{"id":2818,"date":"2025-01-17T11:43:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2025-01-21T08:22:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T16:22:50","slug":"sitting-pretty-kitty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=2818","title":{"rendered":"Sitting Pretty Kitty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It was getting late in the day and I was finishing up a 12 mile hike in Southern California\u2019s lovely and wild Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Preserve. The coyotes, ubiquitous to this landscape of oak woodlands, grasslands and chaparral were now out in full force. I counted four of them as I worked my way back to my start. A half mile from the trailhead I watched a large mammal cross the trail a short distance ahead of me. Its gait, long tail and raised rump immediately said to me\u2014that\u2019s no coyote! I watched it walk across the grass and then crouch down facing toward me. I zoomed in with my phone camera and startled but not surprised\u2014realized that was a cat face looking back at me! And it wasn\u2019t a bobcat!<\/p>\n

Cougars (puma concolor), also known as mountain lions, pumas, catamounts, and panthers (and many other names) are the second largest member of the cat family in the Western Hemisphere and well distributed from Alaska to Patagonia. The West Coast states and British Columbia contain fairly healthy populations of this wild cat\u2014yet in all of my hiking\u2014more than 35,000 miles alone in Washington state I\u2019ve only seen a cougar in the wild once\u2014well make that twice now after this past Tuesday\u2019s hike!<\/p>\n

\"\"

coyotes on the prowl<\/p><\/div>\n

Cougars are secretive and elusive, but they\u2019re out and about, and in California<\/a>, wildlife officials and conservations estimate the population<\/a> at around 4,500. Cougar hunting has been banned in the state since 1990, but unbridled development, especially in Southern California has threatened local populations. But even in this rapidly urbanizing area, cougars are hanging on. There was even one (and there appears to be a new one) in LA\u2019s Griffith Park<\/a> for many years. Here in the foothills of the Santa Anna Mountains in southwestern Riverside County, cougars roam the countryside enough that trailheads sport warning signs about them.<\/p>\n

On several of my past hikes in Washington I\u2019ve encountered fresh cougar tracks and have actually been followed a couple of times by these curious cats. How did I know I was being followed? On my return, fresh tracks overlaid my boot tracks! That and you get that feeling of being watched! I hike a lot in cougar country but I usually don\u2019t give too much thought about them. But cougar attacks on humans have increased over the past couple of decades, occasionally bringing me some concern when I\u2019m alone in the wilderness and feel the presence of these big cats!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Cougar keeping an eye on me!<\/p><\/div>\n

And here I was not only feeling the presence of one, but seeing one! It was crunched down in the grass looking at me. It was not displaying any threatening behavior, but I still needed to get by\u2014and that cat was not too far off of the trail. I began talking to it in a calm voice, picked up some rocks, and slowly but with a purpose continued on the trail, crossing the dry draw where it had crossed the trail. All the while I kept my eyes focused in the direction of the cat. As I crossed the draw, I kept turning back as to not have my back toward the cat. The cat didn\u2019t move, but I kept moving down the trail!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Beautiful Santa Rosa Ecological Reserve– Mount San Jacinto in background<\/p><\/div>\n

Heart rate now fully elevated, I was freaked out, relieved and excited. Wow, I just saw a cougar! How freaking cool is that!? I still had a half mile to go and I kept my eyes roaming all over the surrounding grasses as I headed back to the trailhead and to the visitors center to report my sighting. I only wish I was able to zoom in on it better, but no way was I going to move closer for photos. I have some pretty vivid images of the sighting in my mind though\u2014and a warmth in my heart that these beautiful critters are still roaming in one of the most populated corners of America!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was getting late in the day and I was finishing up a 12 mile hike in Southern California\u2019s lovely and wild Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Preserve. The coyotes, ubiquitous to this landscape of oak woodlands, grasslands and chaparral were now out in full force. 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