YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 20

STATE: Montana

COUNTY: Missoula County

LOCATION DETAILS: The Waterworks Trail

NEAREST TOWN: Missoula, Montana

NEAREST ROAD: I-90

OBSERVED: My name is ------. I am a small animal veterinarian in western Massachusetts. On July 20, 2012 we were visiting our daughter, -----, in Missoula, Montana. We hiked up Waterworks (a ridge on the other side of I-90) around noon. We stopped to catch our breath and noticed a very large, dark unidentifiable object on the far ridge next to the power line poles. It was unmoving..absolutely stock still for minutes(5-10?). We stood there looking at it wondering what it was. All of a sudden it turned and took several large steps and disappeared over the ridge. We had my iPhone and by the time my daughter pushed the button he had gone over the ridge..we did get a picture of his head/shoulders. I can forward the picture to you.

OTHER WITNESSES: Three:
Me, my husband, and my daughter.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Noon
Bright sunny day

ENVIRONMENT: Ridge
Sparse vegetation
Several trees

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

A mother, father and adult daughter hiked the Waterworks Trail in Missoula on July 20, 2012. It was a warm sunny day (75 degrees.) Their daughter’s large dog was walking with them. It was around noon.

Google earth image of the location:



One person jogged by them, and she was heading back to the parking lot early on in the hike. They got to a more open space and stopped to look. At that time they noticed a large black mass next to an electric pole. They questioned each other as to what it could be, as it didn’t move and didn’t look like anything they could identify. After about 3-5 minutes, the object suddenly moved. It seemed to turn sideways and as it walked away, they noticed arms and legs moving.

The daughter quickly fumbled with her camera, and was able to take a photo of it once it had gone over the ridge line. Later she returned to take a photo for comparison. The photo reveals what could be the head and shoulders of a sasquatch.



Here is a comparison photo without the figure:



The "frozen" stance has been reported many times, and is a behavior that can be typical. A sasquatch will stay very still in the hopes it is not seen. Only moving when it may feel safe. The witnesses claim the sasquatch was standing facing them with arms and legs together as if it was a tree. The shape was different from a tree which alerted them that is was something else.

Seeing a sasquatch in the open during the day is uncommon. The trail is mainly used by joggers in the morning and hikers on the weekends. These hikers were there on a weekday at noon which changed the pattern, and possibly enabled them to surprise the sasquatch in the open.

I spoke to all three witnesses. The mother, who is a veterinarian, knows without a doubt she saw a sasquatch. She admits this is not an animal she studied in medical school. She is an animal specialist, and there is no other explanation as to what she saw.

The father saw something large and dark walk over the ridge. He cannot identify what kind of animal it could have been. He says it was not a man or any mechanical object.

The daughter hikes here often. She has seen cows and horses near that ridge, and what she saw that morning was nothing like them. She is adamant it was not a bear, as it was much too big and bipedal. It was too large to be a man. Like her father, she can tell you what it is not, but she is hesitant to say it is a bigfoot.

This report is less than 7 miles from a report where a bear biologist spotted a sasquatch, see report #36727.

About BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

Re Monteith has had a life-long interest in Bigfoot and has an extensive background in outdoor land and ocean survival as well as mountaineering. She has tran-sailed the Atlantic, backpacked in remote places throughout the world and has climbed three of the seven summits. She studied International Relations at Florida International University, and is a Financial and Real Estate Consultant. She has participated in many private expeditions as well as the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 BFRO North Florida Expeditions and the 2013 BFRO UP Michigan & Alabama Expedition. She also organized Florida's 2017 Town Hall Meeting. She was an Executive Producer of the documentary film, "Skunk Ape Lives" and featured as a Crypto Expert on The Science Channel's television show, Strange Evidence for seasons 2 - 5.