YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: 6/21/03

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Snohomish County

NEAREST TOWN: Index WA.

OBSERVED: A college friend and I where camping just out of Index. We got up on a late damp Saturday morning about 10:30. We decided to take our cameras and [get] some pictures of the wilderness. I [have] lived in Washington my whole life and spent a lot time in the woods with my father. He moved here from Tennessee and was excited to see the wilderness of Washington. We spent a lot of time around the North Fork of the Skykomish that day. About 3:00ish we went back to camp and chose to go down a part of the road we camped on that had been blocked off by small trees that had fallen across (it looked like it had not been used for a long time), in [the] hope [of] finding some cool river shots. We headed south down the road thru the damp brush about a 1/4-mile. As we were walking in the area I noticed some small tree that where broke off at about 8 to 9 foot height and 4 to 6 in dia., at the break. It made me curious but I didn't say anything to my buddy. Then about a hundred and fifty yards or so, (give or take) we walked across a soft area in the road. At first I saw [only one] footprint but looked again, it was big and other than the ones we left it was the only one. It looked like the right footprint but no others, we found the soil was too firm. I asked my friend to put his foot next to it to compare. He wears a size 10 1/2 to 11 this was much bigger. I repeat, much bigger. So I took pictures of it with my camera.

OTHER WITNESSES: College friend

ENVIRONMENT: Near the North Fork of [the] Skykomish. Thick under brush.

A & G References: A&G Pg 81, A6

Follow-up investigation report:

This track (though questionable as to why being singular in context) has a similar shape to three 19" tracks found in a permanent study site nearby. It has a heel width that seems rather narrow in proportion to the rest of the foot, but that is also a characteristic of the other three 19" tracks found. It is also an undocumented trait described as often being observed with the largest of tracks, according to some experts.

Photo credit: H. H.

I don't really have a problem with there only being one track since the discoverers were not specifically trying to find more. Other pictures from the witness shows that there was even more forest leaves over the most likely spot for the next track. They just didn't clear them away to the soil underneath. These leaves appear fresher, meaning only in regards to their deposit at the site; they appear crisper, not as water logged, curled away from the ground, non-typical moving water deposit.

It looks like there are toe impression details on the front of the track. The large big toe is in keeping with what we've seen on tracks we believe to be genuine... a very big toe pad area yet it has a 2-3-1-4-5 toe length index.

There appears to be weight shifting in the creation of this track, but the release points are all but hidden without seeing the track in person. The push out of mud all the way around the track is interesting in that it tells us something about how the track maker must have been walking. It looks like a very deliberate foot placement; I see no heel drag or telltale claw marks as if from a bear.

The track appears to have been impressed in a very wet area (an intermittently filled channel within an old road) containing a lot of silt and an anaerobic environment which has led to the preservation of a large amount of old leaves. New spring leaves have fallen into the track. Best guess would be that the impression was made when the mud/soil was a bit wetter.

The track find was at around 3280 feet in elevation. The track was about 3/4" deep but the toes were deeper, around 1 1/2".

Right now I would have to lean towards this being a real track and that of being from a Sasquatch.

Richard Noll / OC

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