The neighborhood was in a stir last evening with the finding of Bigfoot tracks in the snow only several hundred yards from the last house up the road.

The tracks were discovered by two brothers-in-law, Josh and Rob.  They felt it wise to alert the family in the house concerning the presence in the area of a neighbor of whom they probably weren’t aware.

The news was disconcerting to the family.  Their house is surrounded on three sides by woods, and is in the shadow of an 8,000-foot mountain.  The previous winter they’d heard something on their deck at 6:00 a.m.  The 13-year-old boy in the family parted the curtains, and through the glass, found himself face-to-face with a cougar!  That was enough to cause all but the oldest teen-age boy to move out and spend the next night down at Grandma’s house where a cougar would be less likely to come crashing through a window to get them.

Now they’d also have to worry about Bigfoot.  “It was creepy,” one girl said after seeing the tracks.  “They’re huge!  Josh and Rob showed us the marks of the toes.  It walked along a road, and then turned and went up the mountain.  There were the tracks of a little one with it!”

I called my son.  “Adam,” I said, “I want you to go tracking with me tomorrow morning.”  He agreed to meet me at daylight.  I took my camera, a tape measure, dressed warmly, put on snow boots, and was prepared for a lengthy trek following Bigfoot tracks up and over the mountain, if necessary.

It was an easy walk through the woods.  Though it was January, there was very little snow.  Several inches had fallen at Thanksgiving, but since then the weather had been cold and dry.  The month of December 2011 was snowless—recording the least precipitation for the month in that area in over 100 years.

We walked on mostly bare ground until the logging road rounded a bend and headed down a north slope into a draw.  The sun was unable to shine much on that northern exposure, so three inches of hard snow covered the ground.

And suddenly, there before us were the Bigfoot tracks.  They were, indeed, huge, measuring 17-1/2 inches long by 9-1/2 inches wide.  It was easy to see why Josh and Rob had been so excited.  They’d already texted pictures of the tracks to all of their friends, including another of my sons.  The tracks were 24” to 27” apart, and were in the middle of the road between the two wheel tracks.  Why hadn’t the creature walked in the wheel tracks where the going would have been easier?  And why was such a big, upright beast taking such short strides?

Adam, it turned out, was the perfect companion to have invited on my adventure.  He was a tracker beyond compare.  He was able to read the tracks like no one else could.

“That bigfoot came through here when the snow was crusted,” he said.  “The crust wasn’t quite thick enough to hold him, and he fell through with every step.

“The tracks are about a month old,” he added.  “The reason he was walking in the center of the road, and taking such short strides, is because he was holding the hands of not one, but two, young ones—one on either side—where they could both walk in the wheel tracks.

“Coincidentally, his footprints are following the exact route my two boys and I took when we went looking for a Christmas tree last month.  Funny how time, sun and evaporation can enlarge tracks.  Let’s not tell Josh and Rob, and see how this story grows.”