Safety

[Bartee]

I know this is the wrong time of year to worry about this, but I'm lining up places to go hiking this new year and being in Temecula, the San Jacinto's seem like a great, relatively close spot.
I'm wondering if there has ever been a problem with mountain lions or even any sightings. If yes, I won't go alone like I usually do other places.

P.S. If yes, any volunteers to keep me company??

[Rob]

Bartee, I read that we should assume that large animals are always watching us, although we don't see them. Also, supposedly as long as we make noise they'll stay out of our way, unless they're sick or really hungry. I don't trust that all large critters have read the memo that regulates whether or not they may cross Interstate 10. Winter hiking seems good -- less chance of meeting a cold-blooded creature (e.g., rattler or ex-wife).

It's good to be concerned about safety. One of my goals in life is to keep my name off the RMRU web site. (Looks like thay have not had a mission in almost a week.) If so many RMRU missions are for solo hikers, why do I and others hike alone? Are we reckless? Usually I rationalize that having a hiking partner bail at 4:30 a.m. should not stop a perfectly good hike. When hiking solo I try to hike a crowded and/or familiar trail, and I try not to be the last hiker off the trail at night. Maybe for Christmas I should ask for a satellite phone.

[zippetydude]

I've been alone out on the trails around San G and San J almost every weekend for many years now. I usually go early Saturday morning, sometimes starting in the dark. It's a little spooky when I hear something off in the darkness that I can't see, but that's about the scariest thing that happens.

During the daylight hours, I've seen bears, mountain lions, deer, bighorn sheep, even a llama (somebody's pet).

Thus far, I have not been eaten.

In fact, the mountain lions both ran away very quickly and the bear kept ambling along and didn't seem to think me very noteworthy at all. I think Rob's right - rattlers are a greater potential threat because they can be overlooked and may strike defensively without warning.

Still, I think your question is very reasonable. It's only through time and repeated exposure that I've found I've gotten accustomed to the wilderness without feeling like I may be somebody's breakfast!

z

[phydeux]

In 25 years of hiking the local mountains I have yet to see a bear or monutain lion. I know they are there, but they avoid humans.

Like zippetydude, I've been going out on the local trails alone for the past +10 years; lost all my former hiking/scrambling/climbing companions to the aerospace implosion in the early 1990's, and others I've gone out with are always unprepared for the outdoors. Also, like "z" mentions, you become more aware of whats around you in the woods. Some persons find it scary, but I find it facinating and refreshing to become so intimately aware of all thats around me, especially in lesser traveled areas.

To me, the bigger threat is other humans who go out unprepared, unknowledgeable of the area thet are in, and don't keep track of where they are on a trail.

Take it slow, find a few trails in local areas and become comfortable them, then progress onto longer hikes over time. Yuo may hike alone, but that doesn't mean you'll be lonely.

[Tim Le]

I hike alone frequently too. The solitude and independence is nice, but I'd rather hike with my friends if I could. It's just most of them do not like to hike or maybe not my kind of hikes.

The risks definitely go way up when you are alone. I take more safety precautions on a solo hike, especially with navigation and not getting lost or not doing something risky that might cause an injury. The scariest things are the unpredictable and unexpected, like avalanches and animal attacks.

Animal attacks are very rare but it only takes one time for it to matter (the one time it happens to you). So like with any risk, big or small, it's good to be prepared and aware of what you would do in a situation like that. Although, realistically, if a mountain lion is stalking you and attacks from behind, it might be curtains before you even know it. But I carry a knife anyway and have it out where I can grab it just for a fighting chance. One elderly couple who was attacked earlier last year had to use a pen jabbed into the cougar's eyes before it would let go.

One article I read about mountain lions basically said: if it's already trying to eat you, you have to fight back and with extreme violence. Go for the head and eyes; do whatever you can to survive. I hope I never have to find out if I can do that.

[Cy Kaicener]

Tim - I used to hike alone quite a lot and was never bothered. Now being on eight different hiking message boards I usually have someone to go with. If you go on a Saturday or Sunday there are always people on the trail. The only time you dont see people is when you start at midnight.

[phydeux]

If you're concerned about being attacked by a mountain lion, here's some interesting information concerning attacks on humans.

It is important to keep in mind that lion attacks are still extremely rare in California and nationally. For some reason, humans worry much more about rare dangers than about common dangers. Two examples:

In California, from 1986 through 1998, exactly two people died from mountain lion attacks, whereas in one year alone, over 4,000 people die in traffic accidents, including 800 pedestrians. This means that your car or someone else's car is ~2,000 times more likely to kill you than is a mountain lion. (A Detailed Calculation gives the ratio as between 1,150 and 4,300.)

Over 300 people have been killed by domestic dogs in the U.S. between 1979 and the late 1990s. This means that your family dog or your neighbor's dog is ten times more likely to kill you than is a mountain lion and hundreds of time more likely than is a coyote.

Source:

http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks.html

There's a lot of this info on the web. This article in particluar caught my attention since I have been attacked (and bitten) by pet dogs twice while hiking. I've only seen a mountain lion once in 30 years of hiking (in a remote part of Nevada this past fall), and it seemed just as curious about me as I was about it before it swiftly disappeared into the wilderness. It was definately a highlight of my outdoor experiences.

Bottom line for me - other humans are more of a threat in the local mountains than any mountain lion or bear.

[guest]

Thxs for the stats Phydeux,
I have many people ask me on my hikes about lions & rattlers with serious concern about the wilds.
There good questions, but totally overblown by the media & extremely rare instances.
I heard, I think it was on Discovery Ch, that one has a 15 times greater chance of being struck by lightning than being bit by a rattler.

Bartee raises good questions, and hiking alone does have it's risks, so taking as many sensible precautions as practical is advised.

Happy & safe hiking to all.

ss

[HikeUp]

I saw very fresh mountain lion tracks on the ridge up to Iron Mountain #2 (western San Gabriel Mts.) yesterday 12-15-2007. Looked like he was following the deer tracks that I also saw. Needless to say I started checking over my shoulder more often!

[Tim Le]

Hi phydeux,

I hope I didn't sound like an alarmist. Personally, I'm not that worried about a mountain lion attack either because the probability of it happening is very low. Heck, I rarely see any wildlife anyway, other than a deer or some bighorn sheep. Actually, I have seen a rattler and it was going off really loudly, just a few feet from the trail at the lower portion of Icehouse Canyon! Anyhow, for me, I just like knowing and being prepared for all risks, big or small.

That site you listed is really great but it also lists a few recent attacks in California, such as the unusual dual attack on two mountain bikers in Whiting Ranch in 2004, an attack on a women in Johnsondale, also in 2004, and the attack on the elderly couple in 2007. Of course, there was also no known attacks in California for 8 years from 1996-2003.

Again, I'm not trying to scare anyone, and we shouldn't be paralyzed by fear every time we go hiking (although, personally, when I go I always have some level of fear of everything because it helps keep me in check).

Still, it's kind of like avalanches. Over the last 10 years only about 25 people per year die in the U.S. in avys. That's pretty rare compared to traffic accidents and I've never even seen an avalanche in person, but they still really scare me.