Bigfoot in his Backyard

Out in west Tehama County deep in the hills and off the grid there’s a hunt for the unknown.

It began with Ken, a landowner of more than 200 acres in the area who declined to give his full name.

Ken said on Sunday at his home that he has two mistresses: peace and quiet. To disturb that would destroy the privacy he’s enjoyed over the past decade.

Ken is a friendly man in his 60s whose beard is a mix of brown and gray wisps. He peppers his baritone speech with expletives and laughs.

His previous life was in Silicon Valley, and he says he has his name on a patent related to the TV guide that pops up when you hit the Guide button on your remote control.

He says, however, that he’s accumulated most of his wealth through real estate.

Over the years he grew tired of big city life, and people. In the late ’90s he started his search for an area away from it all.

He looked at locations in Medford, Ore., but eventually worked his way down to Tehama County, which was almost too close to the Bay Area, he said, adding that his wife still works there but visits often.

His hilltop home is long with an addition that’s unfinished. Large windows open the home to a sweeping vista. At night, he says he can see the milk in the Milky Way.

I live in paradise, he says.

Over the past month, however, Ken has noticed strange happenings on his property: wood chopped for firewood littering his gravel roadway; more wood from a fallen tree neatly stacked about a half-mile down the road; swinging outdoor furniture on his property toppled and moved about 15 feet toward his home.

Ken has neighbors about a half-mile and a mile away, but they respect his privacy, he said. Gates chained closed with Master locks also aid in blocking access to outsiders.

But about three weeks ago, Ken said he was relaxing by a creek that runs on his property when a large rock whooshed over his head and into a deep part of the water, making a large splash.

About a minute later, another. A minute and a half later, one more.

Unsettled, he didn’t turn around, he said, and drove his quad-runner back to his home.

The rocks couldn’t be hurled by humans, he said.