Re: Weekend Story

["GESA BRINKS" <gesaeqfx@pe.net>]

Wow Garrett,  what an experience!!!  Glad it wasnt me! <bg> whew..good thing
it didnt have kittens.  A friend of mine ran into a mountain lion with
kittens.  There was 5 riders and the cat wouldnt let them by her on the
trail.  She put on quite a show.  They were 3 hrs late getting back to the
ranch because of the detour they had to make.  This was in Pine
Valley/Cuyamaca  in So. Ca.   gesa
-----Original Message-----
From: Garrett Ford <gford@easyboot.com>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Monday, April 24, 2000 10:45 AM
Subject: RC: Weekend Story


>Do I have a story for you!
>
>Well my horses are in good shape, we did a 50 last week.  This weekend was
>their time to rest and relax.  I decided it was time for me to do one of my
>long runs and start getting myself in shape for Tevis.  I decided I would
>run from home (2,500 ft) to the Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley (9,500 ft).  I asked
>my wife to pick me up at the top at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning.  I wanted
>to get done early so we could fit in some other activities during the
>afternoon.
>
>I pushed off from home about 5:00 a.m. and started my long accent.  This
>training run/ride is a doozy.  It climbs from 2,500 ft. to 6,000 ft. then
>goes back to 2,500 ft. before climbing back to 9,500 ft.  The trail has
>10,500 ft. of gain in 16 miles, Tevis has about the same gain over 100
>miles.  We have a wonderful training area but that’s another story.
>
>About 30 minutes after pushing off I was rounding a long right hand turn in
>the trail when I caught something out of the corner of my eye two feet off
>the trail to my right.  It one motion I chucked my hat at the object and
>jumped back.  I found myself face to face with a large mountain lion.  It
>was lying on its stomach ready to pounce, ever muscle in its body was
>twitching as it slinked toward me.  Our eyes were locked three feet apart.
>I yelled at the cat as if I was scolding a bad dog "GET OUT OF HERE".  The
>cat penned his ears to his head like a horse that’s getting ready to kick
or
>bit.  The black tuft at the end his tail was swaying side to side.  As I
>would inch back the cat would slide forward.
>
>I started to slowly take off my camel back to use as a weapon if needed.  I
>got it off without the cat making any movement and slowing held it in front
>of me to shield the coming collusion.  The cat slowing came to his feet and
>walked to my right, I turned with him to maintain eye contact.  He went to
>the other side of the trail and crouched near a bush.
>
>My body eased and I began to look at the cat in amazement.  The front limbs
>were strong and powerful.  The body was long, and lean but muscled.  The
>detail in the face was incredible, a combination of tans, grays and black.
>His nose kept sniffing for my scent.  The picture that will remain with me
>for my lifetime will be the tail.  As I watched the cat face to face, the
>last four inches of the very long tail slowing swayed from side to side.
>The black tuft on the end kept attracting my attention.  It was amazing.
>
>Well after a minute of watching the cat and memorizing all his features, I
>decide not to push my luck and get going.
>
>I slowly turned to get my hat.  To my amazement the cat rushed toward me
>from the bushes and I quickly turned back to face him.  I now knew this
>wasn't an encounter to make me feel good; this guy was stocking me and was
>still carrying out the kill.  I decided I better get aggressive and change
>his mind.  I started to yell again.  The yelling just made him angry as he
>pinned his black and tan ears to his head.  I crouched slowly and picked up
>two fist size rocks.  The cat retreated back to his bush after I threw the
>rocks.
>
>As I slowly eased down the trail backward the cat slinked through the
bashes
>at the same pace.  I moved, he moved.  It was incredible.
>
>I picked up two more large rocks.  In one quick motion, I threw the rocks,
>yelled, waved my arms and ran toward the cat.  He turned and slipped
through
>the brush 20-30 feet.  I quickly retreated and decided to put some distance
>between us.
>
>On my way to the top I had four hours to think about the experience.  It
was
>truly the most awesome thing that has ever happened to me.  I honestly
>believe that if I would of taken one more step before catching him out of
>the corner of my eye, I would be dead or badly hurt.  I don't know if I did
>the correct thing with eye contact and facing him but it did make him think
>about attacking.
>
>The truly scary issue is that I run this same trail 4 days a week early in
>the a.m. before light.  It's probably not the first time he's watched me.
>
>I've run and ridden the same trail over 100 times.  The thought of running
>into the cat on horseback does not scare me.  Running the trail again
>Tuesday a.m. has me a little nervous.
>
>The whole experience lasted about 5 minutes.  I could fill a short story
>with the details
>
>garrett
>
>
>
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