YEAR: 2004

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: around the 7th

PROVINCE: Alberta

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: Oilfield Service road – Red Rock Road. It's been too long to give a kilometer number. The road is about 70k south of Grande Prairie as the crow flies. By road from Grande Prairie: south on Hwy 2, right onto Weyerhaeuser Cut Across, left onto Weyerhaeuser Haul Rd, right onto Wolf Creek Road, right onto Red Rock Road. Note that these are private roads and two-way radios and permits are required to travel them.

NEAREST TOWN: Grande Prairie Alberta

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 2

OBSERVED: I was working as an Emergency Medical Responder in the oilfield; sitting on site for a gas well workover, near the western end of the Red Rock Road. The job was ending due to spring break up and road bans were partially on, preventing the moving of heavy loads during the day. At this time the partial bans allowed heavy haul from 0000 to 0700. My consultant had directed that I be the last personnel to egress. The last low-boy on site was having issues with tie downs and that delayed his departure from location until approximately 0330, everyone else had been off site by 0100. I held at location for 20 minutes past the last trucks departure; hoping he would stay far enough ahead of my medical unit to avoid it being peppered by rocks and frozen mud chunks; meaning, I entered the Red Rock at approximately 0400, heading in an easterly direction.

I had been on site since 0700 the previous day and was going into my 21st hour of being awake. Because of this, I was being extra careful to pay attention to both sides of the road, maintaining a speed of about 30-40kph hoping to give me enough reaction time to brake for wildlife popping out on the road in front of me. There was a fair amount of wildlife in this area – deer, elk, lynx, moose, black bear and I even encountered a grizzly sow grazing grass in a ditch by the side of the road in this area the summer before.

My MTC [mobile treatment center] was mounted on the bed of a 2500 Dodge Ram 2004 extended cab PU being powered by a Cummins diesel. I was keeping the high beams on. The lights were illuminating the entire road bed, the snow/ice berm, and out another 10 meters both sides of the road.

I remember passing the area where the service rig’s camp had been set up to the left of the road, thinking it looked pretty empty and deserted. I could make out the area because of the ambient star shine; that, along with last few centimetres of snow on the ground help give shape and shadow to the snow berms, stumps, trees, and gravel patches of the parking area of the camp.

A few kilometers past the rig camp site the Red Rock does a gentle S curve through a stand of mature timber running along both sides of the road for approximately 500 meters. After this the Red Rock comes out on a flat area where a road (Beaver Road?) branched off from the right heading south. From there a graded left curve dropped in a wide arc at about a 4% grade to cross a single lane temporary bridge over a creek; after crossing the bridge the road swung in an arc to the right climbing back up out of the creek’s flood plain, again at about 4% grade.

I am pretty short, 5’2”, and occasionally if the grade was steep enough, I would not be able to see the road directly in front of my rig until I started to level out. Because of this, I had slowed to about 20kph. As I topped the hill coming up out of the creek and I was just about to accelerate when a solid five-point elk came from the right side of the road hopping over the berm and landing not four feet in front of my fender. Scared the stuffing out of me! Breaking hard, I was glad I had slowed down.

I then notice the condition of the elk. He takes about two steps, coming to a full stop right in front of my rig. Looking closer at the elk, I can see that he is winded. His nose if up almost like he is going to bugle. His antlers are laying almost parallel to the line of his back. His tongue is hanging out the side of his mouth, where it is clearly visible to me; and, the eye I can see is rolled back exposing the sclera. I’m thinking “What the heck, its not rut. Why would this animal be acting like this?”

The elk stood there for 3-5 seconds panting, then dropping his head into a ‘normal’ walking position, he walks slowly off to the left side of the road.

My experience with elk and deer and roads has always been if there’s one there are usually more, so before I started forward again, I did a check down both sides of the road looking off as far as my headlights allowed looking any eye shine; and, that was when I saw it!

