Where Bigfoot Walks : Crossing the Dark Divide

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, researched reflection on mystery of bigfoot.
Review: Where Bigfoot Walks Crossing the Dark Divide By Robert Michael Pyle Houghton Mifflin Company, US$25.00 The thing with most books about Bigfoot, the North American counterpart of Yeti, is that they often reveal more about their authors' obsession with their illusive subject than the actual beast itself. Robert Michael Pyle's book Where Bigfoot Walks is an exception to this general rule because Mr. Pyle is not obsessed - he's fascinated. And as an ecologist his fascination takes in the whole landscape from boletus and ghost moth to the tantalizing possibility of a huge, hairy hominoid living in the forests of Western U.S. and Canada. Mr. Pyle's report is written around accounts of his numerous treks into the Dark Divide a rare and beleaguered remnant of virgin forest in Washington State, U.S. Rich in Bigfoot mythology and sitings the Dark Divide could be one of the last redoubts of the mythical monster. It is certainly one of the last holdouts of old growth timber in the American Pacific Northwest most of which has succumbed the devastating efficiency of clearcut logging. It's from this setting that Pyle reflects on the myth of Bigfoot and the possibilities of a real flesh and blood beast. His often lyrical ruminations range from Bigfoot's implications for "forest management" - what if putative animal's existence is proven and old growth timber is its natural habitat? - to whether the land could biologically support a large reclusive ape. He even considers the ethical problems of how any "specimens" should be collected. All this is mixed with anecdotal accounts of sitings and portraits of the colorful and eccentric gang of Bigfoot aficionados - from charlatans to credible researchers - who in Pyle's words "don't want to find Bigfoot - they want to be Bigfoot." Essentially this is a book in search of mystery. And with logging operations never out of earshot, jets constantly flying overhead and much of the Dark Divide's remote trails trashed by dirt bikes and trodden by backpackers the possibility of even the myth of Bigfoot surviving- let alone the actual animal - seem remote. Yet Mr. Pyle still finds places and moments of natural wonder in the Dark Divide that astonish him and he writes about them with grace and respect. He never finds Bigfoot but he hears haunting whistles and has one uncanny encounter with something that leaves huge tracks. By the end of Where Bigfoot Walks you can believe there may still be mysteries in the last of the great forests of North America of which Bigfoot may be one. According to Mr. Pyle it's a possibility our unnatural culture may need. JOHN BETTS

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, researched reflection on mystery of bigfoot.
Review: Where Bigfoot WalksCrossing the Dark Divide By Robert Michael Pyle Houghton Mifflin Company, US$25.00 The thing with most books about Bigfoot, the North American counterpart of Yeti, is that they often reveal more about their authors' obsession with their illusive subject than the actual beast itself. Robert Michael Pyle's book Where Bigfoot Walks is an exception to this general rule because Mr. Pyle is not obsessed - he's fascinated. And as an ecologist his fascination takes in the whole landscape from boletus and ghost moth to the tantalizing possibility of a huge, hairy hominoid living in the forests of Western U.S. and Canada. Mr. Pyle's report is written around accounts of his numerous treks into the Dark Divide a rare and beleaguered remnant of virgin forest in Washington State, U.S. Rich in Bigfoot mythology and sitings the Dark Divide could be one of the last redoubts of the mythical monster. It is certainly one of the last holdouts of old growth timber in the American Pacific Northwest most of which has succumbed the devastating efficiency of clearcut logging. It's from this setting that Pyle reflects on the myth of Bigfoot and the possibilities of a real flesh and blood beast. His often lyrical ruminations range from Bigfoot's implications for "forest management" - what if putative animal's existence is proven and old growth timber is its natural habitat? - to whether the land could biologically support a large reclusive ape. He even considers the ethical problems of how any "specimens" should be collected. All this is mixed with anecdotal accounts of sitings and portraits of the colorful and eccentric gang of Bigfoot aficionados - from charlatans to credible researchers - who in Pyle's words "don't want to find Bigfoot - they want to be Bigfoot." Essentially this is a book in search of mystery. And with logging operations never out of earshot, jets constantly flying overhead and much of the Dark Divide's remote trails trashed by dirt bikes and trodden by backpackers the possibility of even the myth of Bigfoot surviving- let alone the actual animal - seem remote. Yet Mr. Pyle still finds places and moments of natural wonder in the Dark Divide that astonish him and he writes about them with grace and respect. He never finds Bigfoot but he hears haunting whistles and has one uncanny encounter with something that leaves huge tracks. By the end of Where Bigfoot Walks you can believe there may still be mysteries in the last of the great forests of North America of which Bigfoot may be one. According to Mr. Pyle it's a possibility our unnatural culture may need. JOHN BETTS