See Shannon's one-way report (with photos & video):
In addition to the TR posted there for the one-way, Shannon adds this experience from the return:
While running at night, I saw different wildlife and one I didn’t wish to stumble across. There were many deer, toads, and colorful moths. My run almost ended with about 3 miles left… cougar (I think, I was too frightened to look. It was definitely a large, angry cat).
It was probably less than 10 feet to my left, just behind my back. It gave a long low growl, followed by high pitched ARAWER!! Then, low growl, again. I’ve only ever heard recordings of a big cat roar before, there was no question what it was. Have never been so terrified in my life. I thought I was going to die, I thought my life was over, I let out this big death yelp, which echoed in the trees. An uneasy, warm, numbing sensation that I’ve never felt before overtook my body, starting at my feet and worked the way up. I think my body was physically preparing to be attacked. Everything happened so fast, but in slow motion at the same time.
I blew the whistle on my vest twice, as I was in a panic and hoped it would scare off the cat. I struggle to believe that I remembered carrying the whistle, it’s good to have one, it came with my vest. It was night, but I was sort of near a road and a campground, I pictured their estimated locations in my mind. I was afraid to run, worried I’d trigger the cat to attack. I also worried my bright light might also make it attack. I hiked pretty fast, wondering what I should do.
Thoughts of how stupid this run was kicked in. Shaking, I thought of reaching for my phone to call my husband and possibly get picked up at the next road. Reasoning, I felt that I shouldn’t throw away all of the day’s effort with 3 miles left. I also thought that it might be a low chance I see another cat or bear, or that the cat follows me for 3 miles (my worst nightmares of being on the trail). I kept picturing the video that went viral of the cougar following the man in Utah. No. Thank. You.
I then stopped eating until I finished the run, my adrenaline and survival kicked in. I still drank water. The 3 miles took a very long time and I was feeling unwell-ish, mostly terrified. I gripped my whistle between my fingers, ready to blow again for the remainder of the journey. I decided to turn on my heavy rock music to let animals know I was coming. It was the first time I had on music all day. The music was a part of survival, I didn’t even enjoy it.
As the music was spottily playing due to connection issues, I repeated outloud to myself, “Get to Jennings, please more traffic, people.” I only received relief knowing a person was driving on the road nearby or was partying a far from the campground. Repeating this affirmation, I was practically out of breath and having to drink because my mouth was getting dry. I hope that I never go through that again. I might just stick with races (more people around) if I’m going to be running at night.
Another mile or two passed and I felt the presence of a large shadow approaching my back left side, again. I think I was imagining it because of the cougar encounter, but that didn’t stop my body from reacting in the same way as when the cat growled. The freak-out from the shadow caused me to turn off of the NCT and onto another trail at Jenning’s Environmental Center. My watch alerted me that I was 200 feet off route. I was scared to turn around and go back, but knew I had to. It was hard to be brave.
I was fearful for the rest of the route. When I finished, I was out of it. I didn’t feel as excited as I thought I would, I was relieved and happy to be alive.