Went for a midday bike ride through Whiting because having a stroke in 90°+ heat somehow seemed like a good idea. Part way up Mustard Road, another mountain biker is headed down the hill. This is odd, because the connecting trail to the entrance is marked one-way for bikes. There's no way out for him except to go the "wrong" way.
"There's a mountain lion up there," he said. "Yeah? Cool. Thanks," I replied and kept pedaling. Before I was out of earshot, he said he had seen two rattlesnakes and a mountain lion and was done. He was mumbling something else, but I was riding away hoping to see a big cat around the next turn and wondering why he didn't just ride a paved bike path in Irvine or go to the zoo where animals are safely kept behind glass.
After a couple of turns, I could see two hikers pretty far up ahead. Well, the lion didn't scare them, so I must be OK. After a few minutes more of climbing, the hikers were also walking down the hill at a brisk pace but said nothing. Hmm. Kept riding, looking ahead at each switchback and scanning the brush on either side of the trail.
When I got to the top of the hill - 4 Corners - two bikers were shooting the breeze. Still no lion. Dang. Another opportunity lost. Seems odd for a lion sighting in the middle of the day, anyway. Maybe another case of imagineering at work which is what I suspected the last time a fellow rider warned me about one. In that case, at least there were a couple of deer to explain the mirage.
So, 19 years and counting; still waiting for that first, 100% sure sighting.
quote:Authorities in Santa Monica, California, fatally shot a mountain lion Tuesday, acting on public safety concerns after it tried to escape from an office building courtyard in the city.
Sure, but all I saw were their tracks across the trail.
There seems to be an abundance of rodents this year - rabbits and squirrels. Also more snakes. I've come across three large gopher snakes this season and my first decent size rattler on Thursday. It was another Pacific rattler. Probably 2 1/2 feet long.
To be clear, I have no interest in antagonizing one, just hope to see one in the wild while there are still a few left.
Just be careful please. Mtn Lions have been known to antagonize people. I live in the midst of them now. Two weeks ago we had a rabid one walk into a campsite and attack a family dog. He was done in by a frying pan.
I've always felt that frying pans should be banned for the sake of the children!
Last week, I rode to the bench installed as a memorial to a biker who was killed by one nearby. Current estimates put the total population at only about 30 for the entire Santa Ana range, though.
My odds of being flattened by an SUV-wielding soccer mom balancing a Starbucks while texting in the two block between my house and the trail head are higher than for me becoming a cougar Fancy Feast.
My mother taught me the dangers inherent in the use of frying pans at an early age. She ruined many a good pieces of meat in them.
Took Dreaded Hill road this morning, which was as near as I could get to the closed section of trail, and climbed up Line Shack rack road which affords an excellent view of the area. Nada.
Just read that the rangers captured it not long after I rode through. Now, they're contemplating killing it.
Game wardens captured a 100-pound male mountain lion in the Trabuco Canyon area Whiting Ranch Regional Park early Tuesday and will decide today whether or not to kill it, authorities said.
This is why I will never tell a ranger if I see one.
edit: The article has been updated to say the lion won't be killed, but could not give details on in what sort of "facility" it would end up.
This is why I will never tell a ranger if I see one.
Too bad you couldn't get a sighting and good for you for not giving up a mountain lion. All those people are visiting/invading ITS home and they want him/her killed.