YEAR: 1994/95?

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: June

STATE: Colorado

COUNTY: Lake County

LOCATION DETAILS: Sighting occured on an unspecified road east of Leadville in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest. It was a few miles past mining district. Road was not the one to Mosquito Pass.

NEAREST TOWN: Leadville

NEAREST ROAD: I'll have to look at a map

OBSERVED: My husband and I had been camping and were just out in the afternoon for a casual ride to see the scenery. We had travelled only about 7 miles out of the town past some old mines in the area. The road we were on was a slight climb and ahead of us maybe a quarter of a mile ( if even that) was a curve coming up that went to the right. I was driving and had my eyes pretty much on the road itself when my husband began stuttering and finally got out, "Stop. To the right . . . what is that?" We observed a large, black animal on two feet, just like a man, walking through a clearing of pine trees toward the mountain side which was away from any roads. I think we were both in shock when we saw it and didn't really believe what we were seeing. The thing that really sticks out about it was the long arms that hung nearly to the knees but it didn't lumber or swing it's arms like an ape does, although the arms did swing . . . about like a man's walk but I guess the arms were more noticable because they were so long. It also took very huge strides but in no way acted like it was in a hurry. It all happened so fast I can't recall many more details about it, I just know it has always sort of bugged me and I've wanted to see it again. If I had to make a guess at the height I would say 7 feet or a little more. My husband is 6'5. By the time my husband and I snapped out of our daze it was gone and the really frustrating thing about it too, is that we had a camcorder right by our sides and neither of us even thought to grab it! I'm a really bad judge of distance but I would guess it was a little over 100 feet away from us when we saw it.

ALSO NOTICED: After we saw it and it disappeared we drove slowly on up the road and around the curve. There was a car parked on the road and ahead was a man walking down the road toward the car. We stopped and asked him if he had seen anything unusual but he sort of looked at us like we were crazy when my six year old popped up and said, "Did you see big foot? My mom and dad saw bigfoot." With the critical look in his face we dropped the subject and just asked him what was on up the road. As the road was beginning to get fairly muddy from spring run off we turned around at that spot.

OTHER WITNESSES: My husband and myself, a 6 year old child and a 3 year old child. The children didn't see it as it all happened to fast. We observed it for just a few seconds . . . 5 or 6 at the most.

OTHER STORIES: Not specific reports of it, but after it happened we mentioned it to one of our employees who had grown up in Leadville and she just nodded her head and said that there had been a lot of sightings there.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was around 2:00 in the afternoon if I remember right. It was clear and sunny and warm but there was still snow melting and some muddy spots here and there on the road. There were just some patches of snow around where we saw it walking.

ENVIRONMENT: It was very mountainous, not too far below timber line. There were pine trees scattered about where we saw it and it disappeared into a dense growth of them. It was walking from, it looked like, the road above which would have been around the curve we had not yet come to.

A & G References: Colorado Atlas & Gazeteer: Map 47, B7, Map 48, B1

Follow-up investigation report:

Excerpts of interview with witness.

"After all this time, what I saw is still just so vivid. It was not a bear. It was not a person. It was definitely black.It was big and it was hairy. What I remember was the size, the long arms, and the fact that it was taking very large strides."

Witness was struck by the animal's gait.

"He swung the arms like a man, but because his arms were so long, they were swinging a little farther out, like you would do if you were out taking a power walk."

Witness said coat appeared short but dense, and shiny.

Animal was viewed for a maxium of five or six seconds. Initial aspect was a three-quarters frontal view, after which the animal angled into the woods and disappeared into a thicket of trees.

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