dan’s outside

A few have come to my attention this week:

• There is the story of the couple who were hiking in a northern California park when a mountain lion appeared from nowhere and attacked the man. His wife managed to get the lion to let go of his head (by using a log and then standing her ground when the lion turned its attention to her), and they made it to a nearby road where they got assistance.
• My brother, who lives in a semi-rural part of the greater Seattle area reports that he was out for a pre-dawn walk recently when he heard the characteristic “whistle/scream” of one of the big cats. He decided to head back the way he came, but on the way back heard a rather violent confrontation between a couple large animals, one of which must have been the cat.
• Recently I was hiking at Uvas Park south of San Jose when I noticed some rather large prints in the dust on the trail… and they were not boot prints. I suspected a mountain lion had made them, and I confirmed this by checking them against a sign back at the start of the trail. In such a situation I hope that the reports that these big cats are somewhat shy are true, but I pay extra attention to my surroundings and am prepared to wield a log, tripod, or rock if it comes to that. It never has.

Despite hoping that I’ll see a mountain lion some time, so far I’ve seen nothing larger than a few bobcats.
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