This is the type of nightmare scenario that all Southern California hikers fear. Suddenly, when a mountain lion appears on the path, you are walking alone.
But for Courtney Lasla last week, that nightmare has become a reality.
In a wild video shared on Instagram, Rasura captured two moments as the mountain lion came on the hiking trail, and at one point it appeared to be heading straight towards her.
“No!” she cried repeatedly at the cat. “No, I’m leaving!”
Rasla met a mountain lion on the Gridley Trail in the Rospadres National Forest on July 3, she said in an interview with KTLA. After making some stairs towards her, the mountain lion detours off the trail and bounds onto the hillside. You can hear Rasura’s relief in the video when she tweets “Thank you!”
Rasla told the station that she was an experienced hiker, maintaining eye contact with the cat and knowing that she hadn’t escaped.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife encourages people to take steps to avoid mountain lion encounters, such as hiking in groups, rather than hiking at dawn, dusk or night. However, in an unplanned encounter, Lasla made some of the agency’s recommended measures, including calmly running away and making loud noises.
Agents also recommend that you look bigger if possible and warn people not to get close to big cats.
According to CDFW, dozens of mountain lions have attacked one deadly human in California over the past decade. Still, the agency said such attacks remain extremely rare as humans are more likely to be hit by 1,000 times more lightning than they are attacked by mountain lions.
