Big Foot, fact or fiction?

Bigfoot. Perhaps no other animal in cryptozoology brings stronger feelings and debate. Does it exist, and if so, what is it?
I have to admit, the sheer number of sightings and the footprint evidence is interesting, but there are problems. First, there is no North American template for bigfoot. Yeti has gigantopithicus. Orang Pendek has Homo floresienis (aka, the hobit) and orangatangs. The mountain valleys of Asia and the swamps of Sumatra have many species of monkeies and apes that have lived along side humans. North America does not. I would be much more likely to believe that bigfoot exists if fossil evidence could give us proof that it DID exist.
Many bigfoot research organizations believe that bigfoot is an animal that lives throughout most of North America and can be found in every state except Hawaii. I disagree. To have a population big enough to cover that much land mass, you are looking at 10's of thousands of animals. Even by the most conservative estimates, it would require at least 10,000 animals, which is likely too small of a population to be stable over that much land mass. The sheer numbers of animals that would be in existence would have resulted in a dead body being found. Also, all large apes live in tight nit social groups, and bigfoot clearly does not, as a group of 10-20 individuals would unquestionably have been found by now. Even bigfoot research points to bigfoot living as single individuals. There is no known precedence for apes living this way.
Do I believe it is possible for bigfoot to exist somewhere? Yes, I do. I think it is possible, although unlikely, that bigfoot exists in the coastal rainforests in the Pacific northwest. This area is not all that different from known habitats of other non-human great apes and the dense vegetation could hide a small population of animals.
For you bigfoot believes who take exception, PROVE IT. I will gladly eat crow.