After an all-day drive from San Antonio to Big Bend along a route reminiscent of Route 66, this was the first scene I encountered as we entered the Chisos Mountains area.

With signage everywhere alerting to the presence of mountain lions, our eyes were peeled though we never saw one. It wasn't until we finished our dinner at the Chisos Mountain Lodge on our last night in the park that our waitress ran up to us as we were leaving to let us know that a male mountain lodge had been spotted on the restaurant patio just 20 minutes earlier. If that becomes the closest we get to seeing a mountain lion, I'll accept it, though we'd love to see one in the wild from a healthy, very respectable distance.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5/5.6L @ 170mm, 1/100 sec @f/7.1, ISO equiv 400, Gitzo G1349 Mountaineer Carbon Fiber Tripod, Gitzo 1576M Ball Head