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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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Me, in Dark Canyon south of Canyonlands NP. Freaky as hell.
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flakyfoont
Trad climber
carsoncity nv
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definetly a freaky feeling hearing the quiet snap of a twig, the soft rustle of those thick bushes your next to.. the hideous growling with a cat flying through the air towards you is a sure pants filler!!!
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adam d
climber
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I actually got followed by two cougars once in the Santa Ynez valley. I'd frequently seen tracks and scats but had never seen a cougar til that night. I was on a hill 10 minutes from my house on a moonless night, lying on my back on a fire road when I heard movement down the ridgeline a ways.
In those pre-LED days, I stood up, pulled out a Maglight and shined it that direction. I saw two sets of eyes but they were distant enough that I couldn't make out the silhouettes. They didn't seem like deer and I had an eerie feeling about it so I stood up, put on my backpack and made some loud, low noises with a maglight in one hand and a pocketknife in the other. I was still unsure but I walked away from them without turning my back and continued down the fireroad diagonally across the hill.
This whole area was covered in tall, dry, black mustard and as I walked about 100 meters away I shone the light down the hillside and saw the cougars maybe 30 meters away. One was low to the ground and looking right at me and took one step towards me then stopped. Again I made noises, tried to look big and clenched my two inadequate tools. I backed away and walked home on high alert but never saw them again.
I didn't see another cougar there until several years later when I rounded a corner on a late August afternoon trail run and was within 20 meters of one big cat that immediately sprinted away from me.
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adam d
climber
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Wow Sean, that's intense.
I've posted this here before, but I actually had one walk out into the boulders at the base of Drug Dome while my partner and I were on OZ late one afternoon. We were at the base of the amazing dihedral, the sun had just rounded the corner and hit us and my partner spotted a "bear" at the base. That's no bear dude!
The cat strolled out of the trees completely nonchalantly, sat down on a rock and looked up at us for minutes! After a bit it sauntered away into the trees again.
One of us remarked (can't remember who) something to the effect of "she's just trying to decide if you can send that crack or we're going to bail"
"or she's just gauging or progress to know when to pick up dinner on the descent!"
bad pic below. Folks have tried to claim that "no way, that's a bobcat. It's got spots and where's its tail? " Well...it's a crappy picture!
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R.B.
Big Wall climber
State of Insanity
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A friend of mine had to answer the call of nature, and while he was in the squatting position, taking care of business ... behind him, upslope, he heard a snaping twig sound above, he looked up and saw about a 180 lbs. cat hissing and snapping at him. He stood up ... made lots of noise, and tried to spray the bad kitty with personal mace (not bear spray) ... that didn't have enough range.
So he threw a rock at the kitty, and hit it; the catamount jumped straight up in the air and landed exactly back where it was, and groweled and hissed ... my friends hiking partners on the trail above figured it out ... and started banging their treking poles together ... it was enough distraction to send the cougar running.
They always like to ambush and they will go for the throat first!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Anybody who spends time in the BC Coast Range has been stalked by cougars, whether they know it or not.
But I've been stalked by something a lot bigger and deadlier than a cougar. It was white, had been denned up on a glacier all winter, and was coming down with its cub for the first meal of the year.
It didn't get me, but it was so close. Thirty years later I can still see it moving in on us just as clearly as I could see it that morning.
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brat
climber
El Portal
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Got followed while hiking alone in the middle of the day on the Sky Trail in Pt. Reyes.
I felt like I was being followed for about three miles... then in Sky Camp I saw the cat, maybe 50 feet up the hill on the side of the trail, crouched and watching me.
I remembered that you're supposed to put your arms up and talk to the cat... so the first words out of my mouth are "here kitty kitty kitty."
Then I realized what I was saying and corrected myself. "No, NOT here. Bad kitty."
I turned and walked back down the trail. Ran into other hikers about 20 minutes later... longest 20 minutes of my life.
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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While walking down Greer Rd. back from the lower Picnic Area at Huddart Park in Woodside, I noticed a huge ML walking just ahead of me about 50 feet. He turned and looked back at me, growled, and kept walking. I stopped and told him, "Get the heck out of here cat!" He then jumped over a fence into someone's backyard right behind a bunch of garbage cans. I picked up a 10 foot branch, banged it on street sign, and kept walking with the stick in one hand. Passed the garbage cans and no sign of Mr. Kitty. But man that sucker was big and his stomach was dragging the pavement as he walked along. Made it back to my car near Woodside Store and drove back home.
However, out of curiosity and in hope of seeing just how big his tracks were, the next day I walked back up Greer Road earlier in the day when the sky was still bright. As I neared the site of my close encounter, I noticed that a green County Parks Ranger truck was parked at almost exactly the spot. When I got there I found out why. There was the carcass of a deer braced up against the fence that had been torn open to reveal the thoracic cavity. The kitty had been using the heart cavity like a bowl to lick out the innards. But the really horrifying thing was the look of sheer terror on the face of the dead deer. You could really tell from that look just how afraid it had been when it met its fate.
