On his way back down, there was no sign of the cougar and her kittens. When he showed them the video recording on his phone, they realized he wasn’t joking. At one point, some other hikers came up the trail, and when he asked them if they’d seen a mountain lion, they laughed at him. So he waited about 30 minutes before trying again, this time holding a stick and rock in his hand. “Honestly right now it still feels like a dream.”īurgess, who was almost done with a 10-mile loop when he came across the mountain lion family, had to keep headed toward the Slate Canyon trailhead, or else he’d be facing a 7-mile run back. “Wow, that just happened,” Burgess recalled thinking after she finally took off.
![mountain lion attack mountain lion attack](https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/12/horse.jpeg)
It nailed her, and that’s when she took off running back down the trail. Kyle BurgessĪfter those six minutes of terror and pure adrenaline, Burgess was finally able to pick up a rock and hurl it at the mountain lion. A mountain lion is seen stalking Kyle Burgess in cellphone video after he came upon it and a couple of cubs on a trail in Slate Canyon near Provo on Saturday, Oct. I don’t feel like dying today.”īut Burgess, who recounted the terrifying encounter to reporters at the mouth of Slate Canyon on Monday, got away without a scratch. “OK, this is when I (expletive) die,” he says. He pleads with her to turn back and “go get your babies.” Her powerful hind legs kicked up dust and gravel.
![mountain lion attack mountain lion attack](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/mountain-lion-on-tree-stump-high-res-stock-photography-523776798-1549371996.jpg)
With each pounce, her front paws and claws flared.
![mountain lion attack mountain lion attack](http://www.recorder.com/getattachment/c7224585-db01-45e4-b19f-4c0c1983b134/44f94a4de4c74d9e9ef037191ba75022.jpg)
“Go! Go! Go!” Burgess yells at her a minute into the video recorded encounter.īurgess said every time he took his eyes off her or tried to stoop down for a rock to throw at her, the mountain lion lunged at him, hissing. He cursed, yelled, growled and grunted while she continued to follow him, flashing her teeth at him, her ears pinned, her tail swishing. The 26-year-old from Orem did everything he could think of to ward the mother cougar off.