Top of the food chain

On the night before the snow, I captured this photo of K in the setting sun. I love the winter light, especially at sunrise and sunset.

Also before the storm, I'm afraid that the rabbit who lived in the boulders behind my house became coyote food. Look closely at the lower left corner of the next photo and see the animal clasped in the coyote's jaws. It almost looks like the coyote is posing for his trophy photo.

Despite the successful hunting by the coyote the other day, the rest of the pack has still been hunting by the boulders. Perhaps there are more rabbits living near there. Here's one example photo from after the snow.

Yesterday evening, the storm oozed away from us, leaving magical mountains and valleys. This morning, some clouds still swirled around us as K and I took my Fatback snowbike out for its maiden ride.

We had a beautiful ride through snow and the remaining golden aspen leaves.

After K and I rode to our hearts content, I dropped her off at home and went to check some wildlife cameras. I rode along an animal path, leaving fresh snowbike tracks, almost 4" wide, in the unbroken snow. I decided to do an out-and-back along the path. So, I rode east to west, stopped, and then turned around to retrace my tracks by riding to the east.

On the return part of my ride, I was shocked to see that a mountain lion had walked in my tire tracks in the short 20 minute time since I'd made them. I spotted the tracks and screeched to a halt.

The lion had been walking to the west, so we'd been on a collision course as I rode my return leg to the east. He must have left the path as he heard me approaching. As I worked out this scenario in my head, I rapidly started scanning my surroundings, wondering where the lion was hiding. If I had to place a bet, I'd put a lot of money on the idea that he was watching me right then. He was probably completely stationary so I couldn't spot him.

The tracks weren't huge. I haven't made the exact measurements from my photos yet but I'm guessing that the lion was a subadult or a female. We may see photos of him from my cams tomorrow. Believe me, I didn't hang around to check any cams after seeing his tracks.

As the Runner pointed out, this incident was yet another example of the fact that our mountain lions don't want to eat us. As I pedaled along side the lion tracks, I was forced to focus on my riding, working hard to stay upright in the snow on a rocky trail. If that mountain lion had wanted to make me prey, I was an easy target. But, as usual, the lion held his fire and let me go in peace.

I did wish that I had a body guard with me. K always watches my back in dangerous situations. She's treed a lion in the past... but I'm not sure that I'd want to bet on one fleeing from her again. She's too precious to make that bet.

It's humbling and wonderful to live in an environment where we humans are not at the top of the food chain - rather, the mountain lions occupy that top notch. Today, I had an inkling of how the rabbit felt being stalked by the hungry coyote. It makes the mountains even more magical for me to have tawny ghosts with sharp claws, huge eyes, sensitive ears, and amazing intelligence floating silently among the boulders and trees.