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OC Cyclist Has Close Encounter With Mountain Lion

LAKE FOREST (CBSLA.com)  — Only 10 feet separated a mountain lion and a mountain biker who came face to face on a trail about 6 p.m. Monday in Orange County.

High school teacher Eric Motch tells CBS2's Michele Gile he was terrified as the cougar jumped from a branch in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park.

"I tried screaming and the first two times and nothing came out," Motch said "My heart was racing; it was just looking at me."

Rangers told Motch his was one of three mountain lion sightings in the same park Monday night. Additional warning signs have been posted.

The story sounds just like the one experienced by Brian Wolf, who was on the trail Tuesday. He showed a cellphone picture and video of a cat lounging in a tree about six weeks ago and walking through the brush.

"I was riding fast down the hill and came up and looked off to the side and saw something glowing," Wolf said. "I slowed down and looked and I could see the head of a mountain lion looking around the head of the tree."

Motch says the mountain lion he encountered weighed about 100 pounds and stood 2 feet tall.

Twelve years ago, rider Mark Reynolds was killed by a mountain lion on the same trail.

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