The Red Rock, like most gas field roads had an 80 to 100 meters of clear cut along the right side of the road to allow for the laying in of a pipe line to carry the gas from the wells in the field to the plant.
On this section of the Red Rock, the right of way was cleared of timber, but the tree stumps were still in place; which is the usual condition when the pipe has yet to be laid.

The stumps were the gray brown of trees that had been dead for several years. Between the star light, the head lights and the snow I could identify stumps and the bottom part of tree trunks of the standing timber at the back of the clear cut right of way.

Finishing the scan, I had looked forward down the road and just when I was about to drive on, I caught a motion in my peripheral vision on the right, drawing my attention back to that area. At first, I thought it was just a tall stump as it appeared a bit taller than another stump near by. A slight breeze moved the fur/hair of this taller stump and it sort of shimmered like the hollow tips on a grizzly’s coat in the trucks head lights. Looking closer, I now see what appears to be a round head, no face visible, and two round shoulders. The width from outside shoulder to outside shoulder had to be at least three football helmets wide, at least 1 meter. The bulkiness of the shoulders should have been another clue that the shape of this form was not that of a bear. This my ‘Aha!’ moment and I am now thinking I now know what was making the elk run; a bear and by its colouring a Grizzly. I feel the puzzle has been solved satisfactorily and start to move forward; that’s when it stands up on two legs!

When I say it stands, what it does is it unfolds in a smooth and easy motion, no swaying, no side to side in the way a bear does to keep in a standing position. I am still thinking grizzly bear. Based on its estimated distance from the side of the road, about 10 – 12m, the brightness of the area being lit by the high beams and how the upper part of the standing form fades into darkness, I would guesstimate the height to be 7 to 8 feet.

It turns its upper body towards the east, and even though I cannot see a face I get the feeling it is looking further down the road in the direction I am headed. I have the impression of a head but its tall enough that the upper third of the body fades into the darkness; that being only slightly a different dark than the standing timber several more meters behind the form; think dark blueish black for trees and dark blackish brown for the upper part of the creature.
My next surprise is when it drops its arms! The left arm is long enough that I can see the range of motion, shape, and the large shape of a hand in the light of the high beams. This is why I say arms: It was a hand and not a paw. The arm was longer and the hand was lower than where a human hand would rest beside a human thigh.

I am beginning to be overwhelmed by a feeling of ‘dis-ease’; like I should not be sitting still and that I really should start driving away from this creature. My heart is racing, my hair is on end and I think “Oh my God” as I start carefully forward half expecting to see another one step up to the road. It take me a few minute to think, but I believe I have just seen a Sasquatch.

From the time I braked for the elk to the time I felt compelled to start driving was probably no more than 20-25 seconds.

ALSO NOTICED: none I can think of.

OTHER WITNESSES: I was alone, driving back to town having finished a job.

OTHER STORIES: No I haven't, although area is about a two hour drive north of Nordeg Alberta.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 0499-0500.

no moon, ambient star shine, reflective light from stars on ground snow cover

clear and cold, around – 12*C (mud surface was crunchy), occasional light wind gust around 5k.

ENVIRONMENT: Boreal Forest, clear cut areas, muskeg, service roads, lease pads. No electricity save gen set on work sites, microwave tower on butte near beginning of Wolf Creek Road.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

I spoke with her on the phone for well over an hour. Her name is Liz Manley. For years she worked as a medic in the Alberta Oilfields. She has many interesting stories about life as a medic in that industry.

She undoubtedly saw a sasquatch while driving back to civilization from the west end of Red Rock Road. That is near the east flank of the Canadian Rockies, and 15-20 miles from Kakwa Wildland Provincial Park.

The sasquatch was only 20-30 feet from her car in the peripheral high beams. The illumination was better lower on the body. The face was in a shadow, but she got a good enough look at it.

At first she assumed the animal must be a bear until it lowered its arm. That's when she could clearly see its hand, and that's when she realized it was not a bear.

She says the area has abundant wildlife. She would see wildlife frequently while driving in the area -- lots of elk and deer, and almost every type of big North American predator (black bear, grizzly bear, wolf, coyote, cougar, lynx).

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email [email protected]

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