The Outdoors

The VALLECITO LEGEND

Our Community Newspaper, Website & Tour Guide

THE OUTDOORS
________________________________________________
All Photography Copyright 2005 Gary D. Courtney

Click here for Trails Click here for Campgrounds

U.S. Forest Service Special Stories (Click here)
                                          Courtesy Ann Bond, San Juan Public Lands Public Affairs Specialist,
                                                                                                     and
                                                                                     Tom Harris, Copy Editor

San Juan Mountains -

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/sanjuan/

Salmon Run & Milking -

Stay tuned for schedule.

Cougar & Bear Sightings:

                Bear                    South of Vallecito Dam and south of Vallecito Resort.

                                            Note: Bears can run 30 miles per hour, faster than a human, and a male bruin covers
                                                                                         an average territory of 40 square miles, hunting at night.
                                                                     Always keep your food put up, packs and game raised in trees on ropes, and
                                                                                         burn your freeze-dried food pouches in the campfire, immediately
                                                                                         after use.
                                                                     Never come between a bear and her cub, and don't cook applesauce on a fire.

                Cougar                Florida Canyon, at crossing with Highway 160 west of
                                                     Gem Village and Bayfield.


A cougar was stalking a bicyclist, by running along behind him
  in a ditch beside the highway. When a motorist drove up behind
  them and observed what was about to happen, he drove around
  the bicyclist, alerted him about the cat beside him, and
  allowed him to dive into the car through the window, headfirst.

    Note: Many times, while alone in the mountains for two weeks,
                                                                                                         I have tracked a cougar, hoping to get a picture,
                                                                                                         only to find out he was watching me!

                                                                                      Normally, you never see a cougar. They are very shy and
                                                                                             reclusive, staying high and above humans. You hear them
                                                                                             referred to as: cougar, mountain lion, puma and panther.
                                                                                      However, pets, small children and running animals, including
                                                                                                         humans, tend to capture their attention.
                                                                                      An adult, weighing 175 to 225 pounds, can drag a yearling calf,
                                                                                                        of 300-400 pounds, a half mile up a rocky canyon
                                                                                                        in its jaws, or snap the neck of a full-grown elk.

Weminuche Wilderness: