So the story starts this past Monday, the 8th. I did a night climb up Evans via Spalding from Summit Lake, for two reasons. First, never did a full moon hike and wanted to catch the sunrise on the ridge. Second, I had some friends coming in from the east coast and they showed interest in perhaps tackling a 14er, and as I hadn't climbed Evans yet I wanted to check it out prior. I had just gained the ridge/summit area of Spalding. It was still prior to sunrise, yet visible light had begun and I could differentiate colors. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a light brown colored, muscular animal pass between two boulders. It was the correct size for a lion, and certainly nothing else really fits the bill. I didn't see him run off, so it was a tense 10-15 minutes or so as I made as wide an arc around the area as possible, realizing I was wondering in prime hunting time for him. Although I never saw the face or eyes, I was pretty certain I was correct it was a lion. I didn't bother throwing that info on here, as I could see it being beat up pretty quickly...and for numerous good reasons - I was tired, and could have been seeing things. The lion would most likely never venture up to 13,500', etc.
This brings us to today, the 11th, where I took my friends up Evans via the same route. We were about to reach the crest of Spalding when they asked where I had seen the lion. I told them that it was just up a few hundred more yards. Sure enough, thanks to the remnants of some fresh snow, low and behold we find lion tracks, at 13,500. I would say we saw about a dozen separate tracks (probably all the same lion though), that left Spalding and descended towards the Evans/Spalding saddle. We lost any sign of viable tracks about half way between the two, prior to the sawtooth intersection. So keep an eye out if your up there!
