YEAR: 1998

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 25

PROVINCE: Manitoba

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: Near Easterville, on Cedar Lake (100°43'00"W, 53°14'30"N)

OBSERVED: Hello,

My name is Philip Squire. This past summer my friend Mike Neale and I planned and executed an expedition to northern Manitoba, Canada. We planned on hiking into a remote site on Cedar Lake, Manitoba (100°43'00"W, 53°14'30" N). We planned our expedition to the area because there is an amber deposit located on Cedar Lake that is 75 million years old, and we wanted to collect dinosaur age amber. Well, I have never believed in sasquash stories, I just always figured it must have been hoaxes or just some scientific reason to explain it. I work in a research lab and I feel I have a calm and scientific method to my reasoning process, well, here is our story: On July 24th,1998 we started hiking in to Cedar Lake from the highway. The hike was very difficult, it is a spruce forest growing in a northern swamp forest environment. the Trail was a thick moss that was wet due to it being floating on a swamp underneath. We hiked in for 4½ hours until we reach the lake. The trail was very dangerous, I fell through the moss and was unable to free myself without help. When we reached the lake we discovered that there were no sites to set up a camp. The lake was created in the 1960's, Manitoba hydro flooded the forest to create a hydro dam. All the trees from the forest have washed up into piles along the shore as driftwood. The water level in the lake was at its highest level for the dams licence (data supplied from manitoba hydro = 841.59 ft above sealevel). Behind the piles of driftwood, often several feet high, was a swamp of dritwood and standing water. We searched for over an hour for a small tent sized site to just set our tent up. The area is completely remote. There is a small reserve village at the end of Cedar lake called Easterville, but no other habitations for 100's of miles. The next morning we go up early to hike to the site to look for amber, we found that you could not walk on a shore or beach because the water was right up to the piles of logs, twigs, lumber, trunks, and sticks. And behind the piles of wood the swamp was impossible to transverse. We ended up walking in the water to our waist for several hours. When ever the shore wood piles became smaller or passable we would walk on the shore for the few minutes that we could at a time. On such beach had a large sandy area and then a muddy area going off into the swamp. My friend mike called me ahead to where he was walking, and pointed out a strange thing in the sand. It was HUGE HUMAN-LIKE foot prints. They where fresh and HUGE!!! They where long, maybe 14-15" long, but more narrow then you would expect for such a long foot print. We were shaken and a bit nervous. We looked around and then started to look around off into the distance. The tracks lead off towards west, and deep into the swamp. The strid of the foot prints was that of a fast running person, and the depression suggested something much heavier then a human. We had a video camera and took a quick shot of the foot prints and the swampy area. The foot prints I can not explain, I'm a scientist and this really didnt click until we got home. There was no trace of any people around, and the prints were Human-like, but not HUMAN!!!!! I never really talked much about what we saw for the reason that I cant prove or explain what I saw, and didnt want to be called a crack pot, but I figured I should share my experiences, in the hope that it will help explain what we saw.

Thanks,

OTHER WITNESSES: hiking along the lake

ENVIRONMENT: Spruce swamp, northern wetlands, beside the lake