Continue with onX Maps
Sign in with Facebook
New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #40
Nick Goldsmith wrote: Well, even if we don't have a breeding population around here ( and I am not convinced of that), there have been enough credible signs and sightings around the region to suggest that we get fairly frequent visitors!!! Nice pictures, Nick. Definitely winter up your way. Still November seasonable around here. |
Cherokee Nunes wrote: "If it bleeds, we can kill it." A number of years ago, Tom "jrat" Jones and I flew into Phoenix to attend a canyoning rendezvous in Globe. We decided to hit Salome Jug on the way there...even though we were a bit pushed for time. Did the canyon and started the hike out right when the sun went down. We're hiking down a wash in the dark when right behind us a mountain lion screamed. Freaky...sounded very human. Close enough that I thought I could feel the air move. We hustled to the truck we'd rented... Good times! Edit to add a couple of pics...Tom on the hike in...  In the canyon...back before we figured out helmets were a good idear...  Pretty fun gig and a sweet canyon. |
|
I know I've told these stories online over the years but maybe not here. I understand from envious friends that I have been blessed because I have seen not just tracks, but two mountain lions when out and about: First sighting was on 395 somewhere north of Lee Vining, as I was headed home to the Bay Area from my friend's house in Swall Meadows. I think it was early Spring because the passes were still closed and I was headed farther north to cross the Sierra. It was very early in the AM, just around dawn, and I saw one cross the road from the west heading east at a large pullout. I was so excited that I pulled into the pullout, grabbed my camera from the front seat (pre cell phones), left my car running and jumped out to chase it and take a picture. About 15 feet from my car I suddenly realized what a stupid idea that was and backed up back to my car. Second sighting was right near my current house. Two blocks to the east of me is a huge wash between Upland and Rancho that is part of flood control. Two blocks north of me is where all the housing stops and the terrain turns to the scrubby hills at the base of the Angeles NF mountains. I was solo walking around 4:30 in the afternoon from my entrance at 24th St. when I saw a lion cross the trail one block ahead of me coming in from 25th St. I sometimes wear a lanyard with a screech alarm and bear spray when I'm out solo walking because we can sometimes have somewhat aggressive coyotes in my neighborhood, but I wasn't wearing it that day. This time I was smart enough not to keep walking towards the mountain lion. I backed up until I got near my exit to the street. This second sighting did not really surprise me. The two streets north of me, 25th and 26th, that run more or less east west from the huge wash between Claremont and Upland, to the huge wash near my house, are well known as a wildlife corridor. People in those neighborhoods regularly post bobcat, mountain lion, coyote and bear from their security cameras. Lately we've had a red fox that likes to visit us and poop in our backyard. I know that feeling of being watched. It's very creepy. I was once at Lost Piton Rock at Benton Crags, belaying my partner when suddenly all the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I knew something scary was watching me. I turned around and scanned but of course I didn't see anything - but I belayed the rest of the route looking out rather than at my partner (who was on TR). We stayed there for a while but I was pretty uneasy. |
|
Such great stories! I do not have any personal mountain lion stories but my daughter, Natty, who is the climber amongst my kiddos, does! One spring my wife, myself, and three of my kiddos all went to Moab for hiking and climbing but Natty didn't want to go and being 17 years old, we all felt fine with her staying at our house on the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The house was way back on the base and in a pretty secluded area. One night while we were in Moab Natty calls us at around 1 am totally freaked out. We ask what's going on and she says, "There's a HUGE mountain lion outside my window looking in at me!". It was a big cat just staring in the window! Scared the hell out of her! Fortunately it soon ran away but she didn't sleep that night! It was a one story house and we had mountain lions, and bobcats, and coyotes, and bear, etc. all over the place. I had personal encounters with all of the above except for the mountain lions but we had those huge cat tracks all over the place in the mud after rain and our neighbor had a game camera and would share his photos of the two adult cats and their cub that lived near us all. Man, Colorado is such a magical and incredible place to live! |
|
I’ve been enjoying everyone’s wildlife stories. Here’s a screenshot of two juvenile lions checking out a neighbors sweet old school 4runner. The deer seem to seek shelter close to our homes but the cats just follow their prey.  I‘d post the video but my skills are lacking, it’s cool because it’s possible to hear the lions purring and communicating with each other. |
phylp phylp wrote: Yeah, ditto that. One of my longtime climbing partners and I were reminiscing just the other day about climbing 20 years ago at Sam's Throne in Arkansas. The whole time, we both had a strong feeling of being watched. Creepy. Maybe didn't help we saw that someone had placed a pumpkin with a face painted on it at the edge of the cliff... No one around that we could see...all day...quiet...but...strange...  I've seen a number of bobcats over the years. But...only one cougar that I dimly recall. Crossed the road in the dusk as I was coming out from climbing in the Uintas. Pretty neat. t Edit to add....ok...one more cat bit...  Ski touring after work in Little Cottonwood. Pretty common to have critters follow a skin track... |
