Screaming or howling in Riverside County, California

This is a late report, but however, it is a valid one. What prompted this report is the fact that I now currently reside in Snohomish County Washington and just read about local sightings in my area, surprised at the number of reports. I used to live in Orange County California, and an old girlfriend of mine and I, were camping up in Dutchman’s Flats area, near Idyllwild. We were out-packing, not in a campground. We were awakened by screams that resembled the sound of a pack of coyotes that had just made a kill right outside of our tent. The screams however had a bit of a deeper tone than a coyote. At the time that is what we thought it was, so we stayed quiet not wanting to interrupt a wild animals meal. The screams and screeches continued for what seemed like an hour, but was probably about 5 or 10 minutes. The screams stopped, but we could hear what sounded like heavy footsteps right outside the door to our tent. We could hear sniffing sounds, and heavy breathing sounds. That is when I got really scared. I know a coyote does not step like a 300+ pound man in combat boots. I was too scared to even turn on my flashlight, and take a look. (Thinking maybe a bear had just run off what we thought were coyotes). We stayed up, paralyzed all night with fear until the sun came up. Even then there was still a dead silence. No birds, no crickets, nothing. I was still scared to go outside, but did. I could see that something was in our camp, due to the scattering of pine needles and dirt around our tent. But there was no sign of a coyote kill, like no blood or fur laying around. What I did see was a pair of big deep footprints going away from our site down into a deeply wooded ravine. The thing, what ever it was, walked upright, and had a 3 to 4 foot gait. I followed the steps for a few yards down into the ravine while my girlfriend watched. It was still deathly quiet and I had a very eerie feeling that I was being watched. The footprints led right into a thicket and I could see it was a wide path left by whatever it was. I turned and ran back up the hill, packed our stuff up in a big hurry and left. At that time I was in my early 20's. I am in my late 30's now and take my wife and kids camping all the time up here in Washington, but I do it with a new respect for nature now.