On quiet nights in the La Sal Mountains, campers at Deer Creek Retreat say they hear distant voices drifting up from Coyote Creek, calling for help in a tone that sounds almost human. Some blame echoes and wildlife, but others whisper about the Bigfoot-like “Coyote Creek Mimic” lurking just beyond the firelight.

At the edge of Old La Sal, a quiet cow town abandoned to floods, I went looking to debunk the legend of a Bigfoot‑like Sentinel—and met heavy footsteps in the dusk between Deer Creek Retreat and the ruins.