Mountain Lions - riding a trike and meeting mountain lions on the path

Mountain Lions:

Today on a trip to the Wares Mountain Range I was sloooowly climbing a particularly steep grade.  The trike and I moving as one. Up and up and up.

When suddenly right in front of me there was a rustling of the brush and … two mountain lions appeared.

They were about two feet away. I could smell their breath. One was perhaps a couple of years or so old. A male, and pretty big for his age.  About the length of the trike in fact.  He stopped and looked right into my eyes. His head was about level with mine. Then he padded across the road. The other lion was a youngster with spots - cute as anything.  She took one look at me, let out a yelp, and ran to follow her brother.

But… as soon as the little one let out her yelp there was an ominously loud rustling of the brush right beside the trike. I just sat there, and I felt rather than saw the massive presence of the mother mountain lion. There have been several deaths around here from people being attacked and killed by the mountain lions. The last one was just a couple of weeks ago, near where I was riding.

Since the grade was so steep, there was no way I could have sprinted away. If I tried to turn around she would have been on me in a flash. Nor could I try to stand up (health issues make that a really sloooow processes). So I just sat there and waited for the mother to come and rescue her young by attacking me.

Suddenly everything was deadly silent. The birds stopped twittering, no sounds anywhere. The silence stretched.... and stretched.

In the distance I heard a truck coming around the curve. This was the first vehicle I had heard for for at least couple of hours. The lion must have heard it too... nothing happened... I just sat there and so did she. Soon the truck roared up the logging road I was on, and passed by me. As it did so I sprinted as best I could and continued up the pass. I wondered if the mother lion would come after me. But I think once she saw the truck she probably just went on to join her offspring.

Bit of a tense moment though… Due to health issues there is no way I could have faught back, and would likely have become another statistic.

The rest of the ride was lovely though. I climbed quite high, had brunch above the tree line, and kept an eye out for mountain lions and bears. No people or cars or houses up there. Just the trike for company. And the incredible views.