The Rangers told me that the cat had killed two nights back and was coming down periodically to feed on the carcass, as were coyotes and foxes. I guess I was fairly safe because at the time I encountered him the cat was full of venison. In any case, he sure was big, biggest tracks the rangers had ever seen. I would guess he was about 9' 6" and around 200 lbs. Sort of grey color to match the fog of the Coast Range I would guess.
Besides this big guy, I have encountered quite a few cats at Huddart Park quite close to human habitation. A mother couger and two cubs near the dumpster in the Lower Picnic Area and a 90 lb female in a tree near the Upper Picnic Area. The Rangers told me there are about 12 sightings a year in Huddart but they don't announce the fact to tourists. Never will forget that big guy though. Felt adreniline all week afterwards.
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aguacaliente
climber
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Not stalked but a cougar avoided me. I don't know if this means I am more badass and scary than the rest of you humans, or I just smell bad. I was MTB'ing up a fire road in Henry Cowell state park next to Santa Cruz in broad daylight, and at the edge of my vision I saw something move off the trail ahead of me. Didn't suspect lion - could have been a deer. But I stopped about a hundred yards past the spot, for no particularly good reason, and just at that moment the cougar emerged from a clump of bushes on one side of the trail, crossed it, and disappeared into brush on the other side, giving me a spectacular view of it. It had clearly waited till I passed. Although it could have been waiting in the bushes to see if I smelled good as I passed, so maybe it was stalking me, after all.
I didn't think much of it when I first saw the motion out of the corner of my eye, or even immediately after seeing the cougar, since I don't know of any history of lion attacks in Henry Cowell, but in retrospect it's creepy. Really glad I didn't choose that spot to get a flat tire.
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adam d
climber
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So what, if anything, do you do differently since your kitty encounters? (after the initial phase when you were looking up in the branches everywhere) Has your behavior changed?
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Anastasia
Mountain climber
hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.
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I've had only two sightings and that is because of my dog showing me. Catching them stalking me is beyond my skill.
AFS
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TrundleBum
Trad climber
Las Vegas
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Klimmer yah beat me to it...
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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The neighbors told us that last Thursday they watched one run across the street and scramble over our fence into our backyard at 5:00AM.
We live one street down from the foothills here in SLC, so it's certainly possible.
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bkalaska
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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I rode my motorcycle out to Tuolumne one night to do Matthes Crest and Cathedral solo and got a late start out of the parking lot around 9:30pm. It was my first time to the area and I lost the trail but kept the stream to my left figuring I'd take it up to the lake to spend the night.
I was getting tired around 11 and contemplating laying down in a nice flat spot when I came across a beautiful meadow. I figured I'd go through the meadow until I saw a nice spot to lay down. As I walked I felt a weird sensation and look up and right. As my headlamp scanned right I caught two glowing eyes staring at me from about 60 meters. I have come across bears before and figured it was a bear so I yelled at it. Nothing. I crouched down to get a rock to thrown, and as I descended while keeping my eyes on it the eyes went behind a rock. The thing didn't move but it had been peering just over the rock and as I crouched down it went fully behind it. I wound up and threw the rock figuring I'd hit a branch and get it to walk away.
The second my headlamp jerked to throw it the thing took off at 90 degrees way faster and smoother than any bear I've seen. I don't know if it was a cougar, but the size and the speed left little else in my imagination. I kept walking with a cobblestone in my right hand ready to try to bash its skull if it came at me. At least it gave me some psychological comfort. It was a long, cold, lonely night by the side of the lake.
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Lex87
Social climber
WI
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My boyfriend and I have stayed at a few different whistler accommodations, but the most memorable was the fly fishing trip where he got stalked by a cougar. I didn't go out with him as my belly boat pontoon had sprung a leak. He said he was packing up to come back when saw the cougar coming down the embankment. I guess it spotted him and started moving a little quicker. He says he grabbed his stuff, tossed it quickly in the back and hopped into his truck as fast as he could. He started the truck and revved the engine and it didn't even faze the cougar. He said when he drove by the thing it just looked at him and licked it's lips ...no joke! He was terrified!
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xtrmecat
Big Wall climber
Kalispell, Montanagonia
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Happens to my wife and I several times a summer, and that is just the times we are aware of. Friday, I got followed and checked out by the largest wolf I have seen to date. First view of him, was a mile and a half out, steep and alpine. He sat there for 10 minutes checking us out. Last view was about two miles down the ridge, with him closer than 300 yards. Ice axe was our only protection.
Tob
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pdx_climber
Sport climber
portland,or
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Was recently emailed this photo. Yikes!
just south of Maupin, OR.
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Madbolter
Big Wall climber
I used to be hard
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Back in 1985, I was 19 and legal drinking age in Minnesota. Was stalked by a relentless cougar in a small bar in International Falls. She wouldn't take no for an answer. I eventually had to flee around the pool table and out the door. My friends gave me grief over that drunk, ass-grabby, toothless Indian squaw for years. :)
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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You should be stoked if you see one! Seeing wild cats in the wild is the making for a wonderful day. Don't see why people think it's so scary to see a cougar. Just take the time to enjoy the experience. I'm more worried of a car crash to and from the cougar spotting location.
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