Scared Squatch

Here in Michigan there are tons of spots you can off-road.  A new spot for us are these massive dunes you can enjoy as long as you have an ORV tag and a flag.   After hearing great things from friends and watching people hit it on Youtube, we decided to book a rental and go check it out.  We packed up our two pups and filled the back of my 19' Ram to the brim with supplies.  We went the last week in October before they closed for the season, and the fall colors were in full effect.  

After driving a few hours we made it, and got settled at our rental.  We headed out on a beautiful sunny fall day, the trees were all different colors of orange, red, and everything in between.  Driving down a narrow winding road hugging a river flowing out to Lake Michigan, dune grass, birch and wildflowers gave way to endless fishing spots.  We made our way through the tiny sleepy town which was practically deserted by then, and needed a flag, so we stopped at the local all things off roading store to get one.  

I was wearing a shirt my brother got me, it's Green and in a Yellow circle (similar to MI DNR symbol) it reads Michigan Department of Sasquatch Research (I'm not really a member but love it because it's fun/different).  The older guy behind the counter asks me if I believe in that sort of thing, to which I reply that I've never seen one but am not one to assume they don't exist.  He goes on to tell me that he knows a lady up there personally who swears her and her husband were hunting and saw one.  When he asked her why they didn't kill it and become famous, this is what she supposedly told him.  I have to say when he first started telling me this story I was skeptical, but the man was very genuine in his account:  

As he rings me up for the dune flag, he said that according to her, they stumbled across it all of a sudden in the middle of the woods.  The "squatch" as she called it seemed extremely startled when it saw them.  She said they thought that it must have been a young animal judging by its small size and demeanor.  It got so scared when they crossed paths, it hugged up against a tree trying to blend in just a few feet away, frozen in terror.  They felt so bad for what appeared to be a small helpless creature, they left it alone and moved on.  That's not the typical encounter I'm used to hearing about, and if it's true that's pretty cool there are still people out there who aren't just out for themselves.  "Live and let live" is what she said to the man when recounting the experience.