Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mountain Line Attack in Sequoia

Anybody know exactly where in Sequoia the latest mountain lion attack occurred?

According to the San Diego Union Tribune:

"Parker was attacked Saturday after going on a hike with her boyfriend, Mathias Macie***ski, 28, of Los Angeles, and two other male friends. She was walking alone to her car about 7 p.m. near Johnsondale, about 15 to 20 miles north of Kernville, when the female lion attacked her, said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the fish and game department"

Chuck

Ok, thanks. I just found an article too:

<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040628/ap_on_re_us/mountain_lion_attack_7">Mountain Lion Attack</a>

By coincidence the only mountain lion I've ever seen was about 5 or 6 miles West of Johnsondale and that was just a few months ago.

Though a terrible photograph I was able to snap a photo just before it disappeared into the forest:

<a href="http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/viewphoto.asp?ID=31659">Mountain Lion Photo</a>

-Rick

See my post under "Half Dome-no crowds", where I talk about the mountain lion I came across on the Half Dome trail, app. 1 1/2 miles above Little Yosemite Valley. Quite an experience, particularly when it got within 50 feet of me, then wandered away.

Bob

Last Wednesday morning at 3am I started to hike up Mt.Shasta to do the Cascade Gulch Route( I couldn't sleep so I figured I would go for a hike).
Halfway between the trailhead at Bunny Flat and trails end at Horse Camp I heard the distictive double growl of a mountain lion off in the distance toward,fittingly enough, Panther Meadow. Since a close encounter with a bear 15 years ago I have always carried a knife on the sternum strap of my backpack.This occassion was no different, I clutched my knife in my hand for the remaining mile to Horse Camp and didn't put it away until I got there.Thankfully I didn't hear the lion again.
The lions are out there, you never know when they may appear.

Saw one in the Domelands wilderness (my first), about 30 miles east of the incident, a month ago.

Going backpacking about 10 miles from the incident in 4 days, glad the crazy mountain lion population has been reduced in the area.

Sierra Stryder and Ken-that's crazy! Wierd that you both recently had encounters. Are there mtn lions on Whitney? As we're hiking at 2am, I did think of the possibility of running into more animals.

Kim,
There is a small mtn. lion population in that area. Fortunately they stay near the bighorn sheep population near Mt.Williamson and Mt.Tyndall. I do believe that the big cat population is dwindling in that area, I would think that you would have a better chance of getting struck by lighting than you would seeing a big cat. As for black bears, I, as well as many others on this board, have had close and personal encounters with bears in the Whitney region.A few years ago a bear tried to rip my door off it's hinges at the Portal in an effort to get to a tube of toothpaste that had slid under my seat. But the bears will leave you alone, that much is certain.

i plan on vacuming my car out good before we go to whitney. i hope i don't drop any food that i munch on while going up there. i've heard of bears ripping off doors in yosemite for a tiny slice of cheese. good reminder about the toothpaste and stuff, also. side note: how large are those bear food boxes they give us at our campsite and where u park to go up. my husband wants to stay in a hotel the night after we hike whitney, so we'll have to pack up camp before our hike and drive over to the parking area, i imagine. is there plenty of space for food and toiletries there?

Unless the FS has changed the bear boxes in the last few years they are the size of a large cooler.They offer plenty of room for the over nighter.

The bears in Yosemite, especially in the valley, are super aggressive when it comes to food.Thankfully they leave humans alone. I guess the bears in Yosemite are so determined to get food that they will bust open windows if the recognize anything that holds food,i.e. coolers and backpacks. If someone doesn't use the provided bear boxes in Yosemite then they are just asking for it.

Like I said above, you have more of a chance of being struck by lightning than you do of seeing a mtn lion. The attack that happned most recently was not on the JMT, you will run into bears on the JMT not lions. The attacks that happened earlier this year were all in the Los Angeles and Orange County area's of the state.

The only place along the JMT where there is any real sort of lion population is down by Mt.Williamson, which is north of Mt.Whitney. The lions hang out there because of the bighorn sheep population. Williamson is far off the JMT path and one of the more inaccessable mountains to get to.So,unless all of the bighorn sheep decide to migrate from one end of the Southern Sierra to the other it is 99.99% certain that your boyfriend will not see a mountain lion. Bears are another story though, escpecially in Yosemite, the Mammoth Lakes backcountry,and anyplace south of there.Oh heck, they're everywhere along the JMT, that's why you have to carry a bear cannister whenever you're on the JMT now.

Ooyane,

From p[ublished reports,

"Game and Fish spokesman Steve Martarano said....
.. the incident was the 15th mountain lion attack on a human in California since 1890."

I am aware that three of these attacks occurred in Southern California along the coast mountains within the last ten years following drought conditions. A number of other attacks have been placed in far Northern California where there is significant cow herds for them to feed on.

I think your boyfriend will have a far more troublesome time with mosquitos and marmots than he will with mountain lions.

Also, there are portions of the JMT that DO NOT require a bear cannister although it is highly recommended. The stretch from Edison Lake to the Palisade basin is one such area.

I'm amazed that the FS doesn't require a bear cannister from Edison to Palisade Basin, especially through the Thousand Island and Shawdow Lakes area. There were some crafty bears out there 13 years ago I can only imagine what they are like now. From what I've read on the FS website the bears rival those in the Yosemite Valley.

But the bears will leave you alone, that much is certain.

