In the early 1980's Deryl Leggett was the credit officer who serviced agricultural loans for the Production Credit Association in Grant County, Oregon.  Many of the loans came up for renewal during the winter.  Rather than commute back to his home each night in Baker County, Deryl would get a motel room in John Day and go early to the ranches where he'd help feed the cattle, count them, and then sit down with the rancher to renew the loan and work out the budget for the coming year.

On one such morning Deryl had an early appointment with a rancher at Fox.  Fox is a tiny community between Mt. Vernon and Long Creek.  The road from Mt. Vernon to Fox is a long, uphill grade that changes from bare hills to forest as the elevation increases.  On this particular morning, a heavy snow had fallen during the night.  It was still dark when Deryl set out on his drive to Fox.  His pickup was the first traffic the road had seen that day.  Not even the snowplows had been out.  As the day was dawning, the shoulders of the road were difficult to see under the snow, so Deryl drove up the center of the highway.  He had no intention of stopping, because in doing so, he might not be able to get started again in the deep snow.

As he neared the summit, which was in the forest and many miles from any habitation, he glimpsed what he initially thought was a deer ahead, off in the woods to the right of the road.  As he got nearer, he realized it wasn't a deer because it stood upright.  It was a man—a very tall man—in a light brown jogging suit.

Deryl shook his head at that thought, and dismissed it as soon as it entered his mind.  No one would be jogging at that hour in that isolated location in the deep snow.

The creature, which was now on the road, saw Deryl approaching from behind, made a sharp turn to its left, crossed the road, and with long strides, bounded off through the woods on the left side of the road.

Part of Deryl wanted to stop and investigate the phenomenon he'd just seen; but another part of him was reluctant to do so, especially since he would probably be stuck if he did.

Therefore, Deryl kept driving.  But the sight he saw is one of those memories that is seared into his mind in such a way that he can still see it today in his mind's eye.  To this day he's not sure what he did see, but he was highly interested when a local rancher reported sighting a Bigfoot in the area a few days later.