Bigfoot Sightings

Report Received From: The GCBRO Online Report Submission Form.

Report Posted To GCBRO Web Site On: October 1, 2006

OBSERVED: At the time, I was dating the "pastor's daughter", and her dad preached within the then new at the time, XXXXXXX XXXXXXX, UT. XXXXX Chapel. This was a very spiritual, thought-provoking, and welcoming group of Christians I ever had the pleasure of spending time on a deep level. This was a very hip and contemporary organization that focused a lot on youth, with get-togethers and such, and Christian rock during sermons to get potential new, and troubled, teens in the door. So, although it wasn't very "churchy" and overbearing, nevertheless, these people were very spiritual and would not make light of anything in life. And I could see that a lot of the kids of parishioners reflected a good upbringing. These were people you could trust, non-LDS precluding any judgmental tendencies by anyone upon any other person. And for their teens to reflect this behavior in the late '80's, heyday of metal, was saying something. So, you have youth oriented church get-togethers and trustworthy young adults, which is important. My girlfriend's dad, the pastor, wanted to do a big all out camping trip before the snows set in. Not sure how this location was decided, because to this day, despite a lot of development spurred on by the Olympics being in Park City and spilling over into rural areas, the area is still remote and difficult to get to in perfect weather. More so 18 years ago. The main road is only graded, and this runs from some 21 miles, then to get up to XXXXX Hollow and XXXXX Creek, it's a hit or miss FS road, and anybody who has spent enough time deep in the bush knows just what kind of vehicle it takes to traverse some of these side-splitters. We were out in the boonies. Despite it being Labor Day Weekend, there were no other campers within a 10 square mile area until the next day. This is the setting that myself, and three sons of one of the parishioners, were the point men to set up camp to be ready for the arrival of everyone else. Being a Friday, the adult population of church-goers was very successful and very white collar, and you just didn't take a Friday completely off prior to a Monday holiday, unlike now. Anyhow, after setting up a company worth of tents and cots, me and the brothers did some exploring; more FS switch backs that went God knows where. But me being 19, and these guys being a shade younger at 15, 16, 17, we had no fear. Clear cutting had taken place within certain areas so there was good visibility in spots. We got the little Datsun p.u. up and over and down in the adjacent dale/gulley was a sizable herd of elk. These guys being hunters with their dad every season since they were yea high wanted to sit tight and scope it out - doing some prospecting I guess. Not a hunter myself but I do go packing some hellacious other gear when I have gone off alone or with others but in very isolated areas. mostly in planning for running into any potential whackos out there. Never felt funny in the woods amongst nature in and of itself. So we're chilling at about 9200 feet elevation with a topside view of about 500 yards. They never knew we were there, There were several hundred individuals which is rather large for such high, rugged terrain, criss crossed with ridges and valleys. The whole area is just the gateway to even more, known as the High Uintas. The tallest mountain in the state is within this immense area, as well as one of only 2 believe "primitive areas" in the country. Makes wilderness designees look like Club Med. Anyhow, it's a given they didn't see us, because they went about their business, and hooved mammals in the Rockies have an innate fear of humans. Just the sight will scatter them. And that's what they did suddenly, for no apparent reason, just bolted out of the area. We were downwind on a E by SE angle and they took off almost due North. The clearcut area had a lot of viewing area but on all sides it sent from lots of free standing lumber to thick canopy. This was before those damn bark beetles made headway in many states in the West, so we're talking about a thick, lush, old-growth, coniferous forest of Doug-Fir, Blue-Spruce, and Limber Pine. Not a deciduous tree to be found. So we all found that kind of odd because we didn't make a sound almost the instant we saw the heard as this FS road was descending from the switchback. Something else spooked them. We played it cautious for a bit, scanning around for any signs - plenty of black bear up there and it's not unheard of for grizzlies either, plus timber wolf. 10 minutes passes and nothing. We drive down to the terminus of the road and begin collecting all this great firewood; big 'ol dead trunks 4' high by 5' dia. This was the mother lode for finding bonfire fuel. We didn't do any like track studying or probing the perimeter of the dale. Back to camp we went with 1,000 pounds of wood. To make a long story short we had to break our first camp and re-assemble further down by a small lake and since this was a lot of work just one time around, we weren't very far to completion once others starting arriving, including first on the scene: my girlfriend's dad; her and her sister to. He wasn't too happy, but as others kept arriving in short order, we all pulled together and double-timed it and so by about 5:30, the bare minimum had been done. The brothers, having followed my bad leadership, had worked hard but had also kind of had it by then - can't blame 'em. So they tell everyone they're going to go do some exploring; be back before sundown. I remember this clearly that right then and there I was having a gut chuck due to worry for their behalf because there were no established trails. They weren't worried, as they used a dry-at-the-time tributary into the lake, creek-bed, as their trail. This was no walk out on the Embarcadero in San Fran, no sir. To this day, that is some of the densest conifer stands I have ever seen. Two hours go by, sun starts dipping, and camp is functioning and all is forgiven when the three brothers come bolting into camp, and not altogether. The third one was little ticked and felt like his twin and their older brother weren't making sure he was keeping up with them. So it was like every man for himself, one. Two, they all were very flushed in the face indicating they had been almost sprinting for some distance.- you can't fake this kind of out of breathlessness. Three, there was a genuine look of stark terror on all their faces as they joined up with us. They were really shook-up, and couldn't even talk for like 2 minutes, which further fed the curiosity because everyone can see their reaction and is asking over and over what's wrong. My girlfriend's sister immediately started laughing, thinking they were up to a true to their form, practical joke, trying to put a scare in everyone, and she just didn't believe them. They were known as goof-offs some time, but got good grades and never got into trouble but it was true, the twins were rabid practical jokers, without ever taking it too far. Their dad, was an active drill sergeant, XXXXXXX was his first name, a one tough, epitome of a Marine sergeant. You didn't want to mess with this guy and he was in his late 40's. It was he who took them hunting every year for years, so his sons were pretty experienced in the woods, and knew when to tow the line around him. They were speechless. The twins went in our tent right away and just didn't come out. The oldest, XXXXX I think, swore up and down to me that they saw something that freaked them out that wasn't a bear..

