NARRATOR: There's a frightening
snow beast that's been stalking the Colorado Rockies. BILL BRICE: I'd never seen
anything like I saw that day. NARRATOR: Eyewitnesses claim
that the massive creature has a bellowing scream
and no fear of humans. This thing comes at you,
you may only have one shot. NARRATOR: The monster is
said to be hunting elk and other animals in the area. DAN TRUJILLO: One claw mark
on one of ours had drew blood. NARRATOR: Now, "MonsterQuest"
launches an expedition using cutting-edge technology to
determine the creature's identity. BILL KAUFMAN: It's unknown
to me of any type of animal that lives in this
region that would make those types of tracks. BILL HEICHER: There's no
bears in this area that would go 800 to 1,000 pounds. NARRATOR: All in an effort to
reveal the predator, who seems to be stalking these mountains. KIM SAUERBREY: Looks
like something's been in here in the recent past. [inaudible] I think I see something. Go, go, go, go. NARRATOR: Witnesses around the
world report seeing monsters. Are they real or imaginary? Science searches for
answers on "MonsterQuest." Colorado. This wilderness paradise
is dominated by the Rocky Mountains, the world's largest
elk population, and something else-- a large, terrifying
hairy creature is said to prowl these majestic
mountains looking for prey. DAN TRUJILLO: I know what
the animals sound like here, and this is nothing
like I have ever heard. Once I saw the
tracks, I started to get that feeling like
something might be watching me. I mean, this thing raised
up out of the beaver pond. It stood on two legs
and looked right at me. You know, there are things
in this world you can't have-- put a scientific explanation
to, and this is one of them. NARRATOR: Eyewitnesses report
seeing a 7 to 10 foot tall creature that walks upright,
with long, massive arms and hands. [roaring] The animal is thought to weigh
between 600 and 800 pounds, leaves massive tracks,
and most shocking-- is similar to a historical
beast that was thought to hunt at similar elevations. There are persistent
stories about a man-like, gorilla-like creatures
in the woods. NARRATOR: Kathy Lell has
been a newspaper reporter and historian in Colorado
for over 36 years. She has researched
stories of the creature throughout its history. The earliest date
back to the 1880s, reported in mining camp
newspapers out of Leadville. [growl] A couple of miners out
working in the mountains-- [roar] They heard a strange
moaning noise. They went to investigate,
climbed a pile of rocks to see what it was. NARRATOR: When one
of the men crossed to the top of a pile of rocks,
he had a frightening encounter. What he reported was an
incredible story of coming face to face with a large
furry creature-- a half man, half beast-- unlike anything
he'd seen before. The newspaper described
the frightened miner as pale as death, and it frightened him
so badly he could barely speak to-- to explain the story
of what he had seen. Each story describes it
slightly differently. It's always a
cross between a man and a gorilla-like creature--
taller than a man, much larger, like, in the 400 to 800 pound
range, hairy, very long arms, very long legs. NARRATOR: The
history of sightings hasn't stopped others from being
skeptical of the creature's existence. Bill Heicher, a biologist
with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, points to
the lack of solid proof. BILL HEICHER: If there was
such a creature as people-- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, whatever
you want to call it-- there'd be some
physical evidence. There would be-- you know,
what do they feed on? We'd find kills. We would find bones. We would find-- even if they're
vegetarians as some people claim, you would find
where they're feeding. NARRATOR: For Heicher, the
infrequency of sightings only adds to his doubt. BILL HEICHER: You would
run across these creatures all the time, or signs
of where they had been. NARRATOR: But it is the
encounters themselves that have led to
many being convinced that the creature exists. Researcher Keith Foster
has followed sightings in the area for over 15 years. Surprisingly, in Colorado we
don't have a lot of sightings from the inexperienced camper. The sightings seem to be
by people that are spending an inordinate amount of
time in wilderness areas, and so that lends
some credibility to the sightings themselves. NARRATOR: Foster has
cataloged over 100 reports of the creature. The largest
concentration of which are centered near Pikes Peak,
a part of the Rocky Mountain range 50 miles from the
population center of Colorado Springs. These photos were taken on the
mountain at about 10,411 feet. They're part of a rash of
recent sightings in the area. The tracks themselves are very
large and the step links are between 4 and 7 feet long,
and so they're-- they're easy to identify, because nothing
