Big cat scat on the trail evokes story of cougar attack

Cougar

While preparing for a day hike in the Cascades several years ago, my father asked me if I had heard about the woman in California attacked, killed, and partially eaten by a cougar. He went on to suggest that perhaps I should be extra careful when hiking alone. Apparently, the woman was jogging when the cat pounced on her. They found her body partially covered with debris after the cat had tried to hide it from other predators.

Aware that cougar attacks were more common in California, I listened to the piece of news with mild interest but brushed it off as a problem in California and something I needn't worry about.

Not more than a quarter mile into the hike, which would lead me from Squaw Mt. road to Old Baldy, a butte located in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, I ran across some rather large scat I knew was not from a deer or elk or bear.

I continued up and down the relatively uninspiring trail until I stopped near a trailside cliff offering a look at Mt. Hood to the northeast. As I continued toward Old Baldy and neared its namesake summit, I stepped near some deer hair that had clearly been through the digestive system of what I was now sure was a big cat. As I sifted through the litter with a stick, a white bone fragment about the size of a nickel appeared lodged in a chunk of dung. Suddenly I remembered the words of my father from a few days earlier concerning the California cougar.

I proceeded to the summit of Old Baldy that day and looked across the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness to Mt. Hood. This area was designated a wilderness in 1984. Over 70 miles of hiking trails run through its canyons and ridges.

After seeing the scat, as I hiked to the top of Old Baldy and back to the trailhead, the lock blade I usually carry in my pack for cutting an apple or sausage was open and gripped firmly in my right hand.