Vance Orchard was born in Orin, Washington on December 26, 1917, to Silver Vance and Marian Pearle Foust Orchard. He graduated from Highline High School in Burien, Washington in 1936. After graduating, he worked for several weekly newspapers around the Seattle area until 1951, when he moved to Walla Walla and began working for the local newspaper, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin as a roving reporter. He worked at the newspaper for 32 years until his retirement in 1983, after which he continued to freelance and write the column “Blue Mountain Ramblings” for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletinuntil 1990. He began writing a column for the Waitsburg Times, titled “Touchet Valley Ramblings”, the same year. Orchard eventually expanded on his columns and wrote two books on the region titled Just Rambling Around Blue Mountain Country, published in 1981, and Life On The Dry Side, published in 1984. Orchard was also a prolific and enthusiastic amateur cryptozoologist, and in 1993 and 2001 he wrote two books, Bigfoot of the Blues and The Walla Walla Bigfoot. He was diagnosed with cancer in March of 2006, and died one week later on March 7.