YEAR: 1999

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: Sept.14/99

PROVINCE: British Columbia

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: About a quarter mile south of Hwy. 3 (Hope-Princeton), six or seven miles east of Hope, between Berkey Creek and Nicolum Creek signs. A forest access road, now gated and blocked off with rock, leads to a flat area, apparently an abandoned gravel pit. At the back of the flat area, on the west side, is a steep gulley with a rock-strewn slope behind it. The creature was sighted in the bottom of the gulley, then seen climbing the slope.

NEAREST TOWN: Hope, BC

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 3 (Hope-Princeton)

OBSERVED: This happened on September 14, 1999 at approx. 8:45 AM. The location was just off the Hope Princeton Hwy at Nicolum Creek about 6 miles east of Hope, BC. I had entered a small access road to an abandoned gravel pit located about 100 yards from the highway. I was looking for firewood to load into my pickup to take to a campground some distance away. I knew that the road maintenance crews frequently dumped fallen trees and the occasional road-kill deer carcass at this location. After leaving my vehicle, I had walked about a 150 yards along the edge of a steep-sided gulley, when I noticed a large dark reddish-brown animal at the bottom of the gulley about 50 yds away.It seemed to be standing on its hind feet scratching or digging at something in some small bushes. Having its back towards me and its head was obscured by overhanging foliage. Noticed fur seemed to be longer on the back, and that the underside of its paws or hands? were light colored
Having a respect for and heeding warnings about meeting grizzly bears in the wild, I decided to quickly return to my vehicle, At this time the animal must have sensed me as it turned in my direction, was still not able to see head or face because of tree branches. Moving hurriedly toward my truck, I glanced back over my shoulder in time to see the animal climbing up the steep slope of the opposite side of the gulley, on two legs, and seemed to be pulling itself up by grasping the bushes and trees with its forearms..Unlike a bear which has a large head for its size, I had the impression this animal had a small head for its bulk..It moved rapidly up the slope and disappeared into a stand of lodgepole pine at the top edge of the gulley.. I had the impression it moved in a humanoid fashion... Dont to this day know what it was... Closest thing to a Sasquatch i have ever had the privelege or opportunity to see.....Frank Simons, Penticton, BC. fsimons@telus.net

ALSO NOTICED: See description above

OTHER WITNESSES: no witnesses, just self

OTHER STORIES: Have heard of other sightings around southern portions of BC

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 8:45 AM, sun obscured by light morning mist or fog, cool fall morning

ENVIRONMENT: The site is a level area in the bottom of the Nicolum Creek valley between mountains covered with coniferous forest.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator John Green:

Following a telephone conversation with the witness I went to the site, which is as he described it, with some corrections for distances, except that the formerly abandoned pit is now being used to store a huge heap of crushed gravel, and an area starting a few hundred yards to the west has been logged since he was there. I could not identify the bushes where the animal was seen, as they were bare of leaves, and I failed to note the variety of evergreens at the top of the slope, but in that area they would probably be Douglas fir or western hemlock, not lodgepole pine.

In conversation he gave an estimate of 30 seconds for the time he was watching the creature, and noted that there was a lot of hair 'like a roll of fur' at its wrists, and that the hair on its back was shiny but matted, as if wet. It was big and bulky, solid all the way down, with no waist. Its arms seemed longer than its legs. He was not sure if it was grasping bushes as it climbed the slope or just pawing them out of the way, but he could see them parting in front of it.