If Bigfoot has a home state, it's Washington. It leads the country in mapped Bigfoot reports, it has laws protecting Sasquatch on the books, and it's where one of the most famous early "ape-man" stories took place. Here's your guide to Bigfoot in the Evergreen State.
Washington by the numbers
In the public BFRO dataset we use for our sightings map, Washington has 539 mapped reports. That's the most of any state by a wide margin; Ohio is second with 283. The earliest Washington entry is from 1941.
Top counties:
| County | Mapped reports | Notable for |
|---|---|---|
| Pierce | 69 | Mount Rainier's western slopes |
| Snohomish | 48 | North Cascades foothills |
| Skamania | 41 | Gifford Pinchot NF, the 1969 Bigfoot law |
| Lewis | 40 | Packwood and the southern Cascades |
| King | 37 | Seattle's eastern mountains |
| Grays Harbor | 29 | Coastal rainforest, a 2022 Sasquatch refuge |
(Counts are mapped reports in the public dataset through 2021, not total BFRO reports.)
Why so many? Washington combines huge areas of dense, wet forest (the Cascades, the Olympics, the Gifford Pinchot) with millions of hikers, hunters and campers living close by. It also has a deep tradition of Sasquatch stories.
When Washington reports happen
The 539 mapped Washington reports also show when people tend to see or hear something:
- Fall is the busiest season. 195 reports fall in September, October or November, compared with 175 in summer, 111 in spring and only 58 in winter. October alone has 76 reports, the most of any month, followed by September with 72.
- The 2000s were the peak decade. 212 reports date to the 2000s, compared with 84 in the 1990s and 101 in the 2010s. The dataset runs from 1941 to 2021, and 120 reports date from 2010 or later.
- Many are clear sightings. 225 reports are Class A, meaning the witness described a clear view. Another 311 are Class B, such as sounds, tracks or a partial view, and three are secondhand Class C accounts.
That fall peak lines up with hunting season and with the long, dark evenings when people are still out in the woods. It is a good reminder that if you want to look, autumn in the Cascades is when the reports say to go.
Sasquatch in Indigenous tradition
Long before "Bigfoot," the Northwest had its own wild-giant traditions. Wikipedia notes that the Lummi told of the Ts'emekwes. The word "Sasquatch" itself was coined in 1929 by J. W. Burns, an Indian agent and teacher who worked with the Sts'ailes Nation in British Columbia, as an anglicized version of sasq'ets, roughly "hairy man" in the Halq'emeylem language. Read more in our post on Sasquatch and Native American legends.
Ape Canyon, 1924
One of the most famous early "ape-man" stories comes from the slopes of Mount St. Helens. In July 1924, a group of gold prospectors said 7-foot, ape-like "apemen" attacked them with boulders, which made headlines and gave Ape Canyon its name. We tell the full story in our upcoming post Ape Canyon 1924. Today the Ape Canyon Trail beside the gorge is popular with hikers and mountain bikers.
The Sasquatch laws
Washington is famous for its Bigfoot laws:
- Skamania County (1969): According to Wikipedia, the Board of County Commissioners passed Ordinance 69-01 on April 1, 1969. It forbade killing any "Sasquatch," "Yeti," "Bigfoot" or "Giant Hairy Ape," with penalties up to a $10,000 fine and five years in prison. Despite the April Fool's date, it was real. It was amended in 1984 to make the crime a misdemeanor and declare the whole county a Sasquatch refuge. The ordinance itself explained why: commissioners were worried about "an influx of scientific investigators as well as casual hunters, many armed with lethal weapons," drawn by reported sightings. It's easy to see why the county took it seriously. About 90% of Skamania County is forested, and roughly 80% of it is part of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
- Whatcom County (1991): declared the county a "Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area."
- Grays Harbor County (2022): passed a similar resolution after a classroom project from an elementary school in Hoquiam asked for one.
We cover these and other Bigfoot laws around the country in our upcoming post on Bigfoot laws and sanctuaries.
Washington in Bigfoot culture
- Harry and the Hendersons (1987): the beloved family comedy about a friendly Bigfoot adopted by a Seattle family.
- Grover Krantz: the Washington State University anthropologist who was one of the first academics to take Bigfoot seriously.
- Where Bigfoot Walks (1995): Robert Michael Pyle's naturalist memoir of walking Washington's Dark Divide, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Grover Krantz and the Cripplefoot casts
No Washington name looms larger in Bigfoot research than Grover Krantz (1931–2002), who taught anthropology at Washington State University from 1968 until 1998. Wikipedia describes him as the first serious researcher to devote his professional energies to the scientific study of Bigfoot, beginning in 1963. He wrote more than 60 academic articles and 10 books on human evolution, and his Bigfoot work cost him grants and promotions and delayed his tenure.
Krantz started out doubtful. By his own account he once gave Sasquatch "only a 10 percent chance of being real." What changed his mind was a set of plaster casts from Bossburg, Washington, made in December 1969. The so-called "Cripplefoot" tracks, left in snow, appeared to show an injured foot, and Krantz built biomechanical models from them that convinced him the prints were made by a real animal. His 1992 book Big Footprints: A Scientific Inquiry Into the Reality of Sasquatch lays out his case.
Krantz's story has an unusual ending. At his request, his skeleton went to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in 2003, alongside the bones of his Irish wolfhounds. In 2009 it was articulated and displayed, with the skeleton of his dog Clyde, in the museum's "Written in Bone" exhibition.
Harry and the Hendersons on location
Harry and the Hendersons is set in Seattle, and Wikipedia notes it was filmed in the Cascade Range near Interstate 90 and the town of Index near US 2, as well as in Seattle's Wallingford, Ballard and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. Rick Baker designed Harry, and the film won the Oscar for Best Makeup at the 60th Academy Awards. Driving US 2 toward Index today, you're in the same mountains the Hendersons were coming home from.
Washington Bigfoot events
Washington has several annual events on our festival calendar:
- Legends of the Mountains Bigfoot Festival, Packwood, usually late June
- Bigfoot Festival in Maple Falls (Whatcom County), usually early August
- Sasquatch Summit, Ocean Shores (Grays Harbor County), usually November
Dates change each year, so check our calendar before you go.
Where to explore
- Gifford Pinchot National Forest: home of Ape Canyon, the Dark Divide and much of Skamania County.
- Olympic National Park: temperate rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula. Washington's Olympic Project research group focuses here.
- Mount Rainier and the Cascades: Pierce and Lewis counties lead the state in reports.
Safety first: Washington's backcountry is serious terrain. Weather changes fast, cell service is spotty and winters are harsh. Always tell someone your plans, carry the Ten Essentials, and check conditions with the land manager before you go.
Planning a bigger trip? Our upcoming Pacific Northwest Bigfoot road trip guide links Washington with Oregon and Northern California.
