Lion in Wait?

Posted on June 22, 2004 in Mountain Lions Nature Neighborhood

I took my usual walk through Whiting today, climbing the back side of Dreaded Hill to Four Corners and then across the badlands to the east via the Upper Pond Trail to Vulture View. From there, I descended via the Cactus Trail and crossed back to Whiting Road via Sleepy Hollow. It was about ten to twenty yards south of the Sleepy Hollow entrance that I saw faint tracks in the dust on the left side of the road.

They weren’t very distinct. All I could tell for certain is that they belonged to one of the larger carnivores — maybe a coyote, maybe a large bobcat, or a young lion. They turned off onto an unofficial path that trail bikers sometimes use as a shortcut. I went my way, deeming the sighting too unimportant and too inconclusive to call the rangers about.

As I veered off Whiting Road to begin my ascent to Concourse Park, something crashed in the thicket of mulefat and live oaks at the north point of the intersection. I called “Hello” but no one answered. I picked up my pace, looking back at the copse until I passed the place where the Concourse Park Road meets the Sage Scrub. I called the office and reported the two events.

It may or may not have been one of our resident pumas. Ranger Bobbie told me that someone had seen a mother with cubs a few weeks back. If the noise belonged to the tracks — if it wasn’t a skittish mule deer — the lion must have been a youngster blundering along in the hope of getting the jump on me. It wasn’t very discreet and its prey got away.

This isn’t going to prevent me from hiking there. I avoid making myself an opportunity for lions by always remaining standing, watching my surroundings when I do stop, and carrying a heavy walking stick just in case everything else fails. Many hikers do Whiting alone. My main surprise was that this incident occured at one of the most heavily trafficked intersections. Of course, the tracks I saw were smallish. Young and stupid, just like an adolescent driving alone for the first time.