YEAR: 1990

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: 3rd

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: King County

LOCATION DETAILS: Travel east on SE Middle Fork Road where it turns into NFD 5060 Road then heads east into the Middle Fork Canyon. The logging road where the sighting took place, was off the NFD 5060 Road.

NEAREST TOWN: North Bend, Washington

NEAREST ROAD: SE Middle Fork Road / NFD 5060 Road

OBSERVED: I was driving a truck while hauling a dozer on a trailer. My task was to deliver the dozer to a logging site. It was early morning and I'd driven east out of North Bend, WA along the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River on SE Middle Fork Road which turns into NFD 5060 Road east of Mt. Si. I then took a logging road on my way to the drop off site.

As I drove down the logging road, up ahead along the side of the road I saw two tall people walking in the direction I was heading. My first reaction was that they were really tall and must be basketball players. As I got closer, it looked like they were wearing dark colored full body wetsuits with hoods. I tried to make sense of what I was seeing and thought maybe they were bow hunters wearing a special suit. As I drove closer I could see that they both had unusually long arms and that one had a more female shape and stood about 7 feet tall compared to the other which had a male shape and stood about 8 feet tall.

The subjects then reacted to my approach by stopping and turning around toward me and stood in the middle of the road in a slightly crouched position. They seemed agitated and with their feet stationary they turned and looked at both sides of the road by rotated their upper bodies at the waste back and forth, back and forth while swinging their arms at their sides. When they did this, they looked very ape like.

As I closed to about 35-40 yards away, the female jumped and ran off the left side of the road toward the river and disappeared into the brush. The male stayed in the road a little longer shuffling to the left side of the road. Finally, as I got even closer, in one step from the edge of the road he jumped a distance of around 20 feet and easily cleared what I now could see was a thicket of thorny blackberry vines at least 8 feet tall, and he was gone.

They were both dark brown in color from head to toe. Their faces were dark brown also. I didn't really notice if they had fur or hair. Perhaps the fur or hair was wet and matted down from the rain. I didn't notice any odor or sounds.

I continued to the drop off site 1-2 miles further down the road and began to unload the dozer. Another driver who was less than a minute or so behind me on the same road arrived. After unloading and somewhat composing myself, I asked the other driver if he'd seen anything strange along the logging road on his way in. He said he had not. I then left the drop off site and stopped at the encounter location. I looked around but did not find any large tracks in the thin layer of snow along the side of the road. There was no snow on the dirt/gravel logging road itself. I didn't want to battle the blackberry vines to follow the creatures' escape route into the forest, so I took off.

The only explanation I have for what I saw is that the creatures must have been sasquatches. Because no human could be that big and jump like that and I know they weren't bears.

ALSO NOTICED: None.

OTHER WITNESSES: No other witnesses.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Morning, around 8 a.m.

ENVIRONMENT: Weather was cold with a snow / rain mix. Environment was evergreen forest along Middle Fork of Snoqualmie River.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Dave Illig:

I spoke with the witness (Abe) at length over the phone. Although the encounter took place many years ago, Abe recalls clearly what took place and how he perceived the creatures reacted during their encounter with him.

Upon first seeing the creatures, both had just entered the road he was traveling on at the apex of a turn to his right. Beyond this point, about a quarter mile or so, was a construction crew conducting needed road repairs due to recent storms. Although these creatures weren’t able to make visual contact with the road crew, they acted as though they needed to be aware of their presence as well as Abe’s approaching vehicle. This seemed to cause them great concern for their safety since they both kept turning their bodies both ways in an effort to see in both directions. This is when Abe noticed their exaggerated movements and how their upper body almost needed to face the direction they wanted to see. Each time the creatures were facing away from him, Abe noticed how the upper body and head appeared to resemble that of a grayish black gorilla. During the whole time Abe kept trying to discern some resemblance of clothing, to no avail. It wasn’t long before the shorter one moved closer to the left shoulder of the road and then leaped out of sight! The larger of the two hesitated as though to “play safety” for the other, not knowing what was about to happen with the oncoming vehicle. By now Abe was close enough to verify that once the remaining creature had started moving in a deliberate manner to leave the road. He then saw it leap into the brush and noticed how they needed no forward momentum but could leap from a mere stand-still. Abe Later investigated the area and determined that the creature had to have leaped a distance of around twenty feet and at a height of about 5’-6’ off the ground.

I questioned Abe on how he had decided one was male and the other female. Abe answered, "the animal seemed to act submissive". I asked which one and he said, "the one slightly behind the other". He went on saying how it had a more female shaped body, slightly wider at the hips and a little shorter. The male, the one in front, seemed to be more in charge... more assertive.... He said that his suspicion was reinforced by how the larger one in front delayed it's "leap to safety" and paused long enough to stop anyone or anything (the vehicle) from following them. I found that to be the most interesting aspect of this sighting.

About BFRO Investigator Dave Illig:

• Dave Illig is a Project Manager for a major aerospace corporation.
• He has attended several BFRO and private expeditions in the US and Canada.
• Is an avid outdoorsman, who is skilled in all-weather camping.
• He is also certified in Swift Water Rescue Operations.
• Target research area: Western Cascades

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