Report 96: Young camper frightened by large hand gathering berries

In July of 1978 when I was just 7 years old, I traveled to Oregon with my family to visit relatives. We spent 3 weeks in the state and I was lucky enough to see what I think was Bigfoot. We had camped in an area that was dense and close to a shallow river. It was almost like the camp was a bald spot with a wall of brush and trees around it. There was a trail that led to the shallow river and although it probably wasn't far, seemed so to me. The late afternoon was sunny and warm and everyone but my cousin, my uncle, and myself went to look for herds of elk or antelope. We had campers to sleep in, and my uncle and my cousin were both napping when this sighting occured. I was outside one of the campers playing when I heard a rustling of underbrush.I never smelled anything that I can remember, or heard a sound other than the rustling. When I looked up, I noticed that a small sapling...maybe the size of the end of a baseball bat, just bent completely over.This sapling was behind a thick wall of what appeared to be some sort of a berry bush. I am not sure what kind, though. I was curious and walked over to where I had seen the sapling bend over, thinking that there was a squirrel hanging on to it or something. That is when a large hand reached out from behind this brush and grabbed a handful of berries. I had to be 8 or 10 feet away at the time. The hand was huge with long reddish brown hair. It was clear that it was a hand and NOT a paw. I stood there in total shock.When I managed to run, I ran for my life. It did not chase me or anything, but I saw all that I wanted to see of it. The hand was scary enough, I probably would have died of fright had I seen the rest of it. I got back into camp which was not far away, but far enough for my napping cousin and uncle not to hear anything. I never screamed or made a sound, I just ran and sat as close to that camper as I could. I realized when I sat down in the fine dirt that I had wet my shorts.I was 7 years old and I had never done that before! I kept my mouth shut until my Mother and my other uncles and aunts (That were from Oregon) got back from antelope/elk sightseeing. I told them everything and they told me that it had to have been a bear. I described the color of the hair and I was told that it must have been black hair that I had seen, because this area only had black bears. I wasn't stupid. I knew the difference between a hand and a paw and the difference between reddish brown and black. I managed to let them convince me that it must have been a bear and we left and came back to our home state of Mississippi. A few years later I was in 6th grade. We had a library period and we could look for and check out books. I found a book with a black cover and if I am not mistaken, the title was "Bigfoot". I hurried to check this book out and read it from cover to cover. It wasn't until that moment that I figured out that the animal that I had seen those years earlier had a name. I had never been so excited in my life! Ever since, I have been interested in all sightings, shows, books, etc. of the Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti/Skunkape. I have thought about telling my story for years, but I, like everyone else, have been afraid of the teasing and skeptisism of others. My family says "We believe that YOU believe what you saw." I will believe it until the day I die. I am 29 now and I hope that the mystery will be solved in my lifetime. My husband and my son believe me more than my Mom, Dad, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I am very genuine and honest and I would never lie about something like that. I don't know why I was one of the chosen people to have had the opportunity to see even just a tiny part of this mysterious creature. I figured I'd just ask God when I get to heaven.