[pct-l] Mountain Lions

[kgreen at camelbak.com (Keith Green)]

"Earlier, thru hiker Load took some outstanding photos
of a cougar not far south of Kennedy Meadows.  He and
another encountered it eating a deer, approached "too
close" before it sensed them and ran off.  After some
minutes passed, they noted it circling behind them,
and made their exit."

I was the other hiker with Load that day. We had left the town of Mojave
mid-morning and came across the cougar as it sat lounging over a recently
killed deer. We were climbing towards a saddle and the wind was blowing
fiercly in our faces which allowed us to creep much closer then we ever
expected the cougar to allow us. We later realized it was the same wind that
camofluged our scent that he took advantage of to ambush the deer. It was
the kind of wind that made you have to put your head down and lean into it
to take a step. We later found 2 other deer carcases half buried in the
immediate area (within 20 feet or so) in various states of consuption/decay.

We kept inching closer, expecting the cougar to detect us and spilt any
second. Before we realized it we were about 25-30 feet from him. Load must
have shot 3 rolls of film in 3 minutes. Load's expensive (and unuasually
heavy for the average thru-hiker) camera allowed him to capture some truly
outstanding pictures. It was the one incident that made me regret the
decision to carry only a cheap (but lightweight damn-it!) disposable camera.

When we had crept closer then we thought possible we stopped, half hoping he
wouldn't notice us and half praying he would becuase the adranaline was
coursing pretty fast. At that point and we realized that, as Larry
mentioned, we were way "too close", but at the same time we didn't want to
backtrack and move away from him either becuase we realized how lucky we
were. After holding our breathes and not moving for what seemed like 20
minutes but was probably closer to 5 we realized the cougar wasn't planning
on going anywhere anytime soon. We sat up a little and became less concerned
with concealing oursleves. We didn't know what else to do.  The cougar
finally became aware of us and stared us down for 10 seconds or so before it
took off across the canyon. Our position allowed Load to capture some
excellent profile shots. It was truly beautiful to watch him blaze across
the canyon in fully unresticted motion from 30 feet away.

In seconds he was out of site and we moved further up the trail. He had
brought down the deer about 15 feet from the PCT. We took a few more
pictures of the deer, staying for about 5 minutes (longer then we probably
should have) and then headed out. As we came to a curve in the trail that
would take us into the next canyon and block the view of the cougar's saddle
we looked back and saw the cougar perched on a hill that overlooked the
deer. We realized that, seconds after we lost site of him, he had continued
his sprint around the other side of the hill and had circled back and been
watching us the entire time we were poking in his pantry. Needless to say
this scared the shit out of us.

Before coming across the deer we had been planning to camp shortly after
sunset. After what had just transpired we somehow found the energy to hike
another 6-7 miles in the dark. A mountian lion was hidden in every shadow
and every noise made us jump. I wish we had clocked ourselves becuase to put
it mildly we HAULED ASS out of there.

Marmot
CA - 2002