else leaves tracks like these in nature. NARRATOR: Foster believes
that these could be the tracks of the elusive beast. It is here that "MonsterQuest"
will launch an expedition to determine the
identity of the predator. The team will head
to 11,000 feet to conduct an aerial search
for evidence that may lead to the creature's hiding place. The most efficient way to
find a creature like this in the mountainous terrain
we're going to be going to is by helicopter. NARRATOR: Veteran Wildlife
Photographer Paul Drexler will be responsible for
capturing photographic proof of the creature. For this expedition, he
selected two cameras attached to gyro-stabilizer mounts. One is a high definition
video camera, and the other-- the latest in thermal
camera technology. We're looking for heat
signatures left behind by any type of creature
that'll leave a track, and we're doing that with
the micron thermal camera. NARRATOR: This advanced
thermal camera shows heat from not only anything
within its view but also residual heat left
from any recent activity. This means that heat
signatures from recent tracks could show which
direction the creature is headed and will provide
the team with new leads. Up on the mountain when
it starts snowing sometimes, sometimes you just
gotta land and not die. NARRATOR: The dangers of
flying at such a high altitude will to make the
expedition tricky, even with a veteran pilot. High-altitude flying gives
us a couple of problems. One is that the winds
can be really severe. Today we have, wind shear. A regional jet already reported
light to moderate turbulence, which will equate to a
lot of turbulence for us. The other issue at high altitude
is that we have less air-- less air molecules and so it
makes flying more difficult. We have to push more
air, use more power. We have less reserves. NARRATOR: The team will be
flying aboard a Westland Gazelle helicopter,
which is capable of great maneuverability,
even at this altitude. CHRISTOPHER BATEMAN: We're
able to get right down into the action. We'll be able to follow anything
that we can find out there. We'll be able to stay with it. It's got the power to be able
to hover and leave us there. [helicopter engine buzzing] NARRATOR: At 8,000 feet, they
start to feel turbulence. As Drexler scans the
wilderness below, his only protection from
the wind and a fatal fall is a harness. The temperature is dropping,
adding another element of danger. The team heads to
some of the areas where tracks have been
spotted in the past. "MonsterQuest" is scaling the
heights of mountainous Colorado for what some say is a snow
beast that is slaughtering the area's elk population. JEFF DYSINGER: It looked at
me, and it knew I was there. NARRATOR: Jeff Dysinger has
been a professional guide in the area for over 15 years. While scouting for elk,
he says he came face to face with the creature. JEFF DYSINGER: I hiked up to
where I thought the elk would be, so I ended up sitting on
this high spot that overlooked a drainage. I heard a bugle down by
one of the beaver ponds. [bugle noises] So I really, you know, was
really focusing on this spot intently, and, um-- and that's when I saw it. I mean, this thing raised
up out of the beaver pond. It stood on two legs
and looked right at me. Now, I was about
200 yards from it. I gotta be honest with you, my
first thought wasn't, you know, what is this or whatever. You know, with my
military experience, my first thought was, if
this thing comes at you, you may only have one shot. My first gut reaction was,
pack your stuff and get out, and so-- and that's what I did. NARRATOR: Keith Foster
believes it is not coincidence that the creature was
seen near the elk. We have quite a few
indications that Sasquatch are actually a predator, and that's
a niche that is open on-- in Colorado. A predator of elk would
naturally follow the elk and have to prey on them but
still stay away from them enough not to run-- run their food source
completely away. NARRATOR: Foster contends
that the creature migrates with the elk throughout
the Rocky Mountain range. He says that this is
why the tracks appear to move seasonally. However, to date, no solid
research has been done. CHRISTOPHER MARKUSON: They're
very interesting-- to take a look at the
number of sightings that he's been able to document. NARRATOR: Chris Markuson is
GIS manager for Pueblo County, Colorado, and will use the
science of computerized mapping called the Geographic
Information System, or GIS. It will allow the team to
clearly see sighting patterns. CHRISTOPER MARKUSON: What
we're able to do with GIS is to take complicated
amounts of information essentially in database
form and project that in a three-dimensional
view or in a map-based view to allow us to do
informed decision making and identify geospatial
relationships between dis-- seemingly
disparate objects. BILL GIVEN: There is
a history in Colorado of difficult to detect species. Specifically, the grizzly
bear and the Wolverine are two animals that have
consistent sighting reports but it's been very
difficult to document them. NARRATOR: Wildlife
Biologist Bill Given knows it is difficult to track
even known species in Colorado due to the scope of
wilderness areas. He has brought animal data
from the Colorado Division of Wildlife that
will be compared against the data
of the sightings and will lend his
expertise to the search. So Bill, what we did is
we took the data from Keith and just-- just plot it on the map here. And what you can see is, the red
dots basically represent each of the alleged sightings. BILL GIVEN: Yeah, clearly
this species is concentrating in the mountain
areas, especially in that central area is
really the highest wilderness areas in Colorado, and there
is a little bit of spread to the west onto some of
the more high plateau areas that are also still very remote. NARRATOR: By running
a density analysis, they are able to
define the areas that are sighting hotspots. BILL GIVEN: It would appear that
up here in Route County as well as down in Teller County
and then a little bit down in the San Juan Mountains there,
those are all wilderness areas, but what's interesting
is it's towards the edge of the wilderness. So that would make sense,
because you'd have more people in those areas that
might have sightings but yet there's enough remote
area that sightings would not be frequent. NARRATOR: The initial analysis
reveals that half the sightings fall between October and April. This would seem to rule out
one plausible scenario of what could be preying on the elk-- misidentified bears. BILL GIVEN: If people were
mistaking Bigfoot sightings for bears, there's
a bit of an issue if they're seeing
them during the winter because bears should
be hibernating. Well, we're
fortunate in Colorado to have more elk
than any other state. This is the most plentiful
food source for large mammals. And as you can see, it's pretty
much the western two-thirds of the state of Colorado,
which would encompass all of the sighting areas
that we're seeing here. NARRATOR: The idea that the snow
beast is following the elks' migration pattern would
mean sightings would occur at lower elevations in winter. In examining the
average elevation, they determine that the
winter sightings range from 7,300 to 9,000 feet, while
in summer the median elevation range is 1,000 feet higher. BILL GIVEN: This clearly
shows a species that's using high elevation sites
and-- and interestingly migrates during the different
seasons, going from high elevation in summer to
lower elevations in the winter. NARRATOR: The data seems to
suggest that the snow beast is indeed hunting the
elk on Pikes Peak. BILL GIVEN: That's the
really important thing for consideration here,
because as-- as we saw through the
Bigfoot sightings, there's a elevational change
from the high to the low with the seasons, and that would
correspond with here because of the elk's
important winter food. NARRATOR: The "MonsterQuest"
expedition team plots likely areas to search where
the elk are known to seek water. Many will be in wooded
areas, so a part of the team sets out to look at
likely locations. KIM SAUERBREY: This
area back here, because it's so rugged and
primitive on both sides of this valley, actually,
could easily support a non-native species back here. Another predator could
be back here in the area. NARRATOR: The ground team
is led by Kim Sauerbrey, a military trained
tracker who has worked in the area for over 30 years. Today we're going to
travel up this valley, this part of cathedral park
in the Pike National Forest, and we're going to go into an
area that's-- we call the Lost Cabin. NARRATOR: He will work
with other trackers to search the southwest slopes
of Pikes Peak that is a known ambush area for
other elk predators, such as mountain
lions and wolves. KIM SAUERBREY: And that's
kind of what the elk like. This steep area, for them-- they get back in there, same
with the mountain lions-- it offers them
safety and security. They get in that dark
timber, steep terrain-- it makes it harder for a
predator to get to them. NARRATOR: During
the winter months, the elk tend to feed at the
snow line located at about 9,500 feet. It is here that the
search will begin. KIM SAUERBREY: So we're going
to tie off our stock down here because their terrain gets real
narrow, deep, some steep areas, and we're going to actually
do most of our searching and looking up in
this area on foot. NARRATOR: The mountain
ravines of the area are perfect terrain for both
the elk and their predators. KIM SAUERBREY: The
predators like it here. They can get high, it's dark. They can get in close
before anything can really realize that they're there. It's a lot of places for
them to den up and hide. It's an excellent area
from them to ambush. NARRATOR: The high elevation
is taking its toll on the team, but the early results
are promising. They find signs of activity,
but they're not fresh. It's old. Old. NARRATOR: But they find other
evidence that an elk herd has recently been in the area. KIM SAUERBREY: He's just
tore this ground up some re-- he was here for a long time. NARRATOR: The giant
animals use trees to scrape the velvet
off their horns or to help shed their antlers. KIM SAUERBREY: There is no
mistaking a bull did this. NARRATOR: The team is encouraged
by the evidence of elk. It seems they will stand
a good chance of getting a look at the snow beast. KIM SAUERBREY: The Bigfoot-- if they were in this area eating
and feeding and hunting the elk as-- as it's been theorized, we
should see some tracks in here. NARRATOR: Then as they get
into the thick of the woods, they make an even more
startling discovery-- a cave that seems to be
occupied by a predator. Whoa, there's
something in here. NARRATOR: "MonsterQuest"
is searching the mountains of Colorado for evidence
of the snow beast that seems to be hunting the
area's elk population. The expedition team has found
new evidence that suggests they are looking in the right place. Kim Sauerbrey and
his team of trackers have discovered an old mine
and are about to investigate. It is too dangerous to explore
without some way to see what is inside the dark tunnel. The reason you don't
want to go in there-- well, one is you don't
know what's in there, and then the other is
the fear of cave-ins. Yeah, stay out and stay alive. KIM SAUERBREY: And we could see
it looked like some bedding had been pulled down-- some trees,
some tree branches, leaves, pine branches-- and claw marks where something
had clawed at-- climbed out, tore the dirt up as it
came out of the hole. NARRATOR: Sauerbrey
makes the decision that it is too
dangerous for the team to proceed without
specialized gear. Tomorrow, what we'd like to do
is maybe put together a camera rig and explore in
there, see if maybe there will be something in here. NARRATOR: The team has brought a
thermal camera recording system that they will mount facing
the entrance in case there is activity in the area overnight. KIM SAUERBREY: We should
score some good activity and get some good film
of the animals coming in. It's a real narrow choke point. Animals have to come through. We should be able to
get a good picture. It's getting near dusk. The animals are
getting ready to move. We're going to be
moving pretty quick. We're going to be
going up in here, locate it and get out
of here really quick. NARRATOR: The camera
records to a tape deck, eliminating the need
for a team member to stay behind and monitor
the cave overnight. This will ensure that the
creature will not be scared away by human presence. KIM SAUERBREY: All righty,
I think we're about set. The camera looks like it's
focused good on the two access points. If we can get out here real
quick before we get caught, we should have a good chance
to catch something on camera tonight. NARRATOR: The team returns to
camp to bed down for the night. While the search
on the ground has led to some interesting
finds at lower elevations, the helicopter reconnaissance
has also uncovered a line of tracks in the snow. Paul Drexler uses the
specialized thermal camera to check for evidence that
the tracks are freshly made. He sees no heat signature. The closer look reveals
something unexpected. The team is encouraged
by the sighting and knows they're looking
in the right area. CHRISTOPHER BATEMAN:
Cleared to land. NARRATOR: These tracks, known
as the Eagle River tracks, were photographed
in April of 2000 by Bill Brice, who
is an area fisherman. BILL BRICE: I had never seen
anything like I saw that day. NARRATOR: Bill Brice
uses fly fishing as a way to relax after work. BILL BRICE: I had worked my
way up to a fairly remote spot on the Eagle River
that I fished a lot. The day I saw the tracks, I
waded upstream to a remote part of the Eagle River that I
used to fish very often, and I had just moved out of
the river onto the south bank to tie on a new fly when
the tracks caught my eye. They were large, human-looking
footprints bigger than any track that any animal
in that area would leave and deep in the river
material, so I knew whatever it was had to be big and heavy. You know, I started
looking around in the brush and wondering if
something like that could still be hanging around. So it was pretty unnerving. So I just-- I just wrapped it
up and went home. NARRATOR: After returning the
following day to photograph the tracks, he showed the
evidence to local wildlife and law enforcement officials. BILL HEICHER: I
can't tell you what created those impressions that
