Thursday, November 3, 2011

Cougar bait?

I've never been too worried about the mountain lions choosing me as their breakfast.  No doubt they see me a lot more than I see them, especially when I'm hopping along in the pre-dawn hours with my headlamp.  I've had two previous encounters with lions while trail running in Fort Collins.  I saw my third one this morning.  I got a good long look at this awesome creature from about 10 feet away, through the window of my car.  Bad news was that I was spitting distance from the Soderberg trailhead where I was planning to trudge up Towers Road.  Also bummed I didn't have my camera.  Well I cancelled the popular 4:30am wave for Towers Thursday and decided to head on up to the Horsetooth Rock trailhead instead.  It was a more preferable run than Towers anyway, and the way the lion was looking at me, I thought it best to not invade his territory.  With our second major dumping of snow in the last 8 days yesterday, it was just a beautiful morning on the mountain!

5 comments:

  1. Shoulda challenged it to a race. Tell the cat to wait 25 mins and then try and beat you to the top.

    No cat sightings for me. Just prints.

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  2. Ha! I bet I would have set a PR even in the snow.

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  3. I think 4:30 AM is last call for lions.

    Never seen a print in five years of running all over the place (although I tend to run closer in to town in the winter). Only caught a glimpse one time because rushing water masked the sound of my feet. Secretive aren't they.

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  4. Unfortunately, I've never come across a cat or bear in the "wild". Been scared out of my wits by glowing eyes at night but those were likely deer.
    I don't blame you for picking another run spot!

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  5. Crap. I think my HR sitting in the car looking at it would have counted for the workout for the day.

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