Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Kitten sighting!

I got a lot of work done today so it was nice to get home and play with the dogs at the end of the day. They have been really restless for some reason the last week so I've been taking extra time to play wiggle worm or belly drums. You know, the cute games we play with our animals when nobody is around. We had a blast and it made me feel young again.

I realized it was getting later than I normally run so I grabbed my hydration pack and dropped my running gloves, hat and headlamp into it. The headlamp is a Black Diamond and has a remote battery pack so I don't have much weight on my head. It takes 4 AA's and has a 3 foot, 2 piece cord to the lamp that tucks into  some clips on the headband. It's my favorite running light and was a prototype from Black Diamond. I often carry 2 lamps so I can strap one on my hand for the really dangerous trails, and in case one does go out. If I let my eyes adjust I can walk out of about anything, but with 2 lights I can create shadows for depth perception. Tonight I only had to use it when running in the 2 railway tunnels they used to use for hauling out the gold from over the mountains in the early 1900's.
Meow baby!
Suddenly there was movement on the dirt road I had to run down. Movement is normal but this seemed large so I instantly stopped and spotted a bobcat. I said "holy shit aren't you a good looking cat" and we stared at each other for a few seconds. I walked backwards and it got into the middle of the road and I got a great look at it. It was amazing, not unlike this picture I found online, with more black on the tail and legs but a lot smaller.

After a few minutes the Bobcat wandered off the road down into a gulley and I hauled ass looking over my shoulder every few seconds. I've seen mountain lions, moose, bears, different kinds of rattlers and just about every other animal in Colorado but never a Bobcat. Cat's attack from behind when the prey is larger and while I wasn't scared or nervous I was still going to play it safe and keep looking while I moved away.

I was super excited and wish I had my camera but even a 6 ounce camera is heavy with each step and it's 80+ steps a minute for 90 minutes or more. Seeing a young Bobcat and checking it out for a few minutes was amazing. I'm glad I was paying attention or else I would have missed an extremely rare encounter (or possibly been attacked, never know).... I love living in Colorado Springs.

6 comments:

  1. wow - lucky guy!

    there are bobcats here in cape breton, but sightings are rare. i did see some tracks on our land last fall, but that was it.

    i'm glad you love your home!

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  2. Nice kitty...as a child my favorite book in the schools library was titled, 'The WahooBobcat.' Years later, in my thirties, I began a search for the book. I found a copy, at a whooping cost, years later. Think I was fifty or so by then, but to this day it sits in a special place atop one of my book shelves.

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  3. That book was not a walt disney view on the world.

    I always wanted to be one of those boys in books with an animal companion roaming the hillsides and living under a lean-to. Living in the middle of nowhere with no other kids around my mind was very creative.
    All the books I read growing up remain in my bookcase. I took pride in taking care of them so I could read them 30 years later and they still look new.

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  4. oh jeesh Max - don't get me talking about bobcats or books - you've seen how i blather on various other blogs!!!

    but anyway - i love all of my books. prior to bugging out - i had to sort through over a thousand books and give away almost half!!! however, i shipped probably 65 boxes of books over 1,000miles and still have the majority of them. some are in storage. some are in the attic. but my faves - collections of old encyclopedias are in my living room. they provide much comfort!

    stay out of the way of them there bobcats - but get as many pics as you can eh?

    kymber

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  5. I ended up a the same spot today, no kitten. I did see some massive paw prints, and the area where I saw it has a lot of rocks so I can only figure it was hunting right there for some tasty vittles.

    I only have about 500 books, I feel so inadequate.

    :)

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  6. yep little man - you should feel inadequate -

    bahahahahahahahah! oh i am just teasin with ya!

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