Bill Brice has a picture of. It's not a bear. I don't think it's a human. NARRATOR: Bill Heicher is a
biologist with the Colorado Wildlife Division. He says that after 32 years
of working in the wilderness, he has not seen anything like
those Eagle River tracks. BILL HEICHER: I-- I
really don't think he was perpetuating a hoax. I think he really and truly
found these tracks and he hasn't-- he thinks they're
Bigfoot, I believe. NARRATOR: Eagle County Sheriff's
Deputy Bill Kaufman was also asked to help identify
the mysterious tracks. It's unknown to me
of any type of animal that lives in this
region that would make those types of tracks. The depths of the
impression were remarkable. I knew it had to be a rather
heavy type of creature to be able to make
those impressions, and through my resources,
we estimated at the time to be anywhere between
400 and 700 pounds to make that type of depth
in that type of soil. BILL HEICHER: The place where
he found these tracks are some-- is a location where you would
not expect anybody to go to. There's no roads,
there's no trails. The only easily way to access
it is crossing the river. You need waders. The Eagle River is one of the
slipperiest rivers I've ever been in. It's kind of
treacherous to wade. It's not real deep
right-- right here, but it's not something
you would normally do. And it's-- if somebody was
perpetuating a hoax and making tracks, you wouldn't-- you could wait
decades for somebody to find them over there. NARRATOR: There is
another type of analysis that might help to determine
whether the snow beast made the Eagle River tracks
in Brice's photo. JIM HALFPENNY: First thing I
do, tracks, is rate the quality. Is it a good track? NARRATOR: Ecologist
Dr. Jim Halfpenny is an expert in
forensic technology and has taught professional snow
tracking for the last 20 years. JIM HALFPENNY: We can
then take photographs or casts that come to the
field and compare them to a in-hands plaster cast
or we can compare them up on a photographic
screen computer monitor. NARRATOR: Halfpenny is
frequently called in to analyze unidentified
tracks using the techniques he teaches. He has seen many cases
of misidentification, but there were some instances
that he simply can not explain. JIM HALFPENNY: Then
there are a set of category of tracks that have
only two possible solutions to them. They are either made by
a creature not documented by modern science
or they're fakes. NARRATOR: "MonsterQuest" will
perform several experiments to determine the identity of
the predator hunting the elk of the Colorado Rockies. Bill Heicher will conduct an
experiment on the same soil where the Eagle
River tracks were found to determine the weight
of the creature that made them. This will hopefully provide
another clue to the identity of the predator. To my knowledge, nothing
like this has been done before. NARRATOR: The
"MonsterQuest" team has used photos of the Eagle
River tracks to replicate them. BILL HEICHER: Really
good photographs. Had measurements, tape--
tape measure right beside it, indicated length. You could figure out
width, you could figure out depth of the track. NARRATOR: The footprint replicas
are attached to a wooden frame which has been built to support
thousands of pounds of weight. Sandbags will be added until
the impressions match those in the photos. All right. NARRATOR: The team will also
utilize a time lapse camera to determine if
the weather could be responsible for
changing tracks over time, resulting in misidentification. MAN: We're trying to see how
much tracks will distort, change over time. NARRATOR: The camera captures
one image every two minutes, allowing the team to see how
the changes in weather patterns can affect tracks. This process could help to
further determine the predator. And is suggestive that it
could be a Bigfoot print. NARRATOR: Colorado. It is here that "MonsterQuest"
is on the hunt for what may be slaughtering the elk
of the Rocky Mountain range. Terrifying legends
of a snow beast have been passed down for
generations in this area. It's black. Its hands was black. Its face was about
black, like a gorilla. NARRATOR: Dan
Trujillo says that he had two run-ins with the
monster near his home, high in the Rocky Mountains. DAN TRUJILLO: We were building a
fire to have a little barbecue, and, you know, just before
dark, we heard clacking, like rock clacking. We heard the horses
over here rustling. They came up from the field
running full blast towards us and they were all
wide-eyed and everything. They were spooked. And that's when the
first yell came, and it was just a short yell. And then the-- the second yell
came just a few seconds later and it probably lasted, I'm
guessing, four to five seconds. NARRATOR: The terrified couple
left immediately, not noticing that their horses had claw
marks from their rib cage back to their hind legs. They couldn't
