Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board mountain lions

My worst fear since picking up hiking/climbing is getting jumped by a cat while doing the number two: you all alone, crotching down, with your pants down at the ankles....

It was way too cold this past weekend to think about dropping your drawers! I willed that part of my system to shut down until I was down in civilization again.

Seriously though, I heard that one of the theories (facts?) about the mountain biker in OC was that he was crouched down working on his bike when he was attacked.

Regarding Muddeer's concern, "My worst fear since picking up hiking/climbing is getting jumped by a cat while doing the number two: you all alone, crotching down, with your pants down at the ankles...."

There was a digital camera found alongside some human feces near a trail. The last picture in the camera contains a clue as to what might have happened to the owner and can be viewed by clicking here .

Update 12-4-06: The link broke! Sic transit puma concolor.
(Thanks for the vote Richard. My 15 minutes of glory.)

Richard, You are correct, he was crouching fixing a flat tire on his bike. The other attack that year was non lethal. It was a gal in Sequoia National Forest that ran from a lion when she was headed back to her vehicle after a hike (also a fact as I know it). Both of these scenarios are on the list of things that you do not do! A tire on a mountain bike can be changed standing up, and you do not run from a lion.

Funny than you mention about squatting down for #2. When I have to do this I'm looking around and over my shoulder constantly. If possible I try to have my back to a large tree or boulder. Being eaten while defecating would not be a glorious way to go.

Rafael...

Well, I guess it's better than drowning...

And I suppose you wouldn't have to worry about having the s--- scared out of you!

OK, back to work now.
-L

Bob K, I'm voting for you to get the "Poster of the Year" award. This has been some classic stuff.

Your pic didn't come through, but Ranger Siquerios told me this summer that mountain lions hadn't been sighted on Telescope Peak for years, but bobcats are quite common.

Short tail == bobcat, never heard of a bobcat attacking people

Hi Top photo looks like long tail, head hanging down ,color of a cat. I can't tell the size of legs should be long , if cat and short if bobcat, bobcats tend to have black in the fur,almost like stripes. Bottom photo looks like a short tail but I think its the angle of the photo,
Slo will have it sitting in a coffee shop just around the corner from the castle next to those beehive looking things.


Bob R and his group spend many days in that area see what they comeup with .Thanks Doug

Photo interpretations are almost always quite interesting, as is this one. I see no long tail in the top photo, the same short tail is in both pics, but it looks like the head orientation changes. Also, the 'scruffier' fur sticking out legs are typical of a bobcat. Definitely a bobcat....................steve

Kinda reminds me of identifying a robbery suspect in a grainy surveillance video!

'Bobbed tail' and 'Long' tail' are relative terms. This cat does not have a 'long' tail and it the first picture appears to have tufts on the ears... definitely a Bobcat.

Kind regards,

Mark A. Patton

Hay Doug, now that I'v got this vision in my head of Richard and Bob R marking their territory up and down the Sierra mabey you should rename the topic 'lions and bears oh my!'In the 1890's my grandfather was a oufitter and packer and would allways loop a horshair riata around his bedroll to keep out rattlesnakes, that was till sitting around the campfire one night he watched as a six footer crawled over that lariat right into his sleeping bag.

Hi Talus funny thing when this thread reached 100 I thought about starting one about rattlesnakes your granddad was right snakes don't know about the stuff that we know.
I had a long list of snake bite SETUPS, in all the years around snakes I can not recall of a person being struck without notice, the person then gets the shovel, steps on the head , throws a hat on the snake, cuts the head off, takes the snake home/work to show his buddies, snakes can't climb/swim , the small ones are not as bad, if they just ate they won't be as bad, myth list goes on forever, rattlers are not above 5000' except when you see one at 9000'.

Add horse and dog stories to the list and the climber that ran into one on a ledge.....Thanks Doug

I heard a dog barking as I was walking the JMT/PCT above Taboose Pass a couple of weekends ago.

Did the snake look like <a href=http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/c.c.cerastes.html>THIS</a>? I've run into lots of rattlesnakes in central and southern California, including the sidewinder. On that particular occasion, I was talking with my two buddies as we hiked on a dirt road in the desert, not paying attention. All three of us stepped over a stick on the road, only to discover the stick was alive!

A sidewinder at 9,000 feet? Seems pretty high for sidewinders, but the motion you describe is the way they move.

I think we better get back to the mountain lions...

Hi Calif Fish and Game Rattlers exist above 10,000' elevation. Thanks Doug

So, back to cats (I think):

<img src=http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/photos/116054815-S.jpg>

Does anybody know what type of animal made this track? It was on a use trail in the West Fork of Bear Canyon up near Mt. Baldy.

Richard--If it was about 4+" wide= mountain lion; bobcat tracks are around 2+ wide.

If you mumbled, "I hope I don't run into whatever left that footprint," it was definitely a mountain lion. Lion tracks are good sized.

They were about as wide as my shoe.

I was glad that they were heading in the opposite direction (and I was definitely looking over my shoulder). Before I took the photo, I had seen some rabbit tracks on the trail also, but didn't see any sign that the cat had attacked.

I finally lost the tracks up where the cat must have come out of the brush on to the trail. It stayed on the trail for at least 1/2 mile and it may have been 3/4.