Geographical Index > United States > Colorado > Summit County > Report # 63153
(Class A)
Submitted by witness on Friday, July 26, 2019.
Daylight sighting by hikers at Mayflower Gulch outside Leadville
(Show Printer-friendly Version)
YEAR: 2019
SEASON: Summer MONTH: July DATE: 25 STATE: Colorado COUNTY: Summit County LOCATION DETAILS: Stop at paved parking lot off Co 91 to enter dirt road up to Mayflower Gulch. Head south up road. At closed cattle gate, walk to right past wooden barrier fence up trail past two switchbacks. Small white rock just below snow cornice/wall is just beyond where biped sought to scale the snow and could not. Descended laterally and moved briskly along very titled hillside. This was very hard for me, Robert and later Helen. NEAREST TOWN: Between Climax Pass and Copper Mtn, Co NEAREST ROAD: Co 91 OBSERVED: On Thursday July 25 my girlfriend and I we hiking in Mayflower Basin south of Co 91. We were up in the basin and Helen had gone ahead to the foot of the basin. I was about 100 yds off the three miner log cabin remnants sitting on a rock enjoying peanuts and water when, looking west, I saw a very large brown biped approach the snow wall / cornice and seek to climb it. The biped was unable to climb up over 20 feet, moved back down laterally to its right, and then down to the ground off the snow. It then walked on two legs very briskly to the right, subsequently out of my view. About 4-5 minutes later a hiker with his dog came walking down the trail. And I later saw this brown biped from time to time walking above the snow cornice southbound. Did not see it again.
Helen returned to me, we discussed, then walked down to the locked gated prohibiting cars into the basin to talk with the hiker. His name was Robbie, his dog, Dallas. We agreed to scale up the trail to where I had seen the brown biped. Helen took longer, but Robbie and I reached the area, found hand prints in the snow in an arch, one print lower with three big fingers and one thumb. Foot prints were not descriptive of toes, arch heel. We took Iphone photos and will share if interested. We then traversed to right, north, on difficult terrain. That is quite slanted where the biped moved quickly and easily. No further sighting. This was now about 2:30 pm when Inhad seen the biped about 1:45 pm. Returned back to dirt road and the parking lot by bushwacking through forest. ALSO NOTICED: Brown biped sought to scale snow wall. Tried only once, then moved laterally to right off snow. Then moved very briskly to north almost running. When Robert and I got there, very had for us to traverse. He is 47 and Gulf War veteran. I and 6 and even with two ski poles for stability, hard to traverse. OTHER WITNESSES: No one to sighting of biped, Robert and I saw hand marks on snow in reaching cicle above foot prints weel above our reaching . I was sitting on rock in basin eating peanuts and drinking water. My vision was tested the day before at eye doctor. 20/10 OTHER STORIES: Google bigfoot in Summit county, Co. two sightings:1998 and 2003. Also article in Summit county Daily News. And multiple aightings in Park County to South and Eagle County to nw have been reported. Back to 1800s. TIME AND CONDITIONS: Sighting 1:45 pm. Travel to snow cornice and investigation of hand prints in snow cornice /wall about 2:30 pm ENVIRONMENT: Area is almost above treeline. Snow cornice/wall is facing e to ese. Clear view from my position approx 100 yds s of 3 old miners log cabins in disrepair but about 600-750’ higher. Clear view and clear weather with high broken clouds
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Scott Miles:
After speaking with the witness on the phone and reviewing the photos that he provided via email, we made plans to meet at the sighting location, Mayflower Gulch, the Summit County site of the Boston Mining company encampment, which was at it’s highest state of activity in the late 1880’s.
On Monday, August 19, I drove to the sighting location with BFRO investigator Scott Walter. We met the witness late morning at the main Mayflower Gulch parking lot on CO 91 about 5 miles south of Copper Mountain and a few miles north of Leadville. We drove the short distance from the parking lot via Forest Service road back to the trailhead of Mayflower Gulch, and hiked less than a mile back into the gulch to the exact location that the witness had his sighting. The sighting location is a high alpine valley dead-ending in a bowl with 12000 ft plus ridges around the south end. We stood at the white rock mentioned by the witness where he was sitting when he saw the large figure about .2 miles away.
Witness standing next to white rock and creature's position on Gold Hill ridge indicated by red arrow. View is to the West.
The witness gave a detailed account of the sighting on July 25, pointing out the exact locations of the creature, the nearby trail and grove of trees from which the other person mentioned in the report was hiking with his dog. The witness’ account at the location was consistent with the written report submitted and the phone conversation I had prior to meeting him at the location. The distance from the witness to the top of the ridge-line where the creature was observed was, in my judgement, short enough to be able to accurately assess the size of the creature compared to other hikers on the trail or on the ridge.
At the time of the sighting there were no other hikers in the area other than the individual mentioned in the witness account. But the area was pretty active when we met with the witness. It was pretty easy to see people at the top of the ridge and at the exact location that the creature was seen. The witness was very confident that the figure he saw was much bigger than a normal person and had a very large frame and consistent dark brown coloring. He stated the individual he observed was approximately 2 feet taller and much stockier than an average human we saw hiking at the top of the ridge, known as Gold Hill.
It was very easy to see how the witness’ account would have played out. The creature was likely flushed from cover in the grove of trees by the approaching hiker and his dog, and attempted to get to the top of the Gold hill ridge-line on the west side of the gulch. Between the top of the ridge-line and the grove of trees, there was, at the time of the sighting, a very large snow drift. The creature attempted to scale the overhanging cornice of snow, but due to the angle and the texture of the snow in mid-summer, it was apparently unable to get purchase, but left clear hand prints and some tracks, photos of which are included below.
Handprints and tracks with ski pole for reference.
Closeup of handprints in snow.
Head on view of snow cornice with handprints.
The creature proceeded north laterally below the ridge-line to a point where it was able to clear the snow bank, and was then seen traveling south again on the Gold Hill ridge-line toward the trail up Mt Fletcher.
After speaking with the witness at length, Scott W and I scaled the west ridge to survey the location where the creature was viewed and the surrounding area, including the ridge-line itself, which leads to the summit of Mt Fletcher, the approximately 12,500 foot peak overseeing Mayflower Gulch. During our survey of the area, we did not find any definitive tracks and we did not see any evidence of deer or elk activity, which I thought unusual. This area is adjoining several other high alpine valleys known to have seasonal elk, deer and mountain goat populations. The area has several high-volume water sources and I would consider the area to be a viable Sasquatch habitat.
Overall, Scott W and I were impressed with the witness’ account and his knowledge of Colorado wilderness, wildlife and the area of the sighting. He is a retired corporate executive with excellent communication and observational skills. He has over 50 years of experience in the Colorado back country as a hunter, hiker and skier. I believe that he saw exactly what he reported and was a witness to a Sasquatch, probably a young individual that accidentally (or naively) got caught in a compromising situation in the daytime in a fairly high-traffic area.
About BFRO Investigator Scott Miles:
Scott is a retired IT professional. He has been involved in Bigfoot research since having a Class A sighting in the early 1980's. With many thousands of hours of wilderness research, he specializes in tracking and survival skills. Having grown up in upstate New York, and spending many years living in the deep South and Colorado Rockies, Scott is a skilled outdoorsman and backpacker, and enjoys mountain biking, hiking and rock climbing.
|