identify a predator that would have made the marks. Then, another
horrifying encounter. DAN TRUJILLO: My dad came out-- out to help me water-- water and feed the horses
early in the morning. Our dog that we had is used to-- when you open the
door, he's used to running through
the fields here, and he's not afraid of nothing. And, uh, at that time, he
went over towards the corrals here and the dog seen something
and my dad seen something at the same time. NARRATOR: The elder Trujillo
spotted a large 8 to 10 foot dark-colored creature
walking on two feet through the trees. When they tried to get closer,
the beast ran out of sight. DAN TRUJILLO: Dog made a
beeline back into the house. The dog actually got scared. We couldn't even get the dog
outside the house for two hours. NARRATOR: In the search
for new evidence, the "MonsterQuest" team has
hiked deep into the forest in search of the creature. They have uncovered what they
believe to be a promising area for further exploration. KIM SAUERBREY: If we're going
to find this a large predator, this is the ideal spot
to be looking for it. Everything he needs is
here-- the food, the water, the animals that are traveling
through here, his prey. NARRATOR: The area also
has an abandoned mine, which reveals visible signs
of predator occupation. They believe it could be
the home of the snow beast. KIM SAUERBREY: Particular camera
we're using today that we're shoving in there, we
put on a wide angle lens so we get a nice, big
view inside the cave. We feel confident with the pole
being able extend about nine feet we should be able to
see all the way in the cave and see if anything's inside. NARRATOR: The initial
investigation of the mine reveals that it is
currently empty. That does not take
away from the fact that a large predator of some
kind has made its home inside. KIM SAUERBREY:
Something's been down in here, bedded for a while. It is large enough, though,
for a nice, large predator to make a nice home
or habitat out of. NARRATOR: Jim Halfpenny's
examination of the four sets of photographs of
the creature's tracks have provided some
useful insight. JIM HALFPENNY: We have a
list of criteria for each of the different mammal
species, and I'll go through and evaluate the
criteria to see if a given photo fits in a particular
species category. And once I've done
that, then I'll try to decide was this track
made by a wild animal that's normally around or could it
have been made by Bigfoot. NARRATOR: The
first set of tracks were photographed in
Niwot, Colorado, which is 100 miles from Pikes Peak. JIM HALFPENNY: This
looks initially like it could be a primate
track, maybe a Bigfoot track. And it's very clear, their toes. I've got some ponderosa
pine needles here that help me to scale. The toes do not
form a smooth arc. Just think of the
toe as your own foot. They have a smooth arc,
whereas here you've got a couple of
toes, maybe three, and then these are
just placed up above. This is a pair of toes
from a different track. All three of these criteria-- toe shape, the arc of the toes,
and the interdigital pad-- suggests strongly of a large
cat, probably a cougar. NARRATOR: They appear to
be similar to the next set of tracks, which
are from Pikes Peak. JIM HALFPENNY: Well, my initial
reaction to this set of photos looking at it, because
of the straight line and groups of tracks, would
be a galloping pattern or a hopping pattern. NARRATOR: If the creature
walks on two feet, the track should have a
left right displacement. Track displacement or the
distance between the tracks when measured side by side is
a key factor in understanding what left the impressions. JIM HALFPENNY: The
pattern is basically straight with no displacement. The faster an animal
moves, the less the right-left displacement. But when we're talking
about an animal purported to be a Sasquatch, which is
several hundred pounds, has very broad hips, is not able to
really get a super fast speed up where tracks might come one
right in front of the other. Even a running Sasquatch,
and-- from other evidence that people have
found, would intend to be a definite right-left,
right-left displacement. I think it's a galloping coyote. NARRATOR: Next, Halfpenny turns
to the Eagle River tracks that have stumped the Colorado
Wildlife Department and local police for years. JIM HALFPENNY: That's an
interesting set of tracks. They're in the
dirt, not the snow. Seem to have a little
bit of a straddle there. We've got a context photo
that shows over a distance the tracks coming towards us
and then close-ups of each of the photographs, which is
a much better way to reproduce or document your scene. NARRATOR: The tape
measure in the photograph shows the print was 18
and a 1/2 inches long, but there is also what
looks to be a possible heel depression at 13 inches. JIM HALFPENNY: Down in Colorado,
