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"I think you said today was the day I'd learn about cryptids."
“That's what Harry had on the schedule. Tell me what you know about the subject."
I told him what little I knew before coming to Wilkins’ Gap and what I'd learned since I'd been in town. We'd been walking for a couple of hours, before Chance stopped and stepped off the side of the trail.
"What's up?" I asked.
"See how these branches are broken?" he asked, pointing to some branches broken off about four feet above the ground. He pointed in a line through the trees. "You can see there's almost a trail through here."
"Did a cryptid make it?"
"Possible but unlikely," he said. “Something definitely passed through here. It was probably a bear or a deer, but it could be a sign that a bigfoot passed through the area."
For the next few minutes, I moved more slowly looking for signs of cryptids.
When we stopped for lunch, I asked Chance to tell me about his experience with cryptids. If I believed his stories, he'd seen a few cryptids in his life—bigfoot, Chupacabra, skinwalkers. He claimed to have seen evidence of others on some of his trips to other countries.
"I guess my uncle was a believer. Based on the photos in the cafe, it looks like he found what he thought was evidence of bigfoot."
"Yep. It was found somewhere in the mountains outside Wilkins’ Gap."
I listened to Chance, and there was no denying that he believed what he was saying. He believed that his dad and my uncle had seen things that proved the existence of these creatures. I still wasn't sure if I believed it or not. The more I considered what I knew and what Chance told me, the more I realized why the stories bothered me.
We were on one of the last legs of our journey for the day, when Chance called another stop. "We're going to take a little detour through the woods here," he said. "Just follow me."
Walking through the woods was a little harder than on the trail. I tripped over tree roots a few times, before realizing I needed to watch where I was stepping. There were logs we had to climb over. I could hear a rumbling sound getting closer, but I didn't know what it was. Eventually, I stepped out into a clearing and saw a gorgeous waterfall. "We need to refill our water. It's safer to get water from the falls. We'll still treat it before we drink it, but it should be pretty clean."
He set his pack down and pulled out a small bottle of water treatment tablets. He filled all our empty water bottles and led the way back to the trail. We had only gone a few yards from the stream when Chance stopped again. He put his arm out to stop me from stepping up beside him. He pointed to the ground in front of him. "See the print?" he asked. I tilted my head and could make out a foot print in the damp ground near a tree. It was much larger than my foot and clearly was a bare foot not wearing a shoe of any kind.
I stepped closer to Chance and whispered into his ear. "Can I take a picture?"
"We have to. We need to take pictures and measurements, so we can document this thoroughly."
He took my hand and pulled me back away from the print. "Be careful where you step." We set our packs down, and Chance pulled out a journal like the ones I'd seen at Harry's. He pulled out a pouch with a GPS and a metal ruler. We set about photographing the print and recording every possible detail—who found it, the coordinates, the date and time, and the weather conditions. Chance handed me the journal and pen. "I'll take the measurements and you record them."
When we finished photographing the print, Chance walked carefully in the direction the print was heading. "Stay behind me and try to step in my prints. We need to see if we can find anymore. Even partial ones are useful." After finding another partial print and documenting it as we did the first one. We turned around and did the same search starting from the first print we found and heading in the direction it seemed to come from. We found nothing more. "Now, we need to search the surrounding area for other evidence. This next pass we'll be looking for scat."
"You mean pooh, right?"
He grinned. "Yeah, bigfoot pooh. It'll be a big pile of um ah pooh. Try not to step in it, City Girl." He chuckled as we started heading in the opposite direction again. I felt like we were wearing a rut in this one small section of the forest. I can't say I'm sorry we found no scat. I didn't really look all that hard.
"OK. This last pass, we'll be looking for hair caught on the bushes or trees beside the path."
"Chance, is this what you're looking for?" I asked, pointing to a piece of hair stuck to a branch.
"Might be," he said, pulling out a baggie and sealing the hair inside. He used a marker to write the details on the bag before sticking it in a pocket of his pack. "Good eyes for a city girl," he said, holding his hand up for a fist bump.
We headed back the way we came and met up with the trail we'd been on hours earlier. I don't know if it was because we'd found something or if I was just nervous, but I felt like someone or something was watching us. I kept looking over my shoulder, but I didn't see anything.