Growling in Mendocino County, California

It was dinner time and all campers were summoned to the evening meal outside the main lodge approximately 1/4 mile from my tent. I was not able to make it to dinner on time because I had a bloody nose and needed to lay down for a few minutes. After about 5 minutes, I returned to the nearby restroom to clean up and that's when the incident occurred. What I didn't see because of high bushes between me and the sound, I did hear very clearly. I heard footsteps in the brush above the restroom. Whatever it was, was moving very slowly. I remember thinking that it was either a person walking very leisurely or something bigger walking at a normal gait. I didn't quite know what to do so, on an impulse, I made a growling sound. Then the footsteps stopped, but resumed a few seconds later. I repeated the growl and the same thing happened. Since I was alone and frankly a bit nervous since there was not supposed to be anyone else up in the woods with me at that time, I decided to go to dinner. I told some fellow campers about the incident during dinner and they were all a bit skeptical. But after dinner we returned to the area and decided to head toward the exact spot where the footstep sounds were emanating from. I knew before seeing the footprints what I had heard since there had been stories of sightings in the area. The ground was very solid but I managed to make out several manlike footprints in the dirt, only they were much larger. My fellow campers verified what I saw. We decided to try and follow the prints, but since they were so shallow it was difficult to determine the direction the creature had taken. But within a few minutes, our job was made easier because I once again heard the mysterious footstep noise. This time a fellow camper and myself decided to chase the creature making the noise so we took off running in the direction of the noise. After about a minute of running uphill, I brought us to a halt to listen. We now heard the creature running away from us very quickly. We pursued it for a few more minutes, but the only thing we found was one set of toe-prints in the area where the creature had been running from us. Of special note: I do not recall experiencing the bad odor that it supposed to be associated with the Bigfoot creature.