YEAR: 2009

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: February

DATE: 16

STATE: California

COUNTY: Kern County

LOCATION DETAILS: Bear Valley Springs, CA, located in Tehachapi, Ca.

NEAREST TOWN: Tehachapi

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 202

OBSERVED: As my Uncle walked outside to feed the horse he spotted tracks. They were big huge prints! The measurements are 52" inch strides, with indication of toe's at the end, and hair like lines throughout the bottom.

I do have the address, because the prints are on my property.

ALSO NOTICED: Yes, a human would of not of chosen this path. I would have chosen the walking path in the field; "it" chose the path through the field. The field is full of sage & brush that was about 4-5 feet tall.

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes, there are 2 (two) others.

OTHER STORIES: Yes on the backside of Keene, CA. A sighting was claimed as a man in his truck was driving down the back road at 8-9 p.m.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Night

ENVIRONMENT: Cold, 2 days after a snowstorm in Bear Valley Springs located In Tehachapi, CA, 93561 at exactly 8:30 P.M.

A & G References: Southern California Delorme Atlas, Page 64, Index of C / 1-2

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

The witness, C.M., finally called me at 9:30 pm on February 17, 2009 and I had my first chance to find out what was going on up there in Bear Valley Springs, a community of Tehachapi, California. We at the BFRO wanted to get up there to make our own assessment on the authenticity of these tracks. It has been my experiences with track photos, for me to really make a positive assessment as to their authenticity; I first have to view them with my own eyes. I have a difficult time saying if photos of tracks or prints are real or not. But, it was not to be, because warm rains that occurred on Monday had mostly removed those tracks from behind his Uncle's horse pasture.

The area where this took place is a horse community that is located behind a guarded gate, and you have to have permission to enter this community. Anyway, this witness did take a few photos of those tracks behind his Uncle's horse pasture. He stated that he followed those tracks for about a half a mile until they got close to one of the several ponds; the closest pond is a small park and walking area, and the second pond, which is a good 1/4 mile further, is located on a golf course. Per the witness, those ponds are stocked with catfish and trout.

On the 18th of February we received several photos of the tracks that were taken on Sunday evening, by C.M. on the 15th of February. Note there is no way to tell if these tracks have the possibilities of being real or not, unless they indicate certain aspects of a special characteristic that these creatures seem to produce while walking in snow and/or soft soil like sand. This is the reason that I do believe the tracks that were photographed and accompanying this report have a high probability of being real. What I did notice in the photos, is that the one that has multiple tracks gives the impression that there is a very good possibility of there being a mid-tarsal joint present. If this is true, then the tracks have a high probability of being real.

The witness stated that he measured the strides of two of those tracks, by measuring from the heel of one track to the toes of the other track, and it was measured at 52 inches. C.M. said that he couldn't make those steps while he was attempting to step them off. He also measured one of those tracks at 17" which was from the back of a heel to the longest toe on that track, also he measured 6" across the heal section. This witness also attempted to cast one of those tracks with some type of a plaster mixture, but it didn't work, because it melted the snow.

Per the witness, he told me about an incident in the Keene, California area, which is located a little over six air miles, which includes a high 6900 ft ridge to the north of Bear Valley Springs. This was a brief sighting of a very large, dark hairy creature walking on two legs, by one of his friends while in his pickup truck at night, on a back road which was located on the north side of highway 58. The North bound tracks that were headed away from his Uncle's property, and across the golf course; were heading in the direction of that high Bear Mountain ridge.

The following Saturday, 21 February, the wife and I made the pilgrimage to Tehachapi, California, specifically the Bear Valley Springs area to check out were this all took place and hopefully observe any evidence, also to meet up with some of the participants. We made the trip to the area, but didn't get to meet with any of the participants, for various reasons. We located the place where I believed the prints were found per the witness' directions. The street mentioned to me has a dry creek bed located behind several homes that have horse pastures. I couldn't locate any impressions and/or evidence in the damp ground that had that the four to five foot high sage brush located on both sides of that dry creek bed; where the witness and his uncle observed and photographed those tracks.

I continued on to the ponds to walk around them while the ground was still damp, and hopefully observe any impressions in that soil. Not to be, but did observe several places where some of the water fowl, ducks or mud hens, had been de-feathered recently, but that could have been accomplished by hawks or coyotes. Moved on to the pond that was located in the golf course, but observed nothing of any evidence that our large friend had moved through this area. This Bear Valley Springs area has many ridges and dry creek beds for a large creature to make access and/or depart this area during those dark hours.

We also drove up into the high country of this community to see if we could observe any tracks of our large friend. This Bear Mountain ridge is about 6900 ft high, and it still had over a foot of snow on the south sides of that ridge, that we were driving on, and the roads were well maintained and were cleared of snow. There are many homes scattered through this high area, and about half are closed up for the winter. We did observe several places where the deer had gone through, but no large human like tracks.

All in all, seems like there is plenty of food available for them in the form of horse food, plus all of the natural food. The area where this took place would be the best natural passage way for these creatures to use as they go between the southern part of this state, and the High Sierra Mountains of the northern half of this state.

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.

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