Customer Reviews

Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If you are a "Bigfoot Believer", a "Cryptid Connoisseur", or looking for photographs of huge hominids emerging from UFO's with Greys looking on, this ain't your book. If you are a regular person who loves nature and is intrigued by a good tale of "What If", this IS your book and you'll love it. Pyle shares with us his love for the Northwest and his concerns for its future. Yes this is largely a symbolic book, with "Bigfoot" symbolizing all we love, and fear, of those far forest places dark and deep and why we are fascinated with them. There is also a tinge of sadness in the book; the ravages of thoughtless environmental damage, the childish quarrels of Bigfoot "Experts". But this is largely a love story, about one last Wild Place, and how such places Haunt our imaginations. You'll love this book.

Where Bigfoot Walks Crossing the Dark Divide By Robert Michael Pyle Houghton Mifflin Company, US$25.00 The thing with most books about Bigfoot, the North American counterpart of Yeti, is that they often reveal more about their authors' obsession with their illusive subject than the actual beast itself. Robert Michael Pyle's book Where Bigfoot Walks is an exception to this general rule because Mr. Pyle is not obsessed - he's fascinated. And as an ecologist his fascination takes in the whole landscape from boletus and ghost moth to the tantalizing possibility of a huge, hairy hominoid living in the forests of Western U.S. and Canada. Mr. Pyle's report is written around accounts of his numerous treks into the Dark Divide a rare and beleaguered remnant of virgin forest in Washington State, U.S. Rich in Bigfoot mythology and sitings the Dark Divide could be one of the last redoubts of the mythical monster. It is certainly one of the last holdouts of old growth timber in the American Pacific Northwest most of which has succumbed the devastating efficiency of clearcut logging. It's from this setting that Pyle reflects on the myth of Bigfoot and the possibilities of a real flesh and blood beast. His often lyrical ruminations range from Bigfoot's implications for "forest management" - what if putative animal's existence is proven and old growth timber is its natural habitat? - to whether the land could biologically support a large reclusive ape. He even considers the ethical problems of how any "specimens" should be collected. All this is mixed with anecdotal accounts of sitings and portraits of the colorful and eccentric gang of Bigfoot aficionados - from charlatans to credible researchers - who in Pyle's words "don't want to find Bigfoot - they want to be Bigfoot." Essentially this is a book in search of mystery. And with logging operations never out of earshot, jets constantly flying overhead and much of the Dark Divide's remote trails trashed by dirt bikes and trodden by backpackers the possibility of even the myth of Bigfoot surviving- let alone the actual animal - seem remote. Yet Mr. Pyle still finds places and moments of natural wonder in the Dark Divide that astonish him and he writes about them with grace and respect. He never finds Bigfoot but he hears haunting whistles and has one uncanny encounter with something that leaves huge tracks. By the end of Where Bigfoot Walks you can believe there may still be mysteries in the last of the great forests of North America of which Bigfoot may be one. According to Mr. Pyle it's a possibility our unnatural culture may need. JOHN BETTS

As somewhat of a skeptic, but still keeping an open mind, I enjoy topics such a `bigfoot' when they're written intelligently and with a base of reason. As for "Where Bigfoot Walks", I should've looked at other reviews of this book a bit more, but when Midwest book review stated things like "...fascinating study of Bigfoot legends and realities..." I gambled- and lost. For outdoor enthusiasts, this is a rich story of a man's travels through the wilderness. And I must hand it to Mr. Pyle, he really does write well. It almost seems as if he anticipated readers interested in bigfoot to get bored with it quickly, like when he goes on about hitching rides from Indians because he runs out of water- or something like that, but his timing is right and just as you're about to toss the book aside he throws in something interesting enough to get you to keep reading. In the end though, it's all rather anticlimactic, and not what I was looking for.

In this book you will take a trip through some of America's last unexplored wilderness. The Author takes you on his travels hiking thru the forested wilderness in Washington State in an honest attempt to seek out the animal Bigfoot. Along the way the Author stops to interview the big names in bigfoot research (thereby adding his own to this group). The text is a "good read" and the suspense is present as the Author narrates his own encounter with Sasquatch. That's towards the end of the book, but the entire journey is worth the read. The only bigfoot book that tops this in scientific inquiry is "Big-Footprints" by Grover Krantz. Nice work Pyle!

