Your mentioning the mountain lion on the mountain trail reminded me of the time..
...fresh water porpoises that never died were discovered in Crater Lake some years back. They leaped out of the water and ate seagulls flying through the air. I wanted to catch one of the porpoises to study it. So I hauled a crate of seagulls over a mountain trail to lure one of 'em to captivity. After 2 days trekking in there, I came upon a mountain lion sleeping in the middle of the path. I tiptoed past the sleeping thing and as soon as I got past him the sheriff jumped out to arrest me for transporting gulls across a sedate lion for immortal porpoises!