Beyond the Trail
Mountain Lion Sighting Video
Digitized -- this was taken with a small Sony Camcorder (8mm analog tape) on Oct. 25, 1994 on a remote Forest Service road eight or so miles from Hayfork, California.
I heard this cat yowling for several minutes before I got the sighting. Figured it was a cat of some kind but was thinking more along the lines of a bobcat or lynx -- when the mountain lion came padding boldly into view -- must admit -- surprised the heck out of me. The cat didn't show much sign of alarm -- except -- it stopped yowling instantly when it saw me. I was standing a few feet from my pickup -- just off the edge of the road -- in clear view of the cat.
A couple of minutes after leaving the road -- the mountain lion started yowling again -- was following a small creek which parallels the road. Walking along the road -- over the course of the next 50 or so minutes -- I was able to keep in contact (within hearing distance) of the cat -- never got another visual sighting but was able to capture some of its yowls.
Looking at the footage now -- it's clear that I did a lousy job of keeping the cat centered in the camera's tiny viewfinder and the auto focus was struggling. But -- even after all these years -- can still recall why -- was so totally caught up in the moment -- a mix of equal parts Awe and Excitement -- thrilled beyond belief -- the wobbly camera was very nearly forgotten ....
To HEAR this mountain lion's yowls:
www.flickr.com/photos/garytrinity/4159715655/in/
This was my first ever video upload -- and -- my very first analog to digital video conversion -- so really didn't know what the heck I was doing ..... :)
Mountain Lion Sighting Video
Digitized -- this was taken with a small Sony Camcorder (8mm analog tape) on Oct. 25, 1994 on a remote Forest Service road eight or so miles from Hayfork, California.
I heard this cat yowling for several minutes before I got the sighting. Figured it was a cat of some kind but was thinking more along the lines of a bobcat or lynx -- when the mountain lion came padding boldly into view -- must admit -- surprised the heck out of me. The cat didn't show much sign of alarm -- except -- it stopped yowling instantly when it saw me. I was standing a few feet from my pickup -- just off the edge of the road -- in clear view of the cat.
A couple of minutes after leaving the road -- the mountain lion started yowling again -- was following a small creek which parallels the road. Walking along the road -- over the course of the next 50 or so minutes -- I was able to keep in contact (within hearing distance) of the cat -- never got another visual sighting but was able to capture some of its yowls.
Looking at the footage now -- it's clear that I did a lousy job of keeping the cat centered in the camera's tiny viewfinder and the auto focus was struggling. But -- even after all these years -- can still recall why -- was so totally caught up in the moment -- a mix of equal parts Awe and Excitement -- thrilled beyond belief -- the wobbly camera was very nearly forgotten ....
To HEAR this mountain lion's yowls:
www.flickr.com/photos/garytrinity/4159715655/in/
This was my first ever video upload -- and -- my very first analog to digital video conversion -- so really didn't know what the heck I was doing ..... :)