YEAR: 1994

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

STATE: Colorado

COUNTY: Conejos County

LOCATION DETAILS: Conejos County, Colorado, on the Lake Fork of the Conejos River, near the San Juan Wilderness

OBSERVED: In the first week of June, 1994, my 2 sons and I were fishing in a beaver pond on the Lake Fork of the Conejos about 1 mile upstream from where the Lake Fork of the Conejos meets with the Conejos River. It was near sunset and the sun had already gone behind the mountains. There was a sparsly forested rise toward the southwest,above the beaver pond we were fishing. Just beyond this rise was the south slope of a ridge of old growth forest. A horrible gravelly scream or yell of almost unbelievable volume came from just inside the forest at about 150 to 200 yards distance. I am an avid bowhunter of 20 years experience with all manner of big game and the sound was definitely not an elk or bear. Elk make some loud and unusual sounds but this sound was vastly different and many times louder. I noticed that a light breeze was blowing from us toward the source of the sound. If the creature had a good sense of smell, it was probably smelling us. Bowhunting experience has taught me that an elk would smell us under the same conditions. The sound had a threatening essence to it. The sound itself was kind of undescribable and seemed louder than a creature could possibly make. Whatever made the two tone scream must have one big set of lungs and a very large, megaphone size, mouth. The sound lasted about 1 or 2 seconds and was repeated three times, with a 10 or 15 second pause between each blast of noise. I was unarmed and decided since I had my sons with me I would give the creature its space. We left. I was somewhat alarmed, but would have gone to the source of the sound if I had not had my sons with me. I did go to the area of the source of the sound the next morning alone at sunrise to see if I could find tracks or other evidence of the source of the sound. I some very old large tracks in soft dirt on a flat area about 1/2 mile uphill. They were about 16" by 8" in size but too old to descern any toes or other detail and could have been bear tracks distorted and enlarged by rains and time. There was a line of about 20 of these large tracks in single file across the bare ground of this bench. Most of the rest of the soil in this area is too rocky to see the tracks of soft footed animals well. The tracks I found were at least a week or two old. I spent all morning looking the area over, hoping to find evidence, but hoping I didn't find the creature itself.

ALSO NOTICED: In 1990, my parents saw a large (7 to 8 foot tall) black, furry creature standing near one of the cabins in the area, as they drove into the Lake Fork Ranch. The creatures head was level with the awning on the porch of the cabin, 8 foot above the ground where it was standing. They at first thought it was a bear standing on its hind legs on the porch, but as they got closer they realized that it was in front of the cabin and on the ground. The creature then ran downhill and across a stream and into the forest out of sight. They were not close enough to it to see any detailed features, only that it was a tall, black, and ran on its hind legs. My father looked for tracks, but because of the rocky nature of the ground he found only one relatively good track near the stream. He said the track was about 17 to 18" long and the toes were distinct and humanlike. The great toe was about as large as the bare heel track of a man. In 1991, my cousin had his large RV almost tipped over in the night, with him in it, as something grabbed the RV, and rocked it violently. He stayed up the rest of the night, with pistol in hand. In the morning a box of apples was missing, box and all. In 1995, through casual conversation with some campers at the near by Lake Fork Campground, that something had rocked another RV, in the night. I submit this report in hopes that other Colorado incidents will come to light. I know there have been other sightings in Colorado. The Colorado Springs newspapers carried an article a few years back.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: At approximately 1:30 in the afternoon

Follow-up investigation report:

UPDATE from Keith Foster (9/23/97) : In 1996 my children and I backpacked to Big Lake and spent 4 uneventful nights in a backpacking tent. Big lake is within 1/2 mile of where the other reportee for Conejos County watched one of the creatures for 5 minutes in the summer of this year 1997. We did not go to the area this year because of lack of vacation time. I know that this group of sasquatches are following the herds of elk in the area and that they are migrating south and east of the Conejos County summer area to lower elevations with the elk herds. They may be catching and eating them as someone reported two of the creatures trying to sneak up on an elk herd just across the border in new mexico in the winter of 93/94 I belieive. Interestingly, these are the same herds of elk that summer in the Lake Fork area of the Conejos. I did find an area where the game animals would not go in the area, in spite of good browse and grazing. The area is, I think, home base in the summer for these creatures.