Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Lions

I've wondered about Mt. Lions in the High Sierra and had assumed that their natural range was primarily at lower elevations and that one would not see them above 7-8K feet. Am I wrong or right in this assumption? Sure would hate to give up my past feelings of safety on High Sierra Trails and start worrying about becoming someone's dinner.

They are found up to 10000' normaly in an area with an abundant deer population.

I don't know anything about how high mountain lions go, but I was very surprised last year to see a coyote traversing thepass just before the final switchbacks up White Mtn in Mono County, at over 13,000 ft elevation!

Dan Baxter

We saw this animal track while crossing Koip Pass in INYO Nat. Forest. Looks like a big cat to me. We were at about 11,800 ft. (By the way: the print is in hail from a nasty T-storm)

http://community.webshots.com/photo/89715962/89721491bpPtjl

Didn't put anything in the pic fopr a reference, but it looked much larger than a bobcat track.

This site shows drawings/photos of what they typically look like.

http://www.bear-tracker.com/cougar.html

What do you all think?

Last winter - February or thereabouts - my wife and I were taking a break on the rocks beside the main trail just east(or north) of the crossing at the NF LP Creek. It was late in the afternoon and we were on our way down. We weren't talking, just looking back up the trail which is highly visible from that point. Suddenly, a lion appeared from around the furthest curve. It's head and left front shoulder came into view when it spotted us and froze. My wife didn't freeze - she did the worst possible thing and made about 30 feet down the trail faster than she had moved all day. The cat took off SE cross country, giving me a real good look at it's long tail and back end. By that time my wife had regained her senses and stopped. We looked for a couple of minutes but didn't see any other sign of the lion. With the adrenaline rush from that experience, we returned to the car pretty quickly, looking over our shoulders the whole way.

The lion shows no claw marks in their prints and they leave a tail drag that can be seen in the snow, I found this strange the first time I saw it. I have never seen a lion or tracks in the Whitney zone.

I know this has no relevance to the Sierra but here in Washington State there is a sierra like area that I love called the Enchantments (near Leavenworth).

Jeff Olson and his brother and sister were camped at a place called Aasgard Pass (near the top) and his siblings decided to sleep in the tent they were packing while Jeff wanted to sleep out under the stars. He had a great night's sleep, slept like a log after observing the milky way show but in the morning when he woke up, he noticed a big cougar track, just above where his head had been. (a sandy area) He figures the cat came up and sniffed him during the night but didn't like the hiker smell and beat a hasty retreat.

Anyway, this was an area I have been into countless days and nights and had never seen either a cougar or any signs of one but this story illustrated the fact to me that they are there but will pretty much leave us alone although they are curious about us.

I still wouldn't run down a trail from one nor would I want to be a trail runner in certain areas.

Sooo.... I'd be wondering: was that Cougar track made the day before I slept there, or last night... Any way you slice it, it's unsettling. Sort of how I felt swimming in the surf after seeing "Jaws". I have blithely hiked in various parts of the High Sierra, feeling quite safe because I thought my only problem would be bears raiding my food. Now I don't know anymore.
One hears reports they are returning to the east now. The reports are not always credible though, as a Lynx or Bobcat seen fleetingly can look pretty big. The truth is they really have no inborn fear of humanity. We are just a source of sweet meat to them if one of us can be isolated and safely attacked. In the old days when men on horseback with packs of dogs hunted them ruthlessly, the ones that got away had LEARNED to fear us, but that doesn't happen anymore so they have no reason to fear.

That's the thing about cougars, you usually won't see them, but they see you.
A few years back, a buddy and I were in the Lake 3 area west of Big Pine. I hiked up abut 15 minutes north of the lake to take care of some business. Found a great spot with a pano view of Temple Crag. It had snowed a couple days prior and mine were the only tracks.
After about 20 minutes on my perch enjoying the views, I hopped down to the snow and there were cougar tracks next to mine. Needless to say, a chill went up my spine, and I made it back to the lake pretty quick.
How long was it there checking me out? I will never know, but I consider myself lucky that the cougar wasn't hungry, sick, or pissed off about something that morning.

Generally, cougars are stalking predators. If they attack, it usually means that they've been watching for awhile, following, calculating, processing and anticipating their prey's movements. All I can suggest, if you're alarmed that an attack can happen, is to build your backpack high above your head with maybe a sleeping bag or such. This will keep the cat from getting a clear shot from behind and above, and possibly force it to attack from the front or quarter. Note that the cyclist was attacked by being bitten in the head. This is a very common tactic, and BTW our head can fit easily in the mouth of a large puma and their teeth can sink through the cranium right into the brain. This is precisely what happened to the cyclist, her friends played tug-o-war over her with the lion and finally got her free only when it let go after more help arrived and threw rocks. Not that I had any fear of being lunch for a cougar while I was out there, but my bear spray was hanging from my backpack chest strap. In that position all I had to do was reach up and activate it if attacked. Though both of us would get a blast, it might be enough to fend off the attack. My buddy reminded me though that if it was a lion migrating up from Mexico that the spray would simply be like salsa.

Outside Magazine ran <a href="http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200305/200305_stalker_1.html">this story</a> about the danger of mountain lions back in May of last year. Pretty scary critters.
<blockquote><em>
He's a loner, he's lethal, and he's got your scent. Feline phantom, ultimate predator, the cougar has ghosted back into the American wild—and your backyard. (Hey, Marge, have you seen the poodle lately?)...
</em></blockquote>

One of the most well written, witty, informative and, at times, funny articles I have read in a long time, regardless of the subject. If you can make time, this article is a "must read". If you're like me, you'll laugh your head off now and then while, at the same time, learning something new.

CaT (no pun intended)

"Note that the cyclist was attacked by being bitten in the head. This is a very common tactic, and BTW our head can fit easily in the mouth of a large puma and their teeth can sink through the cranium right into the brain."

Obviously, no puma has tried putting its jaws around my size 7 and 7/8's head. And I think that the lady who survived the attack was wearing a bicycle helmet.

UJA -- My head is pretty good sized too, but I am not going to ask any cats to try it out, helmet or no! I do hope that they follow the old rule "never eat anything bigger than your head." :-)

AlanK

I'm not about to find out voluntarily whether it can or can't, either

Adrian, (and anyone else who is even remotely worried about mountain lions) If you base your fears on statistics, mountain lions aren't even in the top ten things to worry about. Not that I have the statistics handy, but...hypothermia, avalanche, rock fall, drowning, bear attacks, falls, hyperthermia, heart attacks, lightning, dehydration,... I guarantee you that more deaths by far occur from these situations,than cougar attacks. Heck, probably more people die from complications from insect bites! I'd also worry more about humans, especially close to the trailhead.

My philosophy is, just forget the cats, other than to consider yourself tremendously lucky to see one in your lifetime.

What you need to worry about is deer. What are we talking about, in terms of Cat deaths: One a decade? last year 132 Americans were killed by deer. (about average)

What should we do about that?

Oh man, what a lousy way to die.

"Here lies Rick, killed by a deer."

Can you imagine? You're whole life you worry about being attacked by lions or bears only to get gored to death by sweet little Bambi.

How does a deer usually kill a human? Is it usually the antlers, or stomping?

I think the predominant way is through a vehicle's windshield, or losing control ending a fatal crash. I have heard of people approaching deer to feed or pet them and being subsequently attacked by the deer's sharp front hooves, but not necessarily killed. Maybe someone here knows about such an incident.