Was out camping and prospecting for gold in the East Fork of the San Gabriel River last week.
We got up there on a Friday before the crowd, and the place was trashed. It is basically a Mexican party house and the way they leave it is disgusting. While my friend hung out I scouted for a campsite and found one across the river that was pretty pristine. And there is the tale! I saw some deer prints on the far bank, deep and clear. No biggie, but a few steps later I saw something else. Cat prints as big as my fist! Wowsers! Anyway, I wasn’t going to frighten my companion and we portaged our gear across the river and set up camp.
Next day, I went about and saw the same pair of tracks on a branch further away. Showed the tracks to my friend and she said “I’m out of here!” i Stayed the rest of the weekend and she picked me up on Monday.
Come back and checked the Internet and yep it was mountain lion tracks for sure. Not only that, the spacing and depth made it clear that the animals were running!
Methinks the lion had a nice venison lunch.
By Saturday evening the tracks had been obliterated by all the campers tromping around. I am pretty sure I was the only one of the multitudes that even noticed. As Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot, just by looking.”
