Class A First-hand BFRO #1551

Campers hear screams, and find large footprints

December 1985 late afternoon around 3:00 p.m. Del Norte County, California 2 witnesses

Account

The witness and a companion were walking a dog on a loop trail in redwood forest when the dog lunged up a steep embankment toward crunching and branch-breaking sounds from above. They followed a short distance to a ridge and found freshly broken lower tree branches up to about ten feet high and large human-like foot impressions in the duff that lacked claw marks. The source of the noise was gone by the time they reached the top, and they returned cross-country to the main trail.

Summary drafted by AI from the source report and checked by code before I publish it. The witness's own words remain with the publisher — read the original report .

What was reported

Every kind of observation in the account. Select one to find other encounters with it.

Sounds

Footsteps

Physical traces

Tracks Tree break

Facts & provenance

Each value names where it came from.

Date	December 1985 Stated BFRO report #1551 · BFRO report, labelled fields: Year, Month
Time of day	late afternoon around 3:00 p.m. Stated BFRO report #1551 · BFRO report, “Follow-Up” section
Place	Del Norte County, California Stated BFRO report #1551 · BFRO report, labelled fields: State, County, Location Details
Map point	41.7499, -123.9810 (± 32 km) Geocoded BFRO report #1551 · gazetteer:county · read with 30% confidence Census 2023 Gazetteer centroid of Del Norte County (GEOID 06015); the report gives only the county
Account type	First-hand Stated BFRO report #1551 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witnesses	2 Stated BFRO report #1551 · BFRO report, “Other Witnesses” section
Witness was	hiking on a forest trail with a companion and dog Stated BFRO report #1551 · BFRO report, “Follow-Up” section
Source classification	Class A Stated BFRO report #1551 · BFRO classification label

Evidence & investigation

What the source says was found or done. Claimed evidence is listed as claimed; the Anomadex has not examined it.

Investigated by: Robert Leiterman (BFRO)

Tracks

Large foot-shaped impressions in forest duff described as 14-18 inches long and 8-10 inches wide

Measurements: 14-18 inches long and 8-10 inches wide

BFRO report, “Observed” section

Tracks

Foot impressions in forest duff described as human-like, about 16 inches long with no claw marks

Measurements: approximately 16 inches in length, no claw marks

BFRO report, “Follow-Up” section

Tree damage

Lower tree branches freshly broken off up to about 10 feet high

Measurements: up to 10 feet high; 3 to 4 inches diameter

BFRO report, “Observed” section

Follow-up

An investigator assigned to the state park split the two reported incidents with another investigator and later called the witness at home to follow up.

BFRO report, “Follow-Up” section

Source timeline

Every record this entry is built from, earliest known first. Records are versioned and never edited in place.

BFRO report #1551 Primary

Published 1999-11-08 Retrieved 2026-09-24 Version 1 Hash 339200681c9d

BFRO - Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization