YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

STATE: California

COUNTY: Humboldt County

LOCATION DETAILS: Well not knowing the area that well, the only way I can remember the area is if I saw it again, sorry.

NEAREST TOWN: South of Redcrest, Ca.

NEAREST ROAD: Avenue of the Giants, Highway 254

OBSERVED: Well it has been a couple of years since it happened, but here goes. I was stationed at Beale AFB, Ca., and I would always drive around looking for the next great fishing hole. I had been driving for quite some time and had decided to pull into Humboldt Redwood State Park. Being from Alabama, I figured seeing these big redwoods would be kind of cool.

So, I got off of Hwy 101 and took the Avenue of the Giants exit. Driving down the road I was amazed at the size of the trees, so they kind of grabbed my attention. I started seeing a lot of places where I was thinking I could fish, so I started to slow down even more to find a place to park. As I kept driving the river kind of started getting a little farther away, and I was about to turn around.

When out of no where something walked across the road, and to say the least it shocked the you know what out of me. The reason why it got me a little jumpy was because of the fact that I had to have come within a couple of feet of this thing. Now I'm a pretty big guy 6' and about 220 Lbs., but what ever walked in front of my truck had to have been over 7 feet tall, due to the height of the truck (Chevy Z71).

Now when it comes to the poundage of this thing I would have to say it was well over 350 lbs. As far as physical features all I saw was the back and arm swing. The thing never turned around for me to get a better look at it. But it had a large back and rather long arms. As far as the neck goes it didn’t really have one. The animal’s traps made it look like it didn’t have a neck. Kind of like me.

But after I did find a place to turn around, I went back to look around, dumb I know, to say the least. I only found a couple of tracks. They had to have been 14 to 15 inches long, plus the stride of this thing was a lot longer then mine. Just to make the stride this thing did, I had to make one heck of an effort. Now all I can say is what ever I saw that day was nothing like anything I had ever seen in the woods, and I grew up in the outdoors.

ALSO NOTICED: No

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: I had another event and this one was a lot different, but still happened with me fishing. And this one kind of shook me up.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was mid afternoon and very cloudy that day, with off and on rain.

ENVIRONMENT: The area was pretty thick with redwoods and undergrowth and the river was to my right.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

On January 21,2005, I called SY in Nevada, and we went over his first encounter along Highway 101 in Northern California, on a weekend in April 2003. Late 2003, SY turned in two reports to the BFRO, but due to military duties he left for the Far East before we could talk. This is the first of his two reports, and he resubmitted this one in January 2005. His second report was in the same area, but it occurred in May of 2003, and that report number is Report #7504.

SY had a very short visual encounter with an unknown creature as it crossed the road in front of his pick-up truck, and he could only see it from the waist up. The only parts of this creature he could see, was its coned head, its backside down to the waist, and one arm, during his very brief encounter. He first thought, it might have been a person, but he knew it wasn’t a bear. The creature was moving across that highway at what he thought was a fast clip as it was headed for the eel river. The witness almost hit it with his truck, and stated that he was looking for a place to fish, which is why he was only driving about thirty-five miles per hour. When he looked back onto the road in front of his truck he noticed this creature moving across in front of him, and then quickly disappearing into the foliage on the riverside of the road. Note; he almost hit this creature.

He, SY, did go back and located several footprints on the riverside of the road. He used his eleven and a half size boots as a measuring instrument, and one of the prints with visible toes, was three to four inches longer than his boot and about two to three inches wider. SY said the creature might have been running, because of the length of its stride, but couldn’t be sure, because of the total time of the sighting, which was about three to four seconds at most.

The witness described the creature’s color as gray to dark black; the approximate height and weight were stated in his report. But, SY said that after he returned this trip, he had a friend who is 6’7” tall, and weighs over 266lbs. stand in front of his truck; and he was not even close to the size and weight of this creature. The creature never looked back at him, so no facial descriptions. The word traps that was used in the report was meant to describe the trapezius muscles between its ears and its shoulders, and their size was why there was no visible sign of a neck. SY said he noticed the arm length was longer and much better muscled, than a normal person would have been. The creature's biceps had to be well over twenty inches around, and this was noticed, because SY is into bodybuilding, and power lifting.

Summary: After talking with SY, I am convinced that he had a short encounter with a sasquatch, because of his descriptions of the creature, and his now apprehensive demeanor as he goes over the retelling of his first sighting. Note; SY has had a total of two sightings. (See report # 7504) The reason that apprehensive was used, is the fact that SY is not real sure that anybody out here really believes him, because of how his family and friends have acted after they have heard those stories. He is not too happy about this situation, because he knows what he saw, and it was real. He still thinks about these sightings every day, and he now has a need to prove to his friends and wife that they are real. Note; SY did not have a camera with him during this first sighting.

I would like to expand on the location of occurrence, because SY is not exactly sure just where on the Avenue of Giants (Hwy. 254) this took place. So, I am taking this opportunity to expand that area from Redcrest, Calif., down to Miranda, Calif. If and when SY returns to the area this spring, maybe he will advise as to a closer location.

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