Aaron: Hello and welcome to another podcast from Explore The Smokies. Are you planning this trip to the Smoky Mountains? Are you too busy to spend hours playing in search and sites for the best activities? Find all your answers at explorethesmokies.com. Let us take the guesswork out of planning with customized itineraries, a community forum where you can ask questions, vacation rentals and also a sweet podcast and so much more at explorethesmokies.com.

Female Host: Okay so Aaron, growing up we used to love this movie Harry and Henderson’s, have you ever seen it?

Aaron: I have seen it.

Female Host: Okay, so for those who haven’t seen it, it’s about family who was camping and then accidentally hits a Bigfoot with their car. And even now as adults, I know, it’s crazy. So we’re in our 30s or 40s. My brothers and I still watch that every year when we go on vacation. And so, that’s why I’m super excited to talk to the guest today. His name is Jason Maples. He’s from My Bigfoot Adventures and he’s joining us. Hi Jason.

Aaron: Welcome Jason.

Jason Maples: Hi, how are you doing?

Female Host: Fantastic, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.

Jason: Absolutely, it’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Female Host: So, I love the name. Is there a story behind it?

Jason: Well you know, just like you, I really love the movie Harry and the Hendersons. And also, when I was little, my nickname was Bigfoot around the neighborhood. And, you know, I’ve always liked the idea of there, being a Bigfoot. I do tours down here in the Smoky Mountains and people would ask me, do you ever see Bigfoot in the Smoky Mountains? And, you know, the answer was always, no. But then I got to thinking. Man, I should maybe capitalize on that and there’s other areas in the country where people do bigfoot-type of Expeditions and I thought, you know, there’s nothing like that down here. So, I bought every conceivable domain name with anything to do with the Smoky Mountains and/or Bigfoot. And that’s how I came up with it.

Aaron: Well, speaking of that, you’ve been in business since February of this year, right?

Jason: That is correct.

Aaron: And we looked at, and you’re already offering some amazing itineraries and you’ve got a 14-passenger bus and it’s basically an itinerary for almost anything. So, tell us a little more about that.

Jason: Yeah, correct. I mean, you know, when people come down here, sometimes, you know, it’s good to be spontaneous and sometimes people, they just want to get away. They want to get out to nature, but they don’t know exactly what they want. And so, I can customize, I can groom an adventure for anything. I mean, we do hiking tours, we do scenic motor tours, I do a barbecue tour, I’ll even do a moonshine and wine tour and then you probably really see Bigfoot.

Female Host: Awesome.

Jason: But we also do a Smoky Mountain Adventure tour and I’ve teamed up with a few different businesses here, and we can do anything from zorbing down a hill, which means crawling into a giant inflatable ball and rolling down a hill to Whitewater Adventure. We even do ziplining and I package something up pretty much for anybody. I mean, I even took a group of people over to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.

Female Host: Wow.

Jason: So, I mean, really anything you want to go do in a bus or on feet hiking around the mountains, we’ll do it.

Female Host: That’s great. So, the city of Townsend is not far away from Sevierville and Pigeon Forge and I see that they have a Bigfoot Festival each year. And as I was digging deeper, I see that you are one of the founding members of that festival, right?

Jason: Yes, that is correct. You know what’s funny? I didn’t know about that festival prior to coming up with My Bigfoot Adventure and then someone from their organization reached out and said, well, the name of your business has something to do with Bigfoot. We’re doing a Bigfoot Festival. Would you like to be a founding member? And I said, absolutely. So I jumped on board and became a member and I got to tell you. There was about 4,000 people over that day, over there in Townsend, you know, trying to do any and everything that has to do with Bigfoot, Sasquatch, you know, whatever you want to call it. It was an amazing afternoon. I loved it.

Female Host: Oh my gosh. So, what what time of the year does that happen?

Jason: That was just about a month and a half ago or so?

Female Host: Okay. It is on the month of [crosstalk], is it June?

Jason: [crosstalk] a lot of great people, you know, people who really, you know, they believe in Bigfoot, they were showing me pictures. One person was showing me pictures on his phone of a Bigfoot that he came with like 20 feet from and wanted to book a tour with me to go out and find him although you already found him but I will take you back out there.

Female Host: I’d be happy to!

Jason: Well yeah, it was good.

Female Host: Oh my gosh. That’s great. So okay, four thousand people you had to have seen some interesting things. So, you have any good stories?

Jason: You know, I mean there were people that came dressed up like Bigfoot is kind of like if you go to a Comic Con and you see people dressed up like Superman or Wonder Woman, these people were dressed up like Sasquatch. I mean it was crazy. It was like a Sasquatch. I mean, it was. But it was like a Sasquatch festival and, you know, there’s people out there, man. Have you ever seen walmart.com? Some of the crazy people are walking on that page. It was kind of like a class reunion of that at the Bigfoot Festival. It was pretty entertaining.

Aaron: Hey, Jess, I have another question. So every time they talk about Bigfoot, seems like there’s only one, is there any recorded sightings of family of a big feet, or foot or Sasquatches. Anything like that?