They had gone a good 4 miles up the lee side of the ridgline hemming in the lake, and told me they had reached the apex when down on the other side was this "thing" making its way to the apex. On a westward facing slope, they got a good luck at it, but of course at their age, they were not going to stick around beyond that point. XXXXX did say he thought it saw them, because it made more of an attempt to use the trees but the pit in my stomach moment came when he said that it didn't change direction to avoid them, but took like, these wide, sweeping switchback patterns to their 3 o'clock low and mid. They said they were all watching it, sticking together thinking it was a bear and then they lost sight of it. So they're discussing they should probably high-tale it out of there when they heard brush crashing and short, heavy grunted breathing. So as they're backtracking their way, XXXXX tells me he saw it look out from its location, which was now their 4 o'clock level. It had traversed a pretty steep slope in about a minute. Enough distance made up that when they first saw it, they thought it was a black bear but then XXXXX said at this point, there was no way this was a black bear and apparently he and one of the twins both saw it, while the first twin had his back turned retracing their steps and they all just freaked out, so I'm told. So it was the twin who never saw the up close view, about 50 - 75 yards, who got left behind, with only this rocky and steep creek bed as their trail back. They never contended it chased them or embellished in a way that would make you suspect but they did claim it followed them as they could hear it, beyond the tree line above the natural ravine of the creek bed in failing daylight. Which was when they all decided to sprint back rather than trying to pay attention to its movements..

Activities of Witness: Hiking alone, on no marked trail, either game or backcountry, downwind and on the lee side of the peak in low light. And there were three of them, trustworthy, honorable young men. Most of the teenage girls/pals with us on this trip totally thought they had made this grand scheme up, to which they got really annoyed at some people and hid out in the tent. Finally, around ten, they hadn't been to the fire, they hadn't been socializing with the cuties as usual, I go in our tent, and say and I'm paraphrasing at best here: "Okay guys, you've carried this act on long enough. You made a good sell but it's time to just come clean." To which they responded in unison "We're not making it up!" And I told them that if they were playing around, to just come clean to avoid giving others nightmares as there some 12-13 year-olds on this trip. It had gone too far; they'd been in the tent all night, hand't even really talked to their dad by this point which was really not them.

Other Notes: Later that night, my girlfriend and her sister and some of their friends want to go for a "romantic moonlit lakeshore walk". Here's the kicker. The twins had been competing against each other all year for my girlfriend's little sister's attention. She actually asked them if they wanted to come with us. Adamantly, they said "no". This was going to be a rare moment without parents and yet they passed. So I take these 4-5 beauties to the other side of the lake opposite camp, about 300 yards. away which wasn't too brilliant given that our flashlight was low, and then gave out; we weren't dressed in the best shoes; and brought no first aid kit. The women wanted to keep going but where the canopy came down a steep pitch right to the water's edge, I got this really creepy and eerie feeling. It was palpable - I'm pretty sure we were being watched. I insisted they turn around post-haste and return with me. Three separate incidents, 1 day, they point to something not yet fully known.

Other (Informational or Encounter History in the General Area) Notes: A few, as discussed on this sight, all the counties listed, as well as other sites, parallel each other. Wasatch, Duchesne, Summit,, Utah, and Juab Counties have long tracts of land punctuated by 13,000+ peaks.

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