Well this happened to me yesterday!

Wow, that's crazy!

I'm glad you made it out of there w/o fainting.  Yikes.

Good thing nothing happened! I would have been really freaked out! 

This thread is useless without pictures.



Just kidding! Glad you are safe! The way you told the story, I thought at first it might be one of those "gotcha" ones that make you think it's a real story until the punchline. CraZy!

We have both in our neighborhood. Let me tell you, you would rather meet a bobcat. They are much more reasonable. Now a mountain lion is just plain terrifying up close. One was sitting on my neighbor's porch last summer. They have small dogs.

I would be walking in the gym!!!

What a shock. Glad you are ok!

Wow, that was a closer call that I think you are realizing. There is a somewhat wooded area near me that my ex fiancé and I used to hike all the time. We usually hiked the longest trail on a weekend day, but since we were going out of town, we decided to just do part of the trail after work one night. We got to the top of this very long and steep hill, smack the post at the top ( just a silly tradition signifying that we made it) and turned around to head back down. We were not even a minute away from the top when we came upon this wet spot in the middle of the trail that was so recent it was still being absorbed into the dirt. There was a giant cat paw print in it. Mountain Lion pee. OMG. We both almost passed out from fear.

We started making more noise and we took our jackets off and slid it them over our hiking poles. We held the poles straight up in the air to make us appear much bigger. That is what the sign warning about mountain lions at the entrance of the trails says to do. Hold something, anything, up high and yell at the cat and hopefully you will intimidate it. If you can see it, throw rocks at it. We hightailed it out of the hiking area and got back to our car just as the sun went down. I can only assume the cat wasn't hungry. We don't think it followed us back down the hill.

Fast forward about a month or so and there was a young man who was riding his mountain bike through the area where we were. From what they can determine, his bike chain broke and he was most likely crouching down and fixing it. A mountain lion came up behind him and attacked him. This was in the middle of the day. His body was discovered hidden in the brush not too far from the top of the hill where we smacked the post.

He had been riding by himself in total daylight and the cat jumped him, dragged him down the hill a ways and killed him and was eating him. Just then, two girls were riding their mountain bikes on the same trails and a mountain lion, protective of its kill, jumped one of the girls as she rode by. It was trying to drag her down the hill. It had her by the head ad was trying to drag her down the hill into the brush where the other man lay dead and not yet discovered.

Fortunately she was wearing a helmet so when the lion bit her head, she had some protection. Her friend jumped off her bike and grabbed her friend's leg and was doing her best to keep the cat from dragging her into the bushes. A couple of guys came along and they began throwing big rocks at the cat and yelling and making all kinds of noise. The cat finally let go of the girl and ran off. The girl survived, but was severely injured. I don't know the full extent of her injuries, but her face was quite badly mauled and she is lucky to be alive. The man's body was discovered as Deputies were searching the area for the cat.

This hiking area is a small canyon with hills and trees, and all along the top of the canyon for a good ways in are neighborhoods with nice big homes. It wasn't like this was an hour off into the wilderness, this was really just a little bit into the canyon. The area was closed for quite a while while the authorities made sure there were no other cats making their way that close to the populated canyon from the surrounding Santa Ana mountain range.

You are very lucky to have made it out safely and to be telling this story tonight!

ETA, I also just remembered that a little girl that went to school with my son was mauled by a mountain lion in another area near here.  She was at a camp site with her family and they were out walking.  The little girl was a few feet ahead of her mom when the cat jumped out, grabbed her by the head, and bounded off with the little girl in its mouth.  She survived as well, but has some major issues from her attack.

You are really one very lucky lady.

Lexica , that story is terrifying. rodeomom , so glad you survived to tell the tale. I wonder if maybe you came across a mama who was giving you a warning...

I often go for hikes when we stay at a ranch in Wyoming.  There are some cliffs and lots of trees and running streams along the way, and I am aware a mountain lion could easily jump from a cliff onto my back. I started carrying a knife with me for my walks, though I suspect I wouldn't have the time to use it.

ETA: I had to look it up! Here is what I read:
ARE MOUNTAIN LIONS DANGEROUS?
To deer, yes! To people, not so much. Human encounters with mountain lions are rare and the risk of an attack is infinitely small. You are more likely to drown in your bathtub, be killed by a pet dog, or hit by lightning. If lions had any natural urge to hunt people, there would be attacks every single day. Instead, they avoid us.
But if you live, work, or play in cat country, be alert! Avoid walking alone between dusk and dawn when lions are most active. Keep your children and pets close to you. Never approach or corner a mountain lion (or any wild animal). If you do encounter a mountain lion, STOP. DO NOT RUN. Unlike safety advice for encountering bears, do not act timid or play dead in front of a cat.
Instead: Maintain eye contact. Stand tall. Look bigger by opening your coat or raising your arms. Slowly wave your arms and speak firmly. Throw items at the lion if necessary. Give the cat room and time to move on.
In the rare event of an attack, fight back. Most people succeed in driving the mountain lion away.

Wow! Blimey reilly! That's scary! Thank heavens you weren't attacked. I would suggest you were getting too close to cubs or a previous kill too.

As a matter of interest, how long have you had that wording under your avatar rodeomom ?

I would have been freaked out! Glad it turned out ok for you.