YEAR: 1988

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

STATE: Oregon

COUNTY: Union County

LOCATION DETAILS: This area is located in the north east corner of the state, north of Elgin. These tracks were locate on the south west slop of Lookout Mountain.

NEAREST TOWN: Palmer Junction

NEAREST ROAD: Jubilee Road

OBSERVED: This was on an Elk hunting trip. My friend and I was going to meet one of our party at a point on a road, in the early evening. While walking along the logging road we came up on these huge tracks in the road. They were on the road, and off the road, into the trees then back onto the road, like it was wandering. And also there were more than one size tracks. Some were smaller than the others.. The farther we walked, the more tracks we found. By the time we met our friend, we thought we wouldn't say anything and see what he would say about the tracks. He said, well I didn't see any Elk, but these tracks are all over the place. We headed back to camp and the next day we headed home. There is no doubt in my mind,that these tracks were made by a mighty big creature. The tracks were about 18 inches long and eight inches wide on the big ones and maybe 15 inches on the smaller ones. They had to be very heavy to crush the hard snow, down to the road bed,like it did.

OTHER WITNESSES: Three in our party. We were hunting for Elk.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Late afternoon. clear, still light.

ENVIRONMENT: This was on a logging road, along a creek bottom on the south west slope of Lookout Mountain. It was on a road we had walked the morning before, and the tracks were not there then. There was old hardened snow on the road, about 2 or 3 inches deep, where the tracks were made. Where we stepped in the snow, there was no imprints from our steps, but where these tracks were, the snow was crushed clear down to the gravel below.

Follow-up investigation report:

After speaking with the witness, E.B., for a while I concluded that he is a credible observer. E.B. isn't certain, but believes this incident occurred in 1988. He has a good bit of outdoor experience and is confident the tracks were not made by a man or a bear. Two other people in his hunting party observed the tracks as well. The party also met another hunter who had seen the same tracks. There were tracks of two different sizes. Both had long strides. These tracks were in snow and the toes were readily visible. At the time, these guys were nervous about the situation and decided not to follow the tracks.