Where Bigfoot Walks is a spectacular, moving, and witty narrative exploration of not only the phenomenon of Bigfoot, but also the human need to believe that something is out there beyond the campfire, and that wildness remains as well.
Awarded a Guggenheim to investigate the legends of Sasquatch, Robert Pyle trekked into the unprotected wilderness of the Dark Divide near Mount St. Helens, where he discovered both a giant fossil footprint and recent tracks. He searched out Indians who told him of an outcast tribe, the Seeahtiks, who had not fully evolved into humans. He attended Sasquatch Daze, where he met scientists, hunters, and others who have devoted their lives to the search, and realized that "these guys don't want to find Bigfoot-they want to be Bigfoot!" A handful of open-minded biologists and anthropologists countered the tabloids he studied, while rogue Forest Service employees and loggers swore of an industry conspiracy to deep-six accounts of unknown, upright hominoid apes among us.
In the end, Pyle concludes that if we can hang on to a sizeable hunk of Bigfoot habitat, we will at least have a fragment of the greatest green treasure the temperate world has ever known. If we do not, Bigfoot, real or imagined, will vanish; and with it will flee the others who dwell in that world. "Looking at that tangled land," he writes, "one can just about accept that Sasquatch could coexist with towns and loggers and hunters and hikers, all in proportion. But when the topography is finally tamed outright, no one will anymore imagine that giants are abroad on the land."
In the years since publication, the author's fresh experiences and finds-detailed in an all-new chapter which includes an evaluation of recent DNA evidence from Bigfoot hair and scat, the study of speech phonemes in the "Sierra Sounds" purported Bigfoot recordings, Pyle's examination of the impact of the wildly popular Animal Planet series Bigfoot Hunters, the reemergence of the famous Bob Gimlin into the Bigfoot community, and more-have kept his own mind wide open to one of the biggest questions in the land.
Industry Reviews
A search for the Pacific Northwest's fabled Bigfoot provides a jumping-off point for nature writer Robert Michael Pyle's lyrical ruminations on wilderness, isolation, and the occasional triumphs of mystery over so-called progress. Pyle's well-researched stomping ground is Washington State's Dark Divide in the Cascade Mountains Pyle's route alternates between desolate clear-cuts and majestic ancient forests, between the inroads of civilization and the dark recesses of the wild. But never does the author get too caught up in proving anything to himself or the reader; this search for Bigfoot has as much to do with locating the wild nature within each of us as it does with finding a legend. Amazon.com Editorial pick [A] leisurely, gracefully written meditation. Publishers Weekly Splendidly lyrical and just as splendidly crusty, Where Bigfoot Walks is the sort of book Thoreau might have written if he had discovered giant footprints of an unknown origin in the vicinity of Walden Pond. Lawrence Millman, author of Our Like Will Not Be There Again: Notes from the West of Ireland, Last Places Fast claiming his place as one of the country's finest natural history writers, Pyle (Thunder Tree, 1993) takes to the hills in search of Bigfoot in this absorbing, classily written field report. Pyle makes all the right connections. Best of all, he loves a good mystery and is smart enough, open and radical enough, to never say never. Kirkus Reviews Celebrated author Pyle, whose Wintergreen won a John Burroughs medal, is fascinated not so much by Bigfoot as he is by the people who believe that Bigfoot exists-and are trying to prove it. Library Journal" "A search for the Pacific Northwest's fabled Bigfoot provides a jumping-off point for nature writer Robert Michael Pyle's lyrical ruminations on wilderness, isolation, and the occasional triumphs of mystery over so-called progress. Pyle's well-researched stomping ground is Washington State's Dark Divide in the Cascade Mountains... Pyle's route alternates between desolate clear-cuts and majestic ancient forests, between the inroads of civilization and the dark recesses of the wild. But never does the author get too caught up in proving anything to himself or the reader; this search for Bigfoot has as much to do with locating the wild nature within each of us as it does with finding a legend." --Amazon.com Editorial pick "[A] leisurely, gracefully written meditation." --Publishers Weekly "Splendidly lyrical and just as splendidly crusty, Where Bigfoot Walks is the sort of book Thoreau might have written if he had discovered giant footprints of an unknown origin in the vicinity of Walden Pond." --Lawrence Millman, author of Our Like Will Not Be There Again: Notes from the West of Ireland, Last Places "Fast claiming his place as one of the country's finest natural history writers, Pyle (Thunder Tree, 1993) takes to the hills in search of Bigfoot in this absorbing, classily written field report. Pyle makes all the right connections. Best