Whooping in Tuolumne County, California

On 7/3/06 around 4:35pm, I (age 42) took my two sons, ages 7 & 8 to a nearby lake while my husband stayed behind to continue building our cabin. It's a hard 23 minute, offroad drive of 4.3 miles, so we were very specific about our departure and return times, just in case my husband would need to come looking for us. After unsuccessfully looking for a wading spot near our truck, (mucky water, underwater plants and drop-offs) the boys and I made quite a trek to a prior favorite point that juts out like a partial island, with fishing nets, swimsuits and snacks. The path has become almost non-existent due to fallen trees, branches and almost no foot traffic. This is a very remote lake, not visible from any main forest service road. Our whole trip consisted of 1 1/3 hours at the lake. We were dipping our toes and talking about the fish, when I said we needed to pack it up. I had just heard a noise in the far distance of what sounded like a single, medium tone "whoop or yup" (#1). I told the boys to be quiet for a minute and this time we all heard it (#2). None of us could identify it, so I yelled, "Hello?" and waited. It responded again with a single "whoop" (#3) which sounded significantly louder. The boys caught on to this right away, and said, “Mom, it’s getting closer”. We thought it might be a hurt backpacker off in the distance, so I yelled, "Is anybody out there?" Each response was about 30-60 seconds and this time it was very loud and close (#4). I thought someone was playing a joke on us at first, but realized I could neither see, nor identify the sound. The frightening issue was that no other sound was made as it approached us. I expected sticks and twigs to be snapping, so I wrote it off as some curious bird moving quickly between trees (mostly for the boys sake). There was a golden mantel chipmunk in the distance that was very upset about something, but everything else was eerily quiet. I felt like we were being watched the whole time, but never said anything because I didn't want to spook the boys. I experienced the same "watched" feeling the last time we were at that spot (last year) and remember hearing what I thought was a deer walking around us, but I never saw anything. We packed up fast and bee-lined it to the pickup. I did not want to be stuck on a spit of land with two young kids that are just learning to swim. I could have made it across the lake to the truck, but not the boys. It sounded like a cross between a human and animal that was made by something very large. It was absolutely not a bird (quail/woodpecker), bear or cougar sound. Last year on two separate occasions, we had a young cougar, then a bear run in front of our pickup and we're very familiar with their "walking and verbal" sounds. I have been camping all of my life and have never experienced that sound before. I had my digital camera with me and never once thought to put it in Video mode to record the sounds. The whole thing took place over a 5 minute period and we were just focusing on getting back to the pickup. I was born and raised in Port Orchard, WA, so I'm very familiar with Sasquatch and BigFoot tales. I have always felt they could be real, but have never had any encounter with one. I decided to poke around online to see what a Yeti might sound like and read John Bindernagel's research. My hair stood on end and I called my husband at work who thinks the whole thing is fabulous. I also read about the BFRO expeditions in Northern California and Humboldt County, along with a lot of other information and projects. I decided to respond to you with my information for whatever it’s worth. I can’t explain it, and both of the boys have very vivid and accurate memories of what we all heard. Thanks for listening and please contact us if you have any questions.