all we've got's black bear. And we-- if you just look at
what we call a maximum outline measurement, this could be a
big black bear, conceivably with a little movement within
the track within the dirt. But the track itself-- 13 by 7 and 1/2 is big
for a black bear, period. It could be the hind
foot of a black bear, but that would still
be very, very big. So 13 by 7 and 1/2 by size
really rules out a bear and is suggestive that it
could be a Bigfoot footprint. NARRATOR: "MonsterQuest is
conducting an experiment to determine just how heavy
the snow beast that is stalking the area may have been. One more-- I got it. NARRATOR: After stacking
300 pounds of sandbags, the team checks the impression
that the added weight makes. Yeah, the average
male black bear is probably under 300 pounds. But 300 pound black bear is a
good sized bear, but not huge. Well, there is, actually. The heel comes back
around here, comes up, but that's pretty indistinct. It's going to take
a lot more weight. NARRATOR: They add 240
pounds, bringing the total to 540 pounds. The prints made are still
well shallow of the 3/4 inch compression seen in
the Eagle River photos. 540 pounds-- that'd be
a huge male black bear. And I've got the heel back
here going in, but I don't-- I really don't see-- the footprint is not
uniformly going in. Let's put on another, uh-- well, let's put another
four bags on there. You know, that's 540-- be 780 pounds. That'd be the equivalent to the
biggest black bear ever found in Colorado. NARRATOR: The aerial
search is again being affected by the weather. High winds and snow are
forecast for the area, meaning the attempt to fly
will be extremely dangerous. You'd be-- you'd be extremely
hard pressed to find anybody else to go and fly and film
in-- in snow or, really, anywhere close to these
temperatures and conditions. Only crazy people do this. [laughter] NARRATOR: The storm keeps the
team below the 11,000 foot elevation that they
were hoping to achieve. This is well below the
current snow line and the area where the elk are
likely to be grazing. This means locating
predator tracks will be almost impossible. With the weather getting
worse, the team gets a break. "MonsterQuest" is in search of
the snow beast, a creature that is said to prowl Colorado's
majestic Rocky Mountain range. This helicopter team is
searching the snow-capped Pikes Peak area. This expert believes that the
creature hunts the local elk herds. This man has photographs
of what he claims are the footprints of the beast. This expert is attempting to
confirm the identity of what made those tracks. There have been over
100 reported encounters in Colorado. They have been mapped by
Christopher Markuson and Bill Given, who are analyzing them
to see if the beast is fleeing the advance of
modern civilization. CHRISTOPHER MARKUSON: So I
used the date of the sightings to show where things
were beginning and the earliest sightings
were and how they've progressed over time. BILL GIVEN: So it--
it would appear to you that the sightings have moved
further into the wilderness area as if it's moving
away from the population center of humans? That's exactly what I want
to do to take a look at and see is-- you know, as Colorado
Springs has grown, the number of sightings that--
that people have seen seem to correlate directly with
[inaudible] going to be further into the forest.
- Yeah. And now it's
certainly correlated with the historical
range of the grizzly bear that we looked at recently. As people moved across
Colorado, the bear receded until it
finally disappeared, and-- and this suggests a
similar movement pattern. NARRATOR: The study of
the reported sightings suggest that the creature is
moving west, as its wilderness habitat decreases. CHRISTOPHER MARKUSON: I
would suspect that, really, any wildlife species
that is being encroached upon by new development
or human impact, there's going to be some sort
of conflict between the two. NARRATOR: The weather that has
plagued the aerial search is also beginning to become a
worry for the ground team. They have found a
cave that they hoped may be used as the
creature's resting place and have deployed
a thermal camera. KIM SAUERBREY: Weather
today is not looking good. We have a storm
coming in right now and we're looking at
either snow or rain, and we're down in a valley where
it's a little difficult to get out if we get either. NARRATOR: The team begins to
disconnect the thermal camera so they can see if an image
has been captured on tape. KIM SAUERBREY: So hopefully we
got some good video on here. Still don't see anything
moving in the background. I feel there could be something
out there that we have the habitat here to
support the creature, and feel that there could
be something out there. NARRATOR: The track
testing continues. The time lapse images have been
downloaded from the cameras and brought to Dr.
