Mountain Lion Encounter

Yesterday, Gail and I were hiking east of Escondido in Boden Canyon where we have captured a mountain lion(s) on three separate occasions on our trail cam this year. After about four miles, we stopped for lunch near where we had last placed our trail cam, them we started back up the trail. After about fifty yards, I crossed a buried steel culvert from when the trail used to be jeep road. Suddenly, I heard Gail gasp behind me, and turned my head to see a mountain lion bolt out of the culvert and up the bank, disappearing into the brush.  We were probably three feet or so from it as it exited. It was large with its unmistakable long tail, and you could hear powerful thumps of its paws in the sand as it accelerated. There was no time for a picture. I wanted to take pictures of the scene and the large tracks it left behind, but just in case their were cubs in that culvert, we thought it best to leave pronto. We did place the cam a hundred feet or so back down the trail on our retreat. We'll see what we get in a week or so.

Here are a few photos of the more mundane sights we saw.

 There were numerous recently metamorphosed Arroyo Toads on the sandy bank of the creek.

 San Diego Tiger Whiptail.

 Red-winged Blackbird flashing its red shoulders.

 Weed's Mariposa Lily.

This plant has thick felt-like leaves.  According to Nick and a Facebook friend, it could be a native milkweed.