Mountain Lions

Nice addition from Jim Zelenski as submitted to Nextdoor August 27.  Excellent note on mountain lions.  Here with permission...

"Hiking the mountain is a regular activity of MANY of us and our neighbors, with and without their dogs tagging along. Don't be deterred! Wear a bell or two for sound if you wish. I carry a 30" shillelagh (1"-thick club having one fat end) both for protection and stability descending gravelly sections. 

"One exception, namely, the occasional mountain lion. In some of the ravines up there you will see the remains of deer, obvious prey of mt. lions. This is one reason why most of the established G.M. trails are on high ground not in the ravines. Mt. lions attack from above (& go for the neck), so the locations to be careful of are where a trail runs through dense, high foliage where the lion can be up in a tree or on a rocky outcrop. If you avoid such locations, you should be fine.

"BTW, as I understand it, if a person wears a "large hat," (i.e., with a brim all around) as opposed to, say, a ballcap, he or she looks larger and more formidable to a mt. lion, and this could, at least in part, deter one."