YEAR: 2009

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 08/09/2009

PROVINCE: Alberta

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: The camp site is right on the Forestry Trunk Road. It is called Burnt Timber Rec Area on the map. When you approach the area driving north there is a camp site for tents only on the south side of the bridge and on the north side there is another site for RVs and tents. I was on the RV side.

NEAREST TOWN: Sundre

NEAREST ROAD: Forestry Trunk Road

OBSERVED: On August 9, 2009 I returned to my camp site at Burnt Timber Rec Area and built a fire. It was dark and the time was around 11pm. There was no one else in the campground I was staying at and there was no one at the camp site closest to mine. There are two camp sites separated by the creek. That evening while fishing before returning to my camp site there seemed to be no one else in the area. I had been in the area since the previous Friday and all through the weekend there was traffic and other campers pretty much every where I went. On my return to my camp I didn't see any other vehicles or people for the entire trip back (about 25-30km drive). As I was sitting at the fire around 11pm I heard a "thud". It sounded like someone stomping their foot really hard. It seemed like it came from a few sites down close to the creek. The creek is below the campsites but there is a kind of "corridor" where there are some trails that lead from the sites down and along this "corridor". The corridor is also above the creek but below the camp sites. It was the vicinity of the corridor the thud seemed to come from but like I said a few sites down. I immediately thought a bear or elk or even a moose as the neighbouring camp site the previous night saw a moose just outside the campsite. They mentioned though it made a racket rather than just footsteps. They said it crashed through the bush breaking branches and it wasn't quiet at all and lasted until it moved far enough away to hear. The "thud" I heard was one and one only. I listened intently as I was worried specifically about bears and nothing followed. No branches breaking nothing. I've heard a bear walk through the woods before and they aren't exactly delicate walkers. Out of habit I yelled out to scare any wildlife that may be there but I heard nothing run off. I heard nothing at all except the normal noises of nature at night. I continued by the fire but I couldn't shake the "thud" noise from my mind and started to feel eerie so I slept in the vehicle that night as I was pretty convinced something was nearby. I woke up early as it was a pretty uncomfortable sleep around 6am. I could hear a few cows mooing from a distance. I was debating about having breakfast and out of curiosity I went looking around to see if I could see if anything had been near or if I was just fooling myself. I couldn't see any evidence. I went to the camp site road and was looking up and down the camp site road when I heard an unfamiliar sound. It sounded to me like a screech but not a true screech. It was high pitched but it also resembled a yelling. A friend of mine more familair with sasquatch asked if it was like a woman screaming and that instantly triggered my memory and yes it did sound like a woman screaming. It came from the south (I believe the creek ran north south in that section - I could easily check that if needed). It was a fair distance off but very clear and sharp. I have heard many animals in the wild and it was nothing like I have ever heard. The little interest and knowledge I have about sasquatch and what my friend (who is more familiar) and I have talked about I thought of doing a "whoop" call although I have never heard one done. After the "whoop" call about 5-10 seconds later I heard another scream but this time from the north. This scream was a bit lower pitched and slightly different. When I heard this one the cows in the area immediately went crazy. They began mooing and I could hear them stampeding. It was quite a loud commotion. In fact they were mooing so loud and hard it sounded like a panicked moo. I don't know is that even possible? The stampede was away from the second scream and toward the camp ground. The cows actually ended up wandering around the camp ground. I tried another "whoop" call but nothing.

That's about it. It was a cool experience as I've never heard anything like that and having an interest in sasquatch this experience makes me even more interested. I can't really say it was a sasquatch but it certainly is one of my theories. Oh I guess I should mention the weather. It was nice the entire weekend, even hot. The days were around 24-26°C and evenings down to around 10-12°C. Partly cloudy most mornings, by the afternoon and evening scattered clouds and by nightfall the skies were clear. On that Sunday there was a brief thundershower that rolled through around 4pm. The moon was bright to the point it was casting shadows each night.

ALSO NOTICED: No.

OTHER WITNESSES: It was only me. There seemed to be no one else in the area and I was the only one in the entire camp site. I was waking up to have breakfast.

OTHER STORIES: No.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Morning around 6am. It was around 10-12°C. Clear skies. Moon was bright at night.

ENVIRONMENT: Forested area with heavy brush and trees. Many fallen trees. The site is right along side a creek. Wildlife is abundant and cattle roam freely. Other wildlife spotted was whitetail deer, mule deer,and fox. Other campers noted a moose and bear feces about 2km upstream.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Gary Cronin:

Witness was fly fishing by himself. The area he was in has a long history of sasquatch sightings. The evening that he heard the thud no other campers remained in the campsite. The witness was so rattled that he spent the night in the truck, this is a person that is used to being alone in the woods so something out of the ordinary clearly rattled him. The next morning he went looking for potential signs of an intruder but couldn’t find any; however he did hear a high pitched scream followed by an answering call shortly after. He felt that the initial scream was more female sounding and the return was more male. He estimated the distance between the screams at several hundred yards. Cattle in the area seemed highly agitated by these screams. We have many cattle on the Eastern slopes of the Rockies that are effectively wild ranched meaning they are pretty much left to themselves in large wilderness areas. I have documented quite a bit of potential sasquatch activity around these cattle herds over the last few years. It would be a possible food source as there are always 50-60 calves in these herds and no human protection.

About BFRO Investigator Gary Cronin:

Gary first became interested in sasquatch when he moved from Liverpool England to Calgary Canada in 1975. He soon came upon a book by a John Green and has been fascinated with the topic ever since. He has attended the 2007 Vancouver Island Expedition and the 2008 BC Coastal Expedition. He is in the field scouring the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies for evidence on a weekly basis. Gary was involved in organizing the 2009 and 2010 Alberta expeditions.