In mid-October 1996, I made a hunting trip for mule deer bucks into the Pasayten Valley. The Pasayten River Valley is located west of the town of Princeton off of the Hope-Princeton Highway just east of the border of Manning Park, then some 10 to 12 miles in the bush very close to the border of the state of Washington. I towed a 16-foot trailer into the area with my truck and decided to make camp at a favorite spot of mine in a clearing along Peeve Creek.

Being truly tired from both the three-hour drive from home and the stress from a week's work, I made a quick dinner, washed it down with some cool mountain water from the creek, and then hit the sack early for some much needed rest.

About midnight I awoke, got out of bed, and then quickly stepped outside into the cold to answer the call of nature. Upon opening the trailer door, I was surprised to see snow quietly falling with a light skiff already accumulated on the ground. After attending to the business at hand, I quickly climbed back into my warm bed with high hopes that the snow outside would be around to offer decent tracking conditions come morning.

A crisp, clear dawn found me slowly hiking in towards Trapper Lake, high in the hills above and east of Peevee Creek. I hadn't gone too far when suddenly I cut across a fresh trail of huge, five-toed, barefoot, man-like tracks made in the inch or so of freshly fallen snow. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and upon careful examination these man-like tracks did not appear to have any type of claw or nail marks ahead of the toes like that of a grizzly or black bear would. These man-like tracks were an estimated 16 to 17 inches long by 7 to 8 inches wide with a stride of about four to five feet - much further than I could possibly step even stretching my legs out.

I followed this reasonably straight line of giant man-like tracks for several hundred yards until they entered a thicket of young evergreens and blow-downs. These barefoot tracks seemed strange in that they did not wander about like the tracks of most wild animals would and showed little or no straddle from an imaginary line through their center. Thinking back, it almost seemed like the maker of those tracks was heading for a place with a purpose in mind.

After looking into the thicket and envisioning all sorts of strange scenarios, I decided I didn't want to meet the maker of those tracks and rapidly hightailed it out of that country for the season. I did, however, return to the same area the following September with a friend and we managed to harvest two beautiful mule deer bucks. Although I looked hard, I found no further tracks or possible Sasquatch sign.

Over my last 40 or so years of hunting big-game in the wilds of British Columbia, I have, at times, been far too close to big bears. I have smelled, seen and tracked both grizzly and black bears. The tracks I found in the Pasayten River Valley during October of 1996 "were not" the tracks of a bear or any other animal that I am familiar with.

©  Ken Kristian
West Coast Sasquatch Research
http://www.westcoast-sasquatch.com

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