YEAR: 1996

SEASON: Fall

STATE: Colorado

COUNTY: Routt County

LOCATION DETAILS: 1.) Routt National Forest, Routt County Colo. just off Hwy 40 My girlfriend and I were snowshoeing about 3 miles off the road. 2.) Emerald Mountain, Steamboat Springs, Colo. I was riding my mountain bike, near the summit.

OBSERVED: 1.) October 1996 after the second or third snow of the season. 2.) July 1997.

1.) Huge footprints with a couple inches of snow over them. But the stride was masive and could not be duplicated by myself, and was not elk or dear tracks.

2.) Loud crashing noise as if someone was mad at my presence. Sounding like something had broke a large branch in half. And then when I turned in the direction of the noise there was silence. As if some thing was now hiding. An animal such as an elk would be on the move. But what ever had made the noise was now, what seemed to be, hiding from my sight.
It seems like there would be more in this area because of the size of the surrounding forest lands. I would love to hear more from this area.

OTHER WITNESSES: 1.) Snowshoeing on a 5 mile loop, near Rabbit Ears Pass.

2.) Out on a mountain bike ride by myself.

ENVIRONMENT: 1.) Tracks ran across our path from on ridge, across the valley and up the other ridge. We ignored the tracks and did not follow them.

2.) The summit of Emerald mountain is very steap, and in the direction that the noise came from there was not much coverage left. I could see the summit through the trees. What ever it eas would have had to hide from my sight.