Report 2115: White creature in Utah desert exhibits scouting behavior on ridge above hikers

In June, 1996, I was hiking in the Escalante Wilderness on a bench between The Gulch and Deer Creek. There are a number of stony rises between the two areas and my friend and I had to cross the bench in order to make camp at Deer Creek. As we hiked in a westward direction, the sun was directly overhead.  I was the first to notice the movement at the top of the rise (we were less than a mile from the top) and pointed it out to my companion.  We puzzled about what it could be. I have hike in this area and never saw anyone up on the bench during this time of day, over the previous 15 years.  And though this had a human shape, it was too large and it was white- I mean paper white, not caucasian. The creature appeared to be pacing as it looked for something. Suddenly I became very aware it had spotted us as it ducked behind the rocky outcroppings and was obscured from our view. As we were hiking toward the area to cross the bench, we observed as we got closer that the area where the creature stood that it was on the highest point and would require all of our climbing skills to reach. Not knowing what it was, (if it was dangerous or wanted to be left alone), or if it was even there any longer; and being nearly exhausted from our hike and almost out of water, I decided we would hike over the bench and down to Deer Creek.  About a half of a mile down the westward slope we both had that feeling we were being watched.  We both turned and looked up to that area where we had previously sighted the creature and it was watching us again- then quickly ducked down so we could not see it. I wrote about it in my journal which I have kept for many years, but am writing from memory now. I never thought of this as being a "bigfoot" sighting as I hadn't heard anyone ever describe a white bigfoot. But a friend of mine, who is a "bigfoot enthusiast" directed me to this site. I am still not sure what it was, though I am relatively sure it wasn't human. (Too big and entirely white)