Sierra:

I'm a little worried about your conviction that the bears can't pose a threat. I know black bears have a reputation in general of being docile; but they have been known to kill people. I'm bringing EPA registered bear pepper spray which I doubt seriously I'll ever have to use , but --- the X factor's in everything and I don't trust bears farther than I can throw them.

SS,

Here is the current requirements for bear- resistant food containers for Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP.....

"Special Backcountry Restrictions

SEKI-approved bear-resistant food storage containers with the capacity to store all food are required from the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend through October 31 at the following locations:

Rae Lakes Loop through Paradise Valley to Woods Creek crossing, through the Rae Lakes Basin and the 60 Lakes Basin into the Charlotte Lake area, and south along the Pacific Crest Trail to Forester Pass. Also included are the Bubbs Creek drainage and associated trails and cross-country areas from Kearsarge Lakes and Center Basin to Cedar Grove, and all other drainages feeding Bubbs Creek east of, and including East Creek. This also extends south to the Kings-Kern Divide.
Dusy Basin which includes all camp areas from Bishop Pass to the junction with the John Muir Trail in LeConte Canyon and all cross-country areas in Dusy Basin and Palisades Basin.

Parties traveling through the Rae Lakes area on trips not beginning or ending at Cedar Grove, Kearsarge Pass, Baxter Pass, or Sawmill Pass must either use SEKI-approved bear-resistant food storage containers or camp at sites with lockers."

With regards to the pepper spray, this may be a bad idea. Clearly, pepper spray ATTRACTS bears.
One might say, in a sealed can, never used, the bear won't know it is there. Sort of like the unopened hermetically sealed power bar, which the bears apparently have no problem finding??
http://www.griztrax.net/mishaps.html
http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/brownbears/pepperspray/pepperspray.htm

===============
Is Pepper Spray Catnip for Bears?
Pepper spray containing oleoresin capsicum is often purchased by campers, hunters, and fisherman to repel bears if they should attack, and eyewitness accounts show that if sprayed directly in the bear s face, it can be effective. Given that usage, people who love the outdoors have surmised that they can prevent damage to campsites and vehicles by applying the spray. But imagine the surprise of U.S. Geological Survey researcher Tom Smith when he returned to his camp along the Kulik River in Alaska to find a bear rolling on a rope that he had sprayed more than a week earlier. Smith then sprayed the beach with the repellent and it actually attracted the bears, who began to roll on the sprayed sand.

Why would a powerful repellent like oleoresin capsicum attract the bears like cats to catnip? No one seems to know, but the company that manufactures the spray, Counterassault of Bigfork, Montana insists that the spray is not a repellent but a deterrent. "We've had some parents spray it on their children," said general manager Pride Johnson. But it doesn t work like mosquito repellent. The spray is designed to partially immobilize a bear when sprayed directly in the eyes, nose, and mouth--thus deterring it from attacking. But as one unfortunate float plane pilot learned, never spray anything you value with the pepper spray. He sprayed his pontoons in an attempt to keep the bears away, but the bears chewed up his floats, leaving him stranded.

Yeep,
I didn't say that bears don't pose a threat, I'm well aware of what their strength is and what their claws and teeth can do. I simply speak from 20+ years of wilderness experience that bears, especially black bears, will 99% of the time run in the opposite direction when confronted by a human. Now, I'm not advocating that humans actively seek out bears and play chicken with them, but, in the off chance that a hiker encounters one in the wilderness merely yelling and screaming will most of the time make the bear high tail it in the opposite direction. Now, I've encountered bears that just sat there and stared at me as I jumped around looking like a fool and I know they were laughing at me inside. But I was still able to get them to run with a few well thrown stones to their rump.

Let's put it this way, I would be more afraid of coming face to face with a mountain lion than I would a black bear.

Harry and SS,

What brand of quick draw holsters do you where for your chosen protection.....

If the the big bad outdoors is such a danger, why aren't there more reported incidents?

I just don't see the need for either weapon.

Memory Lapse,
I see where you are coming from as I have been asked the same question many times before.The reason that I carry a knife,as I stated above, is because of a run-in that I had with a particularly stubborn bear about 15 years ago.
I can understand why you would not understand why I carry protection (if you can call a 4-inch blade protection) but just because hikers aren't being attacked on a daily or monthly basis doesn't mean that it won't ever happen.
Is carrying a knife on your pack any different than carrying a center punch in your car? I may never crash my car into a water source, but if I do, I know that I have given myself an escape option and you can bet that I will use it if put in that position. Same goes with the knife.

SS,

Sorry, I agree with you about carrying a knife, I had mistaken your response with Yeep's. KNives have multiple purposes which are beneficial to outdoor enthusiasts.

Let me be more to the point. Mountain lions are stalkers and are more likely to attack their prey from a safe position in which the prey will be completely surprised. In the case of a human being with a 35 - 50 lb pack strapped to their back, their chances of being to rebound from an attack to withdraw their weapon will be remote. So if you are attacked by a Mountain lion you are better off kicking and yelling and punching to the head than spending precious seconds to locate a gun (one man's chosen weapon) or pepper spray. I'mn just trying to be realistic. Almost every mountain lion attack I have read about, a second person intervened driving off the attacker. So I would conclude that the best protection from an attack would be another person not a gun or pepper spray.

I read with interest the message about bears being attracted to the pepper spray. It never occurred to me that people would spray an area thinking that would ward off would be attackers.

Once again, I am sorry for falsely accusing you for carrying one of these two defensive tools but I for one would like to know where the guy with the gun is hiking and stay as far away as possible from him.