Brothers have early evening sighting near Lee Vining witnessed in Mono County, California

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This happened about 24 years ago, but it is still fresh in my mind (I guess you never really forget these type of experiences). It was late July of 1977. My family was up in the eastern Sierras, near Mono Lake, approx 13-15 miles above Conway Summit in an area known as Virginia Lakes. My dad told my brother and I to go to the lake and gather firewood. It was late in the day and the sun was down but it wasn't dark yet, only dusk. I was 14 yrs old and my brother was 1 month shy of 16. He had his learners permit so we were allowed to take the truck. We got to the lake and started loading up some wood. I had just returned to the truck and dropped the wood when I heard, what I thought, was someone walking through the brush. The foot falls were very heavy, almost like someone was jumping, but the steps seemed pretty rapidly placed. Where we were gathering wood was near a large hedge of bushes, approx 6 to 7 feet high and very dense with only 1 path through the bush to skirt the lake without...