Mountain Lion Pays Surprise Visit to Roosevelt Lake Hikers

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on Sunday February 15, 2009, Roosevelt homeowners Gary and Katie Thompson decided to take visiting daughter Chrissy and her boyfriend Chris out hiking along a waterfall that had formed near the Roosevelt Dam. Gary and Katie explained that although they hadnt seen any wildlife during the numerous times they had hiked the area, the views would be absolutely spectacular. As they neared the halfway point, the foursome decided they were getting hot and decided to take off the jackets and leave them on the trail, with the intention of picking them up on the way back down the hill. Around 15 or 20 minutes later, on the way back down just before they got back to the jackets, Katie said, we noticed a strange smell. Gary picked up two of the jackets and gave them to Katie, and as he was picking up the third jacket, a big mountain lion came out of a bush and stopped, in full view, about 2 feet from Gary! According to Gary, he was a very big cat. He stretched out and slowly went up the side of the canyon. He had sprayed, marking all of the jackets and ate a hole in one of them! The four hikers picked up the pace and headed back down the hill. Gary, however, felt a weird sensation, and turned around to see the mountain lion following the group from just above. Thats when he snapped the picture.