Mountain Lion

[nyker]

Does anyone have any photos of mountain lions they've seen? If so please post!

I've had three potential sightings in CO: I say potential because I don't have a photo, did not see entire animal in a clear still moment but pretty much eliminated any other animal it might have been. All three were in remote areas, no people around and quiet mornings.
In each situation, I thought it might have been an dog, deer, young elk, off color goat, bighorn sheep, coyote, wolverine or even lynx (which also would have been cool!) but was none of them. Looking back at my notes from the time:

1. Aug 2008, Just after trailhead of Mount Huron, @ ~5:00AM, we saw it crouching under some conifers and moving around for about 30 seconds about 100 yards in front of us before you make the turn left climbing up. No other people around, just the two of us.

2. July 2009, about two miles into the route for San Luis, saw it from across the valley 200 yards away - we stood motionless and watched the tan colored creature move for 4-5 minutes very stealthfully in the high summer weed growth like the other animals do as if it were following a trail.

3. Sept 2012, Rock of Ages basin around one of the turns in the dirt road,trail just after 11am returning from Wilson Peak, where it makes a 90 degree turn from the main walk once it ascends above the basin. I saw a tan flash as it darted around the road, then I saw it behind some tall annual weeds off the side of the trail. Being startled to say the least, I waited 30 minutes and then slowly moved past, knife and bear spray in hands in case (not that either would have definitely helped but gives you a psychological boost) never saw it again. Incidentally, this was right around the time when a wolverine was spotted around near the cabin there, so I was actually looking out for that while around the area.

[Jeff Valliere]

Just saw this on muh feed.

Four lions on a deer kill near Sunshine Canyon, right by the Lion's Lair trail (of course).

Yeah, I passed through Tuesday mid day (and Wednesday too), right past them, but did not notice and only learned of it after the fact on Facebook

[Squirrellysquirrel]

So... reviving a thread about a mountain lion spotting. It was the Denny Creek/Mt Yale TH on Thursday morning on a rather warm morning considering (26'F), so it makes sense. Early 4AM start and I was making a bunch of noise on the lower part of the trail with my microspikes and the frozen snow drainages. I smelled the characteristic "cat pee" smell and I feel fortunate have "caught" the smell when the sunrise winds moved in my favor.

At first I questioned the smell as my own-- I will be the first to admit, yes, I have been known to pee on my gear with winds and early morning butt scratching, so at first I just stood still and sniffed any suspect gear. While I was assessing my smell factor, a squirrel started to chirp in irritation waaaay up the trail (not an alert to my stationary position), which was inline with in the direction of the wind. Again, I questioned, hesitated a few moments, but the spidey sense was strong, so I turned around and made my way back to my vehicle, a half mile hike. Took a bit to communicate via Garmin and get gear/self settled into the car. When I finally started my Crosstrek and turned my lights on after all this shuffling, my lights shined on an adolescent mountain lion about 10 feet away. Seems like s/he was curious and followed me back to the TH. It scampered back up the trail in a quick and graceful way.

This encounter seems "safer" than others I've experienced; considering myself lucky, but living and working in the backcountry, I've seen 6 sightings, some scary, some from a safe distance, some a moment of defending my turf in the food chain, which is never a good thing.

I share to promote safety, but also to ask about ways that others safeguard in wilderness areas, in particular with mountain lions. I've heard of air horns, but never tried in the backcountry. I can shoot a pistol and may not hit any animal's bellybutton, but I can hit a target 100m away. I've used sprays in the past, but have had them leak/explode/not work in cold temperatures. I avoid hiking in afternoon twilight alone, and I thought mornings were safer due to colder temperatures, but now I'm not as sure. Just looking for ways to create a safe buffer for future hikes, thanks!

[nyker]

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

I always have mixed feelings about potentially seeing one...part of me is excited to see things still "wild" out there and the beauty of wildlife, the other part of me doesn't want to be dinner.

[greenonion]

So... reviving a thread about a mountain lion spotting. It was the Denny Creek/Mt Yale TH on Thursday morning on a rather warm morning considering (26'F), so it makes sense. Early 4AM start and I was making a bunch of noise on the lower part of the trail with my microspikes and the frozen snow drainages. I smelled the characteristic "cat pee" smell and I feel fortunate have "caught" the smell when the sunrise winds moved in my favor.

