Bears are small and black where I'm from.
The teller is a scientist, and the hardest part of this story for them is that they now believe it.
Around 2019 they went hiking with a friend in northeastern Pennsylvania. It wasn't truly remote, but there was plenty of forest. The trail climbed a wooded mountain above a reservoir. Before they set out, the friend's father, whose family had lived there for generations, told them to be careful. There were a lot of old abandoned four-wheeler trails up there, he said, and he hinted that there were things in those woods to watch out for.
Naturally they got lost, ended up on those old ATV trails, and the sun began to set. They were stressed and hurrying when they heard movement and turned.
Long reddish-brown hair swept past the teller at eye level. It was long enough that their first confused thought was a woman's hair, and they actually asked their friend if it was her mother, come looking for them because they were late. The friend said no, that was not a person, and told them to look down.
They were standing on the edge of a steep slope, and whatever had passed them was walking on the ground below. For its hair to be at the teller's eye level, it had to be three or four feet taller than they were. It didn't run, but its strides were so long and quick that it was there and gone in a second. They saw no clothing, only that reddish-brown hair, and there was an earthy, unpleasant smell.
Fear hit them both at once. They abandoned the trails completely and ran straight downhill through the trees, coming out much further around the reservoir than they should have. They made it back to the car safe.
When they told the friend's father, he wasn't surprised. He said all his friends knew those animals lived up there, and that people stayed out of that area to leave them in peace. The teller admits he's a bit eccentric, so they take that with a grain of salt.
Over the years everyone they tell says the same thing: it was obviously a bear. The teller is tired of hearing it. Bears where they live are small and black, they say. What passed them was neither a bear nor a person.