Olympic Project Documents 22 Woven Sasquatch Nests in Washington

There's something undeniably compelling about stumbling across a video that blends two completely unrelated passions into one surprisingly cohesive experience. That's exactly what happens over on the Sasquatch & Cigars YouTube channel, where the host Thomas pairs a cigar review with a deep dive into one of the most fascinating Sasquatch investigations happening in the Pacific Northwest right now. While smoking his way through "The Chairman" by Definition Cigars, Thomas walks viewers through the work of the Olympic Project, an organization that has been quietly documenting some of the most intriguing physical evidence ever found on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. The story begins back in 2016, when a timberland surveyor was sent out to assess an unlogged forested area for potential logging operations. What that surveyor discovered would eventually launch a full-scale scientific investigation. Picture this: deep in the backcountry of the Olympic Peninsula, the surveyor came across an area roughly five and a half to six feet in diameter where something had clearly been constructed. But this wasn't just brush trampled down like you'd expect from a bear bed. The huckleberry branches in this structure were interwoven with each other, deliberately woven together in a way that suggested something with opposable thumbs had done the work. The surveyor found several more of these structures in the surrounding area before heading back to report what he'd seen. This is where the Olympic Project stepped in. Founded in the late 2000s by Derek Randles, a professional landscape contractor, deep woods tracker, and licensed wilderness guide who operates Ridge Walkers Unlimited, the organization takes a methodical, scientific approach to Sasquatch research rather than the casual "tramping through the woods" style of investigation. Randles's own obsession with the subject began after a terrifying backcountry camping incident in Olympic National Park, where huge rocks were thrown at his group and he personally witnessed a giant bipedal figure in the forest. That kind of origin story tends to produce dedicated researchers, and Randles clearly fits the bill. The Project brought in Dr. Jeff Meldrum, a full professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University who was widely recognized as one of the leading academic authorities on bipedal mechanics of unverified hominids. Meldrum's lab focused on the morphology of footprint casts, specifically looking for dynamic foot movement, midfoot breaks, and dermal ridge details, methods used to weed out elaborate hoaxes. Sadly, Meldrum passed away in 2025, but his contributions to the field and to this investigation remain significant. Other core investigators and field researchers with the Olympic Project include Shane Corson, David Ellis, Chris Spencer, and Amy Bu, with production partners Seth Breedlove of Smalltown Monsters and Alexander Pikov from Beyond the Trail. For anyone unfamiliar with Smalltown Monsters, Breedlove's documentary work on cryptids and unexplained phenomena is exceptionally well-produced and worth checking out. Now, here's where things get really interesting. The Olympic Project has found and documented up to 22 individual ground nest sites, all grouped closely together in a single hidden habitat. These aren't uniform in size either. They range from small, tightly woven two-foot structures to massive deep depressions measuring over nine to ten feet in diameter. That size variation is significant, and Dr. Meldrum and Chris Spencer hypothesized that the site was utilized by an entire family unit or a small clan of multiple generations over a recurring seasonal period. The proximity to a creek loaded with salmon adds another layer to this theory. The researchers have suggested these nests may serve as birthing sites, locations where Sasquatch females come when they're ready to have their young, with easy access to food from the nearby water. It's a compelling hypothesis, and one that makes sense given the size variation and clustering of the structures. The investigation hasn't relied solely on visual documentation either. The team gathered soil samples, plant matter taken directly from the woven huckleberry branches, and several anonymous hair samples. They're working to extract DNA and eDNA (environmental DNA) from these materials, which could potentially provide the kind of scientific evidence that transforms Sasquatch research from anecdotal to undeniable. Of course, mainstream field biologists tend to try to explain these structures away as black bear nests. But as Thomas points out in the video, black bears can push branches down and pat them down, but they can't weave branches together the way these structures show. The interwoven, locked-together construction forming bowl shapes simply isn't consistent with bear behavior. Bears don't have opposable thumbs, and they don't construct woven architecture. The Olympic Project's philosophy emphasizes field methodology over casual monster hunting, keeping specific location coordinates hidden to protect the habitat, hosting annual Sasquatch summits to share field findings with the public, and maintaining minimal impact on the pristine Pacific Northwest ecosystem. That kind of responsible approach is exactly what serious Sasquatch research needs. This video is worth watching not just for the Bigfoot content, but for the way Thomas weaves together his cigar review with genuine investigative reporting. The Chairman sounds like a solid smoke too, Nicaraguan puro with notes of cocoa, espresso, rich wood, baking spice, and a creamy finish, paired with a White Russian stout because, as Thomas puts it, "it's been a heck of a Sunday." Check out the full video on the Sasquatch & Cigars channel for the complete breakdown of the nest sites, the investigation methodology, and yes, the cigar tasting notes. It's one of those unexpected combinations that somehow works perfectly.