19. Big Cat
My wife and I were camping alone in a kind of remote area, but there were little campsites made by the parks department that were flat and clear. We found a great-looking spot, but it was right on a lake, which I thought we should avoid. At the same time, we were beginner backpackers and figured the parks department wouldn’t make a spot there if it wasn’t safe. We were so wrong.
I was feeling a little beat so I took a short nap while my wife read a book. When I woke up, she told me that somebody was walking around in our campsite. I looked around but didn’t see anything. There were some other campsites maybe 500 feet away so I figured it was another camper checking the place out. Oh no, not at all.
Late that night, after we’d gone to bed for the night, it was drizzling a little rain and I was sort of half asleep. Then I realized that if I listened really closely, I could hear someone walking around our campsite, very, very quietly. I didn’t have a knife or any sort of weapon, and I started freaking out. I carefully woke my wife up to get her ready and we listened together.
Then suddenly we heard it, it sounded like a cat cleaning itself. Then more walking around in circles around the tent. Then the sound of a large cat lapping up water just feet from our tent. Then walking back to the tent, immediately beside me. I heard it flop down on the ground. Cat owners know how a relaxed cat flops over. It was like that but WAY bigger.
I was trying to control my breathing as carefully as I could so it wouldn’t hear me, but I was so panicked it was hard to do. It hung around for what seemed like a long time. I really had to pee, but I wasn’t ready to move or breathe, let alone go out there. The scariest part is that the whole time, it was so quiet that if you didn’t concentrate, you couldn’t be sure that it was even there.
Eventually, I was sure I hadn’t heard it in a long time, so I very cautiously poked my head out. Didn’t see anything (it was pitch black), did my business, went back to bed. The next morning, we get up and there are massive paw prints in our campsite. Looks just like a cat’s paw print, but more like eight inches across.
Later, after getting home, I called the park ranger to let them know in case they’re monitoring encounters with dangerous animals or something. They told me it must have been a mountain lion, and how lucky I was to have an encounter with one (!!). When I think about my wife telling me that someone was in our campsite around 12 hours earlier, it creeps me right out to think that we might have been stalked by a mountain lion for some time.