YEAR: 2010

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: January

STATE: California

COUNTY: Kern County

LOCATION DETAILS: You take 58 East from Tehachapi and exit on Sand Canyon Road. You go for about a mile up Sand Canyon Rd. and then turn left off of this road and onto this unmarked dirt road for about 1/10 of a mile, or until you get to the area where people bring stuff out to shoot for fun. We hiked north east from that area, into the hills.

NEAREST TOWN: Tehachapi

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 58 East

OBSERVED: My name is J. M., and my friend's name is R.S., and we were hiking about a mile above Sand Canyon, near Tehachapi, California, he lost his prescription sunglasses, and we split up to search for them.

As I was hiking, I saw a very strange track. It looked human, but it was larger than any human foot print. Also, unless a human was walking a mile from the road barefoot through rough terrain, so it couldn't have been human. I met up with R.S., and on the way back I showed him the print.

He is an Army veteran from Iraq and an avid hunter, and he was simply shocked by that footprint. He said to me, "J. look, you can even see the toe prints! This creature has to be at least 7 feet tall!" We looked at each other. I asked him, "How old do you think that print is?" He answered, "It looks to be about 3 days old."

We both decided, after finding his sun glasses, we should head back to the car, while keeping a VERY sharp look out for anything strange.

After we had reached home, it started to snow. We both realized it was very fortunate that we got to see that, because the snow would have wiped it out.

ALSO NOTICED: The print was oriented to the North East, toward where we had been hiking.

OTHER WITNESSES: R.S. he was hiking with me.

OTHER STORIES: I have not heard of any other reports in the Tehachapi, California area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: This happened during the day, about 2 or 3pm. It was partly sunny, with heavy clouds rolling in.

ENVIRONMENT: Desert, with scrub brush and rocks. From the print, you could look south and see building beyond a road with trees around them.

A & G References: Southern California DeLorme Atlas, Page 64, Index of 4 - C.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

John called me and we went over his track sighting a little east and north of the Town of Tehachapi, California. John is a credible young man who has completed his college education, and was just laid off from a good State Job. He is now in the process of moving to Colorado to where his friend R.S. is now living.

This witness gave me his friend, R.S.'s e-mail address, so I will hopefully have a chance to speak with him on this subject, so we can corroborate the sighting of these tracks. No camera or measuring device was present during this outing.

As for the track that was observed, it was on a desert hill located about a mile or so North of Highway 58 up Sand Canyon, on a dirt road that went off to the left. The best track observed was well over a foot long, a good 1/4 deep, and had five toes. There were other very faint tracks before and after this good one, and they were about 3 feet apart. These tracks were about three days old or so, and they were made during January, headed in a Northerly direction.

Summary: The reason that tracks in this area are important is the fact that this researcher believes these creatures use this area in their travels between Central California and Southern California. A track 1/4" deep doesn't sound real deep to most folks, but in some desert areas the soil can be very hard and not very sandy. This footprint sighting took place in a wind blown area of one of those hills where the ground was hard, and where the witness's viewed the track at that time.

On the 10th of June, I received the following e-mail from R.S. -

Hi,
Well I'm guessing the foot (because I'm a 13) was probably a size 26 in men's, a bit strange for Shaq O'Neal to be in the Tehachapi Mountains. The area we saw the single footprint in was Sand Canyon area of Tehachapi, the fence over from the public shooting range. Very odd, single foot print and there isn't very many people that far back or at least that are aware the land is public. Did look really human like, 5 toes, however just insanely huge, and in a place where no one has any business of being bare foot. If you have any further questions please e-mail me. Thanks R.S.

About BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

• Four years in the United States Navy, 1955-1959 (Combat Air Crewman on P4M Mercator Patrol Aircraft)
• 37 years in the aerospace industry: 33 years with General Electric at Edwards AFB; More than 5 years with the Northrop Grumman Corp. at Edwards AFB (Flight Line Mechanic on the B-2 Bomber).
• During 20 of those years at Edwards he was a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for the County of Los Angeles.