YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 9-20-03

STATE: California

COUNTY: Del Norte County

LOCATION DETAILS: On a hillside, the up side of the hill was on the left side of the road, and the downside was on the right side. On the right side is the side the creature ran down.

NEAREST TOWN: Klamath

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 101

OBSERVED: I was driving home on highway 101, between Orick and Klamath. I have four high powered off road lights on my Jeep, so about 100 yards in front of me, I saw what I thought was a bear on the side of the road. When I got to be about 50 yards, the thing stood up, and my lights made a silhouette of what looked like a human. As I got closer, I could see a rough outline. My jeep has three-inch lifts, and this thing was much taller than my roof, which stands a good 6.5 feet. When I got to be 20 yards from the creature, it took one leap off the side of the road, and into the darkness. That is when the hair stood up on my neck, and I realized I just saw bigfoot.

ALSO NOTICED: I didn't stop, because I was to scared.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just Me!

OTHER STORIES: Yes, I have heard of many sightings in Klamath and Orick, close to Crescent City.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 11-11:30 Night, bright moon, clear.

ENVIRONMENT: Heavy heavy Redwood trees.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

On the evening of September 30, 2003, C.W. and I talked about his encounter with what he called "a bigfoot creature" as he was driving north on Hwy. 101. The location was about fourteen miles north of Orick, Calif. The creature was squatting on the white line that's on the right side of the highway next to the dirt strip that runs between the highway and the foliage. On the right side of the highway there are many large redwood trees and the terrain slopes down into a large valley away from the ocean. That is the direction the creature jumped or leaped.

C.W. was about one hundred yards from his encounter when he first noticed what he thought "a bear squatting in the road." As he moved a little closer he then thought it was a person in a baseball catchers crouch waiting for a pitch and it was possibly facing him. He was only going about thirty miles per hour when he got to within fifty yards of the creature. He states, "that's when it stood up and I then thought it was a very large hairy person." Within twenty yards of it just before it jumped off of the road "I could make out a rough hairy outline of the creature and that's when it took one leap or a large step off to the right side of the highway and disappeared into the darkness. That's when I knew that I had just seen a bigfoot."

C.W. said the bright lights on his off-road light bar were on and he thought the creature was standing there holding its hands over its face trying to shield its eyes from the lights. He said, "I could only see the silhouette of it because it looked black and the background was also very black." I asked C.W. if he could make out any colors on the creature. He thought that it was black but the bright lights could have changed his perception of its color. I asked him how long he observed the creature. He thought the total time of the sighting was about "ten seconds in duration and half of that time the creature was standing."

I asked C.W. how tall it was and if he could estimate its weight. He said " It weighed approximately three to four hundred pounds and the height of it was about nine feet tall because its waist was over the hood of my Jeep. The top of my hood is over four feet from the ground due to the three-inch lifts on the Jeeps suspension." I asked him if he could describe any other parts of its body, arms and/or legs. C.W. stated, "the body seemed proportional to its legs and the legs were built, long and massive." He further stated, "the neck was huge and there was a space between the head and the large shoulders and I noticed well defined muscles on its shoulders. The hands were still covering its face." I asked C.W. if he could smell anything at the time of the encounter and if he ever checked for footprints. "No!" I asked him if he ever told anyone, his parents, friends or any agency. "Yes, I told just my parents and friends but nobody would believe me."

In summary: One of our BFRO investigators from Crescent City, CA. made contact with C.W. shortly after the encounter and they both went to the sighting area but only the investigator checked for footprints. However, as of this date October 6, 2003, no further information about this encounter is available. C.W. said "I never really believed in a bigfoot creature until this late night encounter and I am having a hard time trying to understand why my parents and friends will not believe what happened to me."

Note: please see Report # 6946 because the time and distance factors are interesting. Also, there has been an increase in this creature's activity in this area of Northern California since the biscuit fire in Southern Oregon last year.