Wildlife, Mountain Biking
A Mountain Lion Sighting on the Trail
I turned on my bell and reversed course pretty quickly | Freestyle
The trail I did not take.
Desiccation — tinder-dry grasses and dwindling water, even in Willow Creek, which bubbles up all year round — that’s what I am riding through right now. It’s easy to imagine mountain lions and coyotes, desperate during this drought, lurking in the shadowed dips in the trail.
I’ve always known that they were out there. I’ve seen coyotes, bobcats, deer, and an abundance of other wildlife while I’ve been out riding. And I know that mountain lions are spotted with some frequency in O’Neill Regional Park and El Morro Canyon, which are nearby.
But the trail system where I ride most days, although it is on the edge of the Santa Ana Mountains, in Orange County, California, is a bit closer to civilization.
I ride with a “pull-alarm” and a whistle attached to the front of my camelback, just in case. And I have a loud bell that I can turn on and off. I’ve thought about getting some pepper spray, but I haven’t done it yet.
Yesterday afternoon, at about 5:30, I emerged from a section of trail which winds through some tall grasses, about to drop down into a sandy stretch of wash and up onto a single-track trail that I love, because it twists and turns through a treed area where I always spot hawks and other wildlife. This is where I saw the bobcat last year.
The trails around here are sometimes closed off for mating raptors, or (this spring) for a large bee hive, but I had never seen this sign before —
“Trail Closed. Mountain Lion Sighting.”
I looked around at the golden twilight falling all around me. Then I realized that I was all alone.
With a twinge of nervousness, and also (I have to confess) excitement, I snapped a quick photo, then detoured onto another trail, very happy to see another biker on that one. I turned on my bell and hightailed it home.
Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem, or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).
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Photos and story ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.