6/25/2015
Scaredy Cat
When tourists, friends, and family visit from out of state, we Minnesota locals speak of lakes....10,000 of them......... glistening, sparkling....."land of sky blue waters"........ gems, on which to boat, canoe, kayak, sail, water ski, swim....and of course to fish. We tell our guests about the amazing Walleye bite on Leech Lake last spring...... huge walleyes...... stacked up on the rocks, like cord wood, and hitting rainbow shiners in ten feet of water. We tell them of one pound bluegills....spawning beds full of fat gills, for as far as the eye can see. And we speak of the giant Whitetail Buck, arrowed down in Winona County in the Fall.
Coloradans talk too.....of mountains, snow covered pristine mountains. And they talk about cats.
Teresa, at whose home we hikers were guests, before taking to the trail, told us of her wrens, chasing the bluebirds out of backyard birdhouses. And of bull elks rutting, amazingly, right in her yard. Bull Elk chasing cows around her house, at three o'clock in the morning!
Then she finally got around to the lion. Yes, the mountain lion that lives somewhere in her neighborhood. It got the neighbor's goat, right over there, just across the road. And there is a pile of bones stacked up nearby. "She's got a den right here..... and probably cubs," Teresa told us.
Teresa, at whose home we hikers were guests, before taking to the trail, told us of her wrens, chasing the bluebirds out of backyard birdhouses. And of bull elks rutting, amazingly, right in her yard. Bull Elk chasing cows around her house, at three o'clock in the morning!
Then she finally got around to the lion. Yes, the mountain lion that lives somewhere in her neighborhood. It got the neighbor's goat, right over there, just across the road. And there is a pile of bones stacked up nearby. "She's got a den right here..... and probably cubs," Teresa told us.
"Lions and tigers and bears....oh my! Lions and tigers and bears oh my!"( L. Frank Baum) I was thinking.
The day before I hiked up and over Georgia Pass, I met a whole bunch of women on the trail; a total of ten of them, individually or in small groups. Seven were in my age group, and the three riding horses were 40 to 55. I chatted with the riders twice. The second time was a longer conversation, as they had hobbled their horses, on the hillside and were enjoying the beautiful day, and the view. Actually the horses had been cross lined, they explained to me, which restricts movement even more than hobbling. The horses can still eat, and they still get the view.
Eventually...... again...... of course, the subject came to Lions. The elder and most rugged of the three horsewomen, asked me if I was carrying a gun. I said no. She asked me if I had a knife.
I said, "No....but I"ve got a toe nail clippers!". She didn't laugh.
"You know about the Mountain Lions............. don't cha?"
Yes. I admitted.....I had heard about them.
"Well......you'll probably be ok," she pondered to herself, more so than to me......."there's lots of food for 'em this time of year. "
Twice warned was enough for me. For the rest of the trail, every time a mountain biker came roaring down the trail on a fat tired bike,from behind me, I got spooked. At the moment that I heard that fast approach..... I knew that a hungry mountain lion had just launched itself into space, and was about to sink it's teeth into the back of my neck. That's how they do it. I know. I have seen it on TV!
I said, "No....but I"ve got a toe nail clippers!". She didn't laugh.
"You know about the Mountain Lions............. don't cha?"
Yes. I admitted.....I had heard about them.
"Well......you'll probably be ok," she pondered to herself, more so than to me......."there's lots of food for 'em this time of year. "
Twice warned was enough for me. For the rest of the trail, every time a mountain biker came roaring down the trail on a fat tired bike,from behind me, I got spooked. At the moment that I heard that fast approach..... I knew that a hungry mountain lion had just launched itself into space, and was about to sink it's teeth into the back of my neck. That's how they do it. I know. I have seen it on TV!
The following morning I arose and started packing up early....very early. Teresa had advised that whenever I was summiting a high point on the trail, I start hiking by 4 AM, in order to get up on top by 11AM, and back down below tree line by 1:00 PM.
The reason for this is the summer afternoon storms........... the lightning. Teresa had assured me that one really does not want to be up there, above tree line, when those lightning bolts start slamming into the mountain.
The reason for this is the summer afternoon storms........... the lightning. Teresa had assured me that one really does not want to be up there, above tree line, when those lightning bolts start slamming into the mountain.
If you have read my AT journal, then you know that lightning really scares me. On the AT, when the storms came, if I had phone service, I would call my brother, and he would promise me that the lightning would not get me. That I would be okay.
So I got up really early, with practically no sleep, because of worrying whether the snow would be too deep to navigate, up there at the pass. But while breaking camp in the dark..... I realized that I was not thinking about snow covered peaks, nope, not at all.
As I looked over my shoulder again and again, while striking my little tent-home......I was aware that the only thing I thought about was lions.
"Lions....and Tigers....and Bears....Oh my!"
"Lions....and Tigers....and Bears....Oh my!"
It's dark in those woods......... all by yourself.......all alone........ at 4 AM. I probably made it 50 yards up that trail before I started looking. No, you're wrong........I had begun looking for the Mountain Lion, behind every tree and boulder, and up high on every tree limb, with my very first step. At 50 yards, what I was looking for was a rock........ a really big rock.
So I stealthed my way up that mountain trail, slowly....alertly...... cautiously.....poles in one hand, and of no help in manuvering the trail; and a big 3 pound rock in my left hand. Just beyond the reach of my headlamp beam, that Lion was out there. I know it. Stalking me. Looking for the perfect spot from which to pounce on it's prey........me. I know this rock is pretty useless, but I resolve that I will not be taken down without a fight. If the Lion doesn't sink his teeth in deep enough to paralyze my spine on the initial attack, .....then maybe, just maybe, I can wack that sucker hard, in the head. Really hard.
So I carried all that extra chocolate, and a big, big rock, all the way up Georgia Pass, and across the intermittent snow fields, in the dark.
So I stealthed my way up that mountain trail, slowly....alertly...... cautiously.....poles in one hand, and of no help in manuvering the trail; and a big 3 pound rock in my left hand. Just beyond the reach of my headlamp beam, that Lion was out there. I know it. Stalking me. Looking for the perfect spot from which to pounce on it's prey........me. I know this rock is pretty useless, but I resolve that I will not be taken down without a fight. If the Lion doesn't sink his teeth in deep enough to paralyze my spine on the initial attack, .....then maybe, just maybe, I can wack that sucker hard, in the head. Really hard.
So I carried all that extra chocolate, and a big, big rock, all the way up Georgia Pass, and across the intermittent snow fields, in the dark.
Then daylight came. And I got to the top. So, I turned off my headlamp, dropped the rock..........and resolved, that in spite of Teresa's hard learned advice, to never hike alone, in the dark, again. The lightning can get me.
At the very top, I sat on a comfortable rock..... enjoyed an awesome view..... and ate chocolate. "Hawkeye".
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