Chevron over Bellingham, WA

The report, as filed

A substantially visible, thick, contrail-like plume was following an aircraft-like craft from a low altitude over Puget Sound to a higher altitude, with the plume spreading as it moved. Traveling west to east. It resembled a rocket or missile but was probably too slow to be a missle and was not clear enough to determine with the unaided eye. The bright, wide plume following it partly obscured the back end of the craft. This was not like a normal aircraft plume. It was highly unusual. The path was also unusual (a long arc changing from vertical to horizontal) and the plume was thicker than a normal airplaine. I captured video but parts of it are fuzzy (high contrast from tree silhouettes at sunset) and my viewing angle was not ideal (trees in the way). There is an airport here but this did not appear to originate from the airport. It appeared from Puget Sound or farther west over the ocean. Plume was bright orange due to the sunset effects until it reach a hi! gher more easterly altitude and more easterly trajectory, then it appeared as a normal whitish color. I've never seen anything like it. It did not look like falling satellite debris, it looked like it was self-powered or launched and then self-powered heading east toward eastern Washington State. If I held my finger up when it was traveling upward, it took several seconds for it to reach the other side of my finger. It was more rocket-like than plane-like but I cannot guess what it was. It traveled a considerable distance to the east (this was not a small local phenomenon like fireworks rockets, it was something bigger) and disappeared into the distance.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #160339). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.