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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Saturday, July 06, 2013

NEWSFLASH: News from Sumatra

I have just had a brief telephone call from Richard Freeman. The expedition has so far been remarkably successful. They have:


  • Found footprints of at least three different individuals
  • Heard orang pendek calling in the jungle
  • Got new and important witness testimony
  • Collected "lots" of hair samples
Richard paid tribute to Adele's skills on the expedition, saying that she is a very valuable addition to the team.

They were not affected by last week's earthquake, but, they did feel the one this morning, which "wobbled them from side to side for about three seconds". The expedition is now heading into the lowland jungle to meet the Kubu people.

More news as I get it.

'LORD RICK' FROM PGS FOES ON A BIGFOOT HUNT

For my birthday weekend I would spend it in the beautiful Lake Margaret region of the high sierras. This is a granite lake miles in the middle of the mountains. Its actually a place allot of backpackers go to camp at perhaps it is because of the seclusion and scenic beauty this place possesses.

I have been to allot of lakes in the sierras all of them are unique in their own way, shape or form. They are also great places to look for Sasquatch at. Most of these places do not get allot of hikers with addition to them being offbeat they make wonderful journeys.

When I pulled up near the trail head I talked to a forest ranger he told me its very beautiful at the lake this time of year. I asked him about how muddy it is since Caples creek runs through the area with snow melting I had to assume the worst.

We would take a switchback trail as it took us right down into this canyon following the creek which drained over this cliff forming a beautiful waterfall. Below the creek widened as it spanned across a meadow full of wild flowers.

Our first two obstacles were trees that spanned across the creek that we would have to cross. I know what its like to fall in water due to a slippery log so I had to be very careful to keep all the equipment dry. One of the logs was sinking in the water as I crossed over to another one about half way across.

The deeper we hiked in the more secluded it became as we were surrounded by granite rock faces and cliffs. There was this one section where the creek ran down a steep rock that we had to climb down. Its so easy to lose the trail back here. We talked to a family who told us they became lost twice back here and could not find the lake which made me more determined perhaps to find it.

We came across a small pond hidden in the woods during our hike as their are quite a few back here. They could be caused by low laying areas where the snow melts then it just sits. This is a good place to find frogs but also their are a lot of mosquitos back in here which can be a bit of a pain in the ass.

It would seem we made it to a lower part of the canyon where we came across another series of waterfalls. Their was also some patches of snow around. Not that snow is uncommon its just odd hiking during an 80 degree day and come across a drift you can jump into to cool down.

At times the trail became very narrow passing through brush till we came out to a massive downed tree that crossed the creek. We were soon not to far away from the lake itself. The downed tree was a major obstacle to cross as the creek was very wide so we had to figure a way to climb it and get across.

In one of the snow drifts I found a print it was large could have been a human then it melted forming a larger then usual track. But I still had to keep the possibilities open that Bigfoot could lurk back here. I also found not to far away from the track a very green tree broken in half. I tried to break it in another spot and was not successful. Whatever broke it had allot of strength maybe Bigfoot hard telling though. I am always trained to examine each location as if its a crime scene looking for hair, stools, tracks and broken branches. Two of the elements were here which opens up the possibility that Bigfoot may lurk here.

We came across this slanted rock bigger then most houses that we would have to climb to the top of this rim which was surrounded by Lake Margaret. When we reached the shore it was obvious the lake was very high as the trail that went around the lake was submerged in mud and water. We decided that we would have lunch at one of the vista points which to the north we found one which required some tedious rock climbing but would take us a couple hundred feet above the lake.

Now that we were up on the rocks we had the lake directly below us while to our left was this massive woodsy canyon. This canyon continues to drop at a much lower elevation and probably would be a great place to search for Bigfoot. Its obvious the animals come up the canyon to the lake to drink water. Also from the vista point to the North and Northeast were snow capped peaks as well as granite cliffs. You can never imagine how vast this region is till you stand in the epicenter of it all and see wilderness 360 degrees. Throughout the rock formations were also small pools of water that you could soak your feet in it was very nice.

On our way back from the lake we carved our names into a tree with a knife that way I could be immortalized at least for the next 60 years lol. Its very common in the sierras to come across a certain species of tree you can do this with. I just added my name to the hundreds of names already on various trees. By this time a father and his song were heading past us whom ask me how much further they had to go. By this time the sun was setting so the forest was a dark canopy blocking out most of the light.
A little past that point I found a giant hole in the ground Tammy said a dog could have caused it and perhaps she is right with this one. We would take a different way back to our vehicle which was also very unique. The way we took back followed the creek to an open meadow surrounded by cliffs and snow capped peaks. I wanted to walk through the meadow to look for tracks as the ground was very spongy. My kids stacked rocks throughout our hike back out of here to signal other hikers so they do not get lost. Its just a common courtesy thing to do so others do not get lost as some did it for us on our way in.

I also found massive scratches in one of the trees near the meadow either bear or deer although they spread on them was quite wide it is possible an adult Squatch could have caused it. Allot of the evidence we find while investigating cryptids is circumstantial so we can never say 100 percent that it was caused by such a creature. Just as nearby I found a massive hand print in some soft sand and you could see the finger impressions. Hell it may have been caused by a foot but most of the impression was ruined due to the elements.

Hiking out of here during sunset was beautiful as the mountains reflected on the slow moving creek surrounded by trees and wild flowers. We found this one boulder split in half nature is an amazing force and its little things like this that make the hike worthwhile. I would leave this place breathless wanting to experience more of this offbeat location. There is no way you can see everything with just one hike but for me this was a really nice birthday gift. When I learned about a hidden lake deep in the sierras with only access by hiking on foot I just had to experience it firsthand.













ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From CFZ Canada:

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out of place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in. So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.

World’s birds slipping toward extinction

DALE DRINNON: New tarantula, cetacean centipede, yeti tracks, Benny's Blogs

New at the Frontiers of Zoology:

THE GONZO BLOG DOO DAH MAN NEEDS A STAPLEGUN

I have just had a brief telephone call from Richard Freeman in Sumatra. The expedition has so far been remarkably successful. They have: found footprints of at least three different individuals, heard orang pendek calling in the jungle, got new and important witness testimony, collected "lots" of hair samples. They were not affected by last week's earthquake, but, they did feel the one this morning, which "wobbled them from side to side for about three seconds". The expedition is now heading into the lowland jungle to meet the Kubu people.
 
More news as I get it.
 
What's new on the Gonzo Daily?
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com
 
 
Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/07/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_6.html
 
 
An interesting essay about Jorma Kaukonen and hippie ethics
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/07/up-against-wall-jefferson-airplanes.html
 
 
 
*  The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at  jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

*  The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
 
* We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

*  Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today


Yesterday’s News Today

Today is the first day of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain, which includes the famous “running of the bulls” where idiots run with a pack of frightened and angry bulls and goad them. Lots of people get injured apparently, I don't have much sympathy.
And now the news:
  • Spider Webs More Effective at Ensnaring Charged In...
  • Man killed by three caged tigers in Italy
  • Antarctic Crabs May Be Native, Evidence Suggests
  • Namibia seal cull video highlights brutality of cl...
  • Bats' energetic take-off trick revealed by X-ray v...
  • Miniature human liver grown in mice
  • Loch Ness Monster mystery could be explained by a ...
  • Thousands of bees invade house

  • Roy Rogers died on this day in 1998, I think Elton John's song about him makes for a better signoff video than some idiots engaging in animal cruelty going “B-but muh traditions!” in an attempt to justify it: