YEAR: 1987

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 5th

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Pierce County

LOCATION DETAILS: I am not willing to give the exact location... but have returned there several times by myself and with a nephew... I return occasionally in July to look for prints along the river, as I believe that it could be a migratory route. I keep the site private to prevent someone from "planting tracks" in case I find some (as where I look is a little remote).

NEAREST TOWN: Ashford

NEAREST ROAD: State Route 706

OBSERVED: While driving home from a July 4th fireworks display near Mt. Rainier, I witnessed a 10 foot bigfoot cross the highway and enter a stand of douglas fir.

I was driving west towards Elbe and eventually home to Eatonville, WA. I saw "someone" crossing the highway about 70 to 100 yards off in the distance, but they were silouhetted by a light source from behind and so could not determine the sex of the "person".

We were driving about 60 mph and quickly closed the distance between the car and the figure crossing the road. At first, I assumed it was a drunk woman who we had picked up wandering out in the dark forested highway the week before (she was drunk and her boyfriend had kicked her out of his truck to walk home in the dark).

As we got closer, the figure stepped off the pavement and onto the grass on the side of the road, lifting one arm to push a douglas fir bough from in front of its face as it entered the trees... at that moment, I recall asking, "Why are they wearing a fur coat in July?" and noticing an ear on the side of the head, in the location and appearance the same as that of a gorilla.

The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood straight up and I locked up the brakes and turned the steering wheel and headlights towards the trees... the car stalled and my wife became hysterical and so I left and returned the next day to look for tracks.

ALSO NOTICED: As the side of the creature's head was illuminated, an ear became visible and the appearance of the head and ear location looked just like a mountain gorilla.

I followed scuff marks (heel marks?) that were five inches across and about 5 feet in span between marks... the soil was too dry to leave deep prints.

I followed the marks for about 50 to 70 yards until they exited the trees and went across a dry mud flat... and down over a steep grassed slope that led down into a very dark stand of timber. The creature left deep heel impressions down the hill and the trees at the bottom were so dark that I became unnerved and went home... I did not know at the time that the Nisqually River was only about 50 more yards from where I stood... I did not come back to take casts of the heel marks in the hill... although now I wish that I did.

I did return the next day with a 12 foot sturgeon fishing rod and found that the tree branch that the bigfoot pushed out of its face was ten feet off the ground... the animal was enormous.

OTHER WITNESSES: 3 others in the car, 1 adult, 2 children (who were asleep). My ex-wife says that she didn't see anything, but became hysterical until I started the car and left.

OTHER STORIES: I've heard of sightings in Eatonville, and Copper Creek area, Graham, Puyallup and Oakville.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: A little after midnight

ENVIRONMENT: The incident occurred several miles west of the West Gate entrance into Mt. Rainier National Park.

The creature walked across the paved highway and entered a stand of Douglas Fir and walked towards the Nisqually River.

Both sides of the highway are forested. I followed scuff marks through a dense layer of fir needles, across a dried mud flat to a steep hill leading down into a dark stand of second growth timber...

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Scott Taylor:

I talked to the witness for about an hour on the phone. He lives in the eastern part of the state, so we were unable to have an in-person interview. However, I am very familiar with the location of the sighting, which I visited. This area is a densely wooded area bridging the Nisqually Valley between the Elbe Hills on the north and Storm King Mountain to the south. This location would be ideal for a sasquatch to be able to cross from one side of the valley to the other with minimal exposure to possible observation by humans. The place where the creature crossed the road is a two-lane highway with very wide grassy shoulders. The distance from the trees on one side to the trees on the other side is approximately 120 feet. The witness was lucky in that the creature crossed the road near two lit street lights, which gave him a good view of the creature. The light enabled him to accurately judge the color of the creature being light brown, which can be difficult at night. The wide shoulder of the road provided more time to get stopped and have the headlights pointing towards the creature, as it vanished into the woods. The witness noticed a particular fir tree limb that the creature brushed aside as it entered the trees, and this provided a good opportunity to go back later and measure the height of the creature, which turned out to be approximately 10 feet. The witness also got a very good look at the side of the creature's head and could clearly see the ear, as stated in his report.

This is the location where the creature crossed the road.



I find this witness and report to be credible in all respects. I believe this witness actually saw a large, male bigfoot creature.

About BFRO Investigator Scott Taylor:

Scott Taylor is a retired aerospace manager. He lives in Mason County, Washington. He had his first bigfoot encounter in October 2005 where he was stalked and later heard vocalizations.

Scott has attended official BFRO Expeditions in the Washington Cascades in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. He also attended 2007 Central Oregon Cascades and 2007 Utah. He now organizes BFRO expeditions in Washington and has participated in bigfoot conferences over the past 17 years.

Scott will be leading a Washington BFRO expedition in 2025 (July 17-20) which is open to non-members. For more details and registration information for that trip click here.

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