An Empty Bigfoot Trap

Did you know that there's a Bigfoot Trap in the forests of Oregon? It was built in 1974 by the North American Wildlife Research Team and these days, it belongs to the United States Forest Service. Ever since I read the Wikipedia article and realized that it existed, I've been wanting to take the boys there...but that required having some free time and both parents able to make it from the car to the trap. 

It's a much easier hike than the one through Ape Caves, although there are a couple of big fallen trees to clamber over. The trail is shaded and except for the first steep slope down, it's all uphill to the trap -- which means it's almost all downhill on the way back. That worked for me!

The boys did an awful lot of whooping, but no one answered. I hear that they only caught a couple of bears when the trap was in use. So that either means that there aren't any Sasquatches in this part of the forest, or that they're too smart to crawl into that big wooden box.

Too late, I realized that I should have brought the backpack. That would have made some great pictures, especially if I ever get around to doing a tutorial. We'll probably be back there sooner or later. It was a fun little road trip.

For the Boys

I was going to make a baby boy quilt for this hop, then inspiration struck. Hard.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know that I've got three boys. ages seven, nine, and thirteen and if you read about our field trip to the Ape Caves, you might also remember that they're just a bit obsessed with all things sasquatch related.

Which inspired my For the Boys project, a backpack for lugging home library books.

I'm now committed to make two more of these -- one Zombie Outbreak Response Team and one with a Chupacabra on it, requested by the same kid who wanted the possum costume for Halloween.  Does anyone else think he enjoys messing with me? I'll put together a tutorial when I do the second round of backpacks.

I boxed the bottom and the whole thing is padded and lined and double-stitched. I've destroyed so many book bags over the years that if I'm going to make one it's going to be STRONG. My Nancy Drew Bag is still holding up to our weekly library runs, so I borrowed a lot of the same construction techniques.

I think I tend to get so giddy about the cute girly stuff on Pinterest that I forget how much neat boy stuff I've actually made for my sons over the years. There was the jet pack made from spray painted died Coke bottles.  The dead fish hat and shark hat...the felted fireman hat...the dinosaur quilt... not to mention a whole lot of other quilts and sweaters.


Make sure to visit today's other bloggers -- Dachsies with Moxie, Patchouli Moon Studio, It Seams to Be Sew..., Scrappy n Happy, Loves to Quilt , Factotum of Arts, Jackie's Art Quilts, Living with purpose

This post is linked to I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

the cave where Big Foot attacked -- or close enough!

Our family does a lot of things that could be described as field trips, but we never actually call them that. As far as the kids are concerned, they're just what we do, not part of school. And it's not part of school -- we did this kind of stuff loong before we even had kids and will continue to do it after they're grown up and off somewhere doing things with their own families.

A couple of weeks ago, we took the kids to hike through Ape Cave, a lava tube near Mount St. Helens. It was their first time, although I can't figure out for the life of me why we'd never taken them there. It's a cave. And it has a history of Big Foot attacks -- although it turns out that those were actually at nearby Ape Canyon. How much do six and seven year olds care about geographical accuracy?



I couldn't have done this last summer, or the year before, but my knee made it through the cave just fine. And we've hit a huge milestone, which I kind of missed when I was working on my knee and being able to hike without a cane. After fifteen years, I no longer have to carry another human being while hiking. That makes such a huge difference!



On the trail to the cave entrance, we passed a group of kids preparing to go down inside. Very few of them seemed happy about being there. One the was down the steps into the cave, we passed a second group on their way out who warned us about how long and boring it was. That's one of many reasons we usually do these things as a family instead of as organized field trips. I can listen to my own kids whine (which they rarely do), but I don't want to put up with strangers' kids.

This isn't the first lava tube we've taken the kids to, but they're always up for caves. And caves near where Big Foot has been seen? I've got a tribe of budding cryptozoologists here!

When Education Outdoors sent us a copy of their new board game Mysterious Creatures to review, the boys were ecstatic. It's got the usual critters -- Big Foot, Chupacabra, the Loch-Ness Monster, the Yeti....and a few that I'd never heard of.



At the start of the game, each player draws a card which determines which creature they'll be hunting for. You journey across the game board map, travelling from country to country to gather three pieces of evidence -- a photo, a piece of physical evidence, and a film. (Some of the film evidence can be viewed on the Mysterious Creatures website.)

Honestly, my boys were more excited about reading the creature cards and the evidence files to settle down long enough to play the game properly. But the graphics and packaging are fantastic and I can definitely see how it would teach the kids some geography as they navigate the map.

This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.