YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 6

STATE: Arizona

COUNTY: Coconino County

LOCATION DETAILS: from payson you take Hwy 260 to the rim lakes turn off FR 300 take road to FR 84 then FR 9018 take that road to the end we camped at the clearing maybe 1/8 mile befor the end of the road on the north side.

NEAREST TOWN: Payson

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 260

OBSERVED: ME my husband our two children and dog. Were camping in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest In Arizona. Right by Bear Canyon Lake at the end of Forest Road 9018. Saturday Morning I went for a walk with my morning coffee. I crossed a fence looking for the lake. It was are first time camping at Bear Canyon lake and I knew the lake was close. 100 yards from the fence I saw a large mound of feces that was steaming. It scared me, I knew what ever made that huge dropping was still very close because of the heat coming off of it. I ran back to my camp site and thought it must have been a bear. I was thank full that the fence was between what ever it was and me. Sunday morning about 4:00AM my entire family was awoken by a loud howling, screaming, growl. It yelled several times maybe 10 or 12 It was so scary I lost count I thought it would never end. The howling screams made the coyotes go crazy. it was so close to are camp sight maybe 150 yards away in a sloping north east area of the forest. We laid there as quite and still as possible waiting for day light. Their were two more camping sights not to far from us but by the time we packed up and went to talk to the people at the other sights they had already left. The only sound I could find on your sight that sounded close to the sound were form California the 1993 Del Norte recording. The sounds we heard were angry or like it was injured or mad.

OTHER WITNESSES: I do not know the closest people left to quickly to talk to.

OTHER STORIES: WE went to Woods Canyon lake about 10 miles away. I talked to the guy on the dock who lives in a trailer by Woods Canyon Lake. I asked him if he knew of any one hearing an unexplaned howling growl and he said they do not know what it is but people have heard it.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 4:oo AM it was a clear night not a full moon but it was almost full.

ENVIRONMENT: pine forest Mogollon Rim area 1/4 mile from Bear Canyon Lake.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator TF Zamiski:

Monday, 8/7/06. I spoke with the witness today and found a person who did her research. She contacted the local forest service to ask what could make such a sound, the answer was elk or a mountain lion, maybe an owl. She didn't believe any of these animals could make such a loud, angry sounding call so she searched the internet listening to animal calls including the three mentioned. She could not find anything close to what they experienced. The best match was an alleged bigfoot vocalization.

A few details to add to her report;

The fresh feces she found on top of a low cut stump Saturday morning looked to her like a very large human made it. She has seen cattle feces which is big enough but not the same form and there were no cattle around. It didn't occur to her until after the next mornings vocalization incident that the feces and the vocalization may have been from the same animal.

The vocalizations around 4AM Sunday lasted about 3 seconds each with about 30 seconds between calls. She said the calls were a variable screaming, growling vocalization from a large source that sounded angry. They were camping in a tent at a dispersed site (not a campground) and she said even in an RV the sounds would have been loud. She felt the source was close perhaps 150 yards away. Even though there was nearly a full moon to see outside nobody volunteered to go have a look.

Saturday night around 10PM they heard what sounded like rocks clacking and wood knocking.

About BFRO Investigator TF Zamiski:

Tim is semi retired. He attended the 2006 Arizona Expedition and the 2006 Wisconsin Expedition. Tim helped organize the 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 Arizona Expeditions and the 2011 New Mexico expedition. Active Investigator since 2005.

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