once in a lifetime shot :D

[01ACRViper]

it was friday afternoon at about 3:30, and i felt like hiking up into the Laguna Meadow area to scout a hike of Ward Mtn on my next trip. i asked who wanted to go, and only 1 person did. man was everyone else sorry they stayed behind  :lol: we made the highpoint of the trail at about 5, and decided to scale the small hill on the right side for a better view. after standing there in silence for around 5 minutes, i saw what i thought was a deer out of the corner of my eye. when i turned to look, an amazing thing was approaching us *_*



he kind of just looked at us for a few seconds with an unemotional glance, then turned and walked off  :shock: while he stood still, he was no more than 10 feet from us. i didn't care about making noise, or running, or anything but getting my camera out :o that picture was after he walked away. the rock beind him was ~8 feet wide, which would make him almost 6 feet nose to tail. the park ranger i talked to said it was a young male, ~18 months old. this is one thing i surely won't forget  :D

another picture, i took them is such rapid succesion i didn't pay attention to what the camera was focusing on  :?



i know this was not the smartest thing to do, but 2 or 3 minutes after he disappeared, i walked to the rock he crawled over to see if i could get some more pictures, and as my head came over it, the lion was 3 feet away crouching on the other side  :shock: he was as scared sh*tless as i was, and we both bolted in opposite direction. i was amazed to see his eyes were bigger than mine :shock:

[BigBendHiker]

Oh Yeah!!!

What a great set of pictures and story.  I hope, some day, to see a bear and mountain lion while in Big Bend.  We have seen a Grey Fox and, of course, the javelina and skunks in the basin (had one hanging around our cabin last year), but what I would give to see the mountain lion!

Thanks for sharing!

[SHANEA]

Now that's a National Geographic Moment!  Of course, you and I are too young for once-in-a-lifetime shots - many more to come.  Congrats!  and Congrats on coming home ALIVE and not all torn up - or coming home in a body bag!   8)

Did you have to change your britches when you got back to camp?

[Bobcat]

Wow!!! That must have been quite a rush! I suppose your friends that stayed behind were kicking themselves continuously for the rest of that trip : )

[SHANEA]

My luck, I've have gotten back to camp with the picture and would have accidentily deleted the pics or reformatted the drive - it would be the one that got away!

[MarkB]

Grrrrrreat Shot! Congrats.

[chisos_muse]

Holy Sh*t!.......You're a lucky man, Sir......"I'm not worthy" (Bow)
WOWWWWWWWWW!

[01ACRViper]

Holy Sh*t!.......You're a lucky man, Sir......"I'm not worthy" (Bow)
WOWWWWWWWWW!

the first thing i thought after i saw that the pictures turned out was that i hoped they would make up for you not getting pictures of the 2 you saw  :D

[chisos_muse]

Holy Sh*t!.......You're a lucky man, Sir......"I'm not worthy" (Bow)
WOWWWWWWWWW!

the first thing i thought after i saw that the pictures turned out was that i hoped they would make up for you not getting pictures of the 2 you saw  :D

TY Viper....I'm so happy for you. I think you deserve every moment spent in that wonderous place. I'm an old gal and I envy your youth and future Geology degree.  My blessings to a beautiful life ahead for you! Oh, one more thing.......MORE PICS PLEEZE! :D

[RichardM]

Outstanding!  That must be the panther that's been hanging out around Boot Canyon and the Pinnacles the past few months.

Hey Ranger Eric, I'm thinking this needs to go on the new BIBE website!

[Don H]

Fantastic, finally someone got a picture of one of the biguns. :D   So this proves it, there really are cougs in the place 8)  :shock:
"the park ranger i talked to said it was a young male"  He looks pretty healthy to me, you da man!!  Congrats

[Casa Grande]

holy craptola viper!

there is way too much going on today on this board!  i'm now spiraling out of control!!!!

 :mrgreen:  =D>

[bdann]

wow that's awesome. count yourself lucky, few have an experience such as that!

[SHANEA]

count yourself lucky, few have an experience such as that!

And Live to Write About It

Probably found a little bit of the body, maybe a backpack, when they viewed the pictures in the camera, they knew who did it

[TheWildWestGuy]

That's a great photo Viper.  Please tell - was this lion near the Laguna West backcountry campsites?  This lion seems unusually tame and is probably part of the recent rash of close encounters that have led the rangers to post (additional) extra warning signs.   Probably some jackass had been feeding it and as they say "a fed lion eventually becomes a dead lion".  

As for the old Ward Mtn Trail from looking at the old map I think it actually goes up along the ridge behind the LW1 campsite to the peaks marked 6940' and 6847' on the topo.   This is not actually what is called Ward Mtn today but I have been to the peak labelled 6940' and it seems like an obvious route for a trail.   It looked like I could keep going to the peak labelled 6847' but I didn't try it.   Seemed to be several old trail fragments in the area but nothing that you could follow for more than a few hundred feet at a time... TWWG