Ok, so I was talking to a few people at the power plant on Tuesday who live in the area. I was telling them about the hike I went on briefly and they were explaining all the things to do in the desert: you know get an off road motorcycle, etc, etc. But we started talking about my hike and one of the guys asked if I saw the 12' mountain lion up there cause he always carried a gun with him (I love hearing everyone's stories and the scare tatics) but I found that fairly interesting for a couple of reasons. One I was hiking by myself and at one point I could definitely feel the silence of the space around me. I kept walking but felt a little wierd for a bit. Then I swore I heard a snort, just a quick phuphmmmph. I hiked on for a while, but it was feeling pretty quiet so I stopped for a sec and got my pretty big knife out and strapped it to my waist. Ah the security of just doing something right? Anyway I thought the guys story about a mtn lion was interesting especially since I was feeling something enough to put my knife at easy access... here kitty, kitty, kitty...