A ‘Gliding’ Bigfoot and Footprints at 11,467 Feet in Colorado

The Rio Grande near Lost Trail Creek, Hinsdale County, Colorado, 1874 (U.S. Geological Survey, CC0). Historical landscape, not the sighting site.

What happened

On the afternoon of 28 July 2026, a couple from Lake City were driving north on Colorado Highway 149, coming from Creede. They were towing a fifth-wheel RV down from Slumgullion Pass. The wife was scanning the slope for wildlife. In the report she later filed with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), she wrote: “I was looking out the window looking for deer, moose etc. when out stepped from the edge of the woods a BIGFOOT.”

She said the figure turned right and walked uphill along the treeline. “Its gait was a glide,” she wrote, and it was “dark blackish brown”. She estimated its height from the young trees around it: “I would bet it stood 7-9 ft tall based on the size of the small spruce trees.” She saw four or five steps before a bend in the road blocked her view.

Her husband did not see the figure. The couple turned around at County Road 50 and walked up to look with binoculars, but saw nothing. They drove home, dropped off the RV and came back to look for tracks. He found one barefoot print and photographed it next to a 4-inch knife. The next day they found a second possible print. BFRO published the report as #81439 and graded it Class A.

Timeline

• 1874: USGS survey photographers document the upper Rio Grande in Hinsdale County (featured image).
• Early 1950s: The husband’s family starts visiting the area, according to his statement.
• Winter 1990–91: Colorado Parks and Wildlife begins introducing moose to the area. According to the Lake City visitor site, they now thrive in Hinsdale County.
• 1995: Matthew Moneymaker founds the BFRO.
• 1999: The USGS publishes its map of the active Slumgullion landslide, about 5 km southeast of Lake City.
• 28 July 2026, 3:41 PM: The sighting on Highway 149. The first print is found later that day at 11,467 ft.
• 29 July 2026: A second possible print is found at 11,282 ft. The same day, the witness submits the report to BFRO.
• Later in 2026: National outlets, including NewsNation, pick up the report.
• 4 November 2026: Report rechecked for this rewrite.

What believers claim

Believers say this is a strong Class A report: a daylight sighting by an adult who calls herself a former skeptic. She wrote: “Trust me when I say I am not a bigfoot believer, but after what I saw I sure in the hell am now!” Her husband backs her up on how she reacted. “I have no doubt that [she] saw what she saw,” he wrote. He describes her as “Amazed, speechless, excited and yet in her eyes she seemed a bit frightened.”

The couple say the footprint was fresh. The husband wrote: “Originally there were a couple of red (raspberry?) stems embedded in the track.” He reasoned that plants usually spring back up after rain, so stems still pressed into the print suggested it was recent. He added that the print was in an area “not an area with trails or any reason for people to walk there”.

What the research found

The report is real and detailed. BFRO’s database lists report #81439 as Class A, “Submitted by witness … on Wednesday, July 29, 2026”. It is headed “Daylight sighting by motorist along highway 149, ten miles SE of Lake City”. BFRO investigator Matthew Moneymaker added GPS coordinates for the sighting spot. The witness gave coordinates and elevations for both prints.