Camping in Bond County, CO: Mountain Lion Hot Spot
"Where do you plug in?" asked Bill, an employee of mine. I had just shown him a photo of a camp spot I had found in the Colorado Rockies. I couldn't help but laugh while I told him that the photo and subsequent camp spot was at 9500 ft above sea level and the only access was a zero-maintenance Forest Service trail that most SUV's on today's streets wouldn't make it five yards on.
When it comes to camping everyone's got their own idea of what the experience entails. Some folks like to hook up a half million dollar RV and others head off into the woods intent on creating their own shelter from what nature provides. There's quite the spectrum and while I fall further to the naturalist end of that spectrum I still bring my own tent, tools and food.
This story begins in Bond County Colorado, specifically the State Bridge area. State Bridge is a great spot just a short drive north of I-70 between Vail and Eagle. I was pointed there by a couple other outdoors-men I'd met on a trail the previous day. The area borders the Colorado River and is a hot spot for river rats dropping in on rafts and kayaks. The landscape quickly turns from alpine green forestry to sage brush and red silt when arriving in State Bridge. On this trip I had my now wife, and a good friend accompanying me; their full trust in my memory of the landscape and ability to make camp. We had driven a full day to make this trip and had no hotel room or backup plan, come hell or high-water (or large predators) we were going to camp as a means of shelter and survival. It's in that do-or-die, either this works or we're in trouble, mind space that I find utter freedom and ecstasy in the simple tasks of necessity.
After driving to what we ascertained to be a great spot to make camp, we pulled the Toyota FJ behind some ponderosa pines and unloaded the gear. The spot was a nice grouping of short trees at the base of a rocky bluff and the sun was about an hour away from dipping behind the western Rockies. We set up the tents and did a quick walk around the immediate area in order to get our bearings and a lay for the land. The condition of silty dirt clued us in that it had rained the previous day or night and at first I was glad to see this as the moisture would help keep the fine dirt from getting into everything, but upon further inspection it became clear that this was a high traffic area for wildlife.
Most notably there were paw prints....the size of my fist. Mountain Lions and other large cats have relatively easy prints to identify, since they have retractable claws one does not see small claw imprints above the toes like one would see on canidae prints. These prints were those of a mountain lion, and a large adult at that. To make matters more interesting, the recent rain suggested that these prints were only one day old (otherwise they would have been washed out in appearance if they endured the rain the previous day). Our spirits were rather lifted by this sighting and I'm not sure why...perhaps it was the notion of camping in what was obviously a quite wild area. Regardless, we set out to hike the bluff that we were camping in the shadow of, and we needed to do it quickly as the sun was beginning to set.
We climbed about three quarters of the way up before my wife waved me over to her. She had hiked past what I believed to be the carcass of a mule deer and was looking down at it from about 6 feet up the bluff. When I arrived at her position I went down to the carcass to investigate, and it became clear this animal had not died of natural causes. Poking around the remains led the three of us to agree that this was the meal of a predator, likely the mountain lion who's tracks we had seen below at camp. We were about to begin the hike back down to camp when I noticed a thicket of sage I had not taken note of before. This sage grouping was perfectly hiding the deer carcass from every line of sight below on the bluff. Then the real revelation came, this sage brush wasn't just hiding the carcass it was hiding the entrance to a den. This den hole was about the size of a sewer manhole cover and with my flashlight I found that the interior was a single area of which I could see the back and all sides, probably 8 to 10 square feet. I shouted for my wife and friend to come have a look, assuring them this was a rare find and for the moment, completely safe.
Since the area had very little grass this den was surrounded by the same red silt as below at our campsite. Here we found the same large feline paw prints but there was a surprise, they were accompanied by many tiny paw prints. We had found the den of a mother lion and she was using it actively as a shelter and feeding place for her cubs. Needless to say this revelation set us on edge, this spot was not meant to be found and somewhere nearby was a mother lion who was going to great lengths to make sure it stayed hidden. Here's a shot of our campsite as seen from the den.
Needless to say, we hustled back down to camp, rushing to beat the sunset. I started the fire and informed the other two campers that we would be cooking and eating quickly so as not to allow the scent of meat and other food to linger and tempt the nearby mama cat. The night was fun, but uneasy. We all had our senses on high alert watching for any glowing eyes at the fire's edge and listening for any cracking twigs or brush. Luckily, we had no events or sightings.
Fast forward two years and I found myself being guided by a local buddy of my brothers back to a "cool little spot" he knew about up Hwy 131. After about three seconds I realized he was taking us to State Bridge for a day hike and began to retell the story of our mountain lion den discovery. We arrived down the exact same trail as before and I looked over to my wife sitting shotgun in my truck and told her I was certain this was the exact same location as our previous camp two years prior.
Well as luck would have it I was hiking behind my brother and his friend as we attempted to find a hot spring further down the trail (Forest Service had closed it off) and I could not believe what they had walked right past and failed to see...another large carcass! This one I could not clearly identify, my best guess is either a bighorn sheep or a mountain goat. The kill looked, to me, to be less than a week old and it was no more than a quarter mile from the campsite in the previous story. Below are some photos of that second carcass. Any campers or adventurers looking for the thrill of sharing the same space as one of the western hemisphere's greatest predators ought to head out to State Bridge/Bond County, CO and see what they can find. You wont be disappointed!
Please feel free to reply with any questions or comments that you may have. I simply wanted to share a story and location that I can't help but be drawn back to. Thanks for reading!