Cougar Mountain

Cougar Mountain (above, from Cougar Meadow) is an old lookout site on Entiat Ridge, a long crestline extending from mountains to desert in north-central Washington. Friend Frank Czubiak and I hiked the 14-mile loop trail to Cougar Mountain from the Mad River Trailhead, merely a hop, skip and a jump from Owl Farm.

As noted previously in these pages, though I spent most of my Forest Service years on the Lake Wenatchee Ranger District, I did work one summer as a ranger on the adjacent Entiat Ranger District patrolling the Mad River area, including Cougar Mountain (elevation 6,701).

Cougars are a bit of an enigma in the Northwest: seemingly common though rarely seen by humans. In all my years in the backcountry, I have seen only one cougar and that occurrence was pure luck. I was napping in the tall grass during a lunch break and when I arose, a cougar was about 10 yards away. Both of us were startled, but the cougar quickly vanished into the brush.

Cougars, also known as "pumas" or "mountain lions," have the greatest range of any large terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, extending from the Yukon to the Andes. A stalk-and-ambush predator, a cougar is reclusive and typically avoids people. An adult cougar is about the same size as an adult human and -- like almost all cats -- is a solitary animal.

Recently, cougar attacks have increased due to expanding human populations, but these incidents occur only when a cat is acclimated to humans, or is in a condition of severe starvation. As with many predators, cougars may attack if cornered, or if a fleeing human stimulates their instinct to chase. If confronted by a cougar, it's best to exaggerate a threatening posture, utilizing intense eye contact and loud -- but calm -- shouting to make them retreat. In other words, a little "woofing" like you might find in the NBA will be in order.

By and large, however, attacks are rare and cougars do not generally recognize humans as prey. Prior to my close encounter with a cougar, the only one I had ever seen was the stuffed critter at The Cougar Inn, a local watering hole at Lake Wenatchee.