2 Backpacks, 2 Bikes, a Van and a plan..: Into the Lion's Den

I mean it. Literally.

Yesterday we were supposed to go flying in the morning with the park pilot, but that got canceled due to poor weather (heavy cloud-cover, which is rare here in the park). Instead we decided to do a 4 mile round trip hike out to Dog Canyon. It's a flat hike through the desert most of way, ending in one of the many unique canyons that dot this desert park. The trail was little bit muddy as we'd had quite a bit of rain the day before but we enjoyed the hike out on the desert floor on a day that was not blazing hot in the direct sun.

It was at the canyon, though, when things really got interesting. We had enjoyed hiking all the way through the canyon along the "wash" that during rain can be a river, but 12 hours after the last rain, was only muddy at points and dry at other points. We came out on the other side of the canyon and had started the return trip back through it when we noticed some interesting caves in the walls of the canyon and decided to explore further. Climbing up into the cave we very quickly realized that we were in some kind of animal den. Perhaps it was the skull and various piles of random bones that gave it away!

We took a closer look at the skull that was near the entrance of the cave and identified it as a Javelina skull by the teeth. We'd seen enough of these coarse-furred "pig-like" animals to recognize it by the skull alone. Further back in the cave were piles of misc other bones, perhaps from this animal or from other unfortunate "meals". As soon as we stepped fully into the cave we were hit by the smell. At first I thought it was the smell of the dead animals - and perhaps that was some of it - but to me, the prevailing smell was Lion. It smelled exactly like the Lion's cage at the zoo.

We had stumbled upon a Mountain Lion den, presumably where he (or she) dragged their captured prey to enjoy at their leisure. Luckily, no one was home to eat US. As you can imagine, we declined to foray further into the cave that looked like it went back quite a ways. We quickly snapped some photos and backed out of the cave area. We returned to the canyon wash to complete the hike back through Dog Canyon and back on to the desert floor and to our vehicle. Talking to a ranger later in the afternoon he confirmed that there were known to be active Mountain Lion dens out where we were hiking.

Some days you just don't know what a walk out your door will bring......