In looking for ideas for this week’s editorial I stumbled down into a deep hole. It began when I was looking through past editorials and found one written by former editor Francie Payne back in 2017. She was at a local coffee shop being regaled by tales of Bigfoot sightings in Chinle. That led me to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization website and that led me to an ADOT photo of what looked like a group of bushy humans along State Route 60 in 2015. According to the website, there have been six reported sightings in Navajo County from 2006 to 2014, 11 in Apache County from 1981 to 2021 and a whopping 34 in Coconino County from 1973 to 2016 (the most numerous in the state), and that’s just in the nearby areas.
I complain that I’ve never seen a bear in the wild and now this. It has made me feel somewhat unaware of my surroundings. I don’t necessarily want to find a sasquatch while out alone in the woods but the bigger question is what else am I missing? We have some beautiful scenery right here close at hand, everything from desert, to mountains, lakes and forests and right now, some great weather; not everyone gets to say that. So, get out there and enjoy but if you spot a Bigfoot, take a photo and let me know. Because that, I have to see.
