Hike and bobcat encounter in Purisima Creek Redwoods, May 2003

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Nothing is more therapeutic to the mind and soul than hiking solo in remote places where you can escape people and civilization. This afternoon, I picked a 10-mile redwood hike at Purisima Creek. I started the hike at 3:30 in the afternoon, and planned to return 4 hours later before darkness. My average pace is about 3 miles per hour, which would allow for a nice 30-minute lunch break at the foot of the mountain. There is a 1600-foot decent down the mountain, before returning up again on a different trail.

Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains offers breathtaking ocean views, towering redwood and fir trees, and plentiful wildlife and wildflowers.

On my way back up the mountain with only 3 miles left to go, I decided to stop and take a few pictures. I had not taken any pictures so far on the trip since it's too dark to use the camera inside the thick redwood forest. Now, there were some open areas with nice views and flowers.

I normally wear a heart rate monitor while hiking. Before stopping to take pictures, I had been climbing uphill for almost 4 miles, with the rate staying between 120 and 145 bpm. This 5-minute photo-break allowed the rate to fall down to 95 bpm. I analyze and plot data from the heart rate monitor on my PC after the hikes. Later, I will show some interesting data of my HR when encountering the bobcat a couple of minutes from now!!

After 5 minutes of taking pictures, it's time to get moving again. It's only an hour until it starts getting dark, and I have 3 more miles to cover. As I turn around to continue the hike, I am suddenly eye-to-eye with a big cat-like creature!

The big cat is about 30-40 feet away and staring right at me! Unlike mountain lions, which have only one color, this cat was brown/orange with some white areas and black stripes and dots. I later learned that this was a beautiful species of a full-grown bobcat. However, at the time of the encounter, I knew it was not a mountain lion, and in fact, it looked more like a tiger too me :) It did not seem to be bothered by my presence, and it was staring right at me! Within a few seconds, my hearth rate shoots from 95 bpm to 166 bpm! Take a look at the graph later in the picture series.

It was a beautiful create, but at the time I did not know what animal it was, and I did not know its intentions. It is watching me with pointed ears and shows no signs of fear. I estimate the cat to be about 80 cm tall when sitting on its back legs. Those legs and paws look very powerful! My hearth rate is now pumping at 166 bpm, which is 10 beats more than my maximum physical exertion during the entire hike! My first instinct is to pick up the knife from my backpack - in case it should attack. But wait, I have the camera in my hands! Yes, I definitely need some pictures of this beautiful, but scare-me-to-death bobcat. I better hurry up and get some shots!

I took two shots before slowly taking off my backpack to find my knife. With low light conditions and 1/50 shutter speed, I was shaking too much while shooting the first two pictures, resulting in blurry and unusable pictures. With my knife in the left hand, I continued taking pictures. Some of the pictures for which I managed to keep my camera still are shown in this picture series.

While I was taking pictures over a 3-4 minute period, the bobcat was still sitting there posing for me. Occasionally it would look around, but always keept me in its sight. I did not know what to do in this situation anyway, so I might as well stay still and take pictures. There was a brush in front of its face so I moved to the side to get a better angle. I moved very slowly not to provoke it, or not to scare it away. Lots of noise and movements would probably be enough to scare it away, but I did not know for sure since I had never encountered anything like this before. What a magnificent creature!

After almost a 4-minute photo session, I think the bobcat decided it was time for me to buzz off. It crawled down to the ground and fine adjusted its paws in a ready-to-attack position. I did not know if it was just playing, or if it meant serious business. Regardless, if it decided to launch at me, it would probably be at my throat within 1-2 seconds :) I took one final shot of the bobcat in launch position before I slowly backed off. I started to walk down the trail again for a few minutes to rethink my strategy. It would soon be dark, and I had to pass the bobcat to make it back. After reviewing the pictures, it seems like the bobcat might have been preparing to pounce on something in the bushes in front of it (in my line of direction).

I had not seen people for 4 miles, and I was certain I was the only one on the trail this late. To my pleasant surprise, two hikers caught up with me, as I was getting ready to return to the bobcat location. All three of us continued the hike, and a few minutes later we got to the area where the bobcat was still holding its stand. It was still there, patrolling the trail. We made some noise and continued the walk, and the bobcat yielded into the bushes. I later learned that although attacks on humans are very rare, bobcats are extremely territorial. Rabbits and hares make up two-thirds of the bobcat's diet. The remainder consists of squirrels and mice. I have also learned that although rare, bobcats sometimes prey on weak deer, domestic sheep and goats, and an occasional cat or dog.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, but with nice views of changes in the coastal cloud patterns. I was pushing hard uphill during the last mile to get a nice workout, and left the two other hikers behind. They had been doing an 18-mile loop, and were fairly exhausted. Like me, they were pushing the limits of making it home before darkness.

The graph shows recorded heart rate data for the full hike.

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