Seeing fresh lion tracks while walking through a narrow canyon alone is always a bit unnerving. Particularly when then tracks disappear and you no longer know whether you are ahead or behind the lion.
I’ve had this experience a few times – in the narrow stretches of Mission Canyon on the PCT, and in Mee Canyon in western Colorado.
Lions are ambush predators. If you get close to a deer stash they will threaten you but rarely attack. They specialize in taking down animals larger than themselves, and that means taking them unaware and disabling them before they can fight back. It’s the lions you don’t see that are the danger, which is why guns are no defense against them.
So walking through a narrow canyon where fresh lion tracks have suddenly disappeared is creepy, and I stop often to survey ledges and look around behind me. It’s worked so far.
Last fall on the Arizona Trail I saw a deer running at top speed across the trail about 50 yards in front of me. Not bounding away, like they do when they see you and decide to move off, but a full-out sprint. Something had to be chasing it I reasoned, and stopped to survey the situation.
It was hopeless. I was in a Ponderosa forest carpeted with brown pine needle duff. Between the shadows and the duff, I would not have seen a lion if it were 20 yards away – as long as it held still. Cats, as we all know, are very good at holding still while contemplating their prey.
It’s good for us humans to be reminded from time to time that we are not really a privileged species – not at all times and in all places anyway. A dose of humility is good for our character, and I highly recommend it.