YEAR: 2005

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: Idaho

COUNTY: Latah County

LOCATION DETAILS: Moscow Mountain

NEAREST TOWN: Troy

NEAREST ROAD: Route 8

OBSERVED: OCt 27 2005

Hello - quick note from me, a geologist (40), and unfortunately only 2nd party to two witnesses that had an extended sighting in July of this year (lasting ~20 min.) -- quite similar to other sightings I've read on your excellent site.

(Note from Investigator: the witnesses provided a detailed written account. It is included in its entirety in the Investigator Commentary section below.)

The bottom line:
Latah County Idaho, ID
July (I think), this year. Ponderosa fields.
From a promontory, large dark colored, sitting, sometimes turning Sasquatch was observed. It had a lighter colored smaller one with it and it was later deduced that the large one was intermittently nursing the younger one. Then they were seen moving, both across a field, and along a road.

After they left – the witnesses went to the place and observed crushed dry grass, very large stride traces of foot prints in the dry terrain and were surprise by the remarkable scale of vegetation versus the clear views of these bipeds.

The male observer – in his 40s - is a pilot with 20/10 vision, experience as a backcountry bow hunter, and in fact as a young man at a hunting camp (somewhere UT?) was told by one of the elders that the weird howls in the middle of the night were in fact Sasquatch. However, he was very surprised/ intrigued by this long visual encounter. His partner, that clear sunny day, was Female, also 40s, but a city girl with little naturalist experience.

ALSO NOTICED: crushed grass

OTHER WITNESSES: 2 - They were sitting talking on the top of a knoll

OTHER STORIES: Only I have read 2 accounts on your site in the same area - one was very near to another that occured in 1963.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: about 3 in the afternoon
Clear, sunny

ENVIRONMENT: second growth, Pondersosa Pine and open fields / clear cut regeneration

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Nancy L. Jones:

This twenty-minute sighting took place on the densely forested Moscow Mountain in northern Idaho’s Latah County. With a summit reaching 4983 feet, this mountain area is part of the Palouse Range of mountains and is adjacent to the rugged St. Joe National Forest. Numerous water sources on the mountain and lush vegetation provide rich habitat for a variety of species of wildlife. Over 240 different wild species live in the Palouse Range watershed, including elk, moose, mink, bobcat and cougar, with the greatest diversity found in birds. Several varieties of fish also inhabit the streams. Although located close to the university town of Moscow, Idaho, the mountain area has a remote feel to it. The sparse human presence on the mountain, the narrow, winding and rough roads and the one thousand year old ancient cedar grove covering 269 acres lend Moscow Mountain an air of wild seclusion.

Two people, a man and a woman, visiting from a neighboring state, observed the figures on Moscow Mountain sighting. I spoke to one of the witnesses over the phone for about forty-five minutes. He is a corporate pilot, an experienced wildlife observer, former hunter and a single parent.

The witness, J, and his female companion C, had been camping on Moscow Mountain for several days with some friends in late July/early August 2005. The last day, J and C decided to take a four-five hour hike after everyone else in the party had departed. The hike was uneventful until the pair stopped high on the mountain to rest on a rock outcropping. This lookout afforded them vistas of the surrounding terrain. They were just above the remains of an abandoned ski resort, as well as an old clear cut logging area.

The two were standing just below the peak on a rock outcropping. As J gazed at the view to the south/south-east, C stood slightly below. C was facing J as she talked, while J looked beyond her to the area below. After about fifteen minutes of resting in this spot, J’s attention was drawn to a sort of mechanical movement of an old stump in the clear-cut area below.

Noticing his distraction, C interrupted her story to turn and look at the movement J had been observing. As they both watched the dark stump, they could see a small movement every thirty seconds or so. This continued for roughly three minutes on the lower embankment of an old fire road below. This observed stump was off to the south east of the couple, approximately three hundred fifty yards distance and about a five hundred foot elevation drop.

After about ten minutes, the dark stump stood up. At this point they realized they were watching something alive rather than mechanical. It appeared to be a tall dark figure, perhaps a bear on its hind legs they thought. At this same time J and C noticed a small, golden (blonde) figure running around the large standing one. This smaller figure was frolicking about in a manner that made them wonder if it was a cub or perhaps maybe a dog, except that it moved about upright like a small rambunctious child.

Puzzling over what they were viewing, J and C saw the large animal step up towards their position onto the road above the embankment on which it had been first sighted. At this point they could see all of its body and decided that it could not be a bear. The large animal was walking on two legs, was shaped like a large very heavy human covered with dark fur. They could clearly see a head, set almost directly upon wide shoulders, so that shoulders and head formed a triangular shape. Its two arms were clearly not front legs and swung as it walked. They were longer than a human’s, hanging almost to its knees. The witnesses could not figure out what they were seeing.

The large figure then walked about thirty yards away from their position off below the road. It stopped and then came back up about ten yards and started walking sideways still below the road. It would walk and stop bend over and then continue. It appeared to be meandering back to the road while inspecting the ground for something. The plants / grass in this area came up to its waist. As the large figure was thus employed the small blonde figure was bouncing around near its legs with only it’s head and shoulders visible. Although not always as easily visible, the small figure appeared to be shaped like the big one and moved about like the big one only faster.

