My Mountain Lion Encounter

Ominous Foreshadowing Sign

Alex, Buffy, and I went out to Mule hill Trail in San Dieguito River Park around dusk today, after work. We decided to skip the adobe house part of the trail to extend the visit into the wilderness a little bit more. Things started out okay. The teller at the gas station said that we might even see deer out tonight. We saw some deer, even some rabbits. I managed to take a photo of a colorful bird and that it would be the experience of the trip. I was wrong.

A male american robin

We were reaching the 40 minute mark in our stroll down Mule hill trail. The sun was beginning to set, and we saw a sign telling us to be wary of dangers because we were now on a wilderness trail. I was pretty sure that sign meant that it would be hard for an ambulance to get to you if you twisted your ankle (like Alex did on black mountain). We had leafy habitat on one side and some sort of cabbage field on the other. Alex and I were reaching that point in our conversation where we were feeling more comfortable walking in silence. Buffy was being her normal nosey stop-and-smell type of walker. Then we heard a twig snap in the distance. Alex and I looked over at the same time. We saw a long tail disappear from one bush to another on a hill, less than 25 meters away, coming towards us slowly but surely. It was massive. We thought it was a bobcat. I got frightened and started briskening my pace. Alex said, “no, don’t go deeper into the woods!” Then we heard an odd barking sound coming out of the tree that was directly next to us. I was afraid for Buffy. We started walking back the way we came. When a few minutes had passed I looked behind me, saw nothing, and we all started running.

The walk back took way less than 40 minutes. We got back to the car in like 15. I started looking up bobcats, and I realized that what we saw was no bobcat. A bobcat would have been like two Buffy’s. What we saw was more like 10 buffys. The only thing we got a clear visual on was the long slinky tail, and that’s a dead giveaway. The bark was also indicative of something that was more serious than a Bobcat.

I mean, we could have just kicked a bobcat in the face come an altercation, but it would take something more ballsy to fend off a pouncing puma.

Reading up on mountain lions after the fact hasn’t helped calm me down.

Like this quote from the Missouri Mountainlion website:

“If you DO directly encounter a mountain lion in Missouri, responding appropriately may improve your chances of survival.”

It implies that we could have died. Especially Alex, because he would have thrown himself in front of a mountain before letting himself witness one dragging Buffy away by the throat.

Especially since this scenario did happen:

Behavior/Activity	Meaning	Human Risk	Appropriate Human Response
50–25 yards away; intense staring and hiding coupled with crouching and/or creeping toward people	Considering/Positioning for Attack	Serious	Move slowly to get behind trees or boulders, but don't lose sight of the animal. Make menacing sounds; throw things if animal is close enough to hit.

See, I didn’t do the whole face off thing with the mountain lion. I got a whiff of it and turned my back on it and ran. For serious, we are lucky to be alive with all of our puppies in tact.

I feel really shaken up.

I did bring my camera on our little nature hike, but I didn’t take a moment and photograph the mountain lion. Seriously, my first instinct was the get the hell out of there. The whole thing lasted maybe 5 minutes, and none of that time was used getting my camera out. So sorry I don’t have a photo of specifically the mountain lion. I feel incredibly fortunate regardless.