And that was exactly the purpose of the visit: Production of a documentary piece investigating the possibility of a Sasquatch or Bigfoot presence in Colorado, where rumors of huge “monkey-men” creatures have been reported since the late 1800s. The Sasquatch or Bigfoot legend became more famous in the early 1950s, following publication of an out-of-focus photo of a huge, ape-like creature.
Minneapolis-based producer Liz Pollock and her crew were drawn to the Eagle area, located about 31 miles west of Vail, by a couple of incidents reported in the spring of 2000. Within a three-week period that year, two fishermen reported separate instances of finding huge, human-like footprints ” 18 to 20 inches long ” alongside the Eagle River.
One sighting was below Gypsum, and the second was just above Eagle. At the time, wildlife experts and law enforcement officers filed reports and studied the photos, but couldn’t explain what had made the tracks.
The popular “Monster Quest” show is a documentary television series that examines monster sightings around the world. Each episode is a mix of scientific examination evidence, eyewitness reports, and observations from informed skeptics. It’s a science known as “cryptozoology” ” the study of animals that fall outside of contemporary zoological catalogs.
“Our main goal is to keep it as credible as possible,” said Pollock, “We try to get unbiased experts to look at people’s physical evidence.”
The documentary, tentatively slated to run this spring, will mark the first time a “Monster Quest” bigfoot story has centered on Colorado.
Pollack’s research turned up 100 reported bigfoot encounters (including track sightings and vocalizations, as well as physical sightings) reported in the state.
The completed program will include a mix of interviews, a scientific experiment, and an “expedition.” Pollack said that the approximate 15 full days of filming will include a couple of days on horseback and two days of helicopter flights over the Pikes Peak area (where the most recent Sasquatch sighting was reported) with a representative of the Colorado Bigfoot Organization.
The Eagle segment features a scientific experiment and interviews with several locals who were involved in the track sightings.
Pollack tapped retired Division of Wildlife Officer Bill Heicher as the program’s “informed skeptic.” A wildlife biologist, Heicher makes it clear he’s not a bigfoot believer.
“If bigfoot were out there, somebody would have found signs, like scat, or fur samples that could be used for DNA tests,” he reasoned. Still, after talking with one of the men who found the tracks eight years ago, and examining the photographs, Heicher says he can’t explain what left the track near the river.
“I don’t think it was human. I ruled out wildlife tracks. I don’t know what it was,” Heicher said.
Bill Kaufman, now a captain with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, was one of the officers who looked into the incident at the time. Pollock’s crew filmed Kaufman discussing what he described as a credible witness, and the mysterious tracks.
Kaufman is not a bigfoot believer, but he noted law enforcement officers at the time could not determine what animal made the large, human-like tracks. Although the hind feet of bears produce tracks that can appear somewhat human, the size was way beyond any local bear track.
“I can’t explain it. The track was bigger than what I can explain. It’s that simple,” Kaufman says.
The “Monster Quest” crew, in an effort to get a feel for the size of a creature that would leave footprints the length and depth of those found in 2008, decided to organize an experiment. A hinged plywood “Sasquatch machine” was constructed and equipped with the molds of Sasquatch footprints.
The contraption was set up near the Eagle River. Cameraman Jim Tittle captured the action as Heicher and volunteer Eric Eves loaded sandbags onto the machine, then checked the depth of the resulting footprint. The conclusion: Well more than 800 pounds of weight was needed to leave a track in the hard-packed gravel bed. That’s considerably bigger than any local bear or moose.
The film crew also spent some time at the Eagle County Historical Society Museum. Historical archives include persistent reports of mysterious ape-like creatures encountered in the woods.
A report in an 1881 Leadville newspaper told of local residents seeing a “man with long arms and a long shaggy fur covered body in the Lake Creek area.” (Lake Creek is a common stream name in Colorado, and the Eagle Valley does have a Lake Creek.)
A tale of Leadville-area miners encountering a strange, hairy, man-like creature with extraordinarily long arms is chronicled in Percy Eberhardt’s book “Treasure Tales of the Rockies.” The “Monster Quest” crew plans to film a re-enactment of that story.
Historically, a story about a Sasquatch-like creature in the Pearl Creek area of Camp Hale, outside of Leadville, circulates every couple of decades or so. The accounts, typically of the friend-of-a-friend-told-me variety, usually involve the sighting of a huge, shadowy form in the trees, big footprints, and the disappearance of some hapless individual (a soldier from Camp Hale, a hunter, or somebody’s spouse).