Where Are All of the So-Called Lions?

I reported recently about a mountain lion attack on a 7-year-old boy on Flagstaff Mountain. It's now a week later, and I was up there for the first time since.

One of my favorite runs (in the polite sense of the word "run") is from my house to the summit of Flagstaff. Today as I started up the trail I was just a bit nervous, looking around when I heard a noise. There were other people on the trail, perhaps a bit fewer than normal. Some adults were there with young kids, some holding their hands or carrying them, some kids running ahead on the trail.

When I got to the summit, I ran around the picnic area and over to the trailhead where the attack occurred. Very quiet. Not even a sign warning people to be cautious, or any other indication. Just the ubiquitous signs on the garbage cans warning people that they are in bear country. In fact, I saw no mountain lion warning signs until I was at the very bottom of the trail at Boulder Canyon (I had missed it on my way up.)

I suppose that the likelihood of a mountain lion attack up there, already miniscule, is even less, given that the lion who previously claimed that territory has been destroyed.