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Ricardo Cabeza
climber
All Over.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 7, 2010 - 04:30pm PT
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Just now reading the 'Why Aren't You' thread had me thinking about the time I was stalked by a cougar.
Now, don't get me wrong, I've spent many a night at Bar of America, Moodys and Cottonwoods in Truckee being stalked by cougars, but this one stands out.
I was at home, not working for a couple of days. The GF was out of town on a business trip and I was super bored.
I was living in Meyers, and the thought of going up to Truckee to see all of my friends just didn't sound like fun.
It's January, so climbing was out.
I pulled out my hot springs guide and picked one of the closest.
I can't remember the name, It's not Markleeville (though they do have a cougar problem there), but the one south of Gardnerville on the Carson river. The one off of Leviathian Mine Rd.
On the way down, it starts to snow. No big deal, the weather is calling for an inch or two.
I drive as far as I can, shoulder the pack, put a collar on the dog, and start hiking.
A couple of miles in, I hit a gate. No Trespassing, Private Ranch, it says.
I look around, nobody out here but me and the coyotes this time of year, so I throw my dog over the fence, clamber over and keep going.
By this time I'm following the benchland by the river and am getting optimistic about finding the springs, as it's getting dark and I never fail, ever.
I pass old corrals and barns, some with highways of coyote tracks leading into and out of them, some serene and buried in drifts on the lee side.
I keep walking. And walking.
Eventually it gets dark and I have to admit defeat for the first time ever. I'm so bummed, it's dumping snow and I can almost taste the sulfur coming from those damn springs.
I make camp, start a raging fire to keep warm and eat dinner, feeling kind of bummed that I didn't make it.
Sometime during the night, the dog (in my tent) starts growling at something.
I shrug it off as a nosy coyote, tell the dog to shut up, and go back to sleep.
Crack of dawn, the next day.
I get up, put on my shoes and go out to relieve myself.
Still clearing the cobwebs from my head, I notice tracks all the way around my tent.
Whatever, probably just that damn coyote.
I crawl back in, eat a powerbar, and break camp.
Holy crap! Those are big prints next to the tent!
Full on big cat tracks, the size of a fully spread out hand!
I put on my pack and start back to the car, finding a big stick to carry and unzipping my jacket (I heard holding an unzipped jacket open makes you look bigger, helping scare away cats).
For two miles along the river, we had the river on the left and a low dirt bluff on the right.
The entire time my dog had his hackles up and growled.
I never saw the kitty, but it was there. The tracks leading to my tent led back for almost a mile (I retraced my steps), so I know I was being followed.
Scared the crap outta' me!
Any other good close calls?
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
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Pennsylenvy
Gym climber
A dingy corner in your refrigerator
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No. Not that I know of.....however we had a couple cougar incidents in Flagstaff where I think two cougars were put down as a result.The game and fish held some information presentations to answer questions as to why these cougars were put down. The long of the short was they implied that if you are a reasonably active person, chances are you have had a cougar eye you up. O.K. ummm how about hiking in the dark 30 minutes to my elk stand at 4:00am day after day? They showed videos of a cougar sitting near a trail watching tons of folks walk feet away from it......Cougar no, Grizzly Bear Yes!. That was a bit unnerving as I actually never saw thwe bear. The fresh dumping snow just showed me the circling tracks of my predator. Cool stuff......
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Ricardo Cabeza
climber
All Over.
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2010 - 05:31pm PT
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Thanks Stich, saw that one but forgot about it.
I'm also thinking stalking more than sightings.
On my way to read that thread now...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Probably more than once but they didn't leave a note.
One did leave his tracks in the snow 20' from the tent so
he clearly followed us up in the morning.
A good friend of mine was hiking alone 35 years ago in
Olympic Nat Park. He hadn't seen anyone in days but
suddenly had that feeling that he wasn't alone any more.
He turned around and there was one 25' behind him staring at
him intently but not moving. He started shuffling sideways
down the trail while keeping his eyes on the kitty. Every
time he stopped to negotiate some roots or rocks in the trail
the cat would stop always maintaining about 25'. This went on
for about a half mile. Then Stewart had to take his eyes off
the cat for a couple of seconds and while he did it disappeared!
That was a loooong half a mile to walk!
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zeta
Trad climber
Berkeley
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i have, described below from another post
jen
years ago, i was in zion with 5 friends doing the 'subway' canyoneering route. After a sprained ankle injury, the group (6 of us) were bushwacking up a hillside in the dark. We were trailed by a mtn lion for approx 45 minutes. Super unnerving--we were a big group, made a lot of noise but you could see the sillouette of the body and his eyes in the dark. While it was such a priviledge to see the mountain lion, it was also kind of terrifying to be stalked, feeling like you were prey!
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divad
Trad climber
wmass
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Not stalked(by the 4-legged or 2-legged, a 2-legged one would have to be at least 80 to qualify), but had an encounter. I was descending a mountain road on my bike and had a blowout. While changing the tire, I noticed an animal casually striding across the road about 30 yds up. Thinking it was a dog, I hardly paid it much attention at first and went back to fixing the tire. Without looking back, I said to myself, whoa, that had no snout like a dog and had a long rope-like tail. I headed up the road towards it and it bounded off into the woods. When I got to the spot where it crossed the road I noticed that it would have to have come off a 10 ft high rock ledge to cross the road there, not something that other animals would have done.
This may not sound like much of a deal to anyone from cougar country, but this happened in Western Massachusetts where there aren't supposed to be any cougars (4-legged ones).
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Pennsylenvy
Gym climber
A dingy corner in your refrigerator
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I always wanted to see one with my old dog. He liked the game 'where's the kitty'. I just wanted to see his reaction to 'where's the kitty?' while staring the coug down.
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Ricardo Cabeza
climber
All Over.
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2010 - 05:51pm PT
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Stich, just read it. Crazy!
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L
climber
Hangin' by a thread and lookin' for my wings
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Was trailrunning alone up in Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park in Big Sur. Early spring morning. Sunny and as beautiful as a day could be.
There'd been a sign at the entrance of the trail warning about big cats, and I took it with a grain of salt, just as I did the presence of poison oak (know it's there + avoid at all costs = you live).
A little over a mile into the trail...the very deserted trail...the hair on the nap of my neck stands up, all by itself. I'd slowed to a walk because of roots and saplings, and then this hyper-vigilence thing comes over me. Stopped. Looked around. Couldn't see anything carnivorous...but I knew I was being watched.
Now I knew from the Bear Incident in Alaska that running away from a carnivore is tantamount to flashing an OPEN DELI sign on your back and waiting for the carnivorous customers to take you down...so I stood there a minute wondering what to do.
Couldn't run any more, not with Simba on my trail...so that decided my course. Picked up a branch with leaves still on it (makes you look bigger), and started to retrace my steps...singing at the top of my lungs.
It could've been the branch.
It could've been the "advance instead of retreat" action.
Most likely it was the ear-shredding screeching which I loosely call singing that kept me safe. (Jimmy Buffett: Margaritaville, Son of a Son, and Tampico Trauma...life-saving!)
For half a mile my friendly but well-hidden cougar followed me along that trail...but even a cougar will abandon the hunt if the noise is painfull enough.
I knew exactly when it veered off for easier, quieter prey, too...half a mile from the parking lot...and figured my heart had gotten a marathon run's worth of exercise with that encounter; further running was over-kill. ;-)
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divad
Trad climber
wmass
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I've heard that bending down, as to re-tie a shoe, will set off an instinct to attack by a cougar.
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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What like being stalked by Demi Moore?
Lol.
I couldn't resist.
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Ricardo Cabeza
climber
All Over.
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2010 - 06:04pm PT
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L,
Funny you should mention that. I had forgotten all about this one.
I was out in the Ventanas a few years back with a buddy.
We hiked in about ten miles and camped by a creek.
A few hours later, we're hiking around and found a fawn about one hundred yards from our campsite. It was weak and apparently abandoned by it's mother
Needless to say, It freaked the hell out of us.
Soon, we start to hear TONS of rustling from the nearby woods.
We yelled for a while until we could tell that the animal had left, maintained a fire, and beat feet the next day.
In retrospect, I'm not sure what we should have done.
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L
climber
Hangin' by a thread and lookin' for my wings
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Yeah, that's a tough one.
Just gotta trust your instincts...what you did was what you knew how to do, and it turned out OK for you guys. Sad about the fawn...but Nature works in ways we don't understand sometimes.
Now me...I saved a coot from a hawk because it all happened at my feet and I couldn't walk away. A weak, abandoned fawn...like I said, you did what you knew how to do. Don't look back on situations like that...it's a no-win game with your ego.
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pc
climber
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Twice that I know of. Once on a trail run in Thousand Oaks once when climbing at the Leap. Went down to Kyburz for a drink and a game of pool with my pard, Mark, and ran smack into a 40+yo hen party.
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Skeptimistic
Mountain climber
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About 30 years ago, when I lived on Balboa Island. Even convinced me to move in with her. Crazy times...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Me, Balch Camp.
There is a Taco resident with an amazing, terrifiying recent recent enconter involving five charges. I have encouraged her to share the tale but she hasn't, yet.
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Sean Jones
climber
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2 years ago, before I left Yosemite and moved to Vermont.....I was working on the 1/2 Dome south face route. Had been for months. Every time I hiked in and out of there I carried a big knife as I always do. The knife is for one thing only. Cats !
All the hippies back home used to come down on me for that knife. Like if a cat came after me...I'm just gonna lay down and "trust in the universe" maybe I get eaten, maybe not. To hell with those hippies, I have 3 kids that I love very much and they need me. Cat comes, I'm bringing a rug home with me !
Anyway, on one of the hikes in, we came across a 1/2 eaten dear. Cats do this, they kill, eat all they can, then bury the rest for later. But this dear was in the rocky and steep Broadrick gully. So he must not have wanted to carry it off. At this point, I'm more than convinced that carrying the knife is beyond smart.
2 weeks after seeing this 1/2 eaten dear, I was hiking in there at 10:00 at night with Sarah Watson. A pitch black night. We were crossing the high grassy and swampy area that surrounds Lost Lake. About 35 min. from camp still. She was behind me when out of nowhere I just froze. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and she ran into me from behind.
She says "what's up ?" I said "we're being watched right now. Never saw a thing, never heard a twig snap. I just felt it and knew. I must have been convincing as she believed me. So we started thrashing through the grass screaming and yelling. Smashing sticks all the way through the forest on the other side and all the way to camp.
When we got to camp, we lit a fire right away and cracked a couple beers. We laid two big knives out next to us on this flat rock and began to relax.
Less than 10 minutes from the time we arrived in camp I heard this big dry stick just go POP ! This was no falling branch. This a was a big stick that just got stepped on.
Immediately I grabbed the knife, jumped to my feet and turned around. Sarah had hers just as fast and was right there with me. About 30 ft away, at the edge of the fire light, and right on the trail we just came in on was a huge cat. Just staring at us. F#cker just stalked us for 30 minutes and all the way from Lost Lake.
This was a rough moment for me and surely Sarah too. I was faced with a decision here. Stand there and stare, or get burly and go at this beast. At least make a move to scare it and make it think I would go after it.
Without really thinking too much I took a step forward, screamed at it, and raised my hands all over like a total nut bag. The cat didn't budge. As a matter of fact it looked really pissed and made this really loud hissing sound at me.
This was by far one of the scariest moments ever for me. Chills shot up my spine as I was faced with another choice.....Without thinking too much again I took multiple steps toward it and screamed REALLY loud this time
" Come on you mother f#cker " There was tons of fear in me no doubt. It was a horrible feeling realizing that this was really happening. But at the same time I was fully prepared to make all the first moves but luckily this second move made the cat turn.
Not turn and run. It just slowly turned it's body and slowly walked away. And never took it's eyes off of us. When it walked away, it didn't go off into the blackness either. It circled right at the edge of the fire light and finally went behind this big bush. Then we could hear it making it's way further down the hill.
It's needless to say that we had the worst night of sleep EVER up there that night ! Not sure if we slept at all.
So yes, I have been stalked by a cougar. I'm in Connecticut right now for some work and I have to say that it feels really good to know that when I go bouldering in a few days, there isn't any big cats here. No big cats and no rattle snakes. One time while boulering near El Portal, I got bit by a rattlesnake when reaching over the top. Nice to know they're not here either !
But when I leave here and go home to Boulder, Co. where I live now......the cats and snakes will be all over. And you hippies can bet your asses that I'll be packing a big knife everywhere I go !
Sean Jones.
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