In 2002, my crew experienced two encounters with mountain lions.
I've been charged by a bison, met a bear on a curving mountain path where there was no down (except a cliff) and no up (except straight up a cliff), waited forever for the Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake that I didn't see at first to leave the trail, paddled a canoe while a seven- or eight-foot alligator swam alongside to examine me - but nothing's quite like being stalked for two miles by a mountain lion at night, or going out to hang the 'oops' bag (stuff that should have been in the bear bag) at night and finding a large mountain lion calmly standing under your bear bag, just staring at you.
Beautiful creatures. Scared the living daylights out of me.
“... finding a large mountain lion calmly standing under your bear bag, just staring at you”
That story scared the heck out of me. At that point, I would have just wondered if the tinkle draining down my leg would act as a repellent.