Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
Forum rules
This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
JohnnyDangerous wrote:My friend and I walked up on a cat on the trail to Capitol in August 2013 right before dawn. I will never forget the predator eyes crouched low in the grass. I have grown up with domestic cats for 29 years, and what was crouched in the grass was definitely a large cat. We didn't really know what to do, and stood there watching the animal for close to a minute. Finally, I pulled out my emergency whistle and gave it a toot, and the cat bounded off.
The date of the footprint I took above was August 1, 2013. Perhaps it was the same big cat! I would love to see one in the wild but only from the safety of a sturdy structure.
You will some day. But no need to be afraid. I've seen them up extremely close and I rank it as one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. I can guarantee you that you have walked very near a number of mt lions. If they wanted to kill you, then you would be dead already.
I've never worried about it much (although seeing a pair of eyes reflecting back at you from your headlamp at night can be a bit spooky), but I've often wondered how much is out there that I'm just not seeing.
"Everybody I know has a big 'but'" - if you can tell me what movie this quote is from (and aren't too embarrassed to admit it), I'll buy you lunch.
"Oh...oh I've got a helmet - I got a beauty!" - George Hanson
JohnnyDangerous wrote:My friend and I walked up on a cat on the trail to Capitol in August 2013 right before dawn. I will never forget the predator eyes crouched low in the grass. I have grown up with domestic cats for 29 years, and what was crouched in the grass was definitely a large cat. We didn't really know what to do, and stood there watching the animal for close to a minute. Finally, I pulled out my emergency whistle and gave it a toot, and the cat bounded off.
The date of the footprint I took above was August 1, 2013. Perhaps it was the same big cat! I would love to see one in the wild but only from the safety of a sturdy structure.
You will some day. But no need to be afraid. I've seen them up extremely close and I rank it as one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. I can guarantee you that you have walked very near a number of mt lions. If they wanted to kill you, then you would be dead already.
We have a number of housecats and one of them likes to stalk and jump on people's backs if they bend over at all, and he has been known to leave some decent scratches. Translating that to the speed and power of a mtn lion is a little concerning! The one that left the footprint was probably watching us pass. I am sure seeing one in the wild would be very inspiring. I don't spend time worrying about them at all, but don't know quite how I would react to actually seeing one.
Climb the mountain so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.
Tornadoman wrote:
Any thoughts on this picture? It was from the Ditch Trail into Capitol Summer 2013, and I have always wondered. It was probably close to 4" across.
Now that is a cat track, and if it's 4" across, then almost certainly a cougar. Or maybe a puma. Or even a mountain lion....