YEAR: late 60s

SEASON: Summer

STATE: Colorado

COUNTY: Summit County

LOCATION DETAILS: Provided in story.

NEAREST TOWN: Dillon

NEAREST ROAD: HWY 9

OBSERVED: This story is a story that my mom told me. She says it happened when she was young, back in the late 60s, maybe early 70s, I would guess. I will confirm this with her.

My family used to have a cabin near and North of Dillon, Colorado off of Highway 9. There is a "Blue River Campground" there. The private road we would take to the cabin is directly across Hwy 9 from the entrance to this campground. My uncle and aunt, 20 years older than my mom, bought this cabin back in the 60s, they had it until around 1990, when I was 10, so I have been to the locations described in this report. My mom was in her teens when this happened. I am not, however, familiar with how the land is currently being used, as I have not been there since the cabin was sold. I doubt the cabin is even there anymore, it did not have electric or water service. Only a Propane stove with about a 60 gallon propane drum and an outhouse. Rural extremist-cabins have taken hold in the area surrounding Dillon, CO since the early 90s and many large-scale cabins have been erected in that area, so I don't know if that area is still private or not.

This road led into a privately owned cattle ranch, there was a gate we needed to open & close as we went through, so traffic and any other people were very infrequent when I was a kid. It was probably even more so at the time of the incident my mother has told me about.

Once at the cabin, you could head up an old logging-road turned to trail, up the mountain kind of following the runoff creek & find a beaver dam/pond about 3/4 to 1 mile up the trail. We would fish here & catch many little rainbow trout. Farther up the trail/mountain was another beaver pond, I would guess maybe an additional 1/2-1 mile up the trail.

When I was 10 and under, I would often walk and explore these woods alone. I always thought this story my mom told me was just to scare me into staying close to the cabin. I would often wander But, now, we no longer own the cabin and I am 26; she claims this story was always true.

The technical owners of this cabin, my aunt and uncle had a son, my cousin, that was very close to my mom's age. They would spend a lot of time at the cabin in his and my mom's younger years with the family. My cousin had a small dirt bike, that he and my mom would ride tandem on through the forest there.

She said when they were young, they had taken a ride up the trail together on the dirt bike, my cousin driving and my mom riding on the seat behind him. She said it was a tight fit, and she would almost fall off. They passed the first beaver pond and continued up the trail to the 2nd. When you approach the 2nd beaver pond, the trail rises up this hill and the beaver pond is located kind of on a plateau of land. So, you come up over the burm from the trail and reach the plateau where you can see the entire beaver pond, it was only about 50-75 feet across, and the edge of the pond was surrounded by a fairly good amount of open land, when I would go there, I remember about 10-30 feet of grass between the pond and the trees. It seems the beavers built the pond in what was a creek going through a meadow and it filled up most of the meadow.

She said as they approached the burm leading up to the plateau, my cousin saw it first. He whipped the dirt bike around to head back down the hill, saying some explitives about what he just saw. My mom, being in the back did not see it until the bike spun around and she slid off the back onto her feet. There was a large, very large, white creature squatting down on the edge of the pond, with its knees on either side of its body, reaching down into the water. It was covered in 5-7" white furr. Its body was bulky and muscular. Obviously not a bear, as only black bears and the rare grizzly bear are located in this area. There are no creatures covered fully in white furr. My family, being a "redneck-type" of family, are full of hunters, campers and hikers. We all know what a white-tailed deer, Elk, Bears, Mountain Lion, Porkupine, Bobcats, etc...look like. She said this thing must have weighed at least 700-800 lbs. Because it was squatting down, height could not be estimated accurately.

By the time my mom saw it, my cousin was already beginning to go as quickly as he could back down the trail. She took a quick couple of seconds glance at this creature. I need to verify if she noticed it react in any way and how far away from it they were when they saw it. They headed quickly down the trail terrified as she tried to stay on the seat, but mostly slid off and was halfway riding and running behind the dirt bike trying to keep up.

As a kid, I was told many stories of these mostly aspen covered woods. Most were just campfire tales to scare us, but this one was for real. Even 20-30 years later as I was a boy exploring those woods...after I heard this story, I never went farther than the first beaver pond because I was always creeped out because of this tale. From time to time, I remember feeling like something was watching me. Not always, but sometimes. Thinking back on it now, I think I must have been crazy to wander around those woods alone being under 10 years old. I read this site and the reports in the 60's & 70's in Colorado. I saw other posts of reports of a creature with white fur. This prompted me to post this story my mom told me. Perhaps it was still in those woods when I was a boy, or perhaps its relatives or offspring. Perhaps one of these things are what I felt watching me from time to time.

ALSO NOTICED: As a boy, wandering around these woods, I occasionally felt as though I was being watched, but I never saw anything. I did HEAR things once in a while that I wasn't sure of the origin, but didn't pay much attention to it.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2, heading toward the location of the sighting on a dirt bike

OTHER STORIES: I have only read similar sightings on this site. Those prompted me to post this sighting.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: This would have been either in the morning, or during the day, but it was in full light.

ENVIRONMENT: dry mountainous beaver pond surrounded in a dense aspen tree forest with occasional patches of pine trees

Follow-up investigation report:

I first discussed this report with the submitter who emphasized how adamant his mother was in consistently describing her observations many times over the years despite the occasional disbelief of others. He then obtained permission from her to discuss the incident with me as well. Her version of events was mostly consistent with the account submitted by her son but she was able to provide a few more details in her observations.

The sighting took place in the early 1970s when the witness was about 15 or 16 years old.

Access into the area is along Rock Creek, but the more precise location appears likely to be the valley and drainage just to the north along Pebble Creek and just off to the west of Forest Road 1351. The sighting was at the first beaver pond to be reached among the group of several that reach up this valley to the west.

Riding along on the mini-bike with her nephew, who happened to be a few years older than her, they came out of the woods and into a clearing near the pond and suddenly upon this figure in front of them, no more than fifty feet away. She first thought it was a person but immediately dismissed that idea. She described a very clear sighting of this creature squatting pond-side, facing to the left, with its arms and hands between its legs and prominent knees, reaching down into the water. It was evenly covered in "dirty greyish, off-white" hair which was medium-length and not particularly thick. The only exception she saw in this coloring was around the face and eyes which appeared to be dark-colored. She said that the eyes appeared droopy and looked sad and that it had what looked like a beard. It turned to look at them as it stood up and it was at this point that she realized this creature was much larger than even a big man. Her nephew turned the mini-bike around hard and fast and she slipped off the back of it. As she was running to keep up and jump back on, she looked back once and the figure was already out of sight.

She also mentioned if it was possible that this was an older creature, because of the coloring, but also wondered if it may have been somewhat deaf because she was surprised to have even come across it given that the vehicle they were riding was a bit noisy. It seemed to have not been aware of their presence until they came upon it.

Upon returning to the cabin, they excitedly described what they had seen to other family members but were apparently not taken seriously.

Although not certain that it was related, she did recall that, around the same general time period, a nearby rancher was troubled by an unusual number of sheep and goats being killed and gone missing.

Growth and development has had a significant impact on this area, which is not far north of I-70, but occasional reports of sightings and other possibly related observations still continue. This location is on the eastern edge of the Gore Range and the Eagles Nest Wilderness with Vail on the western side.

David Petti