YEAR: 2018

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 15

PROVINCE: Alberta

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: Straight down from “the gap” in the meadows of the Indian Ridge hike. Once at the bottom of the scramble, wall slightly northeast. Right before a very small creek that runs from the top (snow melt I assume)

NEAREST TOWN: Jasper

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 93

OBSERVED: I was hiking in Jasper National Park in Indian Ridge. I walked to the edge of the ridge and proceeded to descend down by “the gap”, an opening in the ridge wall. Very few people take the path I did.

As I reached they bottom of the scramble, I was in the beginning of the meadows. Again, since I was not on a marked trail, there was no path to follow. So I began walking across the meadows towards the other side, and upon the trail I was once on. A couple minutes into my walk I came upon what I believe is a footprint. A large footprint at that. The largest animal in that area is a grizzly bear. And the print does not resemble there’s, for shape or size. I continued walking along and about 30 minutes or so later I stumbled upon what looks like a partial imprint of the same footprint. About the same size in length at least.

I crossed the meadows completely and took a panoramic photo of the beautiful hike I just did. And while I was showing my boyfriend a rough area about where I saw the print, he noticed a black spot at the bottom of the ridge/scramble. It looks like it could be some cave. It just seems a bit odd of a spot though. As the jasper tramway is a popular tourist spot. Although not very many make it to the Indian ridge hike area, which begins further down the same mountain that it is on.

ALSO NOTICED: Roughly same size marking further down ( partial, but still the same length) and noticed in two separate photos what looks to be opening to small cave

OTHER WITNESSES: No one

OTHER STORIES: None

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 1:48 pm. Sunny sky. Few clouds. 22-25 degree weather.

ENVIRONMENT: Bottom of mountain ridge. Beginning of the meadows

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cori Bowhay:

I spoke with the witness via phone to learn more about the report. She had taken the Jasper SkyTram and hiked to the adjoining Indian Ridge. From there she descended the ridge via “The Gap”- a steep scramble into the meadow below. This is a infrequently taken path and most hikers continue further along the ridge to an easier decent. Verified via google search.The area is all above treeline and the elevation is approx 2500m. While crossing the high mountain meadow she came across a very large track in the grass. She explained that right away she knew it was much too large to be a grizzly bear. The track was not recent, it seems to me that it was least a week old if not more based on the dryness of the mud. As she was hiking alone this frightened her to think something so large could also be in the area. She continued further through the valley and came across a second partial impression of similar size. After initial analysis the second track appears more likely to be a double stepping bear print but it is ambiguous. It is a good example of a potential bear track as they are commonly mistaken for sasquatch tracks.

I asked the witness to send me measurements of her hand (used for scale in the photos) and calculated the approximate size of the first full track to be 15 inches long and 6.5 inches wide. She had told me she estimated the track to be 15-18 inches long so this matched the witness's initial guess. The track photo is interesting as there are five clearly defined toes in a wide spread. The heel is quite deep into the now dry ground (was once muddy) and shows evidence of slippage. Which could also explain the widely spread toes. Many other suspected sasquatch tracks show the same features.

It’s hard to tell from the photos exactly what may have left them but the witness was credible and the location remote enough that it is unlikely someone left it as a hoax in hopes it would be discovered. This witness is an avid outdoors woman and has just returned from a 5 day solo backpacking trip near Nordegg (didn't see any bigfoots, darn!). She also noticed a possible cave entrance on the mountainside in one of her photos from the day of the track find.

The forests of Jasper National Park have a long, rich history of sasquatch encounters; And remain a active area in Alberta.

About BFRO Investigator Cori Bowhay:

Cori has been researching sasquatch since 2011 when she decided she wanted to know what was out in the forests. Since then Cori has attended BFRO Expeditions across western North America including BC, Alberta and Washington State. Additionally she has spent many hours in the field doing her own research across Alberta. Her main interest in bigfoot research is tracks and track casting. Cori loves spending time outside and believes a bad day bigfooting is still a good day in the woods ⛰ ✌🏼