Jim Halfpenny's lab. JIM HALFPENNY: In the time
lapse experiment in the snow, the radiation effect is
dramatic and impressive. Tracks joining tracks to
become one huge track. Individual footprints enlarging
to become a huge Bigfoot track. While we experimented the
tracks-- we used some elk, some bear tracks,
and human tracks-- is it's very easy to see
how bear tracks could change into a Bigfoot-like track
and human tracks could. Elk tracks, not so easy
to make into a Bigfoot. But the environment can easily
change barren human tracks to look like what
a Bigfoot track. NARRATOR: Halfpenny determines
that mistaken identity seems to account for the
tracks found in snow. He cannot say the same
about those found in dirt. JIM HALFPENNY: And what
I've got here on the screen is a frame of the time lapse
from the very beginning of the frame of the
time lapse at the end. And these sets of tracks were
made in sort of a soft dirt, whereas in snow we get
shape and size change. Here, they sort of disintegrate
and you lose quality more than change size. NARRATOR: The experiment
has demonstrated that very minimal change occurs
over time to impressions found in dirt. This suggests that these prints
cannot be explained by mistaken identity. The other part of the
track experimentation also seems to point to the
existence of a large snow beast creature that is
currently unknown to man. 2-- [heavy breathing] --3. We're over the biggest
recorded black bear. NARRATOR: The weight needed
to replicate the prints has reached staggering levels. Even at 780 pounds,
the impressions still do not match the photographs. The team adds more weight. BILL HEICHER: OK,
you got 900 pounds. I can definitely see the toes
kind of going into the ground. BILL KAUFMAN: Right. I think, uh, maybe that's
what it's going to take. [inaudible] OK, let's tilt her up. Oh, yeah. BILL KAUFMAN: Yeah. BILL HEICHER: Yeah,
there's definitely a-- a track there. You can make out toes, and you
can make out a heel on yours, definitely a heel on mine. And boy, you can really make
out the ball of the foot. BILL KAUFMAN: Yeah. Coming across here. The toes are
definitely distinct. I think that it's pretty
similar to what, uh, the photographs show. This is 900 pounds, so, um, but
it's stationary weight, too. It's not-- it doesn't have
that dynamic movement of a-- a person or an animal
moving and weight shifting. So I think we're in the realm. It could be, you know,
800 to 1,000 pounds it would take to create a-- track the impression
similar to Bill Brice's NARRATOR: This test has
made one thing clear-- the tracks could
not have been made by a known native predator. The helicopter search
team has located a line of tracks that is of interest. They make another pass
to get a closer look, but the tracks appear to
have been made by coyotes. The team seems to be finding
some interesting leads, but the storm rolling in
is working against them. The "MonsterQuest" team
has been able to determine that the beast
stalking this area is bigger than any
known native predator. They've also concluded that
the beast seems to be stalking the local elk migration. The team also ruled out
misidentification of bears as the possible explanation. So while photographic proof
of Colorado's snow beast remains elusive, the search has
yielded some positive results. KEITH FOSTER: We did cover
about 60 miles of terrain, and we learned through that
what we can see down below and what kind of conditions
we need when we're flying in the helicopter. And the technique is going to
work well in the future, and so we-- we look forward to-- to trying this again. JIM HALFPENNY: One
of my hypotheses is that Bigfoot could exist. But does Bigfoot exist? That's still an open hypothesis
that hasn't been proven. Perhaps it does. People are seeing
something, um, in the forest. Whether that's
Bigfoot or not, I-- I can't speculate to say that. But I would say that
they're probably seeing some sort of animal
that they're not familiar with. I can tell you what it wasn't. I know it wasn't a bear,
an elk, mountain lion, you know, something like that. As a scientist, you also
have to keep a inquiring mind and realize that species that
you don't know much about can be hard to detect,
and we are still discovering new species
in remote locations around the world.
