YEAR: 1978

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: California

COUNTY: Tuolumne County

LOCATION DETAILS: See above. Area is south side of highway. Middle fork of Stanislaus river is to the north of the highway.

NEAREST TOWN: Strawberry/Pinecrest

NEAREST ROAD: CA HWY 108

OBSERVED: I'm writing this with some hesitation as I'm still not sure what, if anything, I saw but, having read varying reports of similar occurences in the area I'm about to describe, I thought you might be interested. I hesitate because for many years now I've attributed what I saw to an often-active imagination and "trick" of light.

Let me explain. When I was approx. 11 or 12 years old (1978 or '79)I was walking through the woods with my younger brother and friend behind the California Dept of Fish and Game patrol cabin across from the Boulder Flats camp ground, Hwy 108 in Tuolumne County about 50 miles or so east of Sonora. My father is a retired DFG patrol captain and we'd vacation there several times a year. All we were doing was walking through the woods several hundred yards from the cabin when we saw what looked like a conical-shaped head, brown in color with deep set eyes peering at us from behind a tree approx.100-120 feet away slightly uphill from where we were standing.
That's all. I still remember that I stood there telling myself that it must be a tree branch stump glinting in the afternoon sun (it was a bright day as I remember). It didn't move and we stood looking at it for what must have been at least a minute. My brother then became upset and we ran from the area as fast as we could. I still don't know what I saw and you probably won't find this very interesting but, having read similar accounts of purported sasquatch remaining motinless while observing/ being observed, I have to wonder.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing else seen, smelled or heard.

OTHER WITNESSES: 3 witnesses (kids age 11-12 and 7 or 8 years) walking and playing in forest.

OTHER STORIES: Having just read accounts on your web page, there are more than I suspected occuring in this area of the country. A family friend claims to have seen "bigfoot" while camping near brightman campground (just east up the road maybe 5 miles) in the 1950s when he was a boy. He told me the story once a few years ago that in the middle of the night he awoke (I'm not sure what woke him up) and saw outside the camper window what he described as a "bigfoot" walking by the campsite.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Afternoon; bright day; warm

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest, not very dense, strewn with granite boulders and outcroppings. Unnamed creek flows into Stanislaus.

Follow-up investigation report:

I talked with the witness by phone. No further details could be added to the report.

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