of all, he loves a good mystery and is smart enough, open and radical enough, to never say never." --Kirkus Reviews "Celebrated author Pyle, whose Wintergreen won a John Burroughs medal, is fascinated not so much by Bigfoot as he is by the people who believe that Bigfoot exists-and are trying to prove it." --Library Journal Praise for Where Bigfoot Walks "Fast claiming his place as one of the country's finest natural history writers, Pyle takes to the hills in search of Bigfoot in this absorbing, classily written field report. Pyle makes all the right connections. Best of all, he loves a good mystery and is smart enough, open and radical enough, to never say never." --Kirkus Reviews "[A] leisurely, gracefully written meditation." --Publishers Weekly "Celebrated author Pyle, whose Wintergreen won a John Burroughs medal, is fascinated not so much by Bigfoot as he is by the people who believe that Bigfoot exists-and are trying to prove it." --Library Journal "I like the book very much. Only, I don't know why you were so circumspect. To me, the evidence seems overwhelming." --Dr. Jane Goodall, in conversation with the author "A search for the Pacific Northwest's fabled Bigfoot provides a jumping-off point for nature writer Robert Michael Pyle's lyrical ruminations on wilderness, isolation, and the occasional triumphs of mystery over so-called progress. Pyle's well-researched stomping ground is Washington State's Dark Divide in the Cascade Mountains... Pyle's route alternates between desolate clear-cuts and majestic ancient forests, between the inroads of civilization and the dark recesses of the wild. But never does the author get too caught up in proving anything to himself or the reader; this search for Bigfoot has as much to do with locating the wild nature within each of us as it does with finding a legend." --Amazon.com Editorial Pick "Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide is a unique book in the bigfoot literature, one that is not so much concerned with whether the creatures exist or not, but rather one that focuses on the value of the mystery itself. Dr. Pyle's writing stands alongside those of the great naturalist writers and is full of wit and wisdom. Through his journey, we find that he intuitively understands what most lifetime bigfooters eventually come to know: that bigfooting is about the journey more than the destination." --Cliff Barackman, field researcher and star of Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot "Cross into the Dark Divide with Robert Pyle and you will find yourself in another world, a world where we are one among the animals, a deeper, more ambiguous world, where science answers some of the questions, and our hearts and imaginations answer (or seek to answer) the rest. 'In a class of its own' is an overused phrase, but Where Bigfoot Walks is so haunting and beautiful and bold that I can think of nothing else like it. Follow Bob into the woods, into the labyrinth that is the mystery of Bigfoot--you will find no better guide." --Molly Gloss, author of Falling From Horses, The Jump-Off Creek, Hearts of Horses, and Wild Life "Splendidly lyrical and just as splendidly crusty, Where Bigfoot Walks is the sort of book Thoreau might have written if he had discovered giant footprints of an unknown origin in the vicinity of Walden Pond." --Lawrence Millman, author of Our Like Will Not Be There Again: Notes from the West of Ireland and Last Places "A search for the Pacific Northwest's fabled Bigfoot provides a jumping-off point for nature writer Robert Michael Pyle's lyrical ruminations on wilderness, isolation, and the occasional triumphs of mystery over so-called progress. Pyle's well-researched stomping ground is Washington State's Dark Divide in the Cascade Mountains... Pyle's route alternates between desolate clear-cuts and majestic ancient forests, between the inroads of civilization and the dark recesses of the wild. But never does the author get too caught up in proving anything to himself or the reader; this search for Bigfoot has as much to do with locating the wild nature within each of us as it does with finding a legend." --Amazon.com Editorial pick "[A] leisurely, gracefully written meditation." --Publishers Weekly "Splendidly lyrical and just as splendidly crusty, Where Bigfoot Walks is the sort of book Thoreau might have written if he had discovered giant footprints of an unknown origin in the vicinity of Walden Pond." --Lawrence Millman, author of Our Like Will Not Be There Again: Notes from the West of Ireland, Last Places "Fast claiming his place as one of the country's finest natural history writers, Pyle (Thunder Tree, 1993) takes to the hills in search of Bigfoot in this absorbing, classily written field report. Pyle makes all the right connections. Best of all, he loves a good mystery and is smart enough, open and radical enough, to never say never." --Kirkus Reviews "Celebrated author Pyle, whose Wintergreen won a John Burroughs medal, is fascinated not so much by Bigfoot as he is by the people who believe that Bigfoot exists-and are trying to prove it." --Library Journal
