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Geographical Index > Canada > British Columbia > Report # 11595
 
 Report # 11595  (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Thursday, May 5, 2005.
Possible daylight sighting by hikers on the Stanley Glacier Trail (BC/Alberta border)

YEAR: 1991

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

PROVINCE: British Columbia

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: http://www.gemtrek.com/favorite_hikes.html

Stanley Glacier trail

NEAREST TOWN: Lake Louise

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 93

OBSERVED: In late May or early June of 1991, 4 friends, my brother and I were hiking the Stanley Glacier Trail along the Alberta/BC border near the town of Lake Louise Alberta. The day was overcast. We were walking single file with approximately 10 to 30 yards between each of us. My roommate was out front, then about 10 yards behind him was my brother, then I was about 20 yards behind him, then my 3 other friends (who are brothers) were behind me, with their dog.

As we were descending the trail, about 2/3 of the way back to where we had parked there was a bit of a commotion up ahead of me, around a slight bend, so I could not see what the commotion was. The small yappy dog went tearing past me towards it, and the brothers behind me chased up ahead past me, trying to call the dog, and keep it in check. I on the other hand, was "playing it cool" thinking 'big deal, there's a big horn sheep, or some hikers in the trees ahead', or whatever - nothing I hadn't seen before, so no sense running ahead in a panic.

It turned out that something had crossed our path, between the lead person, and my brother - coming from the upward slope to our left, going across the path to the right, and then down the slope to our right, and off into the trees. As I caught up to everyone (maybe a second or two behind the 3 brothers that had been behind me) and they were staring into the trees and the dog was yapping, all I saw was a glimpse of "something" crashing through the trees. The dog stayed barking for a few seconds, then took off chasing whatever it was and yapping - during this, I had started to ask my brother what it was, since he was the only one who got a good look, as it crossed in front of him, but behind the lead guy. My brother said some kid ran down from there and jumped across the path. He said it would have been around 6 feet tall and he didn't notice any clothes but it had a lot of long kinda blond hair, really long hair - all down his back, it must have hidden the clothes, all he could see was hair. No clothing.

At this point, the chase with the dog and whatever it was chasing had ceased, and the dog seemed to have "treed" whatever it was about 75 yards away. Then we started to hear the sound of what was definitely a tree creaking as if about to fall - but it would creak, then stop, creak then stop - this happened about 4 times, when we noticed we could see the top of the tree in question moving in time with the creaking - it was a still standing burnt tree further down the slope whose top was visible from our higher vantage point. After the fourth creak/sway, the tree finally crashed down - it was a substantial crash, and seemingly a substantial tree - this freaked the dog's owners out, as the dog went silent after the crash - they started rather frantically calling for the dog, but it took a good 15 seconds before the dog showed up, or made any noise. When we realized that this thing had seemingly pushed over a tree - we thought it best to leave.

My reasons for thinking it was something other than human are as follows:
•The over abundance of hair.
•The lack of clothes.
•The leap across the path would have been difficult to accomplish for a person coming from the awkward spot he came from
•The landing area from the leap was treacherous - my brother thought he leapt across, and landed on a fallen tree trunk (sharp broken off branch stubs, and uneven/sloped footing - not to mention rounded, and narrow)
•The apparent pushing over of a tree would seem to have taken a lot of strength.

ALSO NOTICED: not really... observed an interesting avalanche across the valley a couple hours earlier

OTHER WITNESSES: 1 solid witness, 6 who saw "something"

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: around 3-4 PM
Overcast, but well lit.
Cool - maybe 13 degrees Celsius

ENVIRONMENT: Mountains, predominantly pine forest, but at this comparatively lower elevation,and particular spot there was a lot of deciduous.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Blaine McMillan :

I have communicated with the witness several times. I can clarify the following points from this sighting:

The witness, Tyler Huggins, his brother and some friends were hiking on the Stanley Glacier Trail. It was mid afternoon. The sky was overcast and the temperature was cool.

A bipedal creature crossed their path between the lead person and the second in line and then leapt down an embankment. The witness questioned his brother as to the height. His brother stated that it was around six feet tall and was covered in blonde or light brown hair.

The distance and the type of terrain covered by the creature was described as being unattainable by a person without sustaining severe personal injuries.

The witness did not see but did hear something bipedal crashing down through the bush after it had leapt over the trail. It had continued to bash through the bush with a small dog chasing it. The witness and his party watched as a tree in the vicinity of where this bipedal creature had gone was successfully pushed over.

Shortly after the tree was pushed over the dog returned to the group and the quickly departed the area.

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Note from Matt M.:

I've spoken with Tyler a few times about this incident on the Stanley Glacier Trail. I believe it is an accurate account of what occured, even though the description of the animal is vague.


About BFRO Investigator Blaine McMillan :