This is the travel log of Pyle's attempt to cross the Dark Divide in South Western Oregon. Forming the framework of the journey is a search for Bigfoot--not just the beast (although that's there too), but what the idea of Bigfoot means to our humanity, culture and to our place in the universe. He also investigates the people who believe (including everyone from quacks to scientists) and those that do not. The strengths of the book shine when Pyle is exploring ideas. He has some important things to say about the importance of wilderness, and the necessity of wild unknown things lurking in our subconscious. I also liked the balanced treatment he gave the question of Bigfoot's existence. You are never sure if he is a believer or sceptic, but he leaves you with the sense that perhaps the question is more important than the answer. The book is not without faults, the biggest was his nature writing, which sometimes seem to plod along with unnecessary detail. Too often it contained decorative descriptions that reminded me of exercises from a creative writing class. This made reading the book an uneven experience, with some parts of the book so good that I could not put it down, and with other sections I could not wait to put behind me. It was especially annoying when he produced long lists of plants and animals that for me, not being from that area of the country, meant nothing. Overall, however, the book is well worth the read. It left me thinking deeply and seemed to put the question of Bigfoot's existence on a more philosophical plane. I would especially recommend the book to people interested in wilderness, to those exploring why we believe the things we do, or those wanting a balanced and informed examination of the question of Bigfoot's existence.

If you're looking for stuff about bigfoot(s),look elsewhere. (Sanderson's and Green's books are the best.) This book is about a trek in bigfoot country, something I've always wanted to do. When I finally do it, I hope I have better luck than Pyle had. This book is OK if you're looking for a story about an uneventful walk in the woods.

Face it, if you are looking for a book "about" Bigfoot, it is necessarily going to be slim. With no definitive proof that Bigfoot exists - no data to analyze, no pictures, no fossils, no bodies - the basic gist of purportedly "scientific" Bigfoot books boils down to a lot of speculating about second hand information. Interesting perhaps, but never convincing. You either believe or you don't. (And to be clear, I am a believer.)

On the other hand, a book about what it is in man - and his relationship to wilderness - that gives rise to the Bigfoot legend is far more compelling. Where Bigfoot Walks is just such a book. Beautifully written and engaging, the book uses the search for Bigfoot as a metaphor to characterize the endless search for meaning that occurs inside our own souls. Rooted in the holiest of wilderness areas, the Gifford Pinchot (luckily for me a stone's throw from Portland), Mr. Pyle takes an amazing journey into the heart of nature and emerges with a lesson for us all: man simultaneously is sustained by and seeks to tame, the solitude and endless potentials inherent in wilderness.

That the author fails to offer definitive proof of Bigfoot is of little consequence. His book stands as a testament to the power of the journey, no matter what destination is sought. It is also a glorious ode to the natural world. Bigfoot believers and nonbelievers alike should read this book. It won't convince skeptics, but it will frame the quest, quite elegantly, in a language accessible to all.

Robert Michael Pyle's Where Bigfoot Walks may be the closest I'll get at the moment to the Northwestern most part of this country.This man's style of writing is perhaps the purest, most comprehensive & descriptive I've read in a text in years. The manner in which this title is put forth is possibly the closest to this region one can attain without leaving the front door. It's the type of read where you cannot set your mind aside (unless it's nearing 5 A.M. in the morning and it's really time for bed,as I can relate with). For any enthusiast of this amazing vital "beast", and nature lovers, this is a must have in reading material.

I acquired Dr. Pyle's book with the hope of exploring the Bigfoot phenomenon in an attempt to uncover why it has intrigued me so much over the years. In that regard this title performs excellently. In any discussion of Bigfoot, a discussion of wilderness must also be included. This book wraps its Bigfoot information and hunt in a interesting discourse on the status and possible fate of our amazing Pacific Northwest forests. While at times Pyle's eye for detail can be burdensome and his politics controversial, all in all this work is a great story of time spent in the world's most wonderful of places pursuing truth about one of the world's most amazing creatures

As many others have said, this book is a true waste of time if you are looking for answers about Sasquatch. If you want to walk naked with a tree hugger, city dude who shouldn't be in the woods. This is a book for you. His knowledge is great if your are a bird watcher, nudist, and flatlander. His shear disregard for the basic knowledge on the wilderness, is uncanny. To read a book of birds and their calls is great. But, to bring inefficient and poor nutritional food into a wilderness, alone to boot. I am surprised he survived. If you are a "TRUE OUTDOORSMAN or WOMAN" don't waste your time with this book. There are many titles on the "Sasquatch or Bigfoot" Subject that are far more worth the time to research... I believe this author simply used the term "bigfoot" to market and sell books. This book is not for the real enthusiast.