The following account comes from a publication by Ken Korczak titled Minnesota Paranormala.
"A no nonsense, hard working doctor and his surgeon buddy are on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota. One of the doctors brought along his two son's, ages 10 and 12. The other doctor had no children, and so enjoyed being able to spend time with the young boys of his colleague.
Both doctors were extremely 'straight laced'. Both were deacons in their church, neither had much of a sense of humor, and they worked long hours. Vacations were rare, and when they did take time off, these two doctors didn't exactly let their hair down just because they were out in the north woods. They brought their no-nonsense, humorless attitude of 'lets-get-it-done' even to the fun of camping.
The men and boys paired up two to a canoe. The older boy paddled with his father and the younger boy joined the other doctor.
The Boundary Waters straddle the Minnesota-Canada border. It is a vast area of lakes and wooded wilderness, more than a million square acres. This is an extremely pristine and unspoiled region where aggressive efforts have been made to keep out as much of modern development as possible-for example no motorized boats are allowed and no motorized land vehicles. There are dozens of lakes interspersed with pine-forested islands and mainland.
The buzzing of motorized modern humanity is forbidden in this magnificent, unspoiled tract of mother nature.
Canoeing among the Boundary Water is fun, exhilarating but can be arduous. It is necessary to make frequent portages across rugged terrain between numerous sparkling-clear lakes. That means lifting canoes, camping gear and supplies, lugging them between lakes. Camping is primitive.
On their first day out, the two men and boys were coming near the end of a long, taxing day of paddling and portaging. They arrived at a spot where they decided to camp. The doctors told the boys to make a fire while they doubled back to retrieve the rest of their gear.
As it grew dark the boys began to worry because the adults were taking a long time returning. Finally they head branches snapping and the sound of someone running toward them from the woods.
It was the two doctors: but now their super-cool exteriors and reserved demeanor had abandoned them. They were frantic one of them screamed at the boys 'Put out that fire!' Before the boys could react, one of the men hastily kicked dirt over the fire-as if dousing the flames was a matter of survival.
The men shouted at the boys: 'Gather up your stuff as fast as you can-we're leaving!' The youngsters were perplexed. They didn't have a chance to ask why. It was obvious the adults wanted out of the woods- and fast. The group returned to the original portage site, unloaded their canoes and began paddling with desperate urgency back the way they had come.
One of the boys said 'I couldn't understand what was going on, I was starving because I hadn't eaten all day, and they pushed us to paddle as fast as we could. We were exhausted, hungry, and it was already pitch dark. We couldn't understand what had come over my dad. But we also got the impression that we were not to ask. We started to cry. We felt like we were running for our lives. But from what, or why? We didn't know'
When they returned to their hotel rooms, the high strangeness continued. The two doctors did something amazing in the eyes of the eldest son: they each purchased a 12 pack of beer! The boys had never known their father to drink. As far as they knew, he was teetotaler, and so was the other doctor. But now these deacon physicians were in obvious need of a few stiff drinks.
The boys said both men seemed dazed all that night. They were sure that neither of them slept. As for what had brought about their bizarre mood, they weren't talking about it, and the boys dared not ask.
The next day, even though only a single day had passed of what was to be a week-long excursion in the northern woods, the group packed up their car and headed back to civilization. Although a camping trip to the Boundary Waters had never been missed in the past 14 years, the trip was never made again.
The incident was not spoken of again - until about 25 years later.
The year was 1989. The father of the two boys had retired from his long, successful career as a surgeon at the most prestigious medical facility in the world. The boy who was 12 was now an adult. One day as the family had gathered to prepare for a wedding, the son casually mentioned to his dad that he had purchased a cabin near the Boundary Waters.
Invoking the Boundary Waters seemed to trigger the old doctors memory of the frightening incident of 25 years previously. He said to his son: 'Have you ever wondered why we never made another camping trip to the Boundary Waters after that last one - the one where we packed up and left so suddenly?'
'Yes, I've always wondered what happened on that day, but I didn't think you would ever talk about it.'
Here is what he said:
'When doctor Smith (not his real name) and I went back to retrieve our gear, we were resting for a moment before we picked up and headed back to the camp where you two were waiting. The trail back to camp was like a long tunnel - the trees were heavy and overhanging so that the sky was almost obscured. The trail also rose steeply and was rocky.
Suddenly a ways up the trail we aw a very large creature of some kind, but it appeared to be walking upright like a man. But it was really big, bulky, covered with hair, very tall, and in the distance it looked at first like maybe a gigantic bear. We became very concerned because someone had been attacked by a bear in this area a few days earlier. We had also heard that some bears in the area had been found to be infected with a brain parasite which caused them to act erratically. We thought this might explain the strange upright walking behavior of the large animal we saw up the steep trail - it appeared to be almost running.
As the creature came closer and they got a better look, the doctors could not believe their eyes. In the last of the daylight, their first thought of this thing was some kind of 'escaped hybrid gorilla'.
The doctor continues:
'Then I saw with some concern that Dr. Smith grabbed a large rock and hid himself behind a bush! He had a rock about the size of a loaf of bread. If he was going to throw that at this massive creature.....well, I thought that was a bad idea. I thought he was crazy, but there was no time for a debate. I decided to try to scare the thing off before he could pelt it with a rock and make it mad. I stood my ground in the middle of the path and began waving my arms, screaming and yelling.
The creature kept coming forward at a rapid rate. It only seemed to notice the arms waving doctor when he was three feet in front of him. The creature stopped abruptly. Doctor and Bigfoot stood eye to eye.
He described the creature as a large 'man-like ape' easily over 7 feet tall, massively built, long haired and emitting a noxious odor that was beyond description. The doctor stopped his yelling and stood there practically toe-to-toe with an entity that seemed just as stunned as he.
Neither man nor beast had expected to confront the other. Time froze.
Suddenly Dr. Smith heaved his rock from behind the bushes, only to have it land about six feet behind the beast. The creature turned, bellowed an ear-splitting roar, and sprinted off the trail directly into the thick woods. The doctor said large poplar trees in front of the beast bent down and were flattened before the creature as if being pushed down by a bulldozer.
For the doctors, who spent their lives as men of science, ensconced in mainstream Christian beliefs - men who firmly believed that their grip on reality was fundamental and unshakable - confronting Bigfoot was a blow to their world view.