At first I questioned the smell as my own-- I will be the first to admit, yes, I have been known to pee on my gear with winds and early morning butt scratching, so at first I just stood still and sniffed any suspect gear. While I was assessing my smell factor, a squirrel started to chirp in irritation waaaay up the trail (not an alert to my stationary position), which was inline with in the direction of the wind. Again, I questioned, hesitated a few moments, but the spidey sense was strong, so I turned around and made my way back to my vehicle, a half mile hike. Took a bit to communicate via Garmin and get gear/self settled into the car. When I finally started my Crosstrek and turned my lights on after all this shuffling, my lights shined on an adolescent mountain lion about 10 feet away. Seems like s/he was curious and followed me back to the TH. It scampered back up the trail in a quick and graceful way.

This encounter seems "safer" than others I've experienced; considering myself lucky, but living and working in the backcountry, I've seen 6 sightings, some scary, some from a safe distance, some a moment of defending my turf in the food chain, which is never a good thing.

I share to promote safety, but also to ask about ways that others safeguard in wilderness areas, in particular with mountain lions. I've heard of air horns, but never tried in the backcountry. I can shoot a pistol and may not hit any animal's bellybutton, but I can hit a target 100m away. I've used sprays in the past, but have had them leak/explode/not work in cold temperatures. I avoid hiking in afternoon twilight alone, and I thought mornings were safer due to colder temperatures, but now I'm not as sure. Just looking for ways to create a safe buffer for future hikes, thanks!

Sounds squirrelly to me. Glad you are safe!

[cottonmountaineering]

So... reviving a thread about a mountain lion spotting. It was the Denny Creek/Mt Yale TH on Thursday morning on a rather warm morning considering (26'F), so it makes sense. Early 4AM start and I was making a bunch of noise on the lower part of the trail with my microspikes and the frozen snow drainages. I smelled the characteristic "cat pee" smell and I feel fortunate have "caught" the smell when the sunrise winds moved in my favor.

At first I questioned the smell as my own-- I will be the first to admit, yes, I have been known to pee on my gear with winds and early morning butt scratching, so at first I just stood still and sniffed any suspect gear. While I was assessing my smell factor, a squirrel started to chirp in irritation waaaay up the trail (not an alert to my stationary position), which was inline with in the direction of the wind. Again, I questioned, hesitated a few moments, but the spidey sense was strong, so I turned around and made my way back to my vehicle, a half mile hike. Took a bit to communicate via Garmin and get gear/self settled into the car. When I finally started my Crosstrek and turned my lights on after all this shuffling, my lights shined on an adolescent mountain lion about 10 feet away. Seems like s/he was curious and followed me back to the TH. It scampered back up the trail in a quick and graceful way.

This encounter seems "safer" than others I've experienced; considering myself lucky, but living and working in the backcountry, I've seen 6 sightings, some scary, some from a safe distance, some a moment of defending my turf in the food chain, which is never a good thing.

I share to promote safety, but also to ask about ways that others safeguard in wilderness areas, in particular with mountain lions. I've heard of air horns, but never tried in the backcountry. I can shoot a pistol and may not hit any animal's bellybutton, but I can hit a target 100m away. I've used sprays in the past, but have had them leak/explode/not work in cold temperatures. I avoid hiking in afternoon twilight alone, and I thought mornings were safer due to colder temperatures, but now I'm not as sure. Just looking for ways to create a safe buffer for future hikes, thanks!

anecdotally i've heard if you are a smaller person, have a dog or kid with you, mountain lions might get interested.

personally my only experience is spooking one that had killed an elk calf

[Squirrellysquirrel]

Sounds squirrelly to me. Glad you are safe!

Thanks. Yeah, me too, kinda felt like a loss because of turning around. Yet, I get the opportunity to try again, right?!

anecdotally i've heard if you are a smaller person, have a dog or kid with you, mountain lions might get interested.

