Couple has fleeting, afternoon encounter near Barlow Pass witnessed in Hood River County, Oregon

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My wife and I were on vacation visiting different sites around the southern edge of Mt. Hood off of Highway 35. We came across a sign for the Barlow Road (US Forest Service Road 3530) and decided it would be fun to drive into the woods and perhaps see some of the wagon ruts. We drove to the edge of a clearing just north of a deserted campground and stopped to take a look around. Just after getting out of the car we noticed an extremely large pile of fresh droppings about 10ft from where we had parked. My wife, who has had experience hunting bears, elk and other large mammals, commented that the droppings looked odd and did not look like bear or elk droppings. They were more "human" in appearance but way too large for a person to have made. After a few minutes of looking around we both noted that we no longer heard any other animal noises of any sort. It seemed way too quiet. We had been visiting sites within a few miles of this place all day and this place really stood out as bei...