Jason: I was reading up on some history and the Cherokee Indians in this area used to document that they would hear and see large furry beasts out in the woods and they would go after it and it didn’t sound anything like a human, but they would go out in the woods after this sound and, you know, it would be over on the left and they go a hundred yards that way and then they’d hear it on the right and they’d go that way and then they’d hear up behind them. And so they estimated, there were tons of them out there but you know, they never saw them, they were never documented, anything that the Cherokees had said, well, we absolutely saw this beast and he was nine foot tall, or what have you, but then, back in the late eighteen hundreds down here in the Smoky Mountains, there were pioneers who claimed to have seen large hairy beasts that were eight or nine foot tall and there was one incident where they said that this hairy beast came and abducted a child and took it off into the woods and the child was never to be seen again and they started hunting for bigfoot down here. But they never found him again.

Aaron: That’s great. That’s a great story.

Female Host: Yeah, so you are on the warpath really to find him again and so, all I need to do is to what? Look up at your website and book a tour?

Jason: Yeah, mybigfootadventure.com. It’ll actually reroute you around to our Facebook page. And from there, you can book an adventure, or you can reach out and call me right from that page. And we can just look over the calendar and see what’s available. In the bus, I can take groups up to 14 people or certainly if there’s a party larger than that, we can meet out on the trail somewhere and we can just head out together and have our own Bigfoot Adventure.

Female Host: That’s awesome. And I just want to run down the list of different things that you potentially could offer, people who are coming to the area, guided hiking tours, moonshine tours, Bachelorette and Bachelor parties which I know some people going down pretty soon so I’m going to have to pass along your information. Casino tours, Tennessee Vols tailgate party tours, live event concerts, party bus and private opportunities. So, you’ve got a large group that’s coming down and they’re getting a cabin for like fourteen people, they can just rent you for the day, right?

Jason: Yeah, they can. In fact, I got to be candid with you, if you tried to get an Uber or a lift here in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg or Sevierville. You’re going to wait three, four, five hours to get a ride. It’s just kind of non-existent. The reality is, there’s so much traffic here. It doesn’t make financial sense. For one of those operators to try to offer rides because they maybe do one or two a day, so, you’re right. I mean I pick people up at a cabin or their hotel. And in fact, if you wanted to charter me for a half a day or a full day, or I’ve even had a party last weekend, they chartered me the whole weekend. I will literally pick you up and hang out with you and we will spend the whole weekend driving around the Smokies, going out hiking. I’ll take you out to dinner. I mean, whatever you guys want to do, that’s what we’re going to do. And just some background, I’ve been a stand-up comic since 1986, so I’ll keep you in stitches along the way as well.

Female Host: I love it, I love it. Well, Aaron has got a Smokey Mountain five. Some five questions, he wants to throw your way. Aaron?

Aaron: Quick answers, Jason. Favorite place to look for bigfoot? Where can you go? Where you might actually see Bigfoot out in Smokies?

Jason: Let’s see. The Roaring Fork Motor Trail.

Aaron: Okay, what’s your personal favorite view in the Smokies? What do you like to see?

Jason: Clingmans Dome. Because that is the absolute highest spot in the Smoky Mountains. On a clear day, you may already know this, you can see the mountain peaks in seven different states from up there.

Aaron: Favorite restaurant. What’s your favorite restaurant?

Jason: Alamo Steakhouse.

Aaron: Didn’t take you too long to say that. And your best Smoky Mountain memory?

Jason: I’ve been visiting the Smoky Mountains since 1975 with my parents. It took me a long time to move here. I’ve only lived here a little over a year and my favorite memory would be one time when I was about 8 years old, riding down to the Smoky Mountains, with my dad, on the back of his Harley-Davidson and I kept falling asleep and I don’t remember it as much as he remembers it but when he tells a story I remember it. He had to use his belt to tie me to him so I wouldn’t fall off the Harley on the way down here. And we rode through the Smoky Mountains on his Harley and I’ve always wanted to do that with my kids. So I bought myself a Harley so I could do that with my children.

Aaron: That’s awesome. I hope you have a belt as well.

Jason: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Female Host: Or sidecars. [inaudible] if you have more kids.

Aaron: So final question, Jason, if we had person say, hey I only have 24 hours in the area, what do they need to do in your opinion? What’s the place to have to go to?

Jason: I think you know, you can go out to eat anywhere, they can go out to eat dinner at their home in their hometown, they can go ride, go-karts anywhere, they can go do a zip line anywhere. My absolute answer would be to get out in nature, even if you don’t do it with My Bigfoot Adventure, go out. Check out the national park. Go see some beautiful scenic mountain views, walk along the river, put your hands in the waterfall as it’s coming down the mountain and just get out and enjoy this beautiful National Park that we have down here. That is absolutely free to go and wander around in is absolutely beautiful.

Female Host: Great. Awesome Recommendation. Jason I have one final question.

Jason: Absolutely.

Female Host: Have you ever seen Sasquatch?

Jason: You know, at the end of every My Bigfoot Adventure tour, I absolutely guarantee that you’ll get a selfie with Bigfoot.

Female Host: Okay, the mystery continues. Thank you for being such a great, great guest Jason. You can check out all the tours that Jason offers and book your tour by going to mybigfootadventure.com. And we will be sure to add My Bigfoot Adventure to explorethesmokies.com as well.

Jason: Thank you so much. My absolute pleasure.

Aaron: Have a great day.

Jason: You too.