With a clear view of the summit I saw an adult mountain lion at the summit moving to a better position to see me! Since he had priority of earliest arrival I turned back and returned to my car. Now, I need a plan on how to activate a summit with a lion and I wonder how fast he copies CW.
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I would be more worried that he has a taste for Mountain Goat for lunch
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Lucky you, to see such a magnificent creature in the wild!
All Best,
Ken
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Indeed! I’ve only had the pleasure of seeing one mountain lion over the past 12 years here in Colorado. Although, I’ve probably walked past a few without knowing it 
!
73, Brad
WA6MM
Even luckier you, to see it first!
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No doubt he/she saw your first. It most likely determined you weren’t the next meal and moved on 
In the 25 years I’ve been running up and down the rails for the UPRR, I’ve seen 4 mountain lions while out walking/inspecting my train in some pretty remote mountainous areas. Scary feeling to say the least! An old head once told me if you see deer, there’ll be mountain lions…Any pictures? 73, Todd KH2TJ
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You never know, I’d say. We usually presume animals in the wild, particularly predator ones, are always ahead of us, but let me tell you that I found myself right 2-3m before a wild fox half speed running towards me and my dog while he was looking to his right.
To better describe the scenario, he was half running towards his/her 12, looking to his/her 3, while I was at his 11. When he/she was just 2 or 3 meters close to me, he/she turned his head, saw me and jumped starting a spring running to get away of me and my dog.
Everything was very fast and my dog didn’t even have the time to react.
I definitely saw him/her well before he/she saw me and it was quite amazing and nice experience.
Fortunately it was a fox and he/she run away as soon as he/she saw me.
It would have been a completely different story with a mountain lion… 
Fortunately, we don’t have any left over here…
73,
Guru
HI saw a mountain lion ages ago cross my path probably 150 yards ahead of me with a hare or rabbit in its mouth.
They do tend avoid human contact but that written it is unnerving to think of them when out and about.
Apparently crouching to tie your shoe laces makes them mistake you for Bambi which could end the wrong way for you.
Paul
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There were several mountain lion attacks on humans where I lived in Southern Calif. A mountain biker was found dead – he may have been fixing a flat tire or something. A trail runner was also attacked but survived. Of course, the mountain lions were starving as the deer population had been falling for years. Plenty of deer here in Colorado so I don’t worry quite as much! But I always try to sit with a tree or large rock behind me when possible to avoid something coming up behind me.
It can freak you out a bit more in the winter when you see their fresh tracks in the snow. You tend to more on alert then! Of course they are always around during the other seasons but you don’t notice their tracks .
73, Brad
WA6MM
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Where there’s a need, there’s a LION!
Lions International
Not as many in the UK and a lot of people don’t believe there are large cats in this country out in the wild but after coming across these tracks and seeing the cat a little over a km from me I think this may be proof enough for some folk. I’m sure if I saw it then it saw me.
If you zoom in on the large rock in the middle you will see the black cat.
Where was all this?
Just to the west of Loch Lomond on the side of Tullich Hill GM/SS-103 on December 30th 2010.
The tracks ventured over much on the hill including the summit.
73 Neil
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Neil
Was it a lynx/bobcat that you saw?
Paul
Brad
I too was in SoCal during the mountain lion attacks in the Santa Ana mountain area that I think you are referring to and that was about the time I saw the mountain lion.
Most around Laguna Beach where I live have since been displaced due to highways and housing.
I honestly couldn’t tell what it was apart from all black. Not a normal animal in this country so we ain’t used to identifying them. Going by the length of the stride it was bigger than I wanted to go “Here pussy!”
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Next time, bring some tuna.
The closest I’ve gotten here was an elk family, mother with two calves, where the mother went to one side of the path, and the kids the others. You do not want to mess with an angry 200-400kg elk mom who thinks you want to eat her (very tasty) kids.
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We have also had sightings of large black cats down here in England. Wilipaedia lists some sightings under “British big cats”. It is interesting that the majority of the cats are black.That was certainly the case of the one reported fairly local to me a few years ago - nothing heard of late though.
Great to see the stride pattern of the animal relative to your walking pole length. Good thinking to record that!
It is certain that these sightings are not of the Scottish Wild Cat, which incidentally I have been within half a metre of while operating static mobile on Cairnpapple Hill GM/SS-254 back in 1974 - it just walked past as I sat operating in my car. It was considerably larger than a domestic cat, but nothing of the size of these large black cats that have been reported.
73, Gerald G4OIG
When I first read the title of this fascinating thread, I assumed it was going to be something about experiences with a new portable power supply in the hills… but this is much more interesting… 
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If I had know I was going to have this encounter I would have taken the DSLR with the 500mm lens instead of leaving it in the car. Had to make do with a wee pocket Fuji FinePix JX530.
My sister worked with RSPB and a wildlife trust up north and hasn’t seen anything more than the Scottish puss.
Got a better pocket photo taker now with 20x optical zoom - just in case!
FWIW, and your mileage may vary, most of the predators in the wild (Grizz aside) are not looking to make a tasty meal out of humans (which has been called out above)… Appear big, which you probably already do depending on how big your pack is, make noise and keep awareness of your surroundings just in case. If you do feel unsafe though, by all means turn back…and yah, bring that Nikon 200-400mm F4 next time :D.
I’ve only seen a Mountain Lion once in the wild, as others have noted, it is an amazing sight!!! (seen plenty of black bear though…also equally amazing, but…the Mountain Lion is a very rare sight!)…
Speaking of mountain lions, funny thing happened on the way down to San Diego this week. As we were dropping down into Bridgeport of Hwy 395 we noticed a weird looking coyote strolling along in the pasture near the town. As we got closer, my wife yells it’s a lion! A big mountain lion. Several cars were parked along the hwy snapping pic’s! Was just strolling across the pasture like nobody’s business. And then I just got this in my inbox:
A confirmed kill of an old mare from a lion. We also have been having trubs with the wolves that have come down into NorCal from our northern neighbors attacking/killing cattle…
Later,
Todd KH2TJ
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