BFRO: Possible tracks found in Jasper National Park (1987)

Report # 10127  (Class B)
Submitted by witness withheld on Thursday, December 30, 2004.


Possible tracks found in Jasper National Park


YEAR: 1987 or 88

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: June

PROVINCE: Alberta

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: Along the North Boundary Trail in Jasper National Park, Alberta. A few kilometres past Twin Tree Lake.

NEAREST TOWN: Jasper (but quite far away)

NEAREST ROAD: not applicable

OBSERVED: I saw some very clear tracks that crossing the mud of the North Boundary Trail in Jasper National Park. I was on a solo-backpacking trip into the North Boundary Country in 1987 or 1988 I had been on the trail for probably a little under a week and only saw the usuall animals to be seen in the area. It was early in the hiking season, probably I was the first person be on the trail that year. I think this was just a few kilometers past Twin Tree Lake ( I’m not entirely sure of the location).

I was hiking out of heavy bush and going on a slight downward slope toward a bog when I came across several large human-like footprints crossing the trail obliquely and going into the bush on the other side heading toward the bog. It was probably near mid-day and the weather was warm and sunny, I was a little weary from the heavy hiking. The footprints were very fresh (the ridges between the toes being still damp compared to the wetness of the rest of the prints); no debris in the prints (even with the breeze and debris on other parts of the trail); the prints had probably been made within the previous 45 minutes. They were very human looking footprints but very much larger than my own and hourglass shaped. I took no pictures of these human-like footprints probably because I’m stupid. For reasons I can’t explain my only thought was, “Stupid Park Wardens! Walking around without boots in this kind of country!” I walked another couple of kilometres and suddenly realized how stupid my assessment was and that I had probably just been looking at fresh sasquatch footprints!

I saw nothing else unusual for the rest of the trip. The terrain in the area was heavy bush gradually breaking up into a bog. There were, of course, mountains all around.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing else unusual.

OTHER WITNESSES: No, just me.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Between 10 AM an 1 PM, probably.

ENVIRONMENT: Heavy bush, pine trees, and various kinds of small bushes breaking up into a bog (or marshy area) at the bottom of the valley I was in. Mountains all around.


Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Blaine McMillan :

I spoke to the witness by phone and I can summarize his report:

He frequently solo camps in remote areas. During one such camp in the northern reaches of Jasper National Park he came across a series of large barefoot tracks. He explained to me that the tracks were extremely fresh – just 30 to 45 minutes old. There was no leaf litter inside of the tracks and there were well defined ridges between the toes. These bipedal tracks had cut across the trail on an angle coming from dense bush and going into dense bush. He did not hear nor smell anything out of the ordinary.