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Those who have encountered a Colorado mountain lion come away feeling deeply touched by the wild soul of this high country. I am no exception.

Several years ago, while staying alone in a cabin in one of the canyons that spiral out from the city of Boulder, I was having trouble sleeping and decided to sit out on the small front porch to catch the cool night breeze.

I moved to the door, and just as my hand reached out to grab the doorknob, I happened to glance out a nearby window. A large cougar strolled right by the front door.

I heard my own sharp intake of breath, but in the same instant wondered if I had imagined it. Suddenly, as if to confirm my sanity, or perhaps deconstruct it a bit more, a second cougar appeared, following in the footsteps of the first!

I was filled with a sense of wonder and awe. For the rest of that night I listened to what sounded like a series of high-pitched chirping sounds, one calling from one direction, the other answering from somewhere far off, over and over again, until dawn. A naturalist friend later told me the pair may have been hunting together and were letting each other know their respective locations by these vocalizations. I felt no fear about this episode for several days. Instead, life seemed touched by magic. When I returned to Boulder and was stuck in rush-hour traffic, the image of these cougars would rise and have a calming effect on me.

Then reality set in. I began to think about that split second when my hand was reaching for the doorknob. What if I had made the decision to go outside just 30 seconds earlier? Perhaps the first cougar would have been as surprised as I at the encounter, giving me time to seek safety. But complicating this scenario was the presence of the second cougar so close behind the first.

I was lucky. I was too new to Colorado at that time to have any preconceived ideas about cougars. I simply saw what I saw, and was touched deeply, almost mystically, in a way I can still feel to this day.

But I now always remember one important fact. I was looking through glass.