So, here’s my reasoning. Yes, I am technically a light-weight, coming it around 115-120 of lean, stringy muscle mass... probably get caught in the teeth if I was ever eaten. For some reason, I have a (perhaps) false sense of security that the bulk of my winter gear, large backpack, and the wild, moving shadow-nature that my trekking poles make in the wake of my headlamp early morning are somewhat “protective” and a potential distraction. Afternoon, twilight, evening are when I’ve run into the 5 other cats, headlamp or not, these are times that I actively avoid when hiking alone in the wilderness. In this instance, after optiing to turn around, I made my movements with my trekking poles more exaggerated in the light, even took my time in the descent to prevent a cat chase... they say not to turn your back, which I did in this case because walking down a frozen ice trail backwards just seem to add to the elements. Intuitively it felt like the right thing to do... thinking that an attack from the back, albeit far from ideal and I couldn’t see it coming, yet might mean my pack would get the brunt of the attack, thereby giving mt time to “react.” Funny how, by the time I got back to the TH, I had convinced myself that I was totally making it up!

On extended wilderness trails, I don’t hike with another animals, especially dogs, as I’ve discovered these fur beasts are quite disruptive to discovering animals in their routines, so at least I’ve got that going for me? A do have a terrible case of puppy fever, however, so this might change.

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

I always have mixed feelings about potentially seeing one...part of me is excited to see things still "wild" out there and the beauty of wildlife, the other part of me doesn't want to be dinner.

I do agree: seeing wildlife is equally rewarding for me when hiking wilderness as getting elevation with alpine views. I prefer not to be part of the food chain in that way, yet oddly the idea of my flesh being eaten by a wild animal seems more fitting than going out in something like a car crash.

[gzrrnnr]

All of us who have been hiking/climbing in the hills for many years have been viewed as possible buffet items by lions many times. Glad they leave us alone the great majority of the time.

[Gandalf69]

I got stalked by a mountain lion in the Chicago Baisn. I was 17, on a boy scouts backpacking trip. My friend and I went to filter water, on our short hike back to camp we heard something running through the bushes. We saw its eyes by the light of our flastlights. We had no problems but it followed us. Everyone else at camp was asking why we were yelling and cursing as we came back. Was crazy

[elcap5]

Does anyone have any photos of mountain lions they've seen? If so please post!

I've had three potential sightings in CO: I say potential because I don't have a photo, did not see entire animal in a clear still moment but pretty much eliminated any other animal it might have been. All three were in remote areas, no people around and quiet mornings.
In each situation, I thought it might have been an dog, deer, young elk, off color goat, bighorn sheep, coyote, wolverine or even lynx (which also would have been cool!) but was none of them. Looking back at my notes from the time:

1. Aug 2008, Just after trailhead of Mount Huron, @ ~5:00AM, we saw it crouching under some conifers and moving around for about 30 seconds about 100 yards in front of us before you make the turn left climbing up. No other people around, just the two of us.

2. July 2009, about two miles into the route for San Luis, saw it from across the valley 200 yards away - we stood motionless and watched the tan colored creature move for 4-5 minutes very stealthfully in the high summer weed growth like the other animals do as if it were following a trail.

3. Sept 2012, Rock of Ages basin around one of the turns in the dirt road,trail just after 11am returning from Wilson Peak, where it makes a 90 degree turn from the main walk once it ascends above the basin. I saw a tan flash as it darted around the road, then I saw it behind some tall annual weeds off the side of the trail. Being startled to say the least, I waited 30 minutes and then slowly moved past, knife and bear spray in hands in case (not that either would have definitely helped but gives you a psychological boost) never saw it again. Incidentally, this was right around the time when a wolverine was spotted around near the cabin there, so I was actually looking out for that while around the area.

How's this............have had two encounters with the big kitty's and they both involved a serious pucker factor!

stalking mountain lion.jpg (38.52 KiB) Viewed 2362 times

[AndrewLyonsGeibel]

I haven’t seen one in the wild in Colorado. I have seen them, or perhaps the same one several times in Oklahoma. I spent a ton of time in the woods back then and would find deer remains buried under brush and such frequently. Don’t have a picture unfortunately. That was pre cell phone days and at that age I didn’t just walk around with a camera. And before anyone asks, Oklahoma isn’t just all flat, the NE part of the state has some hills and heavily wooded areas. Looking back I wish I had started carrying a camera. By the time I was 18, think I had a little over 300 nights camping so I was out there a lot.

[Bombay2Boulder]

This was on the Boulder sub-reddit recently. The area seems near the university hill neighborhood.
https://video.nest.com/clip/caa30f907ae ... c707a4.mp4