Year: 2006
Month: July
Time of Day: 12-7am
County: Utah Uintah
Terrain Description: Sagebrush on mountains, wooded trees and grassy meadow by
stream. 5000 feet above sea level. Uinta Mountains of Utah
Lighting Conditions: Dark with some moonlight at night. Sun arose around 7am yielding clear blue
skies.
Nearest Town or Landmark: Vernal, Utah. 25 miles south. Forest rd off of Route 191. In High Uinta
Mountains – Ashley National Forest
Description of Encounter Area: Camping at a guard station, my sister and I pitched a tent outside
the cabin. Station in gully is between two hillsides. Approximately 5000 feet in elevation. No one around for miles. We were 5 miles off Route 191 off an unpaved forest road. Guard station. Cows on hillside to left. Stream along left side of station that opens up wider about 100 yards away. Grassy meadow/hill to left of station, hill with mountain sagebrush on it to right. Deer seen daily by station. No one for miles. 5 miles off Route 191.
Food/Water Sources Stream right next to station. deer/elk in area as well as cattle-
large amounts.
Description of Vocalizations: One grunt. It sounded like a bear – may have been but
heard bi-pedal walking immediately following the grunt and it continued for about 10-15 minutes until I shined my light out of the tent to find the source. No other animal sounds were heard from 12am-8am… no birds, no mooing cows, no coyotes – all of which had been previously heard each am. I was wide awake as I had trouble sleeping from the early am grunt/walking and was thinking how oddly quiet it was when I heard 2 whoops – one right after another with a 2-3 second pause between. Sounded exactly like the ‘Sierra Sounds’ CD of Whoops & Knocks. I didn’t realize what I heard until I was on the BFRO website on returning from vacation and played the recording of the whoops & knocks & bi-ped walking
anonymous
Number of Witnesses: 2
Length of Observation: Various points during night and early am
Vocalizations Heard?: No noise was heard… You could here a pin drop – very odd. I heard a
grunt/moan and then bi-pedal walking around tent and guard station. It sounded very BIG. My sister heard this also. Early about 7am, I heard 2 whoops – very clear and very close. My sister was sleeping.
Approximately 12am: I witnessed something moving in the brush, heard a grunt/moan sound lasting 5-10 secs followed by bi-pedal walking with a lot of twigs/branches/leaves snapping and crunching for about 10-15 mins. It stopped when I shined flashlight around perimeter of tent.
Approximately 7am: 2 whoop calls were heard, very clear and very close- maybe 50-100 yards away. Each call lasted about 2 seconds with a 2-3 second pause in between.
Investigator Commentary:
[submitted 2/2/2008 by M. Killen]
The reporting witness lives in New England but was on vacation in Utah visiting with her sister, her
brother-in-law and his 10 year old daughter when she had her encounter. The four of them stayed at a U.S. Department of Agriculture guard station in the Ashley National Forest near the Utah-Wyoming border for four days and three nights in the Uinta moutains. The witness and her sister had decided to sleep outside in a tent which set up was next to the cabin. The sisters husband and his daughter slept in the cabin. The tent the two women spent the night in was only about 15 feet from the edge of the woods. Cattle graze in a large open meadow adjacent to the land the cabin sits on which is part of a near by ranch which is comprised of approx 100 acres of land. All of the events described in this report happened during the overnight period of the third night they were at this cabin. The witness estimates that the bi-pedal sounding footsteps came to within 15 feet of the tent but seemed to stay right at the edge of the woods. She said the footsteps seemed to move around the perimeter of the tree line and sounded like they had walked towards and then away from the tent several times.
The reporting witness lives in New England but was on vacation in Utah visiting with her sister, her
brother-in-law and his 10 year old daughter when she had her encounter. The four of them stayed at a U.S. Department of Agriculture guard station in the Ashley National Forest near the Utah-Wyoming border for four days and three nights in the Uinta moutains. The witness and her sister had decided to sleep outside in a tent which set up was next to the cabin. The sisters husband and his daughter slept in the cabin. The tent the two women spent the night in was only about 15 feet from the edge of the woods. Cattle graze in a large open meadow adjacent to the land the cabin sits on which is part of a near by ranch which is comprised of approx 100 acres of land. All of the events described in this report happened during the overnight period of the third night they were at this cabin. The witness estimates that the bi-pedal sounding footsteps came to within 15 feet of the tent but seemed to stay right at the edge of the woods. She said the footsteps seemed to move around the perimeter of the tree line and sounded like they had walked towards and then away from the tent several times.
Mike Killen, NESRA Investigator