There’s a shop in Depoe Bay, Oregon called Bigfoot’s Beach House. Outside is an 8 foot tall statue of its namesake you can get your picture with. (Obviously I did). Then I encountered a giftshop in the Seattle airport with an entire table of Bigfoot souvenirs. (Obviously I got a Bigfoot chocolate claw). That’s when I knew for sure there was something bigger going on than bumper decals on the Subarus of the outdoorsy. It was a movement. If you visit out West and don’t see it, it’s because you’re not looking.
Idaho has history with Bigfoot. University of Idaho boasts an esteemed professor who published and taught classes on him for thirty years. But the movement seems to recently have crossed an inflection point. You can find a single word which occasionally accompanies Sasquatch’s silhouette which explains it all: “Believe.” The search for Bigfoot represents the search. The reason people get outdoors. The reason they unplug, get off the grid, and soak in mountain grandeur. They believe in searching for and perhaps glimpsing, during an unguarded moment, when you least expect it—something more.
A few years ago, I wrote down my purpose in this blog: to restore rest and wonder to the worn out. Ever since, I’ve been on my own search for what I mean by that. What is “wonder?” Bigfoot, it turns out, was my own portal to this discovery. Wonder is when you ask the question: Is there anything more? And you get the answer… “Yes.”
What inspires, excites, and entertains about Bigfoot? The wonder. Something more may be out there. No one can prove his existence, though many claim to have seen him. He’s a legendary figure, timeless, powerful, and mysterious. Does any of that sound familiar? The search for Bigfoot is the search for God. It’s the hunger for wonder and awe He wants to lead us to him.
I haven’t done the survey, but I would guess very few Bigfoot-swag buyers believe they’re about to bump into him. It doesn’t matter; it’s what he represents. As long as he’s “out there,” there’s something more in the magic of the woods. He is the modern deity of the mountain-west nature lover. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of people starting to leaving small offerings for Bigfoot, like the cookies for our Christmas demi-god.
I have no grudge against Bigfoot. He’s earned his rightful place among the lore of the Abominable, the Loch Ness, Santa Claus, dragons, elves, leprechauns, and the like. Human beings can’t stop churning out mythological creatures because we long for something beyond what we see. The good news is it’s really there. God is both more accessible and more distant than anything we could imagine. It’s a wonder that you can speak to and hear from the all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of all things. He is the Wonder who created the feeling of wonder. And with God, there’s always more.
Bonus: Why You Escape to the Mountains?
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