Some questions from a believer turned skeptic.
Adding some photos from hikes as a tax. There are no sasquatch but feel free to correct me if you see one.
A little context:
Many years ago (more than three decades) I got my first library card and found the section on legends and lore. I fell fairly deep down the bigfoot rabbit hole. I love it. Always have.
Explored locally in my hometown and enjoyed loads of campfire stories but never found anything that couldnt be explained rationally. In my early 20s I got involved with a bigfoot organization and fully immersed myself. Lots of reading, hiking, camping and expeditions. Photographing anything even remotely squatchy. This would be from about 2000 to about 2010. Active on the forums and message boards. Corresponded with some of the more famous folks, never made a name for myself but I didnt want to.
After a while, I began to notice how hard folks had to stretch the "evidence" that was being found. Hitting the trail gave me a love for solo backpacking that persists to this day and it gave me the opportunity to hike miles and miles in FL, NC, AL, NY, WA, CA, WI, MN, CO, PA and NV, domestically. Legitimate backcountry hikes that typically would be a full vacation and ran 3 days to a week at a time, covering between 20 and 50 miles.
That, coupled with the Randi forums started to push me in another direction. I reenrolled in school and now have a solid biology education. I worked for 2 years in a microbiology lab and I have a sincere passion for science, ecology, habitat conservation, wildlife in general but specifically reptiles and amphibians.
In other words, bigfoot gave me two of the most important parts of my life. Backpacking/hiking and biology. The legend gets my respect even if my personal belief is that it doesnt go much further than that.
Which brings me to my questions.
If Bigfoot exists and lives in the US, why hasn't it's DNA showed up in any environmental DNA samples?
I understand that some people will take umbrage at a few of the things im about to say.
I dont think that stories, casts or photo/video/audio are evidence without additional corroborating data. In other words, PGF would qualify (though I do personally think its a suit) because it was multiple witnesses, film, and casts. An eyewitness alone doesnt qualify in my opinion. A cast alone isnt enough. A video could be convincing but it would need to be verified as unaltered, and clearly depicting an in focus squatch at a reasonable distance doing something that a person in a suit could not do.
With that as a qualifier, what's your keystone evidence that keeps you interested? Is there a particular person or place that sticks out?
- If you arent a believer but rather are a "knower", and if you were me, prepping a backcountry trip with the intention of going to the place with the densest population of bigfoot...where would you go, what time of year and why?
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to respond and again, I dont intend any offense with the things I'm suggesting.
Edit: Forgot about Pennsylvania!