[pct-l] Cougar Encounter

Tue May 25 16:29:07 CDT 2010

I saw a cougar in the Grand Canyon, South Rim, on New Years morning of 2006.  I was driving to Desert View to photograph the New Year sunrise.  I turned into the parking lot and as I was driving on the short connecting road, a cougar ran in front of my car, from right to left, and disappeared.  I mean, he was at a full on run.  Not many animals could out run that cat.  I didn't have time to take its picture.  He (or she) had a very fluffy coat and tail - it was very cold on the south rim that morning, with a nice dusting of snw from New Year's Eve.  There were a few elk seen on the drive from the visitor center to Desert View, and they probably make up a good portion of the cougar's diet. 

The only other person in the parking lot was a ranger, and he said its den was nearby.  

What a way to start the new year.  Everything has been looking up ever since.  

The Incredible Bulk

--- On Tue, 5/25/10, CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net> wrote:

From: CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Planning First Solo Hike
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2010, 1:48 PM

Good afternoon,

Cougars could be found about anywhere on the PCT from border to border, but
after having tromped around a lot of the mountain west since … since the
Eisenhower administration I have to admit that I’ve never seen one, on the
hoof, in the wild.  I’ve seen tracks, territory markings, beds, fresh kills,
and I’ve heard them scream in the night, but I’ve never seen where a set of
tracks ended.

I’ve seen quite a number of territory marks exactly on the trail here in the
Pacific NW, and once on the PCT in N. California near Grizzly Peak.  Some
photos of those marks can be seen at:

http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=425760  and
http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=425761.  They aren’t what most
people would recognize to be cougar markings.

It’s common for cougars to follow people just out of curiosity, with no
malice aforethought.  Once on the PCT near Mt. Rainier I was following about
5 minutes behind another hiker when I saw 7” dia. cougar prints in the dust
on top of the other hiker’s tracks.  I hurried ahead but I couldn’t catch up
to see the cat.  Later when I encountered the same hiker he said he had no
idea he had been followed.

Where hunting habitat is limited the older, stronger, more skilled and
experienced cats occupy the preferred wilderness territory, which pushes the
younger cats out into marginal territory – territory such as low-elevation
developed areas and subdivisions where most of the people-attack incidents
occur.

A report of cougar attack in our society is widely publicized because it
makes good copy for the media, but I don’t know of any PCT hikers who have
had that experience. Still, anyone entering cougar habitat should learn what
to do to avoid or survive an attack. If a hiker acts like prey, the cougar
may attack. If a hiker does not act like prey the cat will probably look
elsewhere. Briefly: stand your ground, look big, and fight back because that
is what prey species do not do. Here is the opinion of an experienced
outdoorsman of the late 19th century:

“It is certain that if such (cougar) attacks occur they are altogether
exceptional, being indeed of such extreme rarity that they may be entirely
disregarded in practice. I should have no more hesitation in sleeping out in
a wood where there were cougars, or walking through it after nightfall, than
I should have if the cougars were tomcats.”
- Theodore Roosevelt

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09

On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 2:38 PM, Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com <
diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:

>
> On May 24, 2010, at 8:12 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> > Very well said.......am interested in where the mountain loins
> > are ??.....:)
>
> I don't know the mountain lions exact range, but my guess is you'd be
> most likely to see one in Southern California. Their range is sort of
> constrained by encroaching civilization, plus they had those fires
> recently which only reduces their available space.
>
> Mountain lions attack from behind. They grab your skull with their
> teeth. You won't hear it coming. But since most people have a
> backpack on, the backpack might provide some protection by making it
> harder to get to your head from behind.
>
> Most people who are attacked by lions in So Cal that I've heard of
> seem to be children and mountain bikers. Small people and ones moving
> fast for the chase. So that makes an attack on a backpacker even less
> likely.
>
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