After lunch we decided to take Stanley for a walk up the canyon. Although winter is finally fading we found ourselves having to slog uphill through several inches of slippery slush. Because the last of the snow fell less than 12 hours ago it was easy to identify everything and everyone who had walked the trail today. There had been a man and a medium sized dog, countless deer, us, and Stanley. As we neared the gaging station where the canyon walls narrow dramatically, we spotted a really large print. Instantaneously I thought, great a bear track for Noah, we need to go home and get the camera. About a second later I realized that it wasn't a bear track at all, it was a mountain lion. Like a couple of idiots, Larry and I were standing in the middle of the forest gawking at a fresh lion track while Stanley bounced around obliviously at our feet. Now if it had been a bear, I probably would have gone home, gotten my camera, and returned to get the shot. Bears are big and clumsy, and kind of noticeable and I'm sure my middle aged flesh would not have interested one no matter how hungry or groggy he was. But a mountain lion is another story. They're there, and you can't see them. They hide in the trees, behind rocks, in caves, and since they have nothing against eating aging women or cockapoos, we headed home. So my apologies to you Noah. We're going have to leave that print to melt invisibly into the forest floor because I'm too chicken to go back! :)
On a side note: Where we live in the mountains is naturally mountain lion habitat and it is we humans who encroach in their canyon. So while rare, the track we came across today was not out of place. Strangely though, there seems to be an unusual amount of puma activity this year. Within the last couple of weeks there have been two of the big cats removed from a nearby town; both in residential, city neighborhoods.
