Big foot or Finlaners and whisky LOL!

[Bufflehead]

 Bigfoot tracks were spotted twice in the last month in Cook County and Lake County, Minnesota, on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Fortean researcher Jim Richardson reported, "I don't think I'm betraying any confidences by spilling this cryptozoological scoop, so here goes. Three people Allen (Richardson) and I work with were hiking about three miles (5 kilometers) into the woods around Grand Marais, Minnesota (population 1,353)," a fishing port on Lake Superior located about 120 miles (192 kilometers) northeast of Duluth, on Saturday and Sunday, February 12 and 13, 2005.

"They were making their way to a cabin out there" in Cook County "and snowshoeing a thin trail through waist- deep snow around 1 to 2 a.m., and even with snowshoes on, they were sinking a foot and a half or so into the snow."

"Apparently they came upon some large tracks, with a roughly four or five-foot (1.3 to 1.5-meter) stride, along a trail running perpendicular to theirs. It spooked them all pretty good on account of the great length of stride, which persisted as far up and down the trail as their lights were able to see. The tracks also left no kicked- up snow like snowshoes leave, implying great height in whoever made the tracks."

"One of the people assured me that the tracks were bipedal and not moose tracks or anything. He was also the one who inspected it closest of the three. He said he could discern, in his close examination, that it was a large footprint."

"This one person is really pretty certain that nothing identifiable made those tracks and leans towards a Bigfoot explanation. The other two guys are hedging their bets a little more, but not much...They're being good skeptics, though, and saying the tracks are 'unidentified.' What can be said with some certainty is the experience spooked them all."

On Friday, March 4, 2005, another witness "went out to check on the yurt I built in Lake County, Minn., near Isabella, between the (Lake Superior) North Shore and Ely, to see if it had collapsed under the weight of the snow. It was still standing... three winters now...those Mongolians are so smart!"

"Sans snowshoes, my dog and I walked through knee-to- hip-deep snow for about a half-mile (0.8 kilometers). Even as a tall person my tracks were a foot apart or less. Yes, it was exhausting. My dog loved it."

"Along with many obvious deer trails and smaller tracks in the snow, I came upon a single set of very large, wide and elongated human-like tracks. Each step was 4 to 5 feet apart and each imprint went to the bottom of the snowpack, unlike snowshoes. My first thought was maybe a moose was 'hopping' through the woods, but upon inspection they were clearly single-footed tracks. Not even the tallest person in the world wearing snowshoes could stride like that through such deep snow."

The witness returned to the scene on Wednesday, March 9, 2005, informing the Richardsons that the prints "were 16 to 20 inches (40 to 50 centimeters) deep last Friday and had been recently filled with fresh snow.
Investigations into moose and bear tracks in deep powdery snow suggested the deep tracks were neither. That leaves snowshoes, which generally go one-third to the bottom of the powdery snowpack. The strides were 4 to 6 feet."

Richardson added, "The Grand Marais witnesses all say the tracks in the photos are the same as what they saw."

But Fortean researcher and cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, who studied the Isabella track photos, reportedly told the Richardsons that "it's hard to tell anything about the prints without foot casts," adding, "'Too much melting to say much, it appears...These could be anything.'"

According to the Bigfoot Reseach Organization, in 1985, witnesses saw a Bigfoot estimated to be 9 feet (2.7 meters) tall in the woods just north of Silver Bay, Minn. (population 2,06.

Isabella is on Minnesota Highway 1 about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Silver Bay. (See the Reader Weekly of Duluth, Minn. for March 17, 2005, "Local Bigfoot flap," page 30.)

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Maybe the Terrorist Ole's bin loggin...