Lately Drew and I have not been having our weekly climbing date nights because it's been cold and we've had so much snow. Plus, it's been getting dark before 5 o'clock. We really miss climbing so today Drew decided we should try a nighttime climb of the second flatiron. It's really easy climbing (rated 5.0) and Drew actually solo'ed it a couple months ago. We planned to rope-up though since it would be dark and cold and probably pretty windy. We got to the trailhead at about 5:15 and it was already dark. We piled on all our warm layers and started the 0.7 mile hike to the base of the climb. It was a beautiful, chilly night and the trail had great views of Boulder Valley lights.
After about a half hour of hiking in the dark Drew spotted a pair of eyes watching us ahead on the trail. Initially it was about 100ft away, but within seconds it moved to about 50ft away. This was obviously pretty alarming, and just as we started to debate whether we should keep going or turn around, Drew caught a glimpse of the body- a large cat with a long tail. AKA Mountain Lion, Cougar, Killer Cat. Drew remained freakishly calm, I did not. We slowly started to walk away, but the cat started to follow us. Luckily, after a few steps it stopped and we were able to successfully, and somehow calmly, walk away.
When we got back to the ranger station we looked at some of the posters to see if we could identify what it was- sure enough, it was a mountain lion. Then we got on our cell phones and started looking up what you're supposed to do if you're attacked by a mountain lion (I know, 'closing the barn door after the cows get out' ). Apparently you're supposed to act big and scary, yell at them, and fight back if they attack you. However, usually you don't get a change to do all that because when they attack they tend to surprise you and kill you immediately. Awesome.
Anyway this all probably sounds more dramatic then it really was, but the bottom line is, next time I'm packing heat.
Drew's fun fact: You have a better chance of being struck by lightening than dying because of a mountain lion attack.
