Untitled Sighting

Aug 2016, my wife (then just friend) and I were hiking along a creek in between Mt St Helens and Mt Adams. After the long day we decided to camp at spot that might have been used for a Skagit tower while logging. The tree line ran south and about 40 yards away from us. Sometime after it got dark and we were sitting outside talking when all of a sudden we heard multiple (around 3-4) wood knocks. We knew it was too much of a low hard sound to be a woodpecker. A minute or less later we heard from behind us two distinct knocks. This happened for a few more times. We silently would point into the direction we heard it coming from as it went on for about 4-5 minutes. I finally had enough of it and started yelling the only thing I knew in the woods. “Hey Bear!”  My wife tries to hush me so that it “could come closer”. I demanded no and kept yelling. We saw nothing out of the ordinary the next day.  Fast forward Spring 2017.  Same area. We are exploring the same area when I came across a very large track in the sand, along the creek bed. I took pics of it with my trekking pole and foot. (Size 10.5-11).