NOPE.
Kyle Burgess was running in Slate Canyon, Utah, when he realized that he was aggressively being tailed by a mountain lion. Quick thinking, he got big, he got loud, and did everything he could to scare the big cat, but she stayed behind him for more than six straight minutes.
She lunged at him with a terrifying false charge each time, but holy hell if that ain’t enough to make me leave the trail with some soiled shorts.
However, according to Kyle, the mother cougar was just protecting her 4 young cubs:
“I found what I thought were bobcats on the trail during a run. Turns out they were cougar cubs and their mother was not happy to see me. She follows me for over six minutes acting very aggressively while I walk backwards up the trail.”
He eventually threw a rock at it, and it finally turned and ran away.
Honestly, I don’t know how Kyle wasn’t more freaked out, but kudos to him for handling it like a champ. I imagine panicking and running away could be the difference between life and death for some of us.
But like I always say, everybody loves nature until they’re confronted with harsh realities of real wilderness. It’s big, it’s beautiful and it’s incredibly humbling.