YEAR: 1978

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

STATE: California

COUNTY: Alpine County

LOCATION DETAILS: near Bear Valley in the Lake Tahoe area.

OBSERVED: Only a set of tracks leading from a river into a crop of low trees. I did not follow them (being about 10 I was pretty scared). The tracks were large -- approx.18 inches and about 2 inches down in packed snow.

OTHER WITNESSES: We were having a snowball fight. I was running, fell, got up, and saw the tracks. We took pictures that day but not of the tracks...my brother thought they were faked.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Mid-morning. Skies were partly cloudy.

ENVIRONMENT: Besides the river and the trees, the ground was uneven and I came across the tracks about 100 yards from where the car was parked along the road.