|
There's a camera almost everywhere now. If we had a breeding population of big cats in the north east there would be pictures on people's game cameras and security cameras. |
Alan Rubin wrote: I have no first hand experience with eastern mountain lions, having only seen their tracks in snow at our remote Arizona climbing area. However, there has been DNA verified scat in the Quabbin Reservoir area near my house, a huge tract of contiguous forest land. I also talked to somebody for Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife many years ago about the numerous sightings in my area. His response was (paraphrasing) “ The official stance of Fish and Wildlife is that there are no mountain lions in Massachusetts. However, it was also Fish and Wildlife’s stance that there were no coyotes in Massachusetts when there were probably 500. They only admitted it when they started showing up in the Boston suburbs.” |
|
I've been pretty damned close to mt. lions--worked on a lion project 1980-81 in southern Utah. This photo was taken while I was in the tree with it while darting it. I have a closer pic I can't find right now (head shot--my minimum focusing distance for the lens was 6.5 feet, and I had to lean back to get it in focus!). Fun times. Some neat stories.  |
Ward Smith wrote: Both the sighting made by my wife and daughter and the track that I saw were in the hills that border to the west the Quabbin Reservoir area that Ward mentioned. The sense of 'being watched' mentioned by several on here is such a common phenomenon that it likely has a physiological basis. Most likely our brains get 'messages' , probably from sounds or smells, that themselves don't reach us on the 'conscious level', but are sufficient to put us on alert. That surely makes sense in terms of evolutionary survival mechanisms. |
|
Big cat story. Rejean and I were biking back up to Rossland on the old rail grade. As we passed through a rock cut there was signs of a struggle and fresh blood. So fresh that it was running down the trail. A big cat must have jumped off the rock cut onto a deer(?). We didn't stop to investigate. In Rossland we have bears in town frequenty, sometimes as close to a meter or two from our back door. We keep thinking about taking down our apple and cherry tree, but don't bears have to eat? |
|
This was my last bear encounter… I only posted it today, so the date is incorrect. This was last year sometime?
|
|
Lori Milas wrote: I listened to the whole interview with Randy Leavitt yesterday while I was out roaming. One of the most inspiring videos I’ve ever seen is of Randy climbing the Book of Hate and now I cannot find it on YouTube anywhere. If anyone knows where it is, would you let me know? … This is probably the video you are talking about: Inertia 2: focus |
Ship T wrote: Oh, wow. Thank you so much, Ship! I searched and searched and I thought I might never see it again. This is really special. That’s really thoughtful. After watching Randy on Book of Hate I was really captivated by the amount of exertion and focus he needed to send that route. So when I was working on a new stemming route with Bob and it was taking all my energy I was really, seriously wanting to know if it was OK for an old person (me) to work that hard, ie racing heart, breathlessness. The truth is, nobody knows, but you can’t do less. I have a friend who is working on a 5.13 face climb and he said “the climbing is really delicate. Your fingers get tired and the footwork is down to millimeters.” And I thought well my route is down to centimeters but there’s something we have in common. It’s that full body experience of being all in and whatever that grade may be I think it’s the same rewards . |
|
I still love the “quiet, please” request. |
Ward Smith wrote: Ward, I cannot decide if you are a candidate for aging men's gymnastics or Dancing with the Stars. I envy the flexibility. |
|
John, decades ago I read a biography or autobiography about you (I forget which.) If I remember correctly you were given a Ford car with "For John Gill" engraved somewhere in it. Did this happen or did I dream it up? If it did what were the circumstances that lead to this? Thanks |
|
Ok, here's a sorta rando question for this group: Do you any of you maintain AAA memberships anymore? I've had mine for decades...used it a fair amount as a young adult with less reliable cars, but in recent years (decades), not really at all. Except for maybe hotel discounts (that they never actually look at the card for). I had an incident last year where I ran out of gas (just not paying attention), and communicating with AAA's system was ridiculously ineffective, and an overly-long response time (it happened at the I-5 & 205 split south of Portland). Got me to thinking....maybe this system just isn't effective any longer, and it's time to part ways. Or is it? Anybody still have one, and found it recently useful on a road trip somewhere? |
5.13 face in Josh? I'm just curious which route. Those things don't get a lot of ascents, it's good to hear about someone getting after it... |
apogee wrote: We have our auto insurance through AAA. They offered us the lowest rates for comparable coverage here in California. Fortunately, we haven’t made any claims or needed roadside assistance, so I can’t vouch for their service. They have been easy to communicate with though and adjusted our rates when changes were applicable. |
