Location: Wentworth Falls, New South Wales
Event: Suspicious Movement Deep in the Forest
Date: Sept 9, July 2011
Time: 8pm
Hi Dean,
This is not sighting report but more of a strange experience encountered in
the Blue Mountains.
On the 9th July 2011, a friend and I decided to head over to the Blue Mountains to do a night hike along the Wentworth Falls track. We arrived at the start of the track at around 3.30pm and made our way down to Wentworth Falls.
It was a little windy at the start but as we made our way down to the forest canopy the wind subsided. After stopping for about 20mins at the bottom of Wentworth Falls we found another track which lead to the conservation hut.
A passing hiker advised us it eventually leads to Vera Falls and told us to be careful if we took that trail because a good section of it was unmarked and people have been reported to be lost around that area. Armed with the hiker's advice we made our way along that trail and eventually reached to the top of Vera Falls.
The trail was littered with a lot of debris from fallen trees and bush due
to what we thought were the strong winds from earlier in the week.
The time was around 6.30pm and it was dark. Not pitch black but we had to turn on our headlamps. After hanging around at the top of Vera Falls for about an hour, having a snack and gazing at the stars we started our way back to civilization.
The weather was relatively calm and the sky was clear which made it great for star gazing. In the open, the moon light provided some visibility but as soon we made it back into the dense forest it was pitch black and our headlamps were turned on to high beam.
The time was about 8pm when we heard some rustling in the bushes coming from our left. We stopped and looked into the direction but could not see anything. Thinking it was a small animal or bird, we ignored it and started on our way again.
However after taking a couple of steps forward we then heard 3 very heavy lumbering footsteps in the vegetation coming from our right. They were very distinctive because the strides sounded just like a human (definitely bipedal) but a very heavy human at that because as it walked, it broke branches and twigs.
I estimate the source of these footsteps would have been 15-20 meters way from us, we pointed our headlamps into that direction but couldn't see anything. The footsteps stopped and there was an eerie silence when my friend and I glanced at each other.
We scanned the area again for 2mins and couldn't see any signs of a humans or animals. The silence was deafening. A little bit freaked out we hurriedly got back on route and made our way back... taking glances behind us every so often to check for god knows what.
Prior to this incident we had no idea what a Yowie was or the mystery surrounding this creature.
I can't say that it was a Yowie walking in the woods but I wouldn't rule it out either.
Lyonel
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