Mountain Lions in Morgan Hill?!!!
One day a couple of years ago, I took the afternoon off to have some quality time with my two young daughters. We took our bikes over to Coyote Creek Parkway (which if you’ve never been you need to go – it’s a real find and I’ll tell more). I have one daughter who is always off & away and another daughter who is very thoughtful & careful about everything. So I told my older more active daughter to stay close in case she saw a mountain lion. On our way back from our ride, my older daughter (who didn’t stay as close as I would have liked) comes ripping around a curve, dropping her bike screaming, “Mom, Mom, a mountain lion”. Sure I thought, convinced that I had suggested it and she was seeing things so I peaked around the curve and sure enough, there it was (still a good ways away) but definitely checking us out. At which point, my daughter Jennifer started running towards me, looked over her shoulder and saw the mountain lion begin to come her way. “Mom, Mom, it’s coming after me!” Where upon my younger daughter who was staying close to me, starts screaming in a way I didn’t know she was even capable of. Time stopped for me while my thought process went a mile a minute. What could I do to protect my girls, what if something happened to me and they were left alone? They should stay close and get out while they could. I began to say, “If anything happens to me…” where upon both daughters started screaming even louder “What’s going to happen to you”. At this point I actually had a mommy Zen moment – I was going to have to throw myself on the mountain lion to keep them safe. In other words, I was dead! I tried to make myself look tall and scary and held my girls behind me but in the end I think it was the screaming that turned off that big cat. It must have thought my slender Jennifer was a deer but when the screaming escalated, it knew we weren’t worth the trouble and took off. However, it took off in the direction of our going home and there was no way my daughters were budging let alone going in the direction of the mountain lion. Luckily, I had cell coverage and called CHP to come rescue us (which they did along with a park ranger) in a remarkably short period of time (thanks guys). We rode back to the visitor center, drove home with a stop for 2 pints of ice cream and once home I put them in front of the TV with a spoon and a pint each. And to think I took the afternoon off to have quality time with my girls.
However, if you want a great place to ride a bike or take a long walk, then the Coyote Creek Trail is a great place and our adventure aside, I believe it’s very rare to see mountain lions. This is one of the places I went to train for my Avon Walk and I did many long walks to San Jose and back. Another place I loved to hike is the Harvey Bear Ranch out in San Martin. This is a great complement to the Coyote Creek Trail which is very flat and paved. I’ll tell you more another time when I give the details about the Bull at Harvey Bear who blocked our way. More later!
Go to http://www.parkhere.org/portal/site/parks/ for more information about the great parks that surround us here in South County.
One day a couple of years ago, I took the afternoon off to have some quality time with my two young daughters. We took our bikes over to Coyote Creek Parkway (which if you’ve never been you need to go – it’s a real find and I’ll tell more). I have one daughter who is always off & away and another daughter who is very thoughtful & careful about everything. So I told my older more active daughter to stay close in case she saw a mountain lion. On our way back from our ride, my older daughter (who didn’t stay as close as I would have liked) comes ripping around a curve, dropping her bike screaming, “Mom, Mom, a mountain lion”. Sure I thought, convinced that I had suggested it and she was seeing things so I peaked around the curve and sure enough, there it was (still a good ways away) but definitely checking us out. At which point, my daughter Jennifer started running towards me, looked over her shoulder and saw the mountain lion begin to come her way. “Mom, Mom, it’s coming after me!” Where upon my younger daughter who was staying close to me, starts screaming in a way I didn’t know she was even capable of. Time stopped for me while my thought process went a mile a minute. What could I do to protect my girls, what if something happened to me and they were left alone? They should stay close and get out while they could. I began to say, “If anything happens to me…” where upon both daughters started screaming even louder “What’s going to happen to you”. At this point I actually had a mommy Zen moment – I was going to have to throw myself on the mountain lion to keep them safe. In other words, I was dead! I tried to make myself look tall and scary and held my girls behind me but in the end I think it was the screaming that turned off that big cat. It must have thought my slender Jennifer was a deer but when the screaming escalated, it knew we weren’t worth the trouble and took off. However, it took off in the direction of our going home and there was no way my daughters were budging let alone going in the direction of the mountain lion. Luckily, I had cell coverage and called CHP to come rescue us (which they did along with a park ranger) in a remarkably short period of time (thanks guys). We rode back to the visitor center, drove home with a stop for 2 pints of ice cream and once home I put them in front of the TV with a spoon and a pint each. And to think I took the afternoon off to have quality time with my girls.
However, if you want a great place to ride a bike or take a long walk, then the Coyote Creek Trail is a great place and our adventure aside, I believe it’s very rare to see mountain lions. This is one of the places I went to train for my Avon Walk and I did many long walks to San Jose and back. Another place I loved to hike is the Harvey Bear Ranch out in San Martin. This is a great complement to the Coyote Creek Trail which is very flat and paved. I’ll tell you more another time when I give the details about the Bull at Harvey Bear who blocked our way. More later!
Go to http://www.parkhere.org/portal/site/parks/ for more information about the great parks that surround us here in South County.
1 comment:
What a fun story - with the happy ending of ice cream! I've been on that trail many, many times and have never seen a mountain lion. But now I know what to do if I see one - scream! :)
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