When the tall dark figure, having made a sort of semi circle below the road reached the fire road again it stood erect and upright for a moment facing the witnesses’ direction. It stood completely still and appeared to be listening and or watching for any movement. J and C remained absolutely still and silent in the shadows of their resting spot. The wind was gently blowing towards J and C from the direction of the figures. The little blonde one then ran up to the big one upon the road and both were in plain sight standing on the fire road. It was then very clear that it was a smaller different colored version of the large one.

As the witnesses tried to make sense of what they were seeing they both thought out loud that it was weird to see a human dressed in a fur suit on the mountain with it’s child similarly dressed. Even as this thought and words emerged the absurdity was obvious. The temperature was near one hundred degrees Fahrenheit and they had not heard or seen any signs of other humans on their remote hike.

After a brief pause, the large figure strided up to the side of a fifteen to twenty foot steep incline cut on the uphill side of the fire road. It then used smooth massive strides to cover this steep vertical distance easily and quickly without ever needing to use its arms for balance. The little one stayed on the road while the big one meandered in and out of the tree line immediately above. After a few minutes the big one easily stepped down from above back to the fire road. Then with the little one in tow, the large figure began walking up the road in the direction of J and C. These figures were in a complete unobstructed clear view walking erect almost directly at the observers.

This is when J and C both gasp in amazement with J saying out loud “Oh my god it’s a Sasqautch”.

C answered out loud, “What is that”? J answered, “A bigfoot”. These figures were now at about a ten-degree angle off to the side below where the witnesses stood. After passing behind a clump of trees blocking them from view for a few seconds, the figures came into clear view again moving closer. As they kept walking they went behind the next clump of trees along the road and then were not seen again.

J and C waited and watched another 15-20 minutes to see if the figures might appear again and they wondered where they might have gone. With still no sight of them the witnesses, feeling uneasy, finally decided to continue their hike. They spent about an hour hiking down into and around the ancient cedar forest on Moscow Mountain. They eventually felt uncomfortable in this environment and decided to leave.

After arriving back at their vehicle where they had camped they discussed whether to drive to the fire road where they had sighted the animals. J figured he could get to the road. So at about 4:30pm they drove to the rock outcropping where they first sighted the two figures. They then were able to drive to the fire road below.

The sun was going behind the mountaintop at this point, and they were partially in and out of the shadows by the time they reached the fire road. J was very nervous and took several minutes to brief C on how to use the Ruger 45 Caliber handgun he now had strapped on his belt.

J and C easily walked to the spot where the large figure had sat. They found disturbed areas of grass and dirt below. C stayed on the road where the adult first stood while J walked off the road below through weeds that were shoulder to head high on him. J is five foot ten inches tall so the weeds were between five and five foot ten inches tall. Given that the large animals waist was visible above the weeds, its height must have been in the eight and a half foot to nine-foot range.

J could follow the large figure’s strides by the impressions in the grass and they ranged from six to eight feet long. Nearby the couple also noticed some burned out logs that had been rolled as if to search for something underneath.

The couple then found the steep cut embankment on the uphill side of the fire road showing disturbed ground as signs that something large had passed up through. The large figure had walked approximately ten feet straight up this incline without breaking stride as it moved from the fire road to the forested area above. J and C climbed with difficulty up the cut embankment to look around. This is where they found a large footprint and a small footprint.

Some carpenter ant hills were in this area next to dead trees. In one of these J found a very large bare footprint clearly outlined in the small area of soft dirt surrounding the anthill. It was roughly human shaped with five toes. Near this J and C also found an indentation of a smaller bare footprint less detailed than the large print. The small print was the same length as men’s size nine or ten shoe but wider. The large footprint was twice as big or more in both length and width.

After a few minutes of searching in the forested area J and C moved back down to the fire road. J and C then walked down the road about ninety yards to where the second clump of trees began, which is where the figures where last seen. In doing so they were surprised to find what a great distance the two observed figures had covered in such a short amount of time. These two figures had obviously been moving more quickly than J and C could, but from above they appeared to be strolling casually. Below this area where the figures were last spotted was a ravine filled with very thick tall vegetation.

It was now around 6:30 pm and J and C were expected back in Moscow for dinner with friends. They decided not to go down into the ravine for further investigation.

Arriving late for dinner J and C were both still shocked at the day’s events. Their dinner companions noticed their behavior and after much coaxing got them to share their unusual story. The Moscow friends upon hearing the details of the sighting said they must have seen two Yetis’. Neither J nor C previously had any interest in “bigfoot” or otherwise.

The couple’s impression of the two figures led them to the conclusion that the pair was likely a parent and juvenile. For approximately ten minutes the little one would run up to the adult who would tickle or wrestle with it briefly then the little one would run off and frolic again. For some moments the little one would appear to suckle or nurse on the big one’s lap. It was hard to tell as the big one’s back was to the observers, hence the tree stump appearance. Due to the distance J and C could not see any clear visible indications of gender for either figure.

Both J and C remain somewhat reluctant to discuss this event with others and only after much coaxing from their friends in Moscow did they agree to write down their observations herein recorded.

About BFRO Investigator Nancy L. Jones:

Nancy L. Jones is an M.B.A., presently doing occasional special projects for her husband's business and being a full-time mom. Formerly she worked as an IT Project Manager for Hewlett-Packard. She attended the 2007 Central Oregon Expedition.