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;aljdf;lkj
Social climber
santa clara, ca
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Jan 30, 2007 - 12:34am PT
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ive been hiking on a regular basis at joseph d. grant state park (east san jose, ca hills)for the last three or four years and finally saw my first mountain lion this past july (2006). i was driving with my brother just after sunset after a hike and right before the entrance to the park a large mountain lion walked across the road. it didnt run away or look scared. it just looked at us and slowly walked up the hill. there was something else further up the hill that i couldnt see very well. im guessing either a deer or another mountain lion. ive always been scared as hell of them and am even more scared now. im thinking chain mail, a neck brace, and a helmet for future hikes. i see wild pigs and or deer every time i go there so i know there's gotta' be a lot of mountain lions to feed on them.
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Jan 30, 2007 - 02:34am PT
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Cool. I used to spend a fair amount of time backpacking in Henry Coe SP and have never seen a lion, though plenty of other wildlife (coyote, pigs, bobcats, deer, etc). Once I did see a deer skeleton that looked a lot like a lion kill about a mile from my camp in the Orestimba Wilderness. I know there are a fair number of them in the park. Hasn't stopped me from hiking there though.
One night in the Ventana Wilderness I was camped at Vicente Flat and heard the eerie scream of a lion off in the distance. Utterly hair-raising.
Vivid reminders that these are places "where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jan 30, 2007 - 07:23am PT
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If he was attacked on CNN, must have been a neo-con.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Jan 30, 2007 - 09:02am PT
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Not bad TradIsGood, sort of reminds me of the following dialogue in The Thin Man (1934):
Nora Charles (Myrna Loy): I read that you got shot in the tabloids.
Nick Charles (William Powell): It’s not true, the bullet didn’t come anywhere near my tabloids.
I was thinking on moving back to the States, Humboldt County probably to finish my masters at Humboldt State. Not far (sort of) from where the lion attack took place. I also noticed a Rattlesnake Hill up in that direction.
Hmmm… Ireland, no snakes no lions.
Koward with a capital K, that’s me.
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Aya
Uncategorizable climber
New York
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Jan 30, 2007 - 10:39am PT
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"ats have the absolute worst bacteria in there mouth and claws. They are much, much more dangerous than dogs as far as being bitten and clawed."
Ohmygod tell me about it... I was in the hospital for 3 days because of one tiny little cat bite!
We don't really have any lions out here, at least not enough for everyone to have their stories - just enough for there to be rumors. We also don't have too many bears, rattlesnakes, etc... Some poison ivy, and that's about it!!!
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Irisharehere
Trad climber
Gunks
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Not true Pat, there are a lot of snakes in Ireland now.........
They're the ones wearing the Armani suits........
;)
I hardly recognise the place when I go back
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Bodega, CA
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Feb 16, 2007 - 07:13pm PT
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So the wife and I went away for a little romantic get-away up the coast this week and ended up hiking at Prairie Creek Redwoods. This place has a sense of awe and spiritual grandeur I've seldom experienced. The mind-boggling scale reminded me of my first visit to Yosemite. You keep catching yourself standing there with your mouth open.
We of course inquired as to where the couple was attacked and headed for that trail. It was amazingly beautiful, but sorta creepy too. Any sound in the forest got your full attention. I can totally understand the situation now. This is not a migration route for the elk -too far up the canyon. It's in a steep brush-choked side drainage with a gurgling brook among old growth trees. (The elk would, however, be in the valley just a half mile away.) Lots of big logs and dry caves the cats could live in. We kept looking up into every tree branch that overhung the trail. We couldn't help feeling like we were being watched and that any step could be our last despite knowing the cats had been killed. It was unclear exactly where the incident transpired, but it could have been anywhere along the trail. It's so obviously their domain, not ours. An unfortunate situation for all. We heard that Jim had been released from the hospital, though the doctors were still concerned about infection.
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WoodySt
Trad climber
Riverside
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Feb 16, 2007 - 07:21pm PT
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Yes cats do have very nasty mouths. I believe it has much to do with what they eat. Interestingly enough, the human mouth is worse as far as the potential for infection from a bite.
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Robb
Social climber
Under a Big Sky
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Feb 16, 2007 - 09:12pm PT
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Patrick
If you think cats & snakes are fun, just wait till you take up surfing & meet the BIG fish!
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Dropline
Mountain climber
North Conway, NH
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Feb 16, 2007 - 11:02pm PT
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Aya, as you are a New Yorker, there are lots and lots of black bears all along the Shawangunk Ridge, among other places. And a good number of coyote packs these days working the deer up against the eastern flank of the escarpment too.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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Feb 17, 2007 - 12:29am PT
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Seen two Mountain Lions. One driving out of Yosemite near Wawwona. Another behind JPL.
Scary.
JDF
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Anastasia
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Feb 17, 2007 - 12:56am PT
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There are a ton of mountain lions in the Sespe and the California Condor Sanctuary.
I would never have seen them without my dog. My German Shepherd would always reacted to their presence with a low growl and puffing up twice her size. They are huge, unpredictable and 99% invisible.
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Feb 17, 2007 - 01:14pm PT
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Obviously, there are lots of 'em out there in open spaces and state lands adjacent to densely populated areas. If they really did have a propensity for attacking people, there would be reports of mountain lion attacks on a weekly basis.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Feb 17, 2007 - 02:43pm PT
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Robb, the last time I was on a surfboard was December 1989 near Sennen Cove, Cornwall, southwest England. No Great Whites there, though it appears one was sighted off Cornwall a couple of years ago.
Prior to that it was 1973 at Santa Cruz, and we know that they are there, but I never encountered one, but then I didn't surf that much. But I know guys who have been in the water when there has been a Great White around, and they tell me they were scared sh*tless.
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Robb
Social climber
Under a Big Sky
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Feb 17, 2007 - 04:58pm PT
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Patrick
When we moved to the north coast, there were three attacks w/in about two years- one upon a kayaker just offshore from my house!
Needless to say that put the kabosh on my planned return to surfing.
Robb
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kev
climber
CA
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Feb 17, 2007 - 05:09pm PT
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bump - this is climbing related....
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