Retired Runner Describes 2014 Sasquatch Encounter in Washington

A trail runner in Washington State had one of those brief, blink-and-you-miss-it encounters that researchers hear about all the time, and the details are absolutely worth digging into. The story comes from a recent episode of the Bigfoot Terror in the Woods podcast, where host WJ Sheehan shared a sighting report from a witness named George Wells, a retired cross-country runner with over 45 years of logging miles on trails across Washington. What makes this account stand out is how matter-of-fact it is. Wells isn't trying to sell you anything. He's describing what he saw with the precision of someone who has spent a lifetime paying attention to the ground beneath his feet. The encounter happened back in the summer of 2014 on a well-traveled trail he had run countless times before. The path narrows in this particular spot, formed more by erosion than any human construction, with moss-covered rocks jutting out and steep hills rising on either side. Visibility ahead was decent, maybe 200 feet or more, but to his right the growth was thick. Then it happened. Two large trees, each about a foot wide, stood next to each other along the trail. From behind them, a large brown Sasquatch stepped out and crossed the trail in a single long bound, continuing down the hillside on his left. Wells was running and breathing heavily at the time, and the creature didn't even glance at him. It was moving so fast that even a lifelong runner like Wells knew he couldn't have caught it on his best day. Here's where the physical details get really interesting. The trail had a worn edge about three feet tall on the right side and an equally deep drop-off on the left. The Sasquatch walked down that steep slope and, with one long step, descended roughly six feet in elevation and covered twelve feet or more in length. Wells stopped dead in his tracks and watched it disappear down the entire slope in a matter of seconds, gone from sight within about 100 yards. But Wells didn't just stand there stunned. He moved up alongside the trees the creature had walked behind because he noticed its head had passed above a broken branch under one of them. He's 5'10", and when he reached up with his arm fully extended, he was still a good three feet short of that branch. That puts the creature's head somewhere around eight and a half feet off the ground, minimum. The hair on its head, he said, looked like an old Rod Stewart haircut, long and shaggy, hiding any details of the face. And then there was the smell. The moment it walked by, an instantaneous stench hit the air, something like fresh manure, nauseating and lingering for several minutes after it had passed. Witnesses often describe similar odors during encounters, and researchers have noted that Sasquatch are often reported to carry a strong, distinctive scent, sometimes compared to a wet dog, a skunk, or in this case, manure. The exact source of the smell remains a mystery, though some have speculated it could be related to diet, territorial marking, or even a natural musk. The most remarkable part, according to Wells, was the ease with which the creature made that long downward stride. Anyone else attempting that move on such a steep, uneven slope would likely have ended up with a broken ankle or tumbling headfirst down the hill. The Sasquatch weighed close to a thousand pounds, Wells estimated, and came down the hill like it was floating on air. It's encounters like these that keep researchers going. No dramatic buildup, no prolonged stare-down, just a moment of contact and then gone. Wells himself summed it up perfectly when he said the creature entered his day and exited as fast as it arrived. That's the pattern that shows up again and again in credible sighting reports across the country, brief, unexpected, and leaving the witness with more questions than answers. The full podcast episode is worth a listen for anyone who wants to hear the story straight from Wells himself, along with the usual banter between WJ and his brother KJ. Definitely check it out.