(Mountain) Lions, Racoons & Bears, Oh My!

There were a lot of things about California that were unexpected. I don't think fully realized how diverse the state is, from huge mountains to lush, coastal forests to golden beaches to desert. And I especially didn't realize how close to the ocean some of the more mountainous regions were.

As we left the 101 to head towards Santa Margarita, I slowly began to realize that not only was our elevation increasing, but the terrain was becoming more desert-like. Of course, in the pitch black, I couldn't tell for sure, but I had this sort of sense that mountain lions and other scary predators would be lurking in this country.

And they were. We pulled into our campground and picked up our ridiculously misleading map, as that map appeared to depict a typical, flat campground. In reality, the campground was terraced along two steep hills, with dusty, dirt roads and very little light. When we finally made it to our little shelf, it took forever to pitch the tent because I didn't have the appropriate stakes.

Then it was time to head to the bathroom. Across the valley and up the other hill. It was one a.m., so we took the car. (Lazy, yes, but it turned out to be a good choice). I finished my toothbrushing first and hiked back down the thirty or steps to the car. As I was waiting for Tasha to finish up, I saw a HUGE shape go skulking up the hill and around the back of the bathhouse. I honestly couldn't tell what it was, beyond the fact that it was huge and had glowing eyes. Bear? Not big enough. Raccoon? Too small. What they heck was it?

Tasha arrived back at the car, and I decided, rather futilely as it would turn out, not to mention what I had sort of spied with my little eye. We started edging our way back to the campsite, and all of a sudden, Tasha yells at me to stop the car. I did, but there was nothing to see. A few hundred feet later, she screams again for me to stop, and there, perfectly frozen in my headlights, is the huge, tawny body and mean little face of a mountain lion. I tried to tell Tasha it was just a house cat, but she wouldn't believe me. (I can't fathom why).

We caught another glimpse as we headed back up the hill to our campsite. Tasha insisted that we sleep in the car, although I was so tired and so longed for my air mattress that I (almost) didn't care that a mountain lion had been stalking us.

In the morning, we were relieved to finally be able to see our surroundings. The cheerful people who ran the campground told us not to worry, as bears, skunks, mountain lions and tons of other wild animals wandered through the campground all the time. That may very well be true, but a warning sign would have been nice.

 So this was our tiny little ledge. You can see how dusty the ground is!

 We drove through a relatively mountainous area and then across a huge plain.

 We stopped briefly in the town of McKittrick, where there were a lot of oil drills, before fueling up in Bakersfield for the remainder of our trek across the Mojave.

 We got a little lost and ended up taking a detour past Lake Isabella.

 This area is the southern part of Sequoyia National Forest.

 The Mojave was hot and windy. It was sort of like what I would imagine being in a blast furnace would feel like.

 We finally made our way back to I-15. Those mountains look imposing!

Despite a few detours, we finally arrived in Neveda, on our way to Las Vegas.