This trail spooks me. There are so many bushes that it's like walking in a narrow corridor in places. I'm afraid of mountain lions and prefer when I walk alone to do it where I can see for long distances. Although I hasten to add that my one mountain lion sighting since moving here in 1985 was on Burnt Mesa and you can't get any more wide-open spaces than that!
I'm especially spooked because I read Listening to Cougar recently which is a collection of essays reflecting on cougars. At the end of the book, there is a list of known human fatalities from mountain lion attacks since 1890. It's true that there aren't many but the ones there are are grisly and frightening. The book doesn't list non-fatal attacks. A child in Albuquerque was attacked recently by a mountain lion when he went ahead of his parents on a hike but he survived. In addition to the usual set of precautions - don't run away or you'll look like prey, make yourself look big, don't stoop or bend down, and fight back if attacked, there was also the very good point made that mountain lion will be where there is prey, namely deer and elk. They also like to hunt at dawn and dusk. In summary, do whatever you can to convince the mountain lion that you are not prey and in fact represent a danger to it.
Going up out of Valle Canyon I saw some bear poop which isn't surprising since the hillside has some gloriously ripe raspberries growing on it.
On the way back, I got confused when I got to the Fireline Trail just like Jim did on the LL hike. I have to fix that area one day with some rock cairns. What happens is that on the way back from American Springs Road (FR181), you first intersect the Fireline Trail on your right, marked by a cairn. The thing to do is continue on the Perimeter Trail to the left and soon you come to another cairn marking the right turn downhill for the Perimeter Trail and then the Fireline Trail crosses the Perimeter Trail and goes off to your left - confusing! It was made more so by the darkening skies and rumble of thunder but I made it back before any sky pyrotechnics developed. Maybe I should call this area the Perimeter Trail Triangle (as in Bermuda Triangle)!
A bicyclist inadvertently scared me when he came from behind and I gasped. I called out to his retreating back that at least he wasn't a mountain lion and laughed but I don't think he got my humor!