purple.

On the way out and below us, we were rewarded by the presence of hawk circling and riding the wind currents for updraft above of the forest. Ken remarked, "hawks are my favorite creature." And I replied, "mine too." We had come seeking the Alpine land and adventure in the wild, and we concluded we hadn't been disappointed.....

KJM

(McPilchuck)