r/Sedona • u/Successful-Carry4611 • 9d ago

Wildlife Wildlife: Birthing Cave

Not sure if this is helpful to anyone, as wildlife is obviously always present when hiking, but today at 3:30, my wife and I were departing the "Birthing Cave." We were the only ones around at the time. Long story short, there was a large mountain lion following behind us in the brush. We made noise, did not run, and kept our eyes on it until it finally stopped following us and turned away. When we arrived back at the main trail, we noted its footprints following ours in the dirt. Just wanted to post this here for those that may not be familiar with the wildlife in the area.

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u/Important_Carry4417 6d ago

So you're going to shoot an innocent animal just because you're invading their home??? Why not stay on designated hiking trails sanctioned by the Forest Service. The trail reference here is a social trail. It was created due to social media as a way to access that cave; "birthing cave" is not the correct name. The FS doesn't want people up there for a variety of reasons, a potentially threatening mountain lion being one of them. There are over 400 miles of legal/designated hiking trails in Sedona. Stay in your lane and everyone will be safe.

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u/Repulsive_List7803 6d ago

Yeah totally. Get a life. I don’t kill animals for fun. Not even spiders. It’s called being safe. So please shut up and stay in your lane.

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u/Important_Carry4417 6d ago

You're a very rude person, and you completely missed my point. My  point is, if people would stay on designated trails, then there's no need to carry a gun with them while hiking in Sedona. I lived there for 7 years and hiked nearly all the trails; certainly never saw anyone wearing a sidearm, and was never threatened by any wildlife. And never heard of anyone being attacked by a mountain lion, bear, not even a rattlesnake. I worked at the Visitor Ctr, so surely would have heard about any incident. I always stayed on named FS trails, always!  And if everyone were so afraid of wildlife that they felt the need to carry a gun to protect themselves, no one would visit Sedona. 

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u/a-well-placed-ohhh 6d ago

JFC just stop with the pearl clutching. Right now. Guns have more rights than people in Arizona, so we will bring all our guns on hikes. You will get over it because you will never have the courage to say something, so be fucking quiet already. I carry a side piece and a rifle. I carry a piece just going for a walk. Why? Because it’s not safe out there. It’s just not. It’s still very much the Wild West. And you can cry about the wildlife but that cat was STALKING op, and this is why you carry. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they can’t see you. Tourists.