Something I saw today...

[Guest Tyger]

While searching for a new cache in the area today, I got a bit of a late start. It was in a valley, and I was not able to get a position thanks to poor constelation geometry. As the sun set, I decided it was time to leave, as I only had a small pen light I had gotten from another cache. On the way out, just as I almost got to my car, I heard some dry leaves cracking nearby. I looked to the source of the sound, which was silhouetted by the waning light of the set sun. It was all dark, but I could see it stood on four legs, about thee or four feet tall. It was about 30 feet away. I tried futily shining my pen light at it. Unsurprisingly it failed to illuminate even a nearby tree. But it did startle it off, and it turned and walked away... And at that point I caught a glimpse of a long thick tail. Unmistakably a cougar! I've seen cougars before (I do volunteer work at a feline breeding compound) but never in the wild. That is so far the hilite of my geocaching experiences. And it definately beats the rattlesnake I saw sunning itself right on the trail I was walking a few days earlier. I will probably return tomorrow and find the cache, if I can get better geometry.

[Guest logscaler]

Here kitty-kitty. Good for you. Took my younger brother out today while planting a cache and we jumped several herds of mule deer and a band of Bighorn sheep. The Bighorn should tell you what kind of site we located a cache at. Rough, but do-able.

[Guest charles]

where did you see that mountain lion? i live in the bay area too, just wondering if i will ever have a chance to see one.

i almost stepped on a snake today! i don't know what kind of snake was that, it's all black with a red line all the way from head to tail, anyone can identifly that?it doesn't look like a dangerous snake to approach, and it's kind of tiny (around 1' long)

[Guest Tyger]

I've seen those little snake. I almost stepped on a rattlesnake while looking for Silver Cache. It didn't rattle at me. May have been dead. Or just contently sunning on the rocks.

 

As to the mountain lion, saw it in Uvas Canyon. I was leaving a half hour after sunset. I only saw it's silhouette. The only reason I was even able to recognize it was a mountain lion is because I see mountain lions a lot (In captivity) At first I couldn't tell if I was even seeing anything, but when it decided to leave me alone, and turned and left, I caught a glimpse of the tail, confirming what it was.

 

You are not likely to see them, no. Doubly so if you go out looking. And it is best not to go out looking, leave them alone. Go to a zoo or something. If you happen to see one in the wild, consider it special and yourself lucky.

[Guest Mike_Teague]

that is very cool to see a cougar in the wild..

 

I do all my outdoor stuff here in the pacific northwest, in the general area of Mt. St. Helens, and in fact, all my camping within 10 miles of a town _called_ "Cougar", and I have never seen one!

 

heh!

[Guest Snowtrail]

I saw a bobcat on the way to a cache, but it had been hit by a car and was on the side of the road.

 

I found a black widow by accident near another cache, and since I didn't startle it was able to study it a bit without getting... well... bit.

 

We've got real problems if cougars show up on the East coast.

[Guest Charles]

Saw another strange thing today, a dead lizard, and a dead mouse lying next to each other about 1/2' apart. It didn't look to be anything done by human as I can see that trail has not been visited by human for years. Kind of strange, wondering what have happened there.

[Guest Lux Lucid]

Hey Mike, my fellow geocachers and I (Team Exocet) were up at the Secret Lava Bed cache last weekend (May 12) near Mount St. Helens. On that same road, a few miles to the north, we saw some big tracks in the snow. They didn't have claw marks, so I assume it was a cat, rather than bear or wolf. The spread of the paw was bigger than my clenched fist; at least 4.5 inches across. Meow!

-Lux Lucid

[Guest peter]

quote:

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Originally posted by charles:

where did you see that mountain lion? i live in the bay area too, just wondering if i will ever have a chance to see one.

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We got a good view of one last year on Mt. Diablo, only a little over a mile from Borges Ranch. As we climbed a little hill, we looked back and saw the mountain lion down in the valley crossing the trail. It had a squirrel in its mouth and headed up a gully toward some bushes. Then two cubs came bounding out from their hiding place to check out their lunch.

[Guest 300mag]

Never seen anything more then a few grouse squirels and birds and a little grass snake when geocaching.I would certainly not be too keen of having a cougar following or near me.I have seen lots of deers bears moose eagles owls etc.My hilight was seeing a lynx.This was really cool to see im walking in front of me on a beaver dam with is wide paws.I would like to see a wolverine(from a distance) even if they are suppose to be very ferocious.

[Guest logscaler]

I have some stills and a video of a cougar cub I caught when it was walking down a road in Idaho, Highway 12. Had to grab fast. Stuffed it head first into a sleeve of a heavy shirt. When it's head popped out, I tighten the rest of the sleeve around it's body and then got pictures. We, My Wife and I, then returned it back into the brush off the road, out of most harms way. Nice find.

[Guest charlesml]

quote:

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Originally posted by peter:

We got a good view of one last year on Mt. Diablo, only a little over a mile from Borges Ranch. As we climbed a little hill, we looked back and saw the mountain lion down in the valley crossing the trail. It had a squirrel in its mouth and headed up a gully toward some bushes. Then two cubs came bounding out from their hiding place to check out their lunch.

 

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Are we supposed to call someone like police or park people or something like that when we spotted a mountain lion? I went to highschool in Santa Cruz, and I remember one time someone spotted one near our campus and they called the police and we ended up having warning signs all over the campus.