YEAR: 1998

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

DATE: 16

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: King County

LOCATION DETAILS: Bandera Airstrip. 3/4 mile from end of USFS Road off I-90. The site is 100 yards to the east (upriver) from the western end of the airstrip, within sight of I-90.

NEAREST TOWN: Snoqualmie Pass

NEAREST ROAD: FS 9030

OBSERVED: I found two unknown animal footprints, one I stepped on and destroyed, the other an obvious right foot. The print seemed a week or more old.

ALSO NOTICED: The woods we walked through are very creepy, a swamp extends along the airstrip side, and the river on the other. It's mostly dark and dank. I have never seen anything like this around here.

OTHER WITNESSES: We spend a lot of time each summer in this area. Usually we hang out and make sculptures (stack rocks, balance logs etc...). We were up for the first time this year to see if and how much the landscape had changed over winter. I had a camera and took several shots of the print. I am trying to get back there to take a plaster cast and measurements.

ENVIRONMENT: It was along a logjam infested river bar on the south fork of the Snoqualmie River. We had come through a heavily forested area to a spot where a creek meets the river, a gravel bar extends some 500 yards downstream from this point, and is about 150 yards wide. The airstrip is just above this area. there is a line of young alders that parallels the river, with a sandy spot around the upstream end. The prints were coming from the direction of the forest we had just come through and heading toward the river. The forest continued on the other side. We did not cross. There were other animal tracks, mostly deer, and a possible mountain lion track.

A & G References: Pg. 64, A4

Follow-up investigation report:

Problem: Bandera Airstrip is at the same level as I-90. When stating the airstrip is just above this area, this must mean they were west of the field, everything else around there is up. The area being described is an old beaver dam site. I have visited here on numerous occasions. R. Noll