Two men were found dead Saturday in a forest in southwestern Washington, where they disappeared last week while searching for Sasquatch, authorities said.
The bodies of the men, 37 and 59, were discovered after a three-day search through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, according to the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office. Exposure appeared to be the cause of both deaths, the sheriff said in a statement, noting the men seemed unprepared for the brutally cold weather.
Neither man was identified, but the sheriff said the pair was from Portland, Oregon.
The sheriff’s office had coordinated a search and rescue operation that involved the United States Coast Guard, multiple local law enforcement agencies and 60 volunteers, including canine, drone and ground search teams, to locate the missing men.
Their probe “over difficult terrain and harsh weather conditions” launched Christmas Day, when Skamania County sheriffs received a report of two individuals whose return from an outdoor excursion to track down Sasquatch was overdue.
Also known as Bigfoot, Sasquatch is a mythical creature that in folklore is said to inhabit North American forests, especially those in the Pacific Northwest.
“The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office would like to recognize the exceptional volunteers who sacrificed time away from their families during Christmas to assist our agency with this mission,” the office said. “These phenomenal volunteers also fought through freezing temperatures, snow, high water levels, heavy rain, downfall, and heavily wooded terrain. Their exhaustive search efforts resulted in bringing family members home to their loved ones.”
