Campers' encounter just after dark in the Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve witnessed in Cordova-McCarthy County, Alaska

Open Map

My hiking partner and I arrived late to the Kennikot area. We were trying to make it to the camp sites near the glachier but it started getting too dark even for us . So we decided to camp at the first available site . We found a small spot right off the trail so we made camp and hung our supplies in a tree down the trail , started a fire and were just finishing a small meal when I walked to the trail to smoke. I was standing on the trail a few minutes when I noticed what I thought was a man on a bike coming down the trail. I let my partner know, but when I looked back it was still in the same spot. I started looking more closely to see a face or the bike or something. It was then I realized it wasn't a person. It was a large dark form legs spread apart, this is what led me to think it was a person on a bike. The arms were curled at it's side like someone with hands on handle bars. Too big for a bear and the legs were too far apart